Wordless Wednesday - Floyd Brassfield in the car

This is another photo of Floyd Gipson Brassfield. Probably around 1920. Let me know if you know what kind of car this is. Check out that monocle, too.

J.P. Johnson

JP Johnson

This photo is from the Memories - Brassfield + Hunt photo album. It is cropped from a group photo, but most of the people in the photo are not labeled. There is an X on this person and a label that says GrGrandpa Johnson. Also labeled is Grandpa Hunt. Based on this I am assuming this is Jorgon Peter Johnson, the father of Jennie J. Johnson, who was the wife of John Hunt, father of Thelma Sarah Hunt, who was the mother of Elvis John Brassfield. The photo is undated, but the other photos in the album are mostly pre-1920. Johnson's wife died in 1908 and John Hunt's wife died in 1914, assuming they are not in the photo dates this photo to roughly 1914-1920.

Tombstone Tuesday - John and Jennie Hunt

This is the tombstone of John Hunt and his wife Jennie J. (Johnson) in Coleridge Public Cemetery, Coleridge, Cedar, Nebraska. This photo was taken in the mid to late 1910s sometime after the death of Jennie and many years before John's death in 1965.

The Nebraska Gravestone Photo project contains a more recent photo here.

Dressed up for Independence Day

This is a photo of Thelma Sarah (Hunt) and Floyd Gipson Brassfield with their son, Elvis John Brassfield. The photo is dated Monday, July 4, 1921.

Thelma Sarah Hunt (1898-1976) was the daughter of John Hunt (1869-1965) and Jennie J. Johnson (1878-1914).

Floyd Gipson Brassfield (1898-1961) was the son of Elvis H. Brassfield (1870-1904) and Nellie Bell Bates (1873-1940).

Elvis on the ranch September 1921

Elvis, September 1921

This is another photo of Elvis John Brassfield. The caption says "Sept. 1921, 10 mo. on ranch, S.D." The ranch was somewhere near Fairfax, South Dakota. My only other comment would be that the device he is in looks like something that would be banned from usage in modern times.

Elvis John Brassfield (1920-2006) was the son of Thelma Sarah (Hunt) and Floyd Gipson Brassfield.

Adrian Elmer Brassfield portrait

This is one of the few photos in the collection that depicts Adrian Elmer Brassfield (1902-1919). He is the younger brother of Floyd. Adrian died January 4, 1919 and was buried at Graceland Cemetery, Sioux City, Iowa. His mother Nellie Belle (Bates, Brassfield) Evers is buried there as well. I have no details as to the nature of his death. This date is a few months after peak of the 1918/1919 Spanish Flu pandemic.

Adrian was the son of Nellie Belle (Bates) and Elvis H. Brassfield.

Update: I discovered this same photo in another album, on the reverse it says "Adrian Brassfield" "died 1919 (Flu)" no other details and I don't know who wrote that, but as I said above, it makes sense based on the dates of the flu outbreak.

Floyd Gipson Brassfield

This is another photo from the Memories Brassfield and Hunt book. I'm thinking this is pre-1910, but there is no date on the photo. It does say it was taken at a studio in Sioux City, Iowa.

Floyd Gipson Brassfield (1898-1961) was the son of Nellie Belle (Bates) and Elvis H. Brassfield.

Floyd Gipson Brassfield at the plate

This one is from an album entitled Memories - Brassfield - Hunt. The caption says that Floyd Brassfield is at bat His jersey appears to say B C S. I would only guess at what that means, possibly an S is obscured and it is SBCS. Possibly Sergeant Bluff Community School? He was born in Sergeant Bluff, Iowa, so this is one possibility. Assuming this is a high school photo, this is probably in the 1915 time period plus or minus a year or two.

Floyd is not listed in the 1910 or 1900 census, but Nellie Belle Brassfield is listed as living in Sioux City in 1910. And Floyd is on the 1920 census in Sioux City, Iowa as well.

Floyd Gipson Brassfield (1898-1961) was the son of Nellie Belle (Bates) and Elvis H. Brassfield.

Elvis and Betty

This is another photo from Elvis's photo album. It is captioned "Me and Betty."

Elvis John Brassfield (1920-2006) was the son of Thelma Sarah (Hunt) and Floyd Gipson Brassfield. Betty Lucille Brassfield (Benckendorf) (1923-2003) was their oldest daughter. Betty was born April 18, 1923 in Fairfax, South Dakota. She died June 10, 2003 in Salem, Oregon.

Elvis in the early 1920s

This one is from Elvis's photo album from a page entitled "Me" but has no other caption. Another album has the same photo grouped with photos from when the Floyd Gipson Brassfield family lived in the vicinity of Fairfax, South Dakota. This time frame seems to be sometime after his birth in November 1920 to before his sister Irene was born in June 1924 in Cherokee, Iowa. His sister Betty was born in 1923 in South Dakota.

