Is there a doctor in the family?

    My great, great grandfather, Thomas Smith Evins, may have been the only doctor on both sides of my family ever. He was born in 1846 to the parents of William A.and Eliza Evins and  was one of five children. He began reading medicine under Dr. H P Ferguson in Bedford County. In 1870-71 he obtained two courses of  lectures from the  Louisville Medical College in Louisville, Kentucky. Afterwards, he practiced medicine at the Wayne Furnace in Wayne County, Tennessee until 1874. At that time he entered Vanderbilt University and attended courses from 1874 to 1875.  Thomas was in the first graduating class from Vanderbilt's medical college in 1875.

   On June 8, 1875 Thomas married Minerva Jane Gullick in Wayne County. She was the daughter of Jonathan A. Gullick and Francis C. Baker. Unfortunately, she died shortly after giving to birth to their second son, my great, great grandfather.

Thomas and Minvera Evins. She was pregnant with her second child in this photo.

   After Minerva's death, Thomas and his son lived with his in-laws.  In 1894 he and Mr. Gullick purchased a large farm consisting of 1375 acres known as the "Old Burns Place."  Many stories and rumors surround the house and property.-a story for another day. Thomas died on June 8, 1915.
  

Thomas holding my grandmother, Jane.

Big Daddy

    Big Daddy as he was known to his children and grandchildren was born in 1877 in Wayne County to the parents of Dr. Thomas S.and Minerva Jane Gullick Evins. His real name was Thomas Jane Evins. About two weeks after Thomas's birth, his mother died.  He was basically an only child.  His older brother by 18 months died on his second birthday about six months after their mother's death.  With the help of a wet nurse and his Gullick grandparents, Thomas was raised by his father
    In 1912 when he was 34 years old, he married Alma Dox Sharp who later became known as Big Mama. They had five children of which one was my grandmother.The picture below was taken on their wedding day.  Such solemn expressions for what sure had been a happy day.

    Oh, how I wish I could remember all the stories Grandma told about her family. I do recall she said her father would buy a large hanging cluster of bananas and store them in a closet underneath the stairs.  The children had a treat often. Also, she told about how fearful her mother was of storms.  Whenever a storm approached, she and the children would get under the bed.

Full of good intentions

    With a neat little to-do-list, I am still having problems getting motivated to start climbing that family tree again.  The quest to find Jim's mother's family has hit another roadblock.  We had a good lead with a lady from Clarksville who we believe is Jim's first cousin.  She was eager to help Jim and said she would go through her family things to see what she could find.  Unfortunately, she had shoulder  surgery and couldn't continue her search.  Jim decided to give her a fair amount of recovery time before calling her again, but she hasn't answered any of his calls.  Maybe she will return his messages soon, and if not, we will move forward with Plan B (not sure what it is yet).
    I recently asked for a copy of my grandmother's death certificate from my mother and in the process got a huge stack of photocopied records related to her side of the family.  Now I have to copy or scan them.  Some days I would rather eat dirt than scan photos or documents with my scanner-a time consuming process.  So until we hear from Jim's new cousin, I guess I will begin scanning the records and connecting the family dots.  At this point I know most of Jim's ancestors by name and how they are related and sadly I am not that familiar with Mama's side of the family.

From Shiloh to Cross Bridges

   Over Memorial Day weekend Jim and I made our first ever trip to Shiloh. Exhibits representing every American war were on display.  Firing demonstrations from every war were quite interesting.  At the end of the demonstration there was a firing contest to see who was the fastest shooter.  You knew who was going to lose, but the Revolutionary War representative and the War of 1812 person took their loss in stride.

    On the return trip, we stopped by the cemetery at Cross Bridges to finally see George's headstone. JJ and   Windie did an excellent job place the stone back into the ground.

A little service work

On Saturday  several members of the Capt. James Madison Sparkman chapter of the UDC spent a few hours  sprucing up some of the iron crosses of the Confederate soldiers buried in the Rosehill Cemetery as well as cleaning the headstones in the Confederate section of the cemetery. Over ninety crosses are scattered across the cemetery.

    There were ten crosses in the section we were assigned. A hand grinder was used on each cross to remove old paint and rust-not an easy job.  Several of us attempted to use a steel brush, but soon learned the brush wasn't working. After the grinding and a quick dusting, a coat of gray paint was applied. As the morning progressed, more grinders appeared which enabled us to move to another section. Probably, close to twenty were done! More work days are planned.
   

   

Reorganizing?

   At work I live by my "things to do" list.  It is always on  my desk or in my calendar book.  Without  the list, deadlines would not be met!  So, tonight I decided I needed to make a genealogy "to do" list.

1. Stella, Jim's mother- continue the search for more information concerning her birth and early years before and during her stay at the vocational school.
2. George, my ggg-grandfather- to uncover more about his immigration to the United States and his time as an indentured servant.
3. Sesquicentennial Civil War- to research my family's soldiers' role in the Civil War.
4.Family history books- get all loose papers together in the correct book.

   I love to work from lists and I hope this list will keep me motivated!

George is back in the ground!

I didn't accompany my cousin, Windie, and her husband Saturday to the Cross Bridges Cemetery, and I really hate it.  They re-erected our great, great grandfather's headstone in a new concrete base. The original headstone was broken and Windie's husband had reattached the pieces with adhesive and added a metal band around the outer edge.
Hopefully, I will get to the cemetery by Easter weekend and post the new photos.