I apologize from missing a day in posts. I had work and am battling a slight sore throat that just won’t go away. So work and straight to bed consumed my day. Hopefully Sunday I’ll feel better and get back on track. Speaking of that Mo is better but hobbling as I’m sure her little hip is very sore.
Back in June Mike had two weeks active duty in Naples, Italy. Here’s a few of his photos from around Naples.
As always there’s more over at my Flickr account you can get there by clicking on any photo. Until next time!
This is the final post from my visit to the Cherokee National Forest. This photos are actually not in the forest but of roads and properties just outside the forest. One is an abandoned farm that is for sale. There was proof that it was once loved with the irises and other decorative flowers still coming up in the weeds.
This view does capture images of my growing up – a country road, a barn off to the side, and mountains rising in the background.Followed the lane on up the mountain toward the edge of the park.Waited on a wild turkey family to cross the road. DIdn’t get the camera fast enough to get the little chicks.This is the abandoned home we found it was for sale with the acreage.It had been a working farm at one time.Gate to the side yard.The one car garage on the road – couldn’t you just see a 1930s truck parked in there.Then it was time to head off the mountain. The view down the road toward town from the garage.
Here’s a few photos of beautiful flowers in the Cherokee National Forest. Enjoy!
A Rose tells the story of an abandoned house once being a beloved home with a tended yard.Queen Anne’s Lace – now a wildflower was brought to the new world as a garden flower. As a kid I enjoyed cutting one putting it in water with food coloring watching the bloom change colors as it took up the water.Wild miniature daises.Not sure what this is… locust I think very sweet smelling and on a tree.More of this unknown…
Next photo post – the abandoned homestead that was for sale as a Preferred Property just on edge of the National Forest.
Last week when I was in Tennessee for the Hicks Family Reunion I also did some research for the book that is my current project. It is set in my home town of Greeneville and is an urban fantasy type with a rural setting. I wanted to refresh my memory of the Cherokee National Forest where it is in Greene county. I have an important event to set there. After we picked up the key for the hall where the reunion was to be held Mom and I drove back through the forest. Here are some pictures of that drive.
Road to the National Forest. Loved the sky!French Broad RiverBlack Bear Proof Trash CansProtected forestOld stone drinking fountain. I remember these from my childhood trips.Picnic areaCobblestone bridge to picnic area from main roadCreek the cobblestone bridge went over.Hwy 107 Houston Valley Road in Greene County TN inside the Cherokee National Forest.As we were leaving a storm was rolling in.The storm coming over a ridge
There will be two more posts from this trip – mountain flowers and areas just outside the National Forest. Until Next Time!
You know that Mike hast to go some where on nice weekends. This time it was a reenactment over at Silver Lake in Kenosha County. Of course we got in the faithful old Mustang, put the top down and took off. When we got there we discovered a nice park not far from our house. A quaint reenactment set just before the Revolutionary War broke out. Here’s the photos from the day.
This was the first thing that caught my eye. This barefoot little girl ran past us and down the back of the tents. I loved her costume! She was adorable.This was a pewter smith demonstrating how he made eating utensils. If you click and hop over to my Flickr account you can see some of the many trinkets he has made with his 100s of pewter molds.Well I assume you know what lace is but a lucet is a tool used in making cords.This tent had some beautiful handmade furniture for sale. Lovely stuff!This gentleman explained how to fire the cannon, the different types of shot used and when they were used in battle, then took the scouts through a drill enacting the process of firing.The don’t tread on me flag was flying.The storekeep in the tent in the background there had a very floral ensemble whose hat only made me think that he looked like he had been sleeping. Also I loved the lady walking by in historic garb.Red coats took off their red wool coats and slept outside their tents on the unusally hot day.
As always you can click on any photo to be taken over to my Flickr account. There you can see more images from the day. Until next time!
It’s a well know fact Mike likes to putter in the yard and I don’t. I find it too much like work – I’d rather make something than sweat in the beating sun digging in dirt. Still I love beautiful flowers, yards, and gardens. Honestly if it weren’t for Mike I’d live in a condo an enjoy the grounds tended by others. Since he likes it I live in a house with a yard tended by Mike. Here’s some photos that were on my camera from our yard.
As you can see the apple tree has recovered from our winter trimming. It’ll need more reshaping this winter.When our lilacs bloomed they were beautiful.
The roses are lovely too.The red tipped white rose is my favorite I think.The red is so bright that it almost vibrates!I don’t know what these are called but I like them. They are hardy and bloom in the heat and cooler summers.Mike put his University of Tennessee stepping stone in the garden by the front door. Great place to display our alma mater.
