Mom's Families

Ancestor Stories > Mom's Families

They wondered around through the years and ended up in places like Oxford, Florida; Union County, KY; Venice, IL; and St. Louis, MO.

My mother grew up in the Granite City, Madison County, IL area. Her maternal grandmother and great grandmother owned property in Madison and Venice. As a young child, her father, had a radio repair shop near downtown Granite City. At some point in time, they bought a house on Pontoon Road in Pontoon Beach.

I remember the house because after her father died, my parents bought the house and we lived in it until I was about 4 years old. On the west side was an old lady with a lot of cats. On the east side was the Rodgers family: Dick, Eileen, Charles, Joyce, Mary, Dean and Tom. There may have been other old kids. Tom was the youngest and a bit older than me.

The house next door was small. It had been built by my maternal grandfather for his maternal grandmother, Emma Cassell Campbell. Emma was the babysitter during the war years when my grandmother, Eleanor, went to work. Emma fell on the back steps and broke a hip.

The house had a big willow tree and when we lived there, my dad's cousin, Paul (Pumpkin) would come and visit Paul Ely was my dad's age and he entertained me, swinging me around in the front yard. Funny how I can remember that.

My mother's father died when she and her brothers were still teenagers and my grandmother, Eleanor went on to marry Coree Harris and moved to Long Beach, California. Mom got married, Chuck went to the Army and Raymond went to reform school in Rantoul.

Raymond didn't like Coree and attacked him with a knife of sorts.

Currently, I am working to resolve the mystery of my great great grandfather, Willam Martin (1832-1908). Family lore states that William Edward Martin was born in 1832, Anderson County, South Carolina and died 1908, Oxford, Florida. I can find William in Etowah County, Alabama as well as in Hale County, Alabama. There was another Martin family in the small community of Oxford, Florida when Kate and William moved there. I do "wild goose chases" from time to time and researched the family of Harmon Eli Martin Oxford Florida Genealogy as well as the name Tolliver Martin, which is the name of both an uncle of Williams as well as a brother of his.

A male cousin has completed the YDNA test and the autosomal while we have some matches, I am still stuck and hope someone can help me figure out this family line. Gedmatch id: 390886, familytreedna.