Category: Hine

Grandma Addie With a Big Ol’ Smile

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Addie May Hine Bucklin and Winnifred Talbott Welton in Elton, Louisiana, circa March 11, 1952. It was a birthday celebration for “Mrs. Weldon.”  (Photo has been edited.)

When I was thinking about what I would post today, I looked over the last few posts that I’ve written to see whose turn it is for the spotlight.  It was definitely my mom’s side of the family that was up for a turn.  And since the last one I did for my mom’s side was about the Keys family, I figured it was time for the Bucklin side.  And the Bucklin side includes my Grandpa Fred Bucklin’s mother Addie Hine Bucklin.

You all remember her, right?  She’s the one that I’ve made fun of on several occasions because she usually has a scowl on her face. (See here and here.)  It was lighthearted fun, of course.  Even though she looked very stern and a bit tough, I’ve only heard sweet stories about her.  Don’t judge a book by its cover.  So I like seeing this photo of my great grandmother having a good laugh with what looks like an old friend.

I actually worked on this photo this week for a completely different reason.  I was looking at Find a Grave and noticed there wasn’t a memorial (profile) for Selma Edessa Welton Havenar, who is the daughter of Winnifred.  We’re not related to the Havenar and Welton families, but we have some shared history.

I knew I had taken photos of her grave a few years ago and set up some memorials for other family members like her husband Guy Havenar.  Somehow I overlooked making one for Edessa Welton Havenar.  So I made one and started looking at the family a little more.  I noticed that she married Guy Havenar, whose mother was a Welton.  So I jumped into the rabbit hole of finding out how they were related.  Along the way I remembered these two photos and some of the writing on the back of them.  I figured out who they were talking about by looking at another tree on Ancestry.  I noticed the tree belonged to the great grandson of Winnifred.  So I decided to work on the photo and post it online for everyone to see.

Besides the shared history of both families living in Jefferson Davis Parish in southern Louisiana, there was a tradition of celebrating birthdays together with the two families. (See here, here, and here.)  Addie’s mother was Susan Stanbrough Hine and she was born on October 3, 1851.  We call her Grandma Sue.  The other person that shared Grandma Sue’s October 3 birth date was Winnifred’s sister-in-law Edessa Jane “Jennie” Welton Havenar.  In the old newspaper clippings that I’ve shared, they always just say something like, “Mrs. Hine and Mrs. Havenar are Celebrating Another Birthday.”  They started celebrating their birthdays with a joint celebration in 1906 and continued for at least 20 years.

Winnifred must have been fond of her sister-in-law, because it looks like her daughter was named after her.  And what makes it even more complicated is that both Edessa Jane “Jennie” Welton and Selma Edessa Welton both married a Havenar.  So to make it easier to tell who they were talking about, Edessa Jane was called Jennie and from what I figured out from the backs of these photos Selma Edessa was called Eddie.  But nothing stops the confusion when you see that Eddie married Jennie’s son Guy.  That’s right, she married her first cousin.  So her aunt became her mother-in-law.

Unedited photo of Addie May Hine Bucklin and Winnifred Agnes Talbott Welton at her daughter Selma Edessa “Eddie” Welton Havenar’s (married to Guy Havenar) home in Elton, Louisiana, on March 11, 1952. They were celebrating Winnifred’s 80th birthday.

It explains what was written on the backs of the photos.  Here’s a hint from me – never label someone on the back of the photo as “Mrs. Weldon.”  Use their full name.  Call her Winnifred Agnes Welton Havenar.  When I read “Eddie Havenar’s mother” when they talked about “Mrs. Weldon,” I tried to find a son named Edward for a Mrs. Weldon.  Seeing “Guy Havenar’s home” on the second one helped because I knew that Selma Edessa Welton was his wife.  So I figured Selma Edessa must be Eddie.  It also says that they were celebrating Mrs. Weldon’s birthday.  I was wondering why there were those nice pink carnations on the table.  Did I say pink?  Yes, I did.  It’s actually a color photo of Grandma Addie!  I don’t have many of those.