Back on May 26th Mike and I were looking for something to do. You know he HAS to get out and DO something if it isn’t snowy on the weekend. So after seeing in the paper that there were boat races on Lake Andrea in Pleasant Prairie we were off to see what it was about.
It was about small boats that sound like lawn mowers doing laps on a very small lake not far from our house. Really there were heats, different levels, and such. Interesting but as the sun started to set the day was getting cool we headed home. Here’s a few shots of the day.
We weren’t the only ones out for the day. Here come three boats on the turn…As you can see they didn’t leave their opponents in the dust but rather in the mist!With the races on Froggy wasn’t renting any boats that day.Here’s a shot of mechanics working on some of the middle class boats.There where the green flag is in the photo was the starting line. They used flags like in car racing. If a boat broke down there would be a caution flag. Winner got the checkered flag.Safety crew was out in wave runners. They’d tend boats that stalled or broke down. They’d also act like tow trucks of the water.Sure it was a cool day. I had the hood up on my hoodie (take that Geraldo Rivera I rehabilitated the hoodie for middle-aged moms!) but this spectator was a bit excessiveAs you can see Mike wore a polar fleece but bundling wasn’t necessary for us.
As always there’s more on my Flickr account – clicking on any of the images will take you there. Feel free to snoop around over there as much as you want.
It was the last Sunday in July again, time for Mom put on her program for the annual Hicks Family Reunion. I went down to assist. This year she was doing her grandmother’s line. That’s our claim to the Hicks family.
It all started with David C. Hicks and Sarah Dennis Hicks. They married in Cocke County, Tennessee in 1830. David met Sarah when he crossed the mountain from Virginia on his way to buy a farm and set up housekeeping in Middle Tennessee. He must have been a non-inheriting son to be moving like that. He was born 10 Apr 1804 in Albemarle County, Virginia and died 09 Oct 1850 in Cocke County, Tennessee. All I know is that his father was David James (or possibly James David) Hicks born in 1774 in Virginia. David C.’s mother was Jemima Tennal (spelling according to their marriage record also spelled Tinnell in family Bibles). They married in 1770 in Albemarle County, Virginia. It is very probably that David James’s father fought in the Revolutionary War given his age and location, but on what side we don’t know.
Sarah Dennis was born about 1812 in June in Cocke County, Tennessee and died 8 Mar 1898 in Cocke, Tennessee. Her parents came to Tennessee to live on her maternal grandfather’s land grant for service in the Revolutionary War. He was Hugh Creighton (B 1730 Ireland, D.1804 New Jersey where his son Patrick lived) and served in the Revolutionary War. He already had a farm in South Carolina so he gave (or they purchased) his land grant in Tennessee to his daughter Anne and her husband John Dennis. The name Creighton with various spellings was carried forth in the Hicks family in his honor to this day. Anne and John had at least three children one of which was the first Joel Dennis. He married Margaret Henry (which makes this line from my maternal grandfather related to the line of my maternal grandmother truly kissing cousins) and they were the parents of the Sarah Dennis that founded the Tennessee Hicks line from which I am descended ( the post about Joel Dennis from the Civil War was his son, Sarah’s brother)
Sarah and David C. had 8 children. Their youngest was David Crockett Hicks ( his father’s middle initial is C. but we don’t know what it stood for, he was however a constituent of the famous David Crockett of Alamo fame) who is my great great grandfather. Crockett was a character about whom tales are still told. He had a temper and was lazy. He was born 27 Jul 1852 Cocke, TN and died 16 Aug 1943 Sevier, TN. He married a Margaret Jane Denton (from whom I have another Revolutionary War ancestor) in about 1873. The courthouse burned in Cocke County so the exact date has been lost. She however was born 18 Jun 1854 Cocke, Tennessee and died 04 Jan 1949 Sevier, Tennessee. Here’s a photo of them and their living adult children.
Back L to R: Bon Dalls, Dibrelle Augusta, Ollie Belle, Crayton Dennis, Mark Clyde, Bessie Paralee, Crayton Dennis Front L to R: Sarah, Fred Ashberry, Margaret Henry Hicks, David Crockett Hicks, Minnesota, and Jerome. Their son Joel David Hicks died before this photo was taken.