Elvis John Brassfield (1920-2006) was the son of Thelma Sarah (Hunt) and Floyd Gipson Brassfield.

Elvis was serious about the band

This is another photo from Elvis John Brassfield's album. It was captioned, "I played in the LCHS band, in '39." From his expression, it looks like he took it pretty seriously.

Elvis John Brassfield (1920-2006) was the son of Thelma Sarah (Hunt) and Floyd Gipson Brassfield.

Nellie Belle Evers

Nellie Belle (Bates) Brassfield/Evers

This photo is simply captioned "Grandma" in Elvis John Brassfield's photo album. It is grouped with pictures of the tombstone of Nellie Belle Evers. Based on that and the fact that Elvis's Grandma Hunt died in 1914, prior to his birth, I have to assume this photo is Nellie Belle (Bates) Evers.

Wordless Wednesday - Football

Football

Another photo of Elvis John Brassfield (1920-2006). He was the son of Thelma Sarah (Hunt) and Floyd Gipson Brassfield. It is captioned "Football" in his album.

We lost the state music contest

This is another photo from Elvis J. Brassfield's photo album. Paul Farber and Elvis John Brassfield (1920-2006) are pictured. I am assuming Paul is a classmate and not related.

In the album, the photo is captioned, "Paul Farber & me we lost the "state music contest" in '39."

Elvis was the son of Thelma Sarah (Hunt) and Floyd Gipson Brassfield.

Tombstone Tuesday - Verna C. Parker

Verna Catherine Pugh was born October 20, 1890 in Chicago, Illinois to John L. Pugh and Catherine Patterson. She lived with her mother in Washara county and married Clyde A. Parker January 11, 1911. They moved to Fond du Lac, WI around the 1920s. She died December 24, 1948 and was buried December 27, 1948 at Rienz Cemetery, east of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.

Elvis with Lake City No. 1 bus

Here is another one from a page or two before the California pictures. This one is simply captioned "Bus Driver." It depicts Elvis John Brassfield (1920 - 2006) in front of Lake City, Iowa bus number 1. I think it is from the 1939-1940 time frame.

Elvis was the son of Thelma Sarah (Hunt) and Floyd Gipson Brassfield.

Elvis the bus driver in 1942

Bus driver - L.A '42

This is another photo from Elvis J. Brassfield's photo album. It is captioned "Bus driver - L.A. '42" in the album. The same photo is captioned "1941-42 - Elvis - Bus driver - in Calif." Honestly, I'm not certain how long he lived in California or why, but he entered the Army in February 1943.
I also have an artifact from 1940 that says he worked at Mare Island Navy Yard. Mare Island is northeast of San Fransisco and 350 miles from Los Angeles. Apparently, Elvis spent a bit of time in California and moved around before he got involved in the war. Perhaps the L.A. caption is incorrect since the other one just says California.

Elvis was the son of Thelma Sarah (Hunt) and Floyd Gipson Brassfield.

Howard Hunt football uniform

Uncle Howard

This photo is from the album of Elvis J. Brassfield. It was captioned "Uncle Howard" in the photo album. It is not dated, but must be from the 1920s.

Howard H. Hunt was born November 3, 1907 to John and Jennie (Johnson) Hunt. He died October 12, 1941. He was buried at Coleridge Public Cemetery, Cedar County, Nebraska.

He is connected to the Brassfield surname through his sister, Thelma Sarah Hunt. She married Floyd Gipson Brassfield. This makes Howard Hunt my great grand uncle.

Census Saturday - 1910 Valois D. Parker

Valois Parker and family, early 1900s. See this post for caption details on this photo.

Census information is an important part of genealogy, but it's not always 100% reliable. It can give a glimpse into a day in the life of an ancestor. Census documents are hand written and sometimes difficult to read. They have been scanned from microfilm and sometimes the transfer is not very readable. Each census has different information from one to the next. For example, 1900 lists birth year, but 1901 only lists age. Name spelling is always an issue. Ethnic names are often spelled differently than what is expected. There is also error introduced when the family is not a native speaker of English, like many of the German immigrants in Wisconsin. The census is a valuable source of information, but like every source, it might have errors.

After the jump, there is a census extraction for 1910, Wautoma Township, Waushara County, Wisconsin focusing on the Valois D. Parker family.

Wordless Wednesday - Graves of Clyde and Verna Parker

Grave site of Clyde and Verna Parker with memorial plaque for Vilas.

Reverse angle photo looking down hill towards the access road

These photos were taken by me during a recent visit to Rienzi cemetery, Empire Township, Fond du Lac county, Wisconsin.