So the two families were celebrating a birthday again after almost fifty years of doing so.  The celebration was on June 16, 1952.  Or maybe the film was developed on that day.  Or maybe this reprint was made on that day.  This was long before our camera or phone automatically dates the photos we take.  I found that Winnifred’s birthday was on March 11 and that she lived in Minnesota.  I’m going to assume that she was down in Louisiana on her birthday, so these photos were taken on March 11, 1952, which was her 80th birthday!  It was definitely a day to celebrate with friends and flowers.

The Cox Family in Boone County

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George Henry Hine & Susan G. Stanbrough family in Boone County, Indiana, circa 1892.

I will be talking about the Cox family in Boone County, Indiana, but I don’t have photos of that family from earlier in the 1800s.  This photo is of the George Henry Hine and Susan G. Stanbrough family from 1892.  All of them were born in Indiana, but in Hamilton County.  If you’ve read all of my blog posts carefully, you would know who everyone is in the photo and how they are connected to the Cox family.  Let me go ahead and tell you.  Be prepared for a written test at a later date!

This photo has been posted before by my 2nd cousin Joseph.  He and his mom Louise have generously shared many photos with me and this is one of them.  There is also another photo that I’ve posted of this family from around the same time.  But in the other one, they’re just standing in front of their log cabin home.  This time they fancied it up with a backdrop.  Actually there are two backdrops.  It’s kind of funny because you can see that they just tacked up two blankets behind them and it doesn’t actually hide the exterior wall of the house they were trying to hide.

I edited this photo to clean it up a bit.  I could have cropped it and cloned portions to make the backdrop do what was intended, but that would have taken away from the charm of this photo.  In the back row you see Lonnie, Rowe, Addie (my maternal grandfather’s mother), and Bert.  In the front row are George, Ollie, and Sue.  To the far right is Jim Hine.  Addie was the firstborn with five younger brothers.  They were all about 2 years apart with Addie being born in 1876.

I’m sure you’re wondering why this family moved from Hamilton County to Boone County.  I am, too.  I don’t know the exact reason, but I do know that George’s mother’s family had lived there for about sixty years when this photo was taken.  His mother’s name was Mary Malina Cox and she was the wife of John Peter Hine.  Before that, she was the daughter of Benjamin Cox and Jemima Vestal.

Benjamin Cox married Jemima Vestal some time around 1816 in North Carolina, possibly in Randolph County.  Both of them were born in North Carolina.  Their first child was a son that they named Thomas in 1817.  He was named for Benjamin’s father.  They then had a daughter named Lavina in 1821.  Mary Malina was next in line and she was born in March of 1822.  Following her Asa was born in 1824 and John was born in 1826.  So what do they decide to do three years later?  They decided to make a move with their young family.

Benjamin Cox purchased land in Indiana in 1829.

Transportation in 1829 in North Carolina was difficult within the state.  But Benjamin and Jemima decided that they were going to be settlers in Indiana, which was about 600 miles away!  The only way to get there would be to cross a few states on a covered wagon.  I wish I knew the details of that journey.  Once they arrived it was basically wilderness with a few trading posts around.  Benjamin did get a plot of land on April 3, 1829.  Boone County wasn’t an official county until the following year.

After getting settled in Indiana, the family continued to grow with daughter Amy born in 1833, son William born in 1836, and daughter Mary born in 1838.  According to census records Benjamin was a farmer.  Jemima died in December of 1843 and nine months later Benjamin remarried.  He did not have any children with his second wife.

“The People’s Guide: A Business, Political and Religious Directory of Boone Co., Ind.,” 1874, p. 136

I found an interesting mention of Benjamin Cox in a book about Boone County.  It talks about him being one of the early settlers of the area and how he had to travel a ways to get his milling done during the early years.  He would travel with his mule team over rough roads and it would take more than a week to accomplish his task.  Along the way he’d spend the nights serenaded by bullfrogs.  No running water, no electricity, and no bed to sleep in was standard fare.  

The will of Benjamin Cox from 1877 in Boone County, Indiana.

