Contagious Genealogy: A Pandemic

After my maternal great aunt, Frances (Dean) Wise, passed away in 2019, her daughter saw it fit to ship me two of the enlarged, framed photographs that had adorned her walls in Tulsa, Oklahoma. They had hung above the ancestral bed that had once belonged to her great grandmother, Elizabeth (Pitcock) Rockwell, who happened to be my 3rd great grandmother. I was already well acquainted with the two pictures, seeing as I was already in possession of much smaller versions in the photo albums I had inherited from my grandmother (Frances' sister). But I was stoked to add the framed stills to my personal collection, all the same. The frames themselves are pretty unique as they are made with sturdy wood and convex bubble glass over the picture. My best guess is that the frame may date back to the 1930s or '40s. The other thing that makes the photographs interesting is the fact they were hand-painted to bring color to minute details within the image, such as rosy cheeks. The smaller vers...

At the June 2018 Southern California Genealogical Society's Genealogy Jamboree event in Burbank, California, I had the pleasure of sitting down with The Photo Detective, Maureen Taylor, on the convention floor. She was offering immediate, in-person consultations on two photos for just $20. I couldn't pass up this opportunity to get her expertise on a photo of my 3rd great grandmother (actually two of my 3rd great grandmothers!). I admit I was a little intimidated. Although I had been studying my tree for years, I was still a baby genealogist and was rather green when it came to doing research the right way. Maureen was already well-known and established, so this was kind of like meeting a celebrity in genealogy circles. And I could tell she meant business when we began our session and she broke out her audio-set with a microphone that helped amplify her voice above the buzz of the expo floor. I asked if it was okay to record our session and her response was, "Absolutely!...

In a previous blog post on my Great Grandaunt Mary , I wrote about her quilting hobby and how I coincidentally found a photo of her sewing a pattern that wound up in the hands of a cousin whom I had just met online (all due to this blog!). Quilt made by Mary (Dixon) Stalnaker Hogg and gifted to Nancy Hogg.  Photo supplied by Nancy Hogg, 2022. Mary wasn't the only quilter in the family though. Her mother, Lizzie (Rockwell) Dixon, and grandmother, Elizabeth (Pitcock) Rockwell, had also been avid quilters. In 2009, our family attended a small reunion outside of Tulsa, Oklahoma at my Great Aunt Frances (Dean) Wise's home to celebrate her 90th birthday and her sister Thelma's 81st. It was the perfect opportunity to raid Frances' closet, figuratively speaking! She gave us the low down on several family heirlooms and photos hung about her bedroom, including the many handmade quilts she had stored in a box, as well as two garments she produced herself. Both she and Thelma are n...

Sutton is a small town in Braxton County, smack dab in the center of West Virginia. Home to the West Virginia Bigfoot Museum and the Haunted Haymond House, there's not much else to write home about, but this place was once called home by my mom's side of the family from about 1902 to 1945-ish. It was also the birthplace of Lizzie's roadhouse! Elizabeth (Rockwell) Dixon was my 2nd great grandmother, and she also happened to be a fine businesswoman. She ran her own gas station and store on the side of the road. Mrs. Lizzie Dixon roadhouse, Sutton, West Virginia, circa 1930.  Photo provided by Nancy (Hogg) Jones to Kira D. Foltz. Dixon roadhouse, Sutton, West Virginia, 18 Nov 1934. Dixon roadhouse, Sutton, West Virginia, 18 Nov 1934. And that's right; it wasn't managed by her husband! It was HER name up on that sign: Mrs. Lizzie Dixon roadhouse sign, Sutton, West Virginia, circa 1930.  Photo provided by Nancy (Hogg) Jones to Kira D. Foltz. The exact location of where t...

Before the phrase, "But first, let me take a selfie!" reigned supreme in the late 2010s, my 2nd great grandparents, Nathan & Lizzie (Rockwell) Dixon, were already masters of photog culture. Their heyday was in the first half of the 20th century. Photography had only been invented a couple decades before they were born and had only gone mainstream when they were still in their youth. But it must have been an absolute hobby of theirs (or at least Lizzie's), because my family picture collection is filled with snaps of her and her husband. The two of them can certainly hold the title of first-ever influencers in our family tree. Here is just a selection of their photos over the years (and I'm positive I have several more hidden amongst my photo albums):

  DECEMBER 20, 2021 Week 51: Holidays I have a pair of twin treasure chests that sit underneath the stairs in my house. They belonged to my maternal grandparents, and they’re filled with family picture frames, wartime correspondence, loose papers, little trinkets and other ephemera. A lot of the stuff that fills the chests has been placed in them at different times, so most of it is completely random and unrelated to the other stuff, which makes it even more fun to sift through, because it’s one surprise after another. Mary Dixon, “Post Cards”, scrapbook, Sutton, West Virginia, ca. 1908; privately held by descendant Kira D. Foltz. One such item is a very old scrapbook whose cover is pre-printed with POST CARDS. With a quick scan through the pages, it’s clear the collection belonged to Miss Mary Dixon of Sutton, West Virginia. Mary Lucretia Dixon was my great grandmother Beatrice’s older sister. She was born 30 November 1892 in Wadestown, Monongalia, West Virginia to Nathan and Eliz...

  NOVEMBER 04, 2021 A bride’s fashion choices on her big day typically wind up as the most important outfit of her life….and one that she’ll likely never don ever again! After the wedding zips by in a flash, she’s left with the question of, “What do I do with this dress?” Week 40: Preservation My mom had a very unfortunate story surrounding her wedding gown, where her aunt Frances had hand-beaded an extravagant dress for her that tragically did not arrive in the post by the day of the ceremony! My mom had been the one to design the dress, and Frances patterned it in Oklahoma and sent a muslin back to California for her to try it on. Her mom, Edna, helped pin it and they sent it back to Frances for finishing. But when Frances shipped out the final product, the airlines went on strike, and the dress was stuck on a plane in Texas! So, the night before her wedding, my mom drove to the Del Amo Fashion Center (then called the Del Amo Fashion Square) in Torrance, California with her soon-...