Bama Planter

MARRIAGE LICENSE COBB COUNTY GA DATED 18 May 1881 URIAH IVINS to SARAH CANTRELL Notice that the marriage certification part, where their names are written a second time, has him as Uriah IRWIN. PROOF that spelling mistakes at the time we very common. The man's last name isn't spelled correctly even on the same page. A different handwriting changes IVINS ( EVANS ) to IRWIN. This is known by all genealogists. New researchers get all upset over these mistakes, which are common and only show that people were not well educated ( even those who worked in the courthouse .

IT IS STRANGE how my mind works lately. I got the Cunningham table ( my great grandparents bought in 1901) back from my uncle in Florida's family. He died in 1990 and his widow just moved to assisted living. None of his children wanted it, so it was either me or the thrift store. It was me. They took the legs off to transport it here from Destin. I'm putting them back on now. 2 down ; 2 to go. I am thinking the next time the legs will be taken off, I will be dead and the table will be on its way to the next generation. I am writing the complete history of it on the underside while I have it on the floor. Hopefully more will be added in the future. I saw that first, on line, on the bottom of an 1840's work table. Every generation who owned/inherited it had written the who , what , when , and where of it.

This is a CDV photograph of Mr. Thomas Hines. The studio was in Bowling Green, Kentucky. A carte de visite photograph such as this dates from 1860 to 1865. The initials on the back : T. L. Hines. There is indeed a Thomas Hines age 76 living in Bowling Green Kentucky on the 1860 census. This would be his photograph !!!!! He lived long enough to have a photo taken! He died in 1861, according to descendants on Ancestry. In the photograph, he is 75 or 76 years old.

NOTICE THE SKILL SAW MARKS...LONG AND EASY TO SEE. THESE ARE THE MARKS OF A NEW BOWL MADE TO BE PASSED OFF AS OLD. THE LONG SAW CUT MARKS GO FROM THE BOTTOM TO THE TOP EDGE OF THE BOWL. THE OUTSIDES OF OLD TRENCHERS ARE SMOOTH. ( THE ROUND ONES WILL SOMETIMES STILL HAVE LATHE MARKS GOING ALL THE WAY AROUND, BUT THE LONG ONES WILL HAVE NO SAW MARKS.) I HAVE COLLECTED THESE FOR ALMOST 50 YEARS. THE AUCTION HOUSE DIDN'T HAVE ANY PICS OF THE SIDES OR BOTTOMM OF THIS BOWL, OR I WOULD HAVE KNOW IT WAS FAKE. THE INSIDES OF THESE BOWLS ARE LEFT "RAW" AND ARE SCRATCHED UP AND GIVEN A FEW STAINS TO LOOK OLD. BUT THE OUTSIDE SAW MARKS WILL ALWAYS GIVE THEM AWAY. EBAY IS FILLED WITH THESE FAKE BOWLS, SELLING ANYWHERE FROM $80 TO OVER $200. I PAID $154 FOR THIS ONE, NOT KNOWING IT WAS FAKE. THE AUCTION HOUSE DID NOT KNOW IT, ETITHER. THIS ONE CAME WITH A SMALL BUTTER BOWL, SO IT WAS NOT A COMPLETE LOSS, AS THE SMALL BUTTER BOWL IS WORTH THE $54. So my loss is about $100 plus...

Faux Marble baseboards. My friend Ian in Greensboro, Alabama, paid an artist ( one of the few who still know how to achieve this look ) to paint them in his antebellum in town. I have a book on several such techniques, and think, with a bit of practice, anyone with some artistic skill could do it. Now, sponge painting requires a bit more of the gifted. The pic is from the lovely home called Swamp Lawn in Oak Hill, North Carolina. The home is currently for sale.

My aunt in Destin has moved to assisted living and the cousins had no room and didn't want my great grandparents dining room table. It was purchased at their marriage in 1901, probably from the Sears-Roebuck catalog, for less than ten dollars ( money was a bit more valuable then ! ) . The cousins are heading to the University of Alabama football game so they will be on the interstate tomorrow ten miles from here. So by noon I should have the table at my house. It was offered to me , and if rejected, it was going to the thrift store ! Below is an example of what it looks like. I will put a cloth on it ( after taking the two leaves out) and use if for a craft table James and Susie lost three boys ( ages 2, 6, and 11) in the Great Pandemic of 1918. My grandfather was the only son who lived. He and his sister caught the flu in Selma while visiting an Aunt for Christmas. They came back sick, and the three brothers got the flu from them and were dead in three weeks. The brother-i...

Back of painting: Armstrong, Painter, Lancaster, 1833. ( Arthur Armstrong was a portrait painter whose studio was in Lancaster, PA ) He is known for about 40 documented paintings and is well known among portrait painting experts in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. The back of the painting has a note and I was able to read the inscription as follows: "Mr. Hugh Shaw left Taneytown August 5th 1845 for to do business in City of Baltimore... Shaw and Hickson.... This likeness presented to Dr. O'Neal by his Ma, E. L. Shaw. Mr. Shaw and Mr. Hickson are next door to each other, occupation "merchant" in Baltimore on the 1850 census. The painting is of Evalina L. Crapster O'Neal Shaw She may not be a "famous"person, but her son is ! Daughter of John Crapster ( 1761-1824) and wife Susanna Klein ( 1766-1855) 1st husband Walter O'Neal whom she married in Frederick Co. Maryland 18 January 1820. (The date of the marriage is engraved on the ...