He was alive when that book was written in 1874, but he died a few years later on July 29, 1877.  I found his will a few years ago and it lists all of his children who were alive at the time.  The youngest daughter Mary had died in 1858 at the age of 19.  Malina Hines is listed as an heir.  Her son George was 30 years old at the time.  Actually, my great grandmother Addie had been born a few months before he died.

What I find really interesting about that last statement is that I was born the month before Addie died.  It’s like we were bookends to her life.  For some reason I feel like I have a personal link to my great great great great grandfather Benjamin Cox who was born in 1796.  Now I too am a part of the Cox family of Boone County.

Mom’s Memories Page 6 AKA Flowers for Grandma

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Page 6 of my mom’s memory book.

Here is another page from the little memory book that my mom kept when she started to become more forgetful.  She wanted to make sure some of her fond memories would continue.  I thought I would help them along.

My mom’s name was Betty Lou Bucklin Landry (1933-2017) and she grew up in Hathaway, Louisiana.  This is page 6 of her book.  She is in the middle of talking about her paternal grandmother Addie May Hine Bucklin (1876-1960).  She never knew her paternal grandfather Louis Bucklin (1873-1927).  He died before she was born.

She mentions Aunt Dora on this page.  That would be Dora Koll Bucklin (1911-1998).  She was married to Herbert Bucklin (1906-1995), the brother of Betty Lou’s dad Fred (1907-1984).  Herbert and Dora were the grandparents of our Joseph Connors.  Mama always had nice things to say about Aunt Dora and Uncle Herbert.  Why wouldn’t she?  She was a little girl who appreciated someone giving her jewelry and taking her to the Eunice circus!

On page 1 of her memory book she talked about going to Grandma Bucklin’s house for big covered dish dinners where all the family brought their favorite dishes.  She said the food was so good that they were sneaking food all afternoon.  I’m sure she was talking about the old Bucklin family home that had been built in 1888. From what I can tell, it was about a mile north of the house that my mom and her family lived in.  About halfway between those two houses is where Aunt Dora (she of the beautiful wavy hair) and Uncle Herbert lived.

Hathaway circa 1937 – Alma, Betty Lou, and Sylvia Bucklin

Another thing my mom talks about is making May baskets.  She wrote in the plural “we” like I do when talking about my childhood.  I’m sure she was talking about herself and her sisters.  Her brother was younger and probably didn’t participate in this event.  The sisters would make paper flowers and put them in a basket.  One basket was for Grandma Bucklin and one for Aunt Dora.

Then they would go to their door, knock, and run away to hide.  Of course they would be peeking to see the reaction they got.  I’m sure there was a lot of giggling involved as well.  And who wouldn’t be glad to see those three little cheerful girls (later there would be four) bringing them a present?

Like she says, it usually got them invited in for milk and cookies.  The simple pleasures of childhood.

Four Generations of the Hine Family

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Addie May Hine Bucklin with some of her descendants in 1959.

This is an unusual title for this photo, considering that no one in the photo was going by the name Hine at the time it was taken.  I could have used the Bucklin name instead, but the matriarch (Addie May Hine Bucklin) in this photo was only married into the Bucklin family. 

I could just as easily have called it the Stanbrough Family since Addie’s mother was Susan G. Stanbrough Hine – you know her – Grandma Sue.  But then I could go ahead and use other names in Addie’s line like Cox, Vestal, Mills, Brown, Hester, or Miller.  Technically I’d be correct, since there are four generations of family members from those lines.  But all of those lines came together to bring us Addie Hine, so it’s her maiden name that I went with.

It’s kind of surprising that I’m using such a blurry photo for this week’s post.  I’ve been working with that new photo-enhancing feature that I mentioned three weeks ago.  It has some limitations, but I’ve gotten some really good results with some old photos.  It helped me to come up with an amazing photo – and I mean amazing – of my grandmother Bucklin (Myrtle Sylvia Phenice Bucklin).  If you happen to stop by my house, I would be willing to give you a preview.  But in the meantime, all I can say is, “Wait for it…”

The photo I’m sharing today was taken around the last quarter of 1959.  The youngest person in the photo is my brother Al and he was born on July 24, 1959.  He doesn’t look very old in this photo.  The oldest person in the photo is my great grandmother Addie and she died on November 25, 1960.  The next oldest person in the photo is her son Fred, who was my maternal grandfather – you know – Grandpa.  On the far left is his daughter Betty Lou, better known to me as Mama.  She’s got Al in her lap.  Next to them is little Karen Jean.  She’s kinda sitting on Grandpa’s lap.  On the other side of Grandpa and Addie is Jodie Lou.  She was the oldest of us kids and she was about six years old in this photo.  Next to her is my oldest brother Rob and our dad Robert Joseph “Bob” Landry, Jr.

