Swamablog Update

I haven’t posted anything in awhile and this is to let you all know what I’ve been doing.

Dollhouse Enclosure Project

When I last wrote I had been working to enclose one of my dollhouses.  I do have the necessary epoxy type glue that should work to adhere the Velcro strips to the plastic sheets.  Presently, I’m waiting for it to get warmer here so that I can have the windows open while using the toxic-smelling glue.

Rhoda Caroline Richardson Womble Research

I’m still waiting for the copies of the membership records of the Womble family from the Elm Street Methodist Church that I ordered from the Archivist at the Tennessee Conferences Archives, History Depository.  I called them a couple of weeks back to find out what had happened with the copies that were going to be mailed to me.  The woman I spoke with said that the minister told her he probably mailed them to the wrong address.  I gave her my address again and was told that they would be sent to me within a couple of days.  I’m considering that if I don’t receive them in a few days that I’ll send them a SASE asking for the information again, which is probably what I should have done initially, but I wasn’t sure how much 10 pages of information would cost to mail. 

Embroidery/Knitting Projects

What I’ve been doing while waiting for these much anticipated copies is working on Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum’s “Once Upon A Time” that I’m making for one of my sisters.  I had barely started it when I first purchased it back in 1995 and only started dedicating a serious chunk of my time to work on the piece in January 2012.  I’ve been trying to spend most of my weekends stitching and this past week even decided to work on it a bit during the week.

At the same time that I’m cross-stitching this, I’m also knitting a cable knit sweater of which is about a little over halfway done.   One of the knitting blogs I read suggested working on more knitting projects at one time—basically to stop being a knitting monogamist. I considered this and then while spending so much time cross-stitching during this long holiday weekend on the piece for my sister, the idea came to me to take up embroidering more projects at one time. Basically, to stop being an embroidery monogamist!  

I won’t try this though until after my current embroidery project is completely finished!

Reading

I recently finished reading Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence, a book that I’ve always wanted to read.  Another book that I’ve finished reading is While My Pretty One Knits from the Black Sheep Knitting Mysteries series. This seemed to be a better read than the knitting mysteries written by Maggie Sefton, which after reading 2 ½ of them-the third I just couldn’t finish.  I do really like the characters in Maggie’s books, but by the third mystery the story seemed to be too much of a rehash of the first two books in the series.  It was a bit disappointing to me not to finish the third, A Deadly Yarn because the budding romance between the main character and one of the guys on the local softball team interested me, the people in knitting group were great too.  I can see I’m digressing here and will have to post something just about knitting mysteries or craft mysteries in general at a later date.

More on My Rhoda Caroline Richardson Research

When I last posted about my research on Rhoda Caroline, I had sent an e-mail to the Tennessee Conferences Archives, History Depository and hadn’t received a response.  I was considering sending an e-mail directly to the archivist inquiring about records for the Elm Street Methodist Church.  Also, I had ordered the Elm Street Methodist Church records on microfilm from the TSLA.

Shortly after sending in my order to the TSLA, I received a phone call and e-mail from them telling me that those records actually covered 3 reels of microfilm.  They asked if I wanted to send in more money to order the other 2 reels, since I had only sent in a check to cover the cost of one reel.  There was nothing on the TSLA’s microfilm ordering page indicating the number of reels for a particular record group.  I wrote back saying that I was interested in the membership records for the Elm Street Methodist Church and if they were on one reel than I’d like to purchase that.  The staff found that those records were on one reel of microfilm and so they sent that reel to me.

In the meantime, I sent another e-mail to the archivist’s personal e-mail address of the Tennessee Conferences Archives, History Depository and received a reply.  I told them the name of the family I was looking for.  Since the records that were available were from the mid-1880’s, I thought it best not to ask if there were records for Richardson and ask about records for people with the last name of Womble.

I received a response which contained a decent about of information about the Womble line I’m researching.  I asked about the possibility of purchasing copies of the information that had been found and sent a check to them.

I haven’t received the copies yet, but I imagine that they’ll appear after the holidays.  Last week, I received the microfilm reel I had purchased from the TSLA.  I went to my local library to look at the records on the reel.  I found some of the records that the archivist at the Tennessee Conferences Archives had found for me.  While I looked through the membership records for the name Womble, I also searched for Richardson and Mijers, which is the name of a person who co-signed the marriage bond with John Washington Womble.  I didn’t see anyone with the last name of  Richardson or Mijers.

While looking at the records I noticed that Rhoda Caroline or Callie as she’s listed in the Elm Street Methodist Church membership records was received in 1885.  Her daughter, Maud was also received later that same year.  John Washington Womble was received in 1886 and it’s noted that it was done via vows.  I’m not sure what the significance of that is.  I’ve heard that when someone joins another church as a baptized adult that they’re received.  If they’ve never been baptized then they might be baptized when they join a  church; however, if John W. Womble hadn’t been baptized then I would think he would’ve been when he was received.  So again, I’m not sure if it’s significant that when he was received it was with vows.  Could he not join in person and so conveyed his intention to join the church via vows?

