Smiling Big & Laughing Hard

No one in my family ever knew that Big Paw Paw had been married more than once.  I guess it's human nature to not question what is because how could it be anything else?  Right?  Well, just because something is one way, doesn't mean it can't be another as well.  How do I know?  Because my ancestors keep proving it to me over and over again.  In fact, it's gotten to the point that when I see an ancestor one way, I automatically look at them another way.  And that's when I usually learn something new about them.
Image by marzbars via Flickr 
So, when I  was at the courthouse, I took the list of case numbers that I had made that involved Joseph Marshall and his women and his kinfolk up to the desk, and the very nice lady told me that I could have a seat because it was going to take her a while to pull all that microfilm.  [Thanks, Big Paw Paw. Still pissing off women way after your death, I see.]  So, I sat down and chatted with her and the other ladies.  One of the other ladies was contemplating walking 3 blocks for a chocolate shake.  The other ladies were asking her if she was crazy.  And then she asked me what I thought.  Well, goodness.  This is chocolate.  I totally understand the "must have chocolate now" emotion.  It's strong.  The only thing that comes close to it for me is shopping.  I asked her, "How bad do you want it? 'Cause, if you want it that bad, go get it.  You won't be happy until you do."    Knowing that she had just found another kindred chocolate soul, she left on her chocolate shake quest.

Soon thereafter, the lady pulling the microfilm for me indicated that she was done and that I should follow her around the filing cabinets to the... [drumroll, please] ...automatic microfilm readers.  Now, when I say "automatic", I mean that they automatically feed the film into the machine. I'm not talking about press a button & watch visions of your lunch pass by as you skippety-doodah through the film.  [Yes, this one did that to, but it was so fast, that no image was really seen, so no visions of my lunch.]  All thoughts of shopping and chocolate vanished at the sight of these babies.  She quickly showed me how to slip the film reel in to the plastic case, how to push it into the machine, and PRESTO! It was loaded and ready to view.  Then she showed me how to focus and how to make copies.  Let me just say, it was love at first sight.  If I found nothing out about Big Paw Paw, the trip was worth it just for the opportunity to operate this machine.  I mean, really.  Feeding the film into the regular semi-automatic microfilm readers can be tedious at times and a nuisance at best.  [And, then of course, there's that whole "visions of lunch" phenomenon.]

Anyways, back to Big Paw Paw.  I decided to look at everything in chronological order.  So, I started with Case No.B-30897 Emma Marshall v. Joseph Marshall.

Let me just back up and say that when I found their marriage record four years ago I was shocked to find that Big Paw Paw had married Emma Rosin in 1917.  I hadn't been doing genealogy research for long back then.  And that was the day when I learned that my ancestors were full of secrets.  I quickly made the connection that she was Big Paw Paw's older sister's husband's youngest sister.  [Ancestors can be so complicated and messy.  Just like our own lives.]  Then, as I've mentioned in previous posts, she just disappears.  What happened to Emma?  Did she die?  Did they divorce?  Did she remarry?  If she did remarry, how was I going to find her?

Knowing some of the stories that have been passed down about Big Paw Paw, I knew that he'd been a difficult man to get along with, to say the very least.  So, when I pulled up the court records for Emma Marshall v. Joseph Marshall, I wasn't really surprised that it was a record of their divorce that was filed for in 1922 and finalized in early 1923.  After about 5 years, Emma had had enough, and so had Big Paw Paw.  There aren't very many details about their relationship.  Further, there's no evidence that there were any children.  [Also, a search in the Texas Birth Index confirms no children.]

But Big Paw Paw wasn't just divorcing Emma, though,  he was divorcing family.  So what did he do that made Emma want out?  I dunno.  Maybe no one did anything in particular.  Maybe they just didn't get along. However, Big Paw Paw goes on to other relationships that don't work out either.  So, I'm inclined to think that Big Paw Paw must have done something [or a whole lotta something] to upset Emma.  But it may have been Emma that did the upsetting.  [You know, just to be fair.]



I do know that at the time of the divorce, they had some newer furniture that they had purchased on account from Eagle Furniture Company located on 128 Soledad St. and 118 Main Ave. in San Antonio.

According to the divorce decree, Eagle Furniture Co., agreed to take the furniture back in "...full settlement and cancellation of its indebtedness."