So there they are – the four generations of the Hine family.  I sure wish she had lived just a little while longer so I could have had a photo of myself with a four generation span.  Oh, well.  At least I have this photo of my siblings with her.  Though recently I have seen a glimpse of another photo that possibly includes everyone in this photo. 

Photo of Addie Hine Bucklin and her family possibly on her birthday celebration on September 23, 1959.

I took these photos on my phone while watching an old video that my dad made at the birthday of Grandpa’s siblings Ruth and Roy in the late 1980s.  My dad included some shots of old photos and this one caught my eye.  I can make out Addie sitting down in front of everyone and my siblings and dad to the right of the photo.  Now that I look at them together, it looks like it could be from the same day.  This group photo showing everyone around Addie makes me think it could have been a birthday celebration for Addie.  Her birthday was September 23, so that would fit within the time frame I gave for the first photo I discussed. 

If anyone has the original photo, I would love love love to have a good copy or scan of it.  I guess it’s my turn to “wait for it…”

July 10, 2020 – I realized that I had another 4 generation family photo for the Hine family.  It has Addie in it, but it continues on a different line than mine.  It goes through her son Ralph, his daughter Helen Bucklin Taylor, and her son Ronnie.  It also includes Addie’s youngest brother Ollie.  It was taken at an earlier birthday for Addie in 1948.

Four generations of the Hine family in 1948.

 

Unbearable Marital Infelicity

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I found an article about one of my ancestors about three years ago and was very intrigued by it.  I knew I would write a story about it at some point, I just had to find the right time.  But it seems that there never is a right time when writing about an ancestor’s suicide.

So even though it doesn’t feel like the right time, it does feel like the time to write it.  At least that’s what I’m doing.  The ancestor I’m talking about is John Stanbrough, my great great great grandfather.  Obviously I didn’t know him, but I do think about him from time to time.  There is no photo of him that I know of, even though he did live into the time of photography.  At the time of his birth in 1820, photography was not around.  But during his 57 years of living, it had developed quite a bit.

Let me tell you about my connection to him.  I am the son of Betty Lou Bucklin Landry.  Her father was Fred Bucklin, who was the son of Addie May Hine Bucklin.  Addie was the daughter of Susan Stanbrough Hine.  Sue was the third daughter and sixth child of John Stanbrough & Lydia Mills Stanbrough.   There was an older half brother by her father’s first wife.  She also had six younger siblings.

John Stanbrough was born November 18, 1820, in Clinton County, Ohio.   He was a Quaker.  For a genealogist, that is a good thing because it means that there are lots of records for that person and their ancestors.  The Stanbrough or Stanborough family had been in the US for many generations.  They started out in New York and moved on to Tennessee.  Our line went on to Ohio and then to Indiana around 1830.  Grandma Sue brought our line down to Louisiana in 1894.

John married Lydia Hunt in 1838.  They had one son together in 1839 and then Lydia died in 1842.  Not long after that, John met another Lydia.  This one had the last name of Mills.   They were married on Sept. 20, 1843.  If you added up the children I mentioned earlier, you’d know that they had a dozen children together over about a 20 year period.

The Noblesville Ledger from March 24, 1873, in Indiana.

Then in 1873, just 10 years after the birth of their last child, Lydia died at the age of 50.  The Noblesville, Indiana, newspaper article incorrectly gives her age at death as 45.  This was the second Lydia that he had lost.   And she was an “estimable lady.”