The reunion consists of the descendants from those in the picture. In their later years Crockett and Margaret moved about living with their children as Crockett never owned land or made a homestead. Each living child (Dibrelle was killed soon after this photo but that’s a story for another post) took turns keeping crochety old Crockett and quiet Margaret. My great grandmother was Ollie Belle (b 16 Jan 1888 Cocke,TN d 25 Oct 1975 Blount,TN) and if you were being disagreeable she’d call you Crockett.
She married Milas Lavator Rolen (b 22 Jun 1880 Sevier, TN d 28 Dec 1936 Sevier, TN) on 12 May 1907 in Sevier, TN. Here they are on their wedding day.
He was a sheriff for a few years then went to the US Marshals and became a Revenuer. They had 7 children. Here they are with their family.
back row L to R Herbert, Bennie Zue, George Ann, Milas Lavator Jr., John Hollis, Sammie Sue. Front row L to R Lavator, George Ann, Ollie Belle
My grandfather was John Hollis Rolen (b. 23 Nov 1909 Sevierville, TN d. 08 Feb 1975 Sevierville, TN). He did many things in his life and some day I’ll share his security clearance form for WWII in a post that outlines many things he did some we didn’t know. However most of my mother’s life and all of mine he was an engineer for the 3M Company. Yes the post-it and Scotch Tape people. He married Johnnie Mae Temple (b 23 May 1913 Sevier, TN d. 11 Feb 2007 Sevier, TN). Here’s a photo of them just shortly after they married. They married 08 Apr 1939 in Alcoa, Blount, Tennessee.
Johnnie Mae Temple Rolen and John Hollis Rolen.
They had two children. My mom Sylvia came first then John Hollis Jr. Unfortunately Junior died of a heart defect shortly after being born. Mom made it and is still going strong. She married my dad Sidney Bright. Here they are on their wedding day.
Well they had me! That’s how I wound up being at the Dandridge Tennessee Senior Center on the last Sunday in June this year for the Hicks Reunion. Mom traced down all the descendants from Ollie Belle. She worked on it for the full year! It took three volumes. She not only got a data on everyone but also did a small personal biography of each person and a photo page. Really hard work and excellent results. Here’s my copy of all three volumes.
Turn out was good. Ollie Belle Hicks Rolen, Sarah Hicks Rolen Baxter, and Bessie Parlee Hicks Williams decendants were represented. Here’s this year’s group shot.
Descendants of David Crockett Hicks and Margret Jane Denton.
The next reunion with be year after next. That’ll give mom time to relax and work on the Williams line from Bessie Parlee Hicks.
So on the long drive home from Ft. Leonard Wood we needed to stop and stretch our legs. We chose to stop in Springfield, IL and see the Lincoln Library and Museum. We were there for about two hours seeing the museum and having lunch. Here’s some photos for you… want more? Click on one and head over to my Flickr.
Mike and Lincoln have a lively discussion.The notes the statue was holding.External view of the museum and library complex.Another statue of Abe on the way to the museum.Mike photobombs the first family on the White House lawn…John Wilkes Booth leans on the White HouseYoung Abe Lincoln
Areas where I could take pictures was limited in the museum. Outside was cold as we drove snow from Missouri to get there!
Really I do. You see things you’d never see otherwise. You learn stuff while just looking at neat things. It doesn’t even have to be a modern interactive type of museum. To give you a perspective on how much I love museums – Once I had a day to burn in Boston. I wasn’t far from the Boston Museum of Fine Art. So my plan was to spend the day there, grab lunch there then walk back to the hotel. Well I’d finished the Ancient Egyptians, then took in the Impressionists (my top two things I wanted to see before lunch) when they were announcing that they were closing. Yes CLOSING. It was almost 10pm. Time had flown and I was just getting started! I took a cab back not sure about walking the blocks in the dark and had room service for dinner getting my order in just before they closed at 11pm! THAT’S how much I love museums. Let me add that my husband is the same way.
Thus when we found ourselves with most of a day to burn at Aaron’s graduation from basic at Fort Leonard Wood (remember the nickname is Fort Lost In The Woods because it is so far from anything) and learned there were museums on base… guess where we went. Yep we went museum-ing again closing the place down. There are three under one roof – Military Police Museum, Chemical Corp Museum, and Army Corp of Engineers Museum. Across the street is a collection of buildings preserved from the World War II era of the base. Much like my tale of the Boston Museum we closed down the three under one roof and didn’t get to see the WWII one.
You know I took my camera and here’s a few shots from the Museums. As always you can click on the images to go to Flickr see their new layout, more stuff from the trip, as well as larger versions of the images themselves.
Mary Louise Eklund 