Titanic Tribute Poem

I made a rather awesome discovery today that I just had to share. It is related to my maternal 2nd great grandmother, Susan Elinor (Templeton) Kephart, wife of Alexis Elihu Kephart. She was born in 1859 in Milan, Rock Island County, Illinois; and she died in 1927 in Wellston, Lincoln County, Oklahoma.

Nellie, as she was often called, was a proud farmer's wife and a very talented woman. She won prizes for her canning and gardening abilities, including $75 in Gold in a contest she won in 1911. She did sewing and quilting and many other things that women of her era were apt to do--lost arts in today's world. One other thing she often did was write poetry. I have been fortunate enough to find many of her poems, because they were often published in her local newspapers. As I occasionally sift through newspaper archives, I will often search for 'Kephart,' hoping to find more news of this awesome woman.

As someone fascinated with the Titanic, today's find was particularly awesome. It is a poem that Nellie wrote in tribute after the Titanic's sinking. It's a wonderful poem so I couldn't resist sharing. I had to piece it together since it was split into two columns in the newspaper, you can still read her thoughtful words. You may need to click on the image to make it larger though.

Cool Kephart Cars

I was going through some old photos today and I thought it might be fun to share some photos of some of my Kephart family--but with photos that all have cars in them. I really don't have a lot of old photos that have vintage cars in them too, so it's always a treat when I find one. These photos are the majority of what I have! Most of these include siblings of my maternal grandmother. Just a couple of them though have my mom and uncle in them.

First up: a photo of my maternal great aunt, Lorena Faye Kephart. Not even sure how old she is in the photo, but it was taken in Wellston, Lincoln County, Oklahoma. She was born in 1921, and if I had to guess, she was five or six in this photo. 

Mother - Genealogy Photo a Day

The photo prompt for today's Genealogy Photo a Day is appropriately 'Mother.' So I thought I'd share some photos that spotlight my mother, Carolyne Ruth (Kephart) Gould, and her mother, Della Maxine (Kephart) Hammersmith. These are some of my favorite photos of the two of them. They are great mom moments. 

This one was taken in Wellston, Oklahoma. Late 1946-Early 1947.

This one is one of my favorite photos of Nana and Mom--doing laundry.

Mom even has a clothes pin in her mouth.

This next one shows Mom and Nana relaxing on a pool day.

I LOVE this next photo! Mom was quite the little cowgirl when she was little.

See there? She even has a little gun and holster. And hair bows finish off the look.

This last photo is of Mom and me with quote I love, that seems appropriate for Mother's Day.

Wishing you all very Happy Mother's Day.

Morning - Genealogy Photo a Day

There's a photo challenge on Instagram called Genealogy Photo a Day and uses that hashtag. I thought I'd try to participate in some of those challenges for the month of May. Today's photo prompt is "Morning." So this is my photo for today.

The girl on the right is my maternal grandmother (Nana), Della Maxine Kephart. The girl on the left could be a sibling, but I'm not sure. The nearest sister in age to my grandmother was Lorena Faye Kephart. She was six years older than my grandmother, and I can't decide if this girl looks the right age to be her. But either way, it looks like it could be Morning in this photo, because the girls appear to have their school books with them.

This photo would have been taken in Wellston, Lincoln County, Oklahoma, where my grandmother grew up. I can picture that ground in its true color, the "red dirt" of Oklahoma, as my mom always called it. I have one of my mom's baby shoes that has some of that red dirt caked onto it. I love this photo, and the other one I have taken at the same time. This one has just my grandmother in it though.

Nana's father, John Arthur Kephart, was a photographer. So, every time I look at photos of Nana or her siblings, I wonder if my great grandfather took them. I'd sure love to find more photos that he took during his lifetime. And it sure would be nice if we could step into photos and have a look around, don't you think? 

Grandma Kephart's Cook Books

I was looking through my cook books this morning and became a little bit nostalgic. I have 4 generations of cook books in my kitchen, and some recipes that go back even farther than that. So, I thought I'd highlight a few of those for this week's Tuesday Treasures post. 