A receiver was then ordered by the court to sell their home and property at 811 Florida Street in San Antonio.  It was sold to a R.C. Roos, Jr. for $2700 with $550 paid in cash and $2150 would be on loan and with $100 paid in earnest.  It had been a 5-room home that fronted Florida Street on the south side.



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The remaining furniture that had been owned outright by Joseph and Emma went to Emma and was listed as the following:

Emma also received $62 from Big Paw Paw.


And what did Big Paw Paw get?


His Dodge Roadster.


Now, I had an inkling that I had a photo of his Roadster [with my grandma in it from the early 1930's].  But to be sure, I Googled "early 1920's Dodge Roadster". 

Image via Wikipedia

Yup. If the Dodge Roadster in my photo isn't this Roadster from the divorce, then it's one just like it.  And if it was the same car, how many women had it seen before my grandmother, Paw Paw?

Big Paw Paw & Paw Paw ca. 1931

So, Emma and Big Paw Paw divorced, and thanks to his penchant for women and lawsuits, I know what happens to Big Paw Paw.  But whatever happened to Emma (Rosin) Marshall?  The one who put up with Big Paw Paw first?  Had any of their marriage been good?  Goodness, I hope so.  I hope it wasn't all bad for her.


In my quest for some kind of happy ending, I went looking for her.  In 1923, she would have been 31 years old, newly divorced, and childless.  She would've had her older brother Otto and his wife [and Big Paw Paw's sister], Jane, to turn to for support there in San Antonio.  Not knowing if she remarried again, I thought it best to look in the Texas Death Certificates on FamilySearch.org for an Emma who died in San Antonio, Texas with a mother named Caroline [love her name].  Her father's name was Wilhelm, but he died right after the family came to Galveston from Prussia.  So, I didn't know if it might be listed as William on her death certificate or not.


Indeed, Emma did remarry to a Louis Seidemann.  With a quick lookup in the census on Ancestry.com, I found Louis M. and Emma R. Seidemann living in Guadalupe County, Texas [postal: Schertz], which is right next to San Antonio in Bexar County.  So, they married sometime between 1923 and 1930.  Also, they had an 18yo boarder living with them with no obvious relationship between them.


Sadly, according to her death certificate, Emma passed away at age 38 on 11 Mar 1931 from pulmonary tuberculosis.  It lists that she had been ill 3 years and that she'd been in the Grace Lutheran Sanitarium in Schertz, Texas when she died.  Her brother, Otto, is the informant on her death certificate, and another search in the Texas Birth Index offered no positive "hits" for her having been a mother.   It doesn't seem that Emma had had a very happy life.  However, there's time in between these events that happiness could have touched her.  And I hope it did.  I hope that her marriage to Louis was a good one.  I hope that he'd been good to her.   I hope that when she had the chance to smile, that she smiled big.  And I hope that when she had the chance to laugh, that she laughed hard.

Next? Another one of Big Paw Paw's women.

They Had Balls

[This was my submission for the McSweeney's Internet Tendency Column Writing Contest.  I didn't win, but I thought I'd share it with y'all.  The intended audience was those who don't know anything about genealogy or family history.  Hope you like...]

Brief Description

I have just under 5000 dead people [well, mostly dead] in my family tree so far.  They have many things in common [not the least of which, is me], but 2 things stand out the most.  They have a story to tell.  And they had balls.  I yearn to tell their stories and bring them back to life.  So, each installment will be a fresh perspective [and by "fresh" I mean sarcastic] on an ancestor's life story, and how they had moxie, guts, audacity, and balls to get through their lives.

The Dead Talk

I search for dead people and their stories. 

Well, I don't search for just any dead person's story. I search for stories of those folks who I'm related to – mostly those I'm blood-related to, but not always. Sometimes I'll mix it up and search for those crazy people who decided to marry into the family.  Or those who lived near the family.  Or those who have no apparent connection to the family, but they have a funny name or they're ugly (or if I'm lucky, both). No matter who they were though, once I track them down, I ask them about their story.

I know what you're thinking. Dead people don't talk, so how can they possibly tell their story? A forensic scientist would beg to differ with you on that. And being a genealogist and family historian, so would I. On a good day, I can't get some dead people to shut-up. 