Since both Rhoda Caroline and her daughter were received without any vows or baptism, it seems likely that they had already been baptized when they joined this church.  Maybe this is a question to ask the archivist when I receive my copies?  I also should ask about other Methodist churches in Nashville that may have records available dating back to around the Civil War or at least ask what happened to the early membership records for this church.

Based on what I’ve read about using church records in genealogical research, it seems that the records are sometimes only really great if the person recording the information was extremely thorough in their record keeping.  My extremely limited knowledge of Methodist church records is that that particular denomination was not big on keeping records as a general rule.  So perhaps what I found is as good as it’s gonna get for me.

I’m happy that I sought out this information since church records are still uncharted waters in my genealogical skills.  I have a bit of experience in obtaining them, but this is the deepest that I’ve ever dove into the religious records pool of genealogical documents.  Still after having found this tidbit of information, I’m left with a “what’s next” feeling.  I’d really like to milk these records for every once of information, but I’m not sure that it’s really possible.

I do think that it would be a good idea to see if I can dredge up other church records for this family.  Since I found them belonging to a Methodist church, then there’s a good chance that I may be able to find them belonging to another Methodist church in another locale.  Hopefully, the more information I can find about John Washington Womble the more information I will locate about his wife, Rhoda Caroline Richardson.

 

Update on Rhoda Caroline Richardson Research

Soon after writing about my ideas for learning more about Rhoda Caroline Richardson, I sent away for her daughter, Maude Womble Cudworth’s marriage certificate.  After receiving it, I did a bit of digging on J. B. Erwin M. G. the person who married Maude and her husband, Frank and learned that he was a minister at Elm Street Methodist church in Nashville, Tennessee. 

In the case of Rhoda’s son, Albert’s marriage certificate, I researched the person who married him and his wife Mattie.  I found that E. T. Brantly V D M was pastor of Edgar Chapel in Nashville, which was a Presbyterian Church.

Once learning the religious affiliation of J. B. Erwin, I then began to try and determine how I could go about obtaining records from Elm Street Methodist Church.  I learned that records for the church unfortunately aren’t available at the Family History Library, so I can’t order any microfilm from them.  I discovered a website for the Tennessee Conference and this led me to another website for their Archives, History Depository and Library. 

I also found that rolls of microfilm can be ordered from the Tennessee State Library and Archives (TSLA).  They also have records for Elm Street Methodist Church, so are a possible repository for me to use.

In the past, I’d had similar success when I contacted the Drew University Library when I wanted a copy of Warren Womble’s obituary that was published in a Methodist magazine.  So I sent an e-mail inquiring as to what records for the Elm Street Church are available to the archivist at the Tennessee Conferences Archives, History Depository and Library early last month, but haven’t received any response yet, perhaps my inquiry was too broad.  I’m considering sending another to the archivist’s direct e-mail and see if I get a quicker response.

While considering this option, I ordered the Elm Street Methodist Church records on microfilm from the TSLA.  It’ll be interesting seeing if I can view the microfilm at my local public library, I see another blog post about this subject in my future!

The interesting thing I noticed while placing my microfilm roll order with the TSLA, is that they have other Methodist Church records available to order on microfilm.  Hopefully, these records will help me further my Womble family research.

I’m still not sure that Rhoda Caroline had any connection to the Methodist religion either before she married or afterwards, but at least this is a place to start my search.  I think it’s a pretty good guess at least during the years she was married to John Washington Womble, because so far I’ve found that at least two of their children had some connection to this religion. In both Albert and his sister’s, Maude's obituaries their religion is mentioned and states that they were members of a Methodist church where they lived or had lived. 

Previously, I had discovered that Albert’s wife, who may have been Presbyterian before she married must have converted to Methodism afterwards.  The reason being is that she’s listed as being a member of the Fountain Avenue Methodist church in Paducah, Kentucky both in her obituary and in records from that church.  Also John Washington Womble’s brother, Warren became a Methodist minister and relocated to southwestern Tennessee with a number of family members both from his family as well as his wife, Mary McDade’s family.

I don’t know if finding Rhoda Caroline listed in records for the Elm Street church will lead me to learn what her religious affiliation was prior to her marriage and further the paper trail on her, but I feel that this is my best course of action to learn more about her.

Ideas for learning more about Rhoda Caroline Richardson

Rhoda Caroline Richardson?

Earlier I blogged about obtaining Rhoda Caroline Richardson Womble’s death certificate in an effort to find out the names of her parents.  While getting the document was worth the money, I don’t feel that it answered my question due to misinformation from the informant.  So I’m back to the drawing board with this project!

I haven’t spent a lot of time researching the women in the line I’m working on primarily because it hasn’t been that difficult until now.  Normally, I’ve at least been able to find small scraps of information that have satisfied my curiosity such as,  the names of their parents and what state they were born in.