Later that year, Sue Stanbrough married George Hine and they started a family.  Addie May was born on Sept. 23, 1876, in Noblesville, so there were some happy things going on for John at the time.  He must have gotten lonely again (even with several children in his house), because he decided to get married again in 1877.  He married the widow Margaret Hollis Embree on June 3.  She was 16 years younger and she had six children of her own. 

Obituary of John Stanbrough

I had seen a lot of this information before three years ago when I first saw the transcription of the newspaper article about John Stanbrough’s death.  I wonder if his friends and neighbors were surprised like I was to see this information about a suicide?  What would make a recently married man feel that this was the choice he should make?

The article gives a few clues.  John took an overdose of morphine.  He was able to get grains of morphia without any question from a doctor.  He was taking quinine because he suffered from ague.  This condition of recurring severe chills and fever and him taking quinine point to malaria, which is usually accompanied by pain in the bones and joints.  Chronic pain is not an easy thing to deal with.  Yet this was not cited as a possible cause for his “rash act.”

The article does talk about John leaving a message as to how to dispose of his personal effects.  They suspected that his reasons for the action were marital “infelicity” and financial problems.  They point out that he only married his wife seven months ago, that she had six children, and that they didn’t get along particularly well.  Yet she, also, was an “estimable” woman. 

I’m sure this hit Grandma Sue quite hard.  She was living in the same town at the time and her younger siblings were in the house when all of the commotion was going on.  It was a traumatic time for the Stanbrough household of 1877 Noblesville.  I’m sure it was not John’s intention to traumatize his family.  All he could probably see was the pain and problems that he was experiencing.  He likely thought that they’d be better off without him.

A thought that nobody else likely agreed with.

Addie May WIth a Son and a Cow

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Roy Bucklin with his mother Addie May Hine Bucklin discussing cows.

For some reason I always seem to like photos of cows.  I also like paintings of cows.  So when I come across a photo of an ancestor with a cow, you know I’m gonna like it.  I’ve already posted a photo of my paternal great grandfather with a cow.  That’s because Grampa Max (Patureau) was a veterinarian.  Now it’s time to share a photo of my maternal great grandmother with a bovine companion (or two).

Addie May was her name, and cattle was her game.  Grandma Addie was born in Noblesville, Indiana, on Sept. 23, 1876.  Her parents were George and Sue Stanbrough Hine.  In the 1880 Census, George is identified as a farmer in Marion Township in Boone County, Indiana.  So little Addie grew up on a farm, which probably had at least a cow or two.

Farm journals of Louis Bucklin

The family moved to Louisiana in 1894 where George continued his farming on a homestead in the China community.  Addie met and married (in 1898) Louis Bucklin, whose family had been homesteading in the area since 1884.  Louis kept a journal that talked about all of the goings on at the farm.   He started them in 1893 and continued writing until his death in 1927.

Addie continued the farm and raised cattle with her sons Roy and Herbert.  I don’t really know that much about it, but I have seen newspaper articles that mentioned them showing their cattle and winning prizes at the Jeff Davis Parish Fair as well as regional showings.  I can’t find any of those articles right now, but I promise you there are several.  I know that Roy’s daughters Jeannette and Doris also got in on the act and made a name for themselves.

Van, Bob, and Betty Bucklin Landry visiting the old Bucklin farm truck of Addie Hine Bucklin in 2015. (Thanks to cousin Joseph for the photo.)

Addie died in 1960 a month after I was born.  Her sons Herbert and Roy took over the farm, as well as the truck that Addie used to drive to take care of her farming business.  That truck has long since retired, yet it is still around.  It is used as part of a stage in a cool barn in the Hathaway area.  I went to visit it with my mom and dad back in 2015 for one last nostalgic outing with them.

Nostalgic indeed.

Surprise! Addie’s Parents Were Cousins!!!

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I know.  Some of you are saying, “So what?  I’ve heard this so many times already.”  But this time it’s different.  I’m not talking about the Landry side of the family, I’m talking about the Bucklin side of the family.  More specifically, I’m talking about the Hine line of my family. 

My mom was Betty Lou Bucklin Landry.  She was the daughter of Fred D. Bucklin.  His mother was Addie Mae Hine Bucklin.  She was born in Noblesville, Indiana, but lived her adult life in southern Louisiana.  She was alive when I was born, but she died a few weeks later.  So I have no personal memories of her.  Maybe some of my older siblings or cousins may have some memories of her.  I’ve posted several photos of her in the past and have given her a hard time about all the times that she was scowling in the photos.  Even in this photo she’s not really smiling.

Addie Mae Hine Bucklin (on the right) with her parents Susan G. Stanbrough Hine and George Henry Hine in Hathaway, Louisiana, circa 1919.

Maybe it was because she found out that her parents were related!  I doubt it, though.  She probably wasn’t even aware of the fact, because they were not very closely related.  But from what I’ve been able to figure out, they were definitely cousins.

I discovered this connection shortly after I found out the maiden name of George Henry Hine’s mother.  Her name was Mary Malina Cox.  She was the daughter of Benjamin Cox and Jemima Vestal Cox.  That name was very familiar to me.  It was not because of any association with pancakes, either. 

It had to do with Susan Stanbrough’s ancestry.  I had found the Vestal name in her family tree a few years ago.  When I started looking at relatives in that family group, I found a few Jemima Vestals.  It seemed to have been a common family name at some point, but its usage has declined.  Though my sister Jamie’s name is close.  All you’d have to do is add a second ‘m’ and rearrange the letters.  It wouldn’t really work, though.  “Jemima crack corn” just doesn’t have the same ring as “Jamie crack corn.”  Sorry, Jamie, I couldn’t resist!

So Susan’s ancestry goes like this:  Susan’s mother was Lydia Jane Mills.  Susan’s grandfather was James Mills.  Her great grandmother was Lydia Jay.  Her great great grandmother was Mary Elizabeth Vestal (there it is!).  And her great great great grandparents were William Vestal and Elizabeth Mercer.  This was a pretty long time ago – they were born in the late 1600s.   Elizabeth was born in Great Britain, but William and Mary Elizabeth were born in Pennsylvania.

On George’s side I’ve already told you his grandmother’s name.  His great grandfather was Jesse Vestal and his great great grandfather was Thomas Curren Vestal.  Thomas Current Vestal was the younger brother of Mary Elizabeth Vestal.  That would mean that William Vestal and Elizabeth Mercer were also the great great great grandparents of Geroge Hine.  So he and his wife Susan were fourth cousins through their Vestal connection.

Fourth cousins sounds pretty far when you first hear it, but it’s interesting to see it in association with this same family.  Two of Addie’s sons were Ralph and Fred Bucklin.  Ralph’s daughter was Helen and Fred’s daughter was Betty Lou, my mom.  Helen and mom were first cousins.  Helen’s son and my sister Karen are second cousins.  Their children are third cousins and their grandchildren are fourth cousins.

So what have we learned?  George and Sue were fourth cousins.  I was alive at the same time as their daughter Addie.  At present, there are descendants of Addie who are fourth cousins to each other.  All of this together indicates that I’m getting old.  Yet it doesn’t make me feel old.  It makes me feel like I’m learning perspective.

But you can call me old if you want too.

Becoming a Father Posthumously – A Hine Story

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Two hundred years ago a young man named Peter Hine decided to write his will.  He was only twenty-four years old and less than a year married.  And though I’m sure he must have had plenty of dreams for a future, he also must have realized that those dreams were not to be.

Peter Hine was born October 10, 1794, to German-born immigrant Johannes Hein and first generation American Juliana Catherina Schneider.  He was the first American-born Hine in my line of the Hine family, though he was not the first one born in his immediate family.  Actually he was the tenth of eleven children.  He was not the first child of John and Catherine to die, either.  He had an older brother named Phillip that died in 1815 and another older brother named John that died earlier in 1819.  There also had been a first-born daughter that died at birth.

Marriage contract of Peter Hine and Margaret Miller

So Peter came from a large family and may have thought that he would follow suit with that tradition.  At the time it was also traditional to get married first, and that’s what he did.  On August 4, 1818, he married his 18-year-old sweetheart Margaret Miller.  