Really Quick on Thursday

I have two seconds to post something....

Have to leave for Huntsville to get my hair cut, but I wanted to move away from the 1979 wedding theme.

I have been playing with my camera and have taken a few "experimental" pictures - soon I can be posting more pictures of what my stories are about.

This will be my 3rd trip to Huntsville this week. Monday I went to the gyn. Yesterday I had to go to my "gum specialist" - a periodontist - and today a hair cut. ahhhhh...will be glad to not be going down Hwy. 72 for a while.

Big weekend - only I think bad weather is in the forecast and I get really nervous if loved ones or anyone is on the road during bad weather. I hate it myself.

Today is good weather wise and my sister is coming up. Saturday Laura Beth, Ada, Sarah, and Kate are supposed to be traveling to Scottsboro - but I've warned them about the weather. Sarah might come today. LB and Ada - well, I haven't heard back - and Kate has something she really wants to attend on Friday night in Auburn - so - I don't know.

I should have lots of subject matter for taking pictures. Grandchildren!

I'm going to close now. Hope to post in a better fashion later - but my music has changed back to those Hymns I love. I love them all - old Hymns with great theology in them - but I can't put the whole Hymn book on my playlist. :-)

Wedding Day

So these are the other 2 pictures that I have to put up here.

It's raining today but it wasn't raining 30 years ago.

It was a very beautiful, crisp and pleasant October weekend when Charlie and I married.

We both were working in Birmingham, and I traveled down to Evergreen on Thursday before the wedding on Saturday. Charlie came on Friday.

I remember how exhilerated I felt driving out of B'ham - so excited to get home - Mom had so many gifts waiting for me to open - and had invited my aunts and grandmother to come over for coffee and watch me open my gifts that had been piling up. Mary Ann was there, too.

Then, on Friday friends and family began coming into town.

Compared to today's weddings, it was very lowkey - but I loved it. It was traditional and the usual nuts and mints and Cake in the Church fellowship hall for the reception.

Our rehearsal dinner was at a banquet room at the Holiday Inn in Evergreen and I loved that also.

So - Charlie gifted me, last night, with a new camera!!!

Wow - totally unexpected - this was a year I wasn't even thinking gift - and he knew that - we are just so stretched right now with stuff - so I forgot to even think in terms of anniversary gifts. He really surprised me. It's a great camera and he consulted with Sarah and Ann - because Sarah has just recently bought a camera for herself and Ann has been window shopping for cameras for herself. I love this beautiful super duper camera - but now I have to learn how to use it.

Can't wait. I love just holding it.

Charlie has a busy long day at work - I have much to do, getting ready for the weekend when all the girls will be here, plus Mary Ann - but I am grateful to be in this marriage, to love Charlie and know he loves me, to feel safe - I am grateful for our good health at this point - for our 4 girls and 5 grandchildren(counting little John who is still due to arrive in February)

Of course what I am the most grateful for is what I've said before - that God has revealed Himself to us - that He "set His love on us" , He foreknew us, way, way back there, that we have no other reason to be here on this earth other than to bring Him Glory. All the other stuff are blessings upon blessings - and even though they are unfun - the trials are blessings also - God giving permission for the trials to be in our lives in order to shape us into His image - His Kingdom Come, His Will Be Done, On Earth - Just Like It Is in Heaven

30 years ago tonight

I was at my wedding rehearsal.

I wish I had more rehearsal and rehearsal dinner pictures to put here on my blog. I only have written one of these to cd, but I have more. This one is of Daddy and me, walking down the aisle at the rehearsal.

Tomorrow is mine and Charlie's 30th anniversary. I better put my "Charlie and Elizabeth Anniversary Songs" back up just for tonight and tomorrow.

Right now? 30 years later? Charlie's ironing a shirt. He got in late from work. I got in later than he did - picking Ann, Ellie and Andrew up from the airport, with Luke helping me. And I've been out at Ann's, helping her go through reentry. All moms know what I'm talking about - the unloading of the car, the unpacking of the "stuff", the feeding of the children, the bathing of the children. The getting things absorbed back, in a reasonable fashion, into the fabric of the household.

Luke's been with me during the day and Steve at night, while the other 3 traveled to Albuquerque. 2 of those nights Luke stayed with Charlie and me.

That's all for tonight - Just had to post something regarding our rehearsal night - I wouldn't have thought about it except that as I left Ann's, the radio was on a station playing oldies - and of all things - it was one of those songs that I've had on my playlist - which reminded me of when I was dating and falling in love with Charlie....awwwww. I got emotional.

Happy Anniverary to us tomorrow.