Some books I read on getting information about ones female ancestors suggested searching through probate records for someone with the same last name mentioning the female in question in a will.  I searched through some digital images of wills online at FamilySearch.org and didn’t find anything.  This was a bit discouraging, so I decided to think about other avenues for learning more about Rhoda. 

I don’t have much to go on.  The family story if you can call it that, says that she was born in Indiana and then moved to Tennessee as a girl.  Most of the documents I’ve found about her support that she was born in Indiana and since she got married in Tennessee, she must have moved there at some point after her birth. 

Her marriage occurred in Nashville, Tennessee just after the Civil War, and my guess has always been that she may have been living there during the war and that’s where she met her husband, John Washington Womble.  I looked at census records for 1860 for a female with a similar name to Rhoda’s, who was born in Indiana.  I found a couple of young women who were named either R C or Caroline, but I was unable to figure out if one of them was who I was looking for.

I looked through the Nashville City Directory trying to find other people with the same last name, but at this point was unable to find a way to tie them to Rhoda.

My strategy is to try to pursue church records in Nashville because they might give me more information about her life and lead me to members of her family or the identity of her parents.  Rhoda and John W Womble were married by a Justice of the Peace, so I doubt that this will lead me to a church.  The person who co-signed the marriage bond with John W Womble was name H F Mijers and I couldn't figure how they could be connected to Rhoda.  I did find a H F Myers listed in the 1866 Nashville City Directory.  He had a clothing store or tailoring business.  John W Womble was a tailor, so he could've worked there, but does that mean that his employer would have co-signed a marriage bond.  That seems unlikely to me.

I came up with the idea to get a listing of churches in Nashville during the time when Rhoda lived there.  Not only did she perhaps live there during the Civil War, but also later on from about the mid-1880’s until she died in 1904.  Then the plan is to find a churches near where Rhoda lived and try to find out what records exist that could help me in my search.

The other idea I had was to obtain marriage certificates for her children to see if I could determine the name or denomination of church where the wedding took place.  I examined Albert’s (Rhoda’s son) marriage documents and wasn’t able to learn the denomination of the person who married them.  I know from the marriage announcement for Albert and his bride that they were married in a relatives home (the bride’s maternal grandfather).  The person who married them is listed as E T Brantly V D M on the marriage certificate.  I looked up in a dictionary online as to the meaning of the acronym V D M and learned that it’s Latin for Verbi Dei Minister, which means Preacher of God's Word.  I still have no idea as to what denomination of Minister would use this acronym.

My next course of action is to pursue obtaining Rhoda’s daughter, Maude B Womble’s marriage certificate.  Perhaps the infamous Maude B. Cudworth will actually be able to help me with my research instead of being a detriment.

Maude Womble Cudworth strikes again!

Sent away about a week ago for Rhoda Caroline Womble’s death certificate from the Metro Archives of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee.  Today, I received the record and discovered more zaniness from Maude Cudworth.

In a previous post, I had talked about how this ancestor, who is my great grandfather’s sister, seemed to be pretty active in genealogy and was even a member of the DAR.  The downside is that she wasn’t so great in providing accurate information about her relatives’ important life events. 

It’s always tossed around in genealogy texts and the like that you should consult original records and I had seen some strange information on Rhoda Caroline on FamilySearch and felt that I should check it out by ordering a copy of her death certificate.  I realize that yes, I didn’t actually view the original record, but it is a copy of the document held at the Metro Archives.  Now, the strange information on FamilySearch is explained by the source of for Rhoda’s information and it’s her daughter who likes to provide misinformation on her family members!

I’d been hoping that I would learn more about Rhoda’s family, but unfortunately I find that I have more digging to do.  I do have a few leads that might lead to being able to find out who Rhoda’s parents really were.

Maude information hasn’t been a complete wash, the upside is that she has provided me with clues to follow up on or sometimes follow and without them I would have nothing.  However, hopefully this post is a wake up call to those genealogists out there who say they don’t have any family members who are interested in what their research.  HA! I say, you think now no one’s interested in what you’re writing, but you never know who will come across your research. 

Case in point: 

• Maude provided the information about her mother in 1904 when she might not have thought about pursuing genealogy. 
• In 1934, she applied to the DAR and filled out an application in which I’ve discovered some errors.
• Later, one of her daughters, Helen May Cudworth Parrish wanted to join the DAR in about the 1950’s, she wrote up a one-page document of information about her grandfather, John Womble and his descendants, which also contains errors.

 It’s currently 2012 and I’ve come across this information and am attempting to glean information from it, taking the time to separate the accurate from the inaccurate data.  So yes, someone in your present time and place may not be interested, but perhaps in about 60, 80, or 100 years from now someone, a distant relative that you will never meet comes across your research somewhere.  Consider this possibility, the next time you encounter disinterest from the relatives or people around you—you never know what future generations will be interested in and it could just be your research!