Tombstone Tuesday - Clyde A. Parker

Clyde Adelbert Parker was born August 26, 1887 in Waushara County, Wisconsin to Valois Denemore Parker and Anna Belle (Wood) Parker. He married Verna Catherine Pugh January 11, 1911 in Waushara County, Wisconsin. He died July 6, 1962 in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. He and his family had lived in Fond du Lac since the 1920s. He was buried in lot A20 of Rienzi Cemetery, east of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.

Frank Brown Fowlie Cook at Fort Sill

This is one of the last decent photos of Frank Brown Fowlie during his stint as a cook at Fort Sill, Oklahoma during World War I. I don't have much more info about his time in Fort Sill. There is a photo of a band, but I can't tell if Frank is in that photo.

Frank's connection to the Brassfield surname is through his daughters marriage to Elvis J. Brassfield.

Frank Brown Fowlie, a cook and some friends

Frank Fowlie, standing at left

This is a photo of Frank Brown Fowlie (1892 - 1977) with other cooks. As far as I can tell, this was in Fort Sill, Oklahoma during World War I. I'm not sure if he was actually a cook or if he was just temporarily assigned to be a cook. I don't have names for the other cooks in this photo.

Frank Fowlie with targets

This is a photo of Frank Brown Fowlie (1892 - 1977) in uniform with bayonet practice targets. As far as I can tell, this was in Fort Sill, Oklahoma during World War I.

Frank never was fortunate to never need to use what he learned at Fort Sill. He was never deployed overseas with the expeditionary forces. Following the war in 1920, Frank married Clara Bernice Ross.

Frank B. Fowlie World War I

This is a photo of Frank Brown Fowlie (1892 - 1977) in uniform at Fort Sill, Oklahoma during World War I. From what I have been told, Frank served entirely in Fort Sill. It appears that he never deployed with the expeditionary forces to Europe. Following the war in 1920, Frank married Clara Bernice Ross.


Frank Brown Fowlie is my great grandfather. He married Clara Ross and their daughter married Elvis J. Brassfield (1920-2006).

Mary (Stotler) Ross with Clara and Helen Ross

This one is captioned "Mother, Clara and Helen" in one of Clara (Ross) Fowlie's albums.

Mary Hay (Stotler) Ross was born January 27, 1864 in Sangamon, Piatt county, Illinois to Hiram A. Stotler and Hannah (Argo) Stotler. She married John Franklin Ross March 27, 1889 in Illinois. According to my notes, she had 7 children between 1890 and 1906. Clara and Helen were the youngest of her three daughters. She died February 15, 1959, at age 95. She was buried with her husband at Lake Creek Cemetery, Rockwell City, Calhoun county, Iowa.

Floyd Frederick Fowlie

Floyd Fowlie 1911

This is another scanned photo from one of the albums. I cropped off the handwritten caption "Floyd Fowlie 1911." Click read more for more details.

Wordless Wednesday - Up a tree

Chums

This is one of two photos of Helen Ross with a dog from Clara (Ross) Fowlie's 1910s-1920s photo album. Both photos are captioned "Chums" and in between them is written Helen Ross & "Pup".

Tombstone Tuesday - Rebecca J. Ross

Rebecca J. Ross

Rebecca Jane Ross was born March 30, 1861 to Henry Ross and Elizabeth (Cowan) Ross. She died March 12, 1862 and was buried at Mackey Cemetery, Piatt County, Illinois. I took this photo of the tombstone in June 2007.

Helen Ross

Here's another photo of Helen Ross, probably from the 1920s. Scanned from Clara (Ross) Fowlie's photo album.

One interesting thing I found from the census records is that the Rosses lived near the Whitteds in Lake Creek township, Calhuon county, Iowa. At the time of the 1920 census, Helen Ross was living at home with the most of the Ross family, her parents John and Mary Ross, as well as her siblings Mary, Clara, John (Jr.) and Oliver Ross. Two dwellings away from them was Harold Whitted and his family. Harold's mother had died in 1913. His father Charles and step mother Julia are listed as well as two brothers and two step children.

I thought it was interesting to point out that Helen and Harold were neighbors, at least in 1920. They married in 1939.

The 1930 census poses another question. There is an H. A. Whitted in Lake Creek township. 27 years old with a wife named Emma and a son named Donald. I'll have to check my notes to see if Harold was married before he married Helen. He would have been 27 in 1930 and the middle initial matches. I didn't realize Harold was married once before, so I'll have to double check this.

Our boyfriend Frank

This one is a little different from the other horse and buggy photo. It's also scanned from Clara (Ross) Fowlie's photo album. The caption in the album was "Our boyfriend Frank." So, it is a pre-1920 photo of Frank Brown Fowlie (1892-1977).