The Rest of the Story

Chapter 2

of

Once Upon a Time

In the last post, or the one prior to the pictures, I ended with William Morris having died in 1838, leaving his wife Mary to continue the farm/plantation - with the help of her sons - some having married and moved to their own farms nearby.

Enoch Lafayette Morris is the main character in this final chapter of the story.

Enoch, who was known as FATE MORRIS throughout the area, was 29 when his father died. He had married at age 21 and already had 3 children in 1838.

Living close to his mother's plantation, Enoch Lafayette Morris farmed his own land, his own plantation. Mary outlived William Morris by more than 20 years. She was close to 80 at the time of her death.

Enoch lived with his parents until he married Elizabeth in 1830, at the age of 21.

Enoch and Elizabeth Morris had 8 children, 3 boys and 5 girls.

Siney E., Mary Cameron, Susannah A., Margaret Jane, William, Martha E., John Wesley, and Abel H.

I have the dates of their birth and their spouses, but I think I might lose my reader if I name those. Perhaps I've already lost my reader. There's an amazing turn of events in this story if you'll just hang in there.

Here it is. Elizabeth and Enoch had been married 19 years when, in 1849, Elizabeth was accidentally shot by her brother as they sat talking in her home. During their visit, her brother "slapped" his gun causing it to fire and strike Elizabeth. She lived for 16 hours following the fatal accident.

Looking at the birth dates of her children, they were 18, 16, 13, 11, 9, 6, 3, and 1 when their mother, Elizabeth, died. Enoch was 40 when his wife died.

Such shock and grief, and waiting those 16 hours - before she died.

I've tried to imagine the time of day - a visit it seems would have been early afternoon - making that long vigil last through the night and early into the next morning. Where were the children? Who was there? How did her brother suffer from that event? The horror of it. And Enoch being without his Elizabeth and having his 8 children to love and nurture. It was said that his mother lived more than 20 years after her husband's death - therefore she could still have been living when her son and grandchildren suffered this severe loss.

This is what we are told.

After Elizabeth's tragic and untimely death and with the help of his 18 year old daughter, Siney, and his servant, Julia, Enoch cared for and nurtured his younger children. He remained a widower for almost 3 years.

And because of that tragic event E. L. Morris's next family unfolds - the family of which I am a descendant. That blows my mind - knowing about our Sovereign God - over all of life's events - which is too big for me to wrap my brain around - He is a mystery yet He reveals Himself to us - So Amazing!

In 1852, Enoch married Rachel Irena Calloway, who was born in February 1831. She was 21 and Enoch was 43 when they married. There was a close family connection -the culture seemed to be connected in those small communities in the late 1800's. Rachel Irena Calloway was the sister of Joshua Calloway, Sr. She was the aunt of Joshua Calloway, Jr., who married Enoch's & Elizabeth's 4th child, Margaret Jane.

Enoch and Irena Morris, after their marriage in 1852, had 9 children - 2 boys and 7 girls. Adding to the 8 children Enoch and Elizabeth had, this made 17 children for Enoch and Irena to parent. Siney, the oldest, would have been about 21 when her father married Irena.

The children of Enoch and Rachel Irena were

James Abram, Frances Caldonia, Enoch Lafayette, Jr., Sarah Tom, Nancy Ann, Laura Dora, Sereny, and Carlie.

Enoch was 65 and Irena was 43 when their last child was born.

Sarah Tom Morris was the 4th child of Enoch and Irena's 9 children, or the 12th of their combined 17 children. She was born in 1862. The Civil War began on April 12, 1861. Alabama had seceded from the Union on January 11, 1861.

Below are some images from that time - the men who voted for secession, the cover of a book which has been written about life in Southern Alabama during the Civil War, and a map showing the battlefields of Alabama. It shows no battles in Conecuh or Monroe County - which tells us that perhaps there was a sense of safety from the bloodshed of the war, not emotional, but physical safety. In these same records, which I have, it is told that Enoch's 3rd daughter from his first marriage to Elizabeth was Susannah. Susannah lost her first husband in the Civil War. He died in 1867. Susannah was 31 when he died. She married her second husband and she was 40 when he died. She married a 3rd time and she was 67 when he died. I am ascertaining she had learned from her father how to handle grief and trials. It is a descendant of Susannah who has afforded us this information regarding William Morris through Enoch and Irena Morris.

Enoch was 53 and Irena was 31 when Sarah Tom was born. I have no information of his involvement in the war.