These are just three of the cookbooks that originally belonged to my maternal great grandmother, Della Mae (Swinford) Kephart. She was born in Vandalia, Missouri on May 13, 1888; she died in Wellston, Oklahoma on April 7, 1976. These cookbooks were passed down to her daughter, my grandmother, Della Maxine (Kephart) Hammersmith, who then passed them to my mother, Carolyne (Kephart) Gould. My mom gave them to me many moons ago, and they're always in my kitchen. And every once in awhile I like to pull some out and see what looks good to make. But the history in these cookbooks is also really cool, so I thought it'd be fun to share them here.

Nana's Recipe Box

If you look at it, it really doesn't look that special. I mean, it's a wooden box. How could this simple little wooden box be a treasure? 

Well, that's simple: this was my maternal grandmother's recipe box. And not only is it filled with all of my grandmothers--and some of my great grandmother's--recipes, but it was also handmade by my grandfather. This is the recipe box of Della Maxine (Kephart) Hammersmith, made by William Robert Hammersmith. And I'm happy to share it as part of Tuesday Treasures. 

The Death of Jessie Kephart McPherson

Jessie Cordelia (Kephart) McPherson was the daughter of my maternal great grandfather, John Arthur Kephart and his first wife, Mary H. Duncan. Jessie was born December 10, 1903 in Wellston, Lincoln County, Oklahoma. 

Jessie's mother died when Jessie was just over three years old. After that time, Jessie lived with her father, while her sister, Mary Alma went to live with their grandparents, Henry and Laura (Hendee) Duncan.

When Jessie was 21 years old, she married 27 year-old, Samuel Archie McPherson. They had two sons together: Warren McPherson (1925-2017) and Larry McPherson (1928-1928).

Jessie, Standing. Seated L to R: Laura (Hendee) Duncan and Henry A Duncan

Toddler is Jessie's son, Warren McPherson. Circa 1927.

Just shy of their fifth wedding anniversary, Jessie died under mysterious circumstances. Her death is our Monday Mystery for this week. The media account of the circumstances surrounding Jessie's death appeared in a Chandler, Oklahoma newspaper as follows.

Kephart Postcard 1907

Every once in awhile, I poke around on Ebay, just on the off chance I'll find something up for sale related to one of my ancestors. One regular 'alert' I've set up there is for the town of Wellston, Oklahoma. I have so many ancestors from there, so I like to be aware of any finds from that town that might be relevant to my genealogical research. 

I get hits fairly regularly on 'Wellston,' but up until a few months ago, nothing has proved too useful. But when I got this particular alert, I knew I'd found something awesome. It's related to my maternal great grandfather, John Arthur Kephart. In his younger years, Grandpa Kephart had been a photographer. He even had a studio between 1908-1916, though he'd been taking photos before that, and I'm sure afterward as well. I posted about this once, including a photo of his photo gallery that was in Wellston. The photo had been found by a woman named Carol, who worked at the Lincoln County Historical Society in Chandler, OK. She sent me a copy and I was thrilled to get it. Prior to that, I'd found advertisements for Grandpa Kephart's photography in old newspapers, and even some photos he'd taken that appeared in the newspaper.

Well, the alert I got from Ebay was for a photo postcard from Wellston, Oklahoma. And not only did it have Wellston on it, it also had the name Kephart on the top left of it. Photographers would frequently add their names to the photos they took in that way, to identify themselves as the photographer. 

The postcard left the Post Office in Guthrie, OK, headed to Miss Edna Meyer in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, from one R. E. Davis. The image shows East Main Street in Wellston. 

This may be the only postcard or actual photo I ever find that was taken by John Arthur Kephart, so I will treasure it. But I'll stay on the hunt for more mementos of his photography past. 

Wednesday's Child - Faye and Brucke Kephart

For this week's Wednesday's Child feature, I'm spotlighting two of the Kephart kin in my family. My maternal great aunt, Lorena Faye (Kephart) Woolard; and one of her brothers, my great uncle, Edgar Bruce Kephart. Faye is on the left in the photo, and Bruce is on the right. 