On the other hand, some days, dead people can be very tight-lipped. Ornery, in fact. 

And the thing about these dead people – all of them – is that they have at least one story to tell. Sometimes it's funny.  Sometimes it's sad.  Sometimes it's downright naughty (if I'm lucky).  Sometimes it'll make you think, “What the hell?”  But there's always a story.

And there's something else about dead people. They had balls. You know, when they were alive.

Take my grandfather for example. I never met my Big Paw Paw, and apparently he was one of those people who thought he could keep his secrets after he died, but he was wrong. Once he started telling me his story, he couldn't stop. He was the son of a Prussian immigrant, a survivor of the Storm of 1900 on Galveston Island, and a veteran of World War I. 

But he didn't stop there.  [No siree.]

He was a lover of women. Mostly young women, but not the icky, “she's-too-young” young, but the “wow-she's-way-younger-than-him” young. In fact, Big Paw Paw, at last count, had 4 wives (one of them my grandmother), 3 divorces, 3 mistresses (and, yes, my grandmother was one before Big Paw Paw married her), and 1 excommunication from the Catholic Church. [Apparently, the Catholic Church is serious about that whole “no divorces” rule thingy.]

Big Paw Paw may have loved those younger women, but they were certainly his downfall. You see, he was also kicked out of his family after he divorced his first wife. Probably because his first wife had been his sister-in-law [his older sister's husband's younger sister]. And I guess they liked her more than him and thought that Thanksgiving and Christmas would go a whole lot smoother without the lying, two-timing, cheating Big Paw Paw. (Personally? I think he would've been the life of the party, but, hey, what do I know?)

Big Paw Paw's response to being kicked out of the family was a big “I-don't-need-you-screw-you” kind of response. He changed the spelling of his last name, which really threw me off when I went looking for him, and he never communicated with his family again.

Well, if you don't count the times he sued them.

Anywho, Big Paw Paw wasn't all bad. He was part of the housing boom in San Antonio back in the late 1920's and 1930's. In fact, he stayed in the housing business until he died in 1968. And he wasn't in it to make money just for himself either. [Nope.]  I mean, with all the wives and mistresses he had over the years, he was still able to keep them in the lifestyle they had become accustomed to.  

Which was mighty generous of him.  

For all his faults though, he sure was a looker.  I mean, I can see why all the younger ladies were going all crazy about Big Paw Paw.  If the photos of him are anything to go by, he was a well-dressed man. And if his photos of my grandmother are anything to go by, he dressed his women well.

So, yeah, he was dead by the time I decided to get to know him. But once I found him, he talked. And he had balls. Balls to survive a devastating storm when he was just seven years old. Balls for fighting in World War I. And balls to juggle that many women no matter what everyone else thought about him, including his family. 

But I think the ones who had the “big brass ones” were Big Paw Paw's women. They never killed him when they found out about each other. 

It takes some pretty big balls to take the high road.

Brief Descriptions of 3 Additional Installments

1. What does an ancestor do when charged with fornication?  And just why the hell was he charged with fornication when he was married to her?

2. What does an ancestor do when everyone else doesn't believe the same thing as him, and they are at his door?  And they have him surrounded.  Oh, and they brought fire with them?

3. What does an ancestor do when his son is locked up in the nastiest prison ever, and he's not willing to just let him sit there and wait it out 'cause he's never done that before so why the hell would he do that now, dammit?

Biographical Note

Caroline Pointer is the author of the genealogy and family history blog, Family Stories, as well as the author of the column "In2Genealogy" for the digital magazine Shades of the Departed.  As a professional genealogist, a family historian, a wife, and a mother, she enjoys writing about and laughing at her ancestors.  Well, laughing at them until she recognizes a little bit of herself in them.

He Never Promised Me A Rose Garden

He lived his life in the papers.

Consistently.

Thank God.

In the 1920's, San Antonio, Texas experienced a housing boom, and since the Great Depression was slow in coming to Texas for a number of reasons, the prosperity of the 1920's lasted a little longer than in other states.  In the 1930's public housing was on the rise as slums were cleared out, and then in the 1940's another housing boom occurred.

And apparently my grandfather, Joseph Marshall [a.k.a. Big Paw Paw], was in the middle of it all.  If you believe what you read in the newspapers, that is.