Sarah Tom Morris married James Nelson Northcutt on December 12, 1878. She was 16 and he was 21 when they married. I just called my sister to ask her how many children "Mama Sally" and "Grandpa" had. She thinks it was 9 or 10 and said, "hold on", as she started spitting out their names to herself, while I waited on the phone. I scribbled down their names as she was mumbling them to herself - she knows them by their affectionate names, as we heard our Mother and Aunts tell their stories over the years.

This is what I heard Mary Ann say: "Let's see, there was Walter, Enoch, Jim, Elbert, Charlie, Mattie, Annie, Bertha, and Aunt Sissy - yes, I think that's it".

I'll begin the ending of this story - I notice that Mama Sally, who was Sarah Tom, 12th child of Enoch and 4th child of Rachel Irena Calloway Morris, named one of her sons Enoch Layfayette Northcutt and she named my granddaddy, Elbert Calloway Northcutt, after her mother. Probably the others were family names as well. Enoch who was known as Fate Morris must have had a strong character to instill such a sense of family and committment and perseverance, and a love and enjoyment of life. He was well known throughout the county for his musical talent. With his fiddle in hand, one could usually find him providing the music for many of the social gatherings of Monroe and Conecuh Counties.

Enoch was 91 and Irena was 69 when the 19th century came to a close and the 20th century began. They both died during the first decade of the new century and are both buried in Monroe County.

Fate(Enoch) Morris was an old man when his grandson, Elbert, was born. Irena wasn't as old, but probably felt her age just as much as Fate did, seeing as she had given birth to 9 children and mothered 17. I wish I knew Elbert's affectionate name for his grandparents.

Elbert married my grandmother, Mary Ella Henderson, in about 1915 or perhaps December 25, 1914 - as the New Year of 1915 was about to unfold. Because my cousin interviewed Ella before she died we heard her answer his question, "How soon after you married did you and Elbert start having children?" She laughed a bit and looked around and said, "Well, about as soon as it takes." and she was still snickering. Apparently they might have had Lucille 9 months after they married. Mother was born 3 years later, and Florence 3 years after that. Mary was born in another 10 years. Elbert and Ella must have figured something out - seems there was a bit more pregnancy management than their parents and grandparents had had. I did research the history of birth control - seems Margaret Sanger was beginning to influence our culture in that regard, about that time. She was causing quite a stir.

Mother and her sisters always had stories about walking up to Mama Sally's and Grandpa's house. I think the day Mary was born, Mother was 13, Florence 10 and Lucille 16, they were told to walk up to Mama Sally's during the delivery. They walked up the railroad track to get to her house. Mother said this to me, once, about Mama Sally, "She was just so kind and sweet". Mother was always in awe of how she raised "those 5 big 'ol boys". They were tall people. I think probably Elbert inherited Mama Sally's temperament and then Mother inherited Elbert's. I didn't get that gene. When we named Sarah, it wasn't directly after Mama Sally, because Charlie has an aunt named Sarah. We liked the name and knew that we had two close family members with that name. So our Sarah became Sarah Edith Rhodes.

Sarah Tom was 72 when she died. James Nelson was 97 when he died.

Elbert died in 1966 and Ella died in 1990.

Mother died in 2006 and Daddy died in 1993.

And now we living out 3 more generations who descended from William and Mary Watson Morris of Virginia and North Carolina.

Images of the 1800's

If you are reading this post and wondering why I am posting images of the 1800's, then you'll need to read the post prior to this one. There you will find the beginning of a story to go with these images, which are for your imagination as you read the completed story in the next post.

Child's Shoes



Little Girl's Calico Dress


Interior of 1800's Wealthy Home

Horse and Buggy

South Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvannia

In other words, city life, in the early 1800's

Lady's Dress

Montevallo, Alabama

Bonnet

Family Traveling by Wagon to more fertile land


Current Photograph of 1800 Farmhouse in Alabama

Another current photograph of another 1800's farmhouse in Alabama

Farming in Florida in 1800's


Farmers in Iowa in late 1800's

Once Upon a Time....

....in Virginia,

there lived a man whose name was William Morris.

It is said that he was a native of Virginia. This is before 1800, we know, because that is when we are told he married Mary Watson of North Carolina. They married in 1800 and moved to Georgia.

We'll have to use our imaginations in determining how they met. He was from Virginia, she was from North Carolina

Can you see this map? It is the United States in 1800. North Carolina and Virginia are close, and not knowing where they lived - well - perhaps by wagon William Morris had travelled to Mary's community and met her there - or perhaps Mary was visiting relatives in William's native Virginia and met him there. We can only guess about that. Perhaps marriages were still arranged and someone knew someone - I'd like to think they met and fell in love - that she was a lady he was drawn to - that they were kindred spirits and it was God's sovereign hand which brought them together. I believe that's what happened.