Aunt Faye was born September 30, 1921 in Wellston, Lincoln County, Oklahoma. She was the fourth child and second daughter born to John Arthur Kephart and Della Mae (Swinford) Kephart. Faye married Henry Earl Woolard on June 29, 1945. Since she lived in Oklahoma, I didn't get to see Aunt Faye very often as I was growing up. But I do have a couple of nice memories of her at some family gatherings from my childhood. Aunt Faye passed away on February 16, 1995.

Uncle Bruce was born pm February 15, 1924, also in Wellston. He was the 8th child and fifth son of John and Della Kephart. He married Helen Lenore Gardner on February 5, 1945. I was lucky enough to be able to spend a lot of time with my Uncle Bruce as I was growing up. I have many wonderful memories of summer visits at his home in California, fishing, and helping him work on his home that he built in Northern California. Bruce passed away on November 10, 1994. I miss him dearly.

I think this is the only photo I have of Faye and Bruce as young children, and the quality isn't the best. I edited it a bit to get rid of some of the blemishes. But I still love this photo of the two of them, and I'm glad to be able to share it with you.

Wednesday's Child - Ruby Christina Kephart

I've pretty much gone by the name, 'Tina' my whole life. But my given name is Christina, and I was named after one of my maternal great aunts, Ruby Christina Kephart. So, I thought I'd make Aunt Ruby the spotlight of this week's Wednesday's Child feature. 

Ruby Christina Kephart was born September 29, 1909 in Wellston, Lincoln County, Oklahoma. She was the daughter of John Arthur Kephart and Della Mae (Swinford) Kephart, and she was the first born of 11 children born to my great grandparents. She also happened to share the share the same birthday (though 18 years apart) with my grandmother, Della Maxine Kephart. 

You have to admit, she was such an adorable baby! She was quite pretty as she grew older as well. Just look at her, wearing perfectly awesome bows in her hair--long before someone named 'Jo-Jo' got famous doing it. ;) 

I didn't get to see my Aunt Ruby much when I was growing up, since we lived in different states. But I always loved the fact that I was someone's namesake. I thought she had to be very special for my mom to have named me after her. Whenever I did see her, she was always very kind and sweet to me. And the cool part is, my sister named her first daughter Christina as well, so really, we are both namesakes of my great Aunt Ruby! I am so thankful I have these photos of her, and glad to be able to share them as this week's Wednesday's Child.

Grandma Kephart's Tin Box

I think it's time for another addition to my Tuesday Treasures feature here at Ancestry Chick. I wasn't sure what family heirloom I should pick this week, but I finally settled on this simple little tin box that belonged to my maternal great grandmother, Della Mae (Swinford) Kephart.

My mom gave me this little tin candy box a few years before she passed away. She had gotten into the habit of bringing me family things when she would come and visit from Texas. She always told me she had some new goodies for me, and she gave them to me because she knew how much these kinds of things mean to me. Mom and I both spent many years doing genealogy, and also just treasuring family things that had sentimental value. So, anytime she would bring me something, I was more than thrilled to get it.

Wednesday's Child - John Chester Kephart

This week's Wednesday Child is my maternal great uncle, John Chester Kephart. 

John was born on May 7, 1914 in Wellston, Oklahoma, to my great grandparents Della Mae (Swinford) Kephart and John Arthur Kephart. Sadly, John lived a very short life. He became quite ill in early February of 1915, though I don't know what his affliction was.

Rememberings of Rusha Cordelia Kephart

Rusha Cordelia Kephart was born in Ida Grove, Iowa on October 17, 1891 to my second great grandparents, Alexis and Susan (Templeton) Kephart. Rusha was the baby of the family, and one of two girls in the family, and by all accounts she was very close to her mother. I believe it's likely that Rusha was named after her maternal grandmother, Jerusha (Sutton) Templeton. Rusha may have been short for Jerusha, or just derived from it. 