Frank Fowlie is my great grandfather. He married Clara Ross and their daughter married Elvis J. Brassfield (1920-2006).
Click the Frank Brown Fowlie label below to see more items relating to Frank.

Aunt Jennie and Uncle Clarence

Aunt Jennie and Uncle Clarence

This is another photo from Elvis J. Brassfield's album. It is captioned "Aunt Jennie and Uncle Clarence". The photo appears twice in the album and is grouped with photos of the funeral for Nellie Bell (Bates/Brassfield) Evers, in 1940, though the date I have was late October, and doesn't seem to match the tree foliage and clothing.

Clarence Dickson (Dixon?) Brassfield was born January 7, 1895 in Sergeant Bluff, Iowa to Elvis H. Brassfield and Nellie Bell (Bates) Brassfield. He was Floyd Gipson Brassfield's older brother. He married Jennie Elvera Martinson May 4, 1924 in Sioux City, Iowa. Clarence died in California June 23, 1941. He is buried at Floyd Cemetery, Sioux City, Iowa.

Jennie Elvera Martinson was born June 24, 1891 in Iowa. She died May 13, 1975 in Inglewood, California.

Thelma and Floyd Brassfield

Thelma and Floyd Brassfield

This is another photo from Elvis's album. It shows Thelma Sarah (Hunt) and Floyd Gipson Brassfield. They were Elvis J. Brassfield's parents. They were both born in 1898 and I think this photo dates to the late 1920s or early 1930s. It's grouped with photos of a house in Cherokee and a house in Lake City, Iowa. There is also one with a young Elvis in South Dakota. According to my notes, they were living in Fairfax, South Dakota in 1923, Cherokee, Iowa in 1924 and Lake City, Iowa by 1930 so the photo must be from that time frame.

Floyd Gipson Brassfield, Slim and the truck

Floyd, Slim and Pal.

This is another photo scanned from one of Elvis Brassfield's photo albums. It is captioned "Floyd, Slim, Pal." in the album and has an arrow pointing towards the dog indicating the name "Pal" refers to the dog. Another photo of the man on the right is captioned "Slim" as well and another has him pictured with a woman named Norma. I don't think they were relatives of Floyd's, but I'll see what turns up in further research. He might have been a family friend or partner in the trucking business in Lake City, Iowa. See this post for a scanned business card for the trucking business. As mentioned before, Floyd was Elvis J. Brassfield's father. Click the Floyd Gipson Brassfield label to see other posts relating to Floyd.

Sisters

Thelma and Della Hunt

This one was captioned "Mother + Aunt Della". It's from one of Elvis J. Brassfield's photo albums. Thelma Sarah Hunt was Elvis's mother. Her younger sister was Della Hunt. Thelma was born in 1898, Della in 1912. Their mother Jennie (Johnson) Hunt died in 1914. I don't have too many details about Della, my notes say she died in 1956. Both sisters were born in Nebraska. It is not dated in the album, but the photo near others in the 1930s.

Thelma Sarah Hunt Brassfield in 1938

Thelma Sarah (Hunt) Brassfield, 1938

This is another photo from one of Elvis J. Brassfield's photo albums. Captioned "My Mom in '38". She was around 40 years old in this photo. A bit more info below...

Four Hunts

Nathan, Howard, Theodore and John Hunt

Here is a photo from one of Elvis J. Brassfield's photo albums. There is no caption given, but the other pictures around it show that Howard Hunt is the second from the left and Theodore Hunt is the third from the left. I think it is a fair assumption to say that this is all three sons with their father John Hunt. Nathan died in 1935, so this photo is dated prior to that year. Their mother Jennie J. (Johnson) Hunt died in 1914. Two sisters Thelma and Della Hunt are absent from this photo, but there are some photos of them in the album which I will post at a later date.

John, Nathan, Howard and Jennie Hunt are buried at Coleridge Public Cemetery, Coleridge, Cedar county, Nebraska.

These Hunts connect to the Brassfield surname through Thelma Hunt, who married Floyd Gipson Brassfield in 1920.

Helen Ross with a nautical look

Helen Ross

This photo is from Clara (Ross) Fowlie's photo album and was captioned "Helen". The pictures near it were from the mid 1920s. The location is not specified, but in my mind it is Black Hawk lake near Lake View, Iowa.

Helen Elizabeth Ross was born October 15, 1903. She was the youngest of the three daughters of John and Mary Ross. Her middle name is the same as her Grandmother's first name. Her father, John Franklin Ross's mother's name was Elizabeth Cowen, prior to marrying Henry Ross. I've mentioned Henry in a few other posts here.

Wordless Wednesday - Frank Fowlie's Horse and Buggy

Frank Fowlie with his horse and buggy about 1915

Another photo scanned from Clara (Ross) Fowlie's photo album.