When William and Mary married in 1800 they moved to Georgia to farm. He was a farmer by trade. That's what has been told to us. We don't know why they didn't stay in Virginia - or in North Carolina. Did they leave family to go to Georgia? Were they able to visit by wagon? Was there better land in Georgia? Was more land available and more fertile?

We know this much - they lived in Georgia for more than 20 years. That leads us to believe that William was successfully farming his land, there in Georgia - and he and Mary were successfully having children as well. Their fifth child was born in May of 1809, in Georgia. His name was Enoch Lafayette Morris. He is the name I want you to remember and follow. His life and story has awed me. But, then, so does William and Mary's life amaze me as they moved and changed and left family and friends to prosper and live and support their 10 children they would eventually have. Surely together they had a very strong work ethic, teaching their children the same....

because.....

William and Mary Morris moved by wagon, with their 5 children, to Alabama and settled in Monroe County near Burnt Corn.

By 1830 they were well established on their Alabama plantation. William's cash crops were corn and cotton.

Below are more maps to give an idea of how the government was shaping Alabama and the boundaries were changing rapidly each decade.

Alabama in 1810

Alabama in 1820

Alabama in 1830

The story we're told says "they moved to the fertile lands of Alabama - because the government was beginning to open this land up to settlers". It involved the tragedy of the Indians and their Trail of Tears. That's a whole other story.

Another fact, if you don't know - Alabama was admitted as the 22nd state on December 14, 1819.

William and Mary had 10 children. 5 boys and 5 girls. Their youngest child was born in Monroe County in 1826.

Thomas, Malinda, Mary(Polly), Elizabeth(Betsey), Enoch, Nancy, William, James, Martha, and Robert.

In the winter of 1938 William Morris died. His youngest child was 12. Enoch Lafayette Morris was 29. If they began to have children right after they were married, and - don't we assume they did? - then their oldest child could have been 37. That would have been Thomas who was married and living on a nearby farm with his family.

Now read these known facts thoughtfully - and know that as you sit in your chair - your ancestors lived out their daily lives in such a manner - and you are where you are - and if you trust Christ - then you know His hand is in our lives and orchestrating events - He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords and we are dust - but in his Love and Sovereign Grace - he breathes life into us as we respond to His gift of redemption. And never doubt that your daily tasks matter in the scheme of things. You're being shaped and molded yourself, as you teach your children, as you encourage those around you, as you look to your creator God to make you into His image - to advance His kingdom - your trials matter - your successes matter - they are in His hands - If you are His.

Now read the rest of the story regarding Mary.....and consider the strength God had instilled in her.

In the will of William Morris, he named his wife, Mary, as sole recipient of his plantation home and more than 160 acres of his farmland. The remaining parts of his lands would be sold and the money divided among his ten children.

For the remainder of Mary's life, she lived in their plantation home and farmed her land. Her two youngest sons, James and Robert lived with her and helped with the farm work. Robert continued to live on the plantation and oversee the farm work, after he married.

I will call this post Chapter 1.

I have to do my own tasks for the day, but am eager to tell the rest of the story. A new post will follow shortly.

Let me also say this -

William and Mary Morris were my Great Great Great Grandparents. I just learned about them last week.

Back in Scottsboro

I've changed my music.

I'm in need of some hymns.

I went to the new church Sarah and Kate are attending - last night I went - while in Auburn. The name is Plains Presbyterian and it is brand new, meeting in the sanctuary of the Lutheran Church there in Auburn.

They have a Praise Team - my cousin's daughter, Claire, plays the piano, there are 2 men on guitars, and 1 young man on a viola(looks like a violin). We sang this hymn last night. I love it. They serve the Lord's Supper every Sunday night. "Come to the Lord's table"...they say.

It was all a huge blessing and I'm so grateful that God has revealed Himself to my children and they have been brought to life - I'm grateful that He revealed to them or created in them a hunger and passion to be completely His. That is all that matters in this world - that we are His, completely. We've been bought with a price - His Blood -
He who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God. Fall on your knees with head hung low.

Actually, the message was about that last night at church....

Our Father, our Abba Father, King Father, Holy Daddy - who is in heaven -

Hallowed, Holy, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Holy be your name.

Your will be done .....on EARTH....just as it is in Heaven.

There's nothing more to ask for...oh....

Do give us this day our daily bread...our daily needs....which You know more than we know....

Forgive us our trespasses AS WE FORGIVE those who trespass against us....

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.....

FOR
Yours is the Kingdom
Yours is the Power
Yours is the Glory
Forever and ever...Amen.