Lincoln County Oklahoma History

In my last blog post, I wrote about a recent photo discovery made of an old photo gallery built and owned by my great grandfather, John Arthur Kephart. It was so great to get that from the kind researcher at the Lincoln County Historical Society in Chandler, Oklahoma. So I asked her what book she found the photo in, and she told me it was from the Society's history book of the county, called Lincoln County Oklahoma History. That book is no longer in print, but I found a copy on Ebay--all 1,572 pages of it. I have so many ancestors from Lincoln County, I knew I had to have, so I'm glad I won that auction!

Believe me when I say that I've not yet read this beast of a book. I'm skimming and scanning my way through slowly. But I did check the index straight away to check for ancestor names, and they were there! In particular, I have found a couple of great photos and articles, both written by my great aunt, Ruby Christina (Kephart) Stephens, who is my namesake. Much of the content of the book about various local families was written by living family members, who I'm sure also provided many photos. I so love the photos! Yay!

The photo below is of my great, great grandmother, Susan Eleanor (Templeton) Kephart. Next to her is her granddaughter, my great aunt Ruby, when she was a young girl.

Nellie (as Susan was often called) was a prize-winning gardener and canner, among many other things. So I love that this photo in the book shows her with some of her canned goods. 

This next photo from the book is of my maternal great grandparents, Della Mae (Swinford) Kephart, and John Arthur Kephart. 

Until I saw this photograph in the book, I had forgotten that I had seen a real one many times before--in my grandparents' home. As soon as I saw it I could picture it hanging on Nana's wall. I love that photo of them! I only wish I had a real copy of the photo myself.  But this one is better than nothing, and it sure was nice to find it in the book.

And since my great grandfather was a photographer back in the day, and one of the only ones in Lincoln County for quite awhile, he is credited for taking some of the photos in the history book as well. As I go through the book I am bookmarking pages and making notes, and I hope to share more information from it here on the blog in the future. I have some other Swinford ancestors in the book as well. So who knows what else I may find.

I wish every county had books like this. It really is a wonderful way to travel back in time and visit the places so many of my ancestors lived. What a treasure for a genealogist like me! 

John Arthur Kephart - Photo Gallery

My latest addition to my Tuesday Treasures is something that arrived in the mail today and I was thrilled to receive it. It is a photocopy of a photo that appeared in a book of some sort (still waiting to confirm which publication and its date). The photo is of Kephart's Photo Gallery from Wellston, Oklahoma, which belonged to my great grandfather, John Arthur Kephart. His business existed at the very least (based on my research) between 1908 and 1916. 

A little background is necessary here. I need to point out that I never even knew that my great grandfather was a photographer until one day a couple of years ago. I was searching through old newspapers online from Wellston, Oklahoma, and I found a wedding announcement from 1908 for John Arthur Kephart and my great grandmother, Della Mae Swinford. That announcement noted that my great grandpa had a photography business. This was just exciting to me. 

After finding that, I did some more searching and found various ads like the one below, in the Wellston News for his photography business.

Grandpa Kephart must have been a pretty good photographer, because at least one of his photos was featured in the newspaper. And the Audubon Society was also interested in one of his photos. I don't think that photo was ever published though; I did a lot of research and some correspondence with the Audubon Society and was not able to locate any photo taken by him. It is nice to know they were interested though!

A little more digging and I discovered (still, a couple of years ago) that Grandpa Kephart had one photo studio, and then tore it down in 1916 and built another one in its place. Apparently the first one was his residence as well at that time.

 

The part that is awesome to me, well at least one thing anyway, is that my mom did genealogy too, and she never mentioned that Grandpa Kephart had been a photographer. So to find all of this information in the past couple of years, and now the photo of his business is bittersweet--because she is no longer here for me to share it with her. She would have loved all of this, because she loved her grandparents so very much!

I must add that the photo was found for me thanks to a wonderful worker, named Carol, at the Lincoln County Historical Society in Chandler, Oklahoma. She was looking for something else for me and just happened to find that photo. I'm so very glad she did! I am always digging for more information on my great grandparents, and with any luck I'll find more in the future.