When I first started researching my grandfather, I didn't really know much about him, other than he wasn't a nice man.  In fact, if I recall correctly, the word, "mean" has been used to describe him a few times.  Turns out he had a lot of secrets, and maybe - just maybe - if he hadn't been so secretive - you know, kept everything inside- he would've been nicer.  Or at least remembered in a lot nicer way.  And maybe I wouldn't have been so nosy about his life.  

However, he was secretive and I am nosy.

One of the things I did know when I started researching my grandfather [who died 3 years before I was born] was that he had several lumber yards in San Antonio and he'd been involved in demolition throughout the city.  And both of these are true because I've verified them through land records, newspapers, and city directories.  However, that wasn't really the whole story.  There was a fourteen year difference between my grandfather's and grandmother's ages, and by the time "Big Paw Paw" married my grandmother, he'd already lived another life.  Literally.  A life that he kept to himself.

But if he thought that he took his secrets with him to the grave, he was sadly mistaken.  I have some of his genes in me [Goodness, I hope not the bad ones.], and I can be a little tenacious when properly motivated.

And my grandfather's story really motivates me.

If he had wanted to "fly underneath the radar," then he should've stayed out of the papers, but lucky for me, he didn't.  With the combination of census records, city directories, historical newspapers, and historical land records, I've pieced together some of my grandfather's work & business history, and here's what I found:

According to the 1910 census, Big Paw Paw and his younger sister, Mary, were living with one of their older married sisters in Galveston, Texas.  [Another Mary ~rolling eyes heavenward~  This is the Mary that married a Harry who owned a dairy.  I swear it.  I couldn't make this stuff up.] Anywho, "Big Paw Paw" was a fisherman with his brother-in-law at the time.  He must've mentioned being a fisherman to my dad once, because on one of our many fishing trips on the Laguna Madre Bay, my dad shared with me that his dad had been a fisherman in Galveston.  [I've pointed out on the map below where the Laguna Madre is, but to get an idea of where it is in relationship to Galveston, San Antonio, and Texas, click on the link for the bigger map below and "zoom out."








View Texas Coast in a larger map








Big Paw Paw married his sister-in-law, Emma Rosin in San Antonio, Texas in 1917, which was just before he went off to fight in World War I.  [His sister Jane had previously married Emma's older brother, Otto Rosin.]  When he came back, he and Emma were living in San Antonio, Texas, and his listed occupation was a tree surgeon in the 1920 census.

As I shared this week in my Wordless Wednesday post, he must've had a green thumb.  In a San Antonio Express newspaper article dated 12 Nov 1922, Big Paw Paw is pictured with a rose that had a 63-inch stem that he had grown.  I wonder if my dad knew this about his father.  Growing up, I remember countless times working in the yard with my dad, including our rose garden.  He loved it so much that he bought and we ran a plant nursery for a while.  And If you've been reading my stories, you can probably guess my dad was quite the entrepreneur (i.e., truck & trailer business, pet shop, plant nursery, etc.).  Kinda like Big Paw Paw.

Three years later in a newspaper ad on 20 Dec 1925, he's listed as a "Consulting, Developing Landscape Engineer" for the San Pedro Arms apartment building which was touted in the San Antonio Express newspaper as "San Antonio's Newest and Most Modern Apartment Building."  And his business address is listed as well, which made identifying him a lot easier.  [How lucky can I get, right?]  I'm inclined to think this building development may have been where he added real estate to his list of business activities.  Just a guess, though.

Emma is listed as Big Paw Paw's wife until 1923 in historical land records that I have found on the County Clerk's website for Bexar County.  [All of them digitized & available for free. ~ "God love 'em," as my Gran and mom used to say.]  The twelve-page listing of his land records [Yes, I said, "TWELVE."] is a veritable goldmine of information on my grandfather's business transactions, at least, the ones involving land.  He didn't just have a house and building wrecking company and lumber yards.  He purchased real estate, wrecked [if necessary] homes, built homes, sold and/or rented homes.  It's apparent to me from these records that Big Paw Paw liked to be involved in all aspects of the real estate process.  My dad always said he had a home & building wrecking company, but he also told me his dad had taught him to be a carpenter.  I have several photos of my dad when he was little on the work-site with Big Paw Paw.  It seems that Big Paw Paw believed in learning how to work hard from an early age, and that's probably where my dad got that silly idea from and why I began working for my dad at the age of 8.   Additionally, after my dad graduated from college there are land transactions that he executed on my grandfather's behalf, which coincides with what my dad told me about him working for Big Paw Paw early on in his and my mother's marriage.  It makes me wonder why the "home & building wrecking company" memory was bigger to my dad than the rest of the business that Big Paw Paw did.  

Maybe Big Paw Paw didn't talk much about his business activities.  I'm guessing Big Paw Paw wasn't much of a talker.  Period.  Well, it does seem, though, that he was a big talker with the women.  

[For what it's worth, I think he was pretty good lookin', and apparently I'm not alone in my thinkin'.]

Speaking of Big Paw Paw's women, I haven't found Emma on any transactions after 1923, nor have I found a death certificate for her.  She just vanishes into thin air, or she got the hell outta Dodge.  However, Big Paw Paw's land transactions continue consistently, and amongst them is an affidavit dated 5 Dec 1927 [but filed 19 Mar 1928] where he's talking about how he had purchased a particular piece of property before his marriage to his wife Oveta Marshall who had left him 6 months ago, and that she had no interest in this particular property.  Now, I know some of what goes on with Oveta and this property, especially what identifies this Joseph Marshall as Big Paw Paw, but I don't know the whole story.  Like, who the heck is Oveta?  Is this Emma?  However, their divorce story is waiting for me.  In another land transaction in 1928 that pertains to this property, to Oveta, and to Big Paw Paw, everyone was kind enough to leave me the cause number and judicial district court that the divorce was filed in.  [Thank you.]  

Anyhow, I haven't even begun to scratch the surface of Big Paw Paw and his wives and women.  And since Big Paw Paw apparently left really nice paper trails, I suspect I'll be finding a lot more about them.  At this point, it seems that the women that dealt with Big Paw Paw warrant a story and post of their own [and quite possibly a medal, in my humble opinion.  *rolling eyes heavenward*]

While Oveta Marshall never appears in any land transactions, if indeed Oveta is not Emma, Big Paw Paw has a ton more of land transactions through right after he died in 1968.  These last transactions were carried out by the executrix of his will, who interestingly wasn't my grandmother.  [But I'll leave that to his wives' and women's post.]  His land purchases, like so many others at the time, made the newspapers.  [Thank God.]  Big Paw Paw also used the classified section to sell and/or rent his homes.  All of these write-ups and ads in the newspapers usually included his address.  Below is an example of 2 of his many purchases.  It's from a write-up in 5 Apr 1936 in the San Antonio Express "Real Estate and Classified" section where he purchased 2 properties from a Mr. Wm. F. Schutz in San Antonio.  What's so neat about this one is there are articles on the same page describing the rapid growth of San Antonio, how it was starting to drive-up the prices of real estate, and they were encouraging buyers to buy now before the prices went up.  It appears to me that Big Paw Paw was right in the middle of all this real estate hullabaloo, better known as the San Antonio housing boom that started in the 1920's.  Of course, buying houses at the time would turn out to be a big mistake for most people as the Great Depression was right around the corner, and many of these same people who bought homes would be losing them.  However, the enterprising person that he was, Big Paw Paw was right there to rent them a house.

Additionally, I found in the 4 May 1935 issue of the San Antonio Express where he'd made a formal complaint of "theft of residence" against a Mr. Ben Nathan of the Loan & Wrecking Company.  Apparently they were squabbling over who actually owned a particular house and property and Mr. Nathan had already taken the house apart and reused the lumber in several new houses.  Big Paw Paw claimed he had owned the property and that Mr. Nathan had stolen it from him.  No outcome was printed in the paper, so I'll have to go down to the courthouse for that one.  I have a feeling that they're gonna know me at the courthouse almost as much as they knew my Big Paw Paw.  [Snort.]

Some of Big Paw Paw's personal life can be gleaned from the newspapers as well.  [Thank God.]  In the San Antonio Light on 3 Jul 1937, I found where he'd filed a lawsuit in the 45th District Court against his older sister Jane Rosin over a title and for damages.  Now because of the date, I have an inkling as to what this was about, but I need those records to know for sure.  [And I'm SO gonna get my hands on those records. ]

Likewise, Big Paw Paw filed for divorce [again?] from an Ola Mae Marshall and the notice was listed in the San Antonio Light newspaper on 28 May 1936.  I have some suspicions about this marriage and divorce, and when I get my little hands on those records and figure out all his wives and women, I'll let you know. [rolling eyes heavenward]

Additionally, I had some more luck in the city directories for Big Paw Paw and my grandmother that yielded me not only addresses, but the name of his company, Burnet Wrecking Company.  I'm guessing that he named his company after Burnet Street located in San Antonio, which is named after David G. Burnet who was the first provisional President of the Republic of Texas.  Just a guess though.

Also, Big Paw Paw was not afraid, apparently, to do business outside his comfort zone because there are several classified ads where he was selling some horses and some puppies in the San Antonio Light newspaper.  Basically, I think Big Paw Paw found opportunities to make a buck and wasn't afraid to capitalize on them.

The old-fashioned way.

The American way.

How else and where else could the youngest son of a Prussian immigrant farmer go from being a fisherman in the Gulf of Mexico to a wheelin' and dealin' businessman in San Antonio, Texas?

As I mentioned before, I never knew my Big Paw Paw, and he certainly never promised me a "rose garden," but he certainly gave me the "fertilizer" and "green thumb" in order to grow one.  And you can bet your bottom dollar that I'll be sharing more of his "rose gardens" with you.  

In the meantime, go see if some of your ancestors lived their lives in the papers.

The newspapers, that is.

You never know.  They may have been married to my Big Paw Paw, or maybe he sued them.  [Snort.] 

Sources and Credits:

Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. "," http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/SS/hds2.html (accessed 4 Mar 2010).

The San Antonio Housing Authority: The Evolution of Public Housing.  www.saha.org/aboutsaha//pdfs/Publications/01%20Evolution%201.2pdf (accessed 4 Mar 2010).

"1910 United States Census," database, Ancestry.com, (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed Jan 2007), entry for Joseph Marschall (age 17), p.4A, Galveston, Texas; citing "NA film no. T624-1554."


"1920 United States Census," database, Ancestry.com, (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed Jan 2007), entry for Joseph Marshall (age 27), p.4A, San Antonio, Texas; citing "NA film no. T625-1779."

Ann M. Tolley, Archives Technician, National Personnel Records Center, St. Louis Missouri, to Caroline Pointer, letter, 18 Oct 2007, summation of military personnel records of Joseph Marshall; Marshall Family, Caroline Pointer's Research Files; privately held by Caroline Pointer, Conroe, Texas.


"The San Pedro Arms," San Antonio Express, 20 Dec 1925, p.A5; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 28 Feb 2010), Historical Newspaper Collection.


"Business Leasing New Sites Here," San Antonio Express, 5 Apr 1936, Real Estate & Classified section, col.4; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 28 Feb 2010), Historical Newspaper Collection. 




"Theft of Residence Charged in Complaint," San Antonio Express, 4 May 1935, p.16, col.2; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : 28 Feb 2010, Historical Newspaper Collection.


"Courts: New Suits Filed in 45th District Court, Judge S.G. Taylor," San Antonio Light, 3 Jul 1937, p.12B, col.1; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : 28 Feb 2010), Historical Newspaper Collection.

"Courts: New Suits Filed in 37th District Court, Judge Harry L. Howard," San Antonio Light, 28 May 1936, p.12B, col.7; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : 28 Feb 2010), Historical Newspaper Collection.

John F. Worley Directory Co, Worley's San Antonio City Directory, 1938-1939 (John F. Worley Co., 1939), 848; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : 28 Feb 2010), U.S. City Directories.

John F. Worley Directory Co, Worley's San Antonio City Directory, 1938-1939 (John F. Worley Co., 1939), 170; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : 28 Feb 2010), U.S. City Directories.

John F. Worley Directory Co, Worley's San Antonio City Directory, 1948 (John F. Worley Co., 1948), 679; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : 28 Feb 2010), U.S. City Directories.

"Bexar County, 1837-1963 Historical Records," Bexar County Clerk's Office, Bexar County, Texas - County Clerk (http://www.countyclerk.bexar.landata.com/Default.aspx : Mar 2007), database and digital images, "Deed, Emma Marshall Grantee and Joseph Marshall Grantor, 21 May 1923," bk 724, p.203.


"Bexar County, 1837-1963 Historical Records," Bexar County Clerk's Office, Bexar County, Texas - County Clerk (http://www.countyclerk.bexar.landata.com/Default.aspx : Mar 2007), database and digital images, "Affidavit, Joseph Marshall, Filed 7 Mar 1928," bk 1019, p.3.

"Bexar County, 1837-1963 Historical Records," Bexar County Clerk's Office, Bexar County, Texas - County Clerk (http://www.countyclerk.bexar.landata.com/Default.aspx : Mar 2007), database and digital images, "Transfer, Joseph Marshall, Jr., Grantor and B.J. Cater, Grantee, 17 Jan 1962," bk.555, p.551.

"Bexar County, 1837-1963 Historical Records," Bexar County Clerk's Office, Bexar County, Texas - County Clerk (http://www.countyclerk.bexar.landata.com/Default.aspx : Mar 2007), database and digital images, "Deed of Trust, John & Josephine Marschall, Jr. Grantor and Farm and Home Savings and Loan Grantee, 17 Mar 1928," bk.1052, p.159.

Wordless Wednesday: Found in the Paper!

My, That's a Big Rose!

I found this picture of my grandfather in the San Antonio Express newspaper from 12 Nov 1922.  Ah, the newspapers.  You never know what you're gonna find...

Source:
Photographer/Journalist Unknown, "Rose Has 63-Inch Stem," San Antonio Express, 12 Nov 1922, p. 6, col. 2; digital images, Ancestry.com ( http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 28 Feb 2010), Historical Newspaper Collection.

The Family Jewels

The 16th Edition of Smile For The Camera: "Bling, Ancestor, Bling" which will be hosted by Thomas at Geneabloggers

[Bling Ancestor banner provided by the footnoteMaven, also of "Shades of the Departed" fame.]

Joseph Marschall/Marshall, Sr.

[My grandfather, a.k.a. Big Paw Paw]

This is his World War I Victory Medal. 

U.S. Army, 29th Company, 3rd Group, 165th Brigade

Joel Arthur Martin

[My Great-Grandfather, a.k.a. "Pop"; he's my grandmother's (Paw Paw's) father]

Fairly certain that this is his Cortebert Railroad Pocketwatch.  The second hand still works, but the pocketwatch is in need of refurbishing.

Rettie Maye Martin

[My grandmother on my Dad's side; a.k.a. Paw Paw, daughter of Joel (above) and wife of Big Paw Paw.] This is a picture of her wearing her 3 strand pearls.

Speaking of 3 Strand Pearls...

My father gave my mother these pearls around 1958.  They're costume jewelry with rhinestones, but they photograph well, don't you think?  My mother gave them to me on my wedding day in 1994, and one day they'll be my daughter's pearls.

...And One More "Pearl"

Remember the beautiful Pearl Williams Pointer?  Well, this pocketwatch below belonged to her father, A.O. Williams.  It was passed down to Pearl.  Then it was passed down to her son Forrest Pointer, my husband's grandfather.  It was made by Elgin in 1904 with 7 jewels, and was one of 110,000 made.  It's keywind (hunter's case) and lever set.  The Fob attached to it is rather interesting.  It reads "The South Bend Malleable Range, All Ways Preferable. Trade Mark."  On the back it reads: "The Malleable Range Mfg. Co., South Bend, IN, U.S.A."

What's In A Name?: Big Paw Paw

What's In A Name? ~ Big Paw Paw

Today's "What's In A Name?" is short and sweet.  Growing up I had always heard stories of my Big Paw Paw.  He always seemed bigger than life.  He had died before I was born and since I only knew my Paw Paw [my grandma], I was always more than a little curious as to how my grandfather had become known as "Big Paw Paw."  [Well, other than the fact that everyone needed some type of designation between my grandmother and my grandfather.]  So, the other day as I was going through some old photographs, I found the one below of my Big Paw Paw from 1951, and I snickered.  [Yes, I said snickered!]  He looks like a used car salesman, doesn't he?  Immediately I thought, "Ah.  This is why he was called 'Big Paw Paw'."  He kind of reminds me of what I always thought "Big Daddy" from Tennessee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" should look like.  Enjoy, and have a great weekend!