For now, I'll just end this with a photo of John Arthur Kephart. So you can see what my great grandpa looked like.

Forget Me Not Friday - Kephart Grandmothers

This week, for Forget Me Not Friday, I'm featuring two generations of my maternal ancestors: my great grandmother, Della Mae (Swinford) Kephart, and her mother, my great, great grandmother, Lavina Elizabeth (Winders) Swinford.

Lavina Winders was born in Illinois on May 21, 1852 to Andrew Jackson Winders. Her mother is unknown, and is one of the biggest brick walls in my family tree. Andrew was likely married and perhaps his first wife died. He would later marry Delila Nestleroad, who is quite often mistaken for Lavina's mother in many family trees. However, Andrew and Delila didn't marry until 1854, and Delila would only have been 14 at the time of Lavina's birth. Delila was also born in Ohio and living there when she married Andrew. So it doesn't quite add up for her to be Lavina's mother. The search for Lavina's mother's identity continues. 

Lavina would later marry Jonathan J Swinford in 1875 in Missouri. Together they would have eight children by the time they moved into the Oklahoma Territory in 1889 and become what is known as '89ers. One of those children was Della Mae, my great grandmother. You see both of these ladies in the photo. The other woman in the photo is likely one of Lavina's other daughters, either Ethel or Grace. I haven't yet figured out which one.

Jonathan and Lavina would have 2 more children, and the couple would live most of the rest of their lives in Wellston, Lincoln County, Oklahoma. Lavina died on June 6, 1915 in Wellston. Della would marry my great grandfather, John Arthur Kephart, and they too would live out their lives and die in Wellston. Della died on April 7, 1976. I still remember the day we got the news. My mom had been very close to her. It was so hard to watch her and my grandmother grieve this loss.

I love the photo of these two grandmothers of mine. And I love being able to help preserve their memory by keeping their history alive here on the blog, and in my heart.

Grandma Kephart's Teapot

For this week's Tuesday Treasure I want to share a picture of a sweet little teapot, which is really only big enough for about one cup of tea. This belonged to my great grandmother, Della Mae (Swinford) Kephart.

My mom brought this to me, along with several other special things that had belonged to Grandma Kephart, a few years before Mom passed away. And of course it's something I treasure. Mom said that Grandma did use this teapot to make herself tea. I love that blue flower on the brown background, and the scrolls and swirls of green leaves. And I love even more that I can imagine Grandma Kephart fixing herself a nice hot cup of tea with it.

I've often seen similar teapots to this at antique stores and such. Most of them time they are bigger than this one. I don't know if it's even valuable...but it's priceless to me, and I'd never sell it. There's a note tucked inside of it, stating who it's original owner was, so that my daughter will know after I'm gone. I've started doing that with a lot of family heirlooms and other special things around the house. If no one but me knows their story, then once I'm gone the stories will be gone too. So I'm hoping that by adding notes or labels to everything that's important, my daughter and grandkids will know where these things came from. 

After all, preserving the family legacy and history is the goal. 

Wednesday's Child - Jerry Hollister Kephart

For this week's Wednesday's Child, I am featuring the ancestor that my maternal grandmother, Della Maxine Kephart, considered to be her guardian angel. It was her brother, Jerry Hollister Kephart, who was nicknamed Hollis.

Jerry was born to John Arthur and Della Mae (Swinford) Kephart on October 23, 1925 in Wellston, Oklahoma. His middle name, Hollister, was likely given to him after his great grandfather, Isaac Hollister Templeton (his paternal grandmother's father). I'm not sure if the name Jerry was after someone else, or just a name that my great grandparents liked.

Sadly, Hollis would live only 2 years, passing away on December 19, 1927. Family history says that he died as a result of multiple bee stings. He is buried in Wellston Cemetery in Wellston, OK. I imagine that the above photo was likely taken not long before he died, because he looks to be about two years old here. My grandmother always had that photo of him in her home, and she treasured it.

Rest in Peace

Surname Saturday - Kephart

For this week's Surname Saturday post I'd like to share an important surname in my family tree: Kephart. Kephart is the Americanized spelling of the German Gebhardt. According to various sources, the surname Kephart was first found in Silesia, where this family name dates back to at least the 9th century. The name is derived from the Old High German elements "geb," which means "gift" and "hard," meaning "brave, hardy." I rather like the sound of that.

So far, in my family tree, I have gotten the Kephart line back to around 1750 in Maryland, where my 5th great grandfather, Simon Kephart was born and lived. I believe he died there too, but I haven't found the exact date information yet. That is about as far back as my mother got in her research as well (she was a genealogist too). We know that he died before January of 1801 though, because his 2nd wife, Susannah (my 5th great grandmother) died then during childbirth and was listed as a widow in her death notice. So Simon had to have died fairly near to the time of his wife's death.

Now I know the original line goes back to Germany somewhere, and I will get there eventually. But my Kephart family line from Simon went from Maryland, to Ohio, with my 4th great grandfather, George Kephart. George had two children born in Maryland (including my 3rd great grandfather, Ormand, and his sister, Susan), and one child born in Allen County, Ohio (my 3rd great Uncle, Peter Kephart). 

I have many Kephart ancestors that were born and lived and died in Ohio--particularly in Allen County, most of them in or near Spencerville and Amanda Township. Ormand died quite young in 1856 at the age of  36 in Spencerville. He had four children in Spencerville before his death, including Catharine, George, and Oscar, and my 2nd great grandfather, Alexis Elihu Kephart; and one child, Ormand, who was born six months after his father's death.

What I love about the Allen County Kephart connection is that I live only an hour from there. When I moved to Ohio in 1987--where my husband grew up--I had no idea of my ancestral connection, because I wasn't yet doing genealogy. So to discover this later was kind of awesome to me. It actually turns out that I have ancestors from my maternal and paternal sides of my tree that lived and/or died in Allen County, Ohio!

My grandfather, Alexis married his bride, Susan Eleanor Templeton in her home state of Illinois in 1877. They lived in Spencerville, Ohio for awhile, then would eventually move to Kansas, then Iowa, before finally settling in Lincoln County, Oklahoma. They had five children, including my great grandfather, John Arthur Kephart, and his brothers Edgar and Byron, and his two sisters, Anna Carrie, and Rusha.  The photo below is of this Kephart family.

My mother was born a Kephart, her mother's maiden name, because my grandmother, Della Kephart, was unmarried at the time that my mother was born. I spent a lot of time around Kephart uncles, aunts, and cousins when I was growing up in California. A lot of the children of John Arthur ended up in California. So literally, our Kephart line ended up migrating across the entire country over time. 

I still have much digging to do into the Kephart family line. I have always felt very connected to this part of my family, so I love digging into my Kephart roots. I really enjoy learning anything new that I can about this branch of my family tree.

Wednesday's Child - Della Maxine Kephart

For this week's Wednesday's Child feature I'm featuring a photo of Nana, my maternal grandmother, Della Maxine Kephart. Nana was born on September 29, 1927, in Wellston, Oklahoma to John Arthur and Della Mae (Swinford) Kephart.

I never saw this photo before this past week when my Uncle posted it online so that I could see it. I had never seen a photo of Nana when she was little, so I had asked if he had any. I love this photo, even though it's a little blurry. She looks to be about two years old here. You can still see her wonderful big smile, and I can't help but wonder who she was smiling at in that moment. 

My Nana was a huge part of my life when I was growing up. Our birthdays were only one day apart so we almost always spent them together. We shared a love of poetry, and Elvis. She made the best "Pot Pie" (which was the family version of chicken and noodles) and the best fried chicken on the planet. She was there for so many milestone moments in my life and was a very special lady. She proclaimed our family motto to be NAIH (Never Apart In Heart), which I still use to this day. And she made the yellow rose our family flower. So even now, when I see yellow roses I can't help but think of her. 

Love and miss you, Nana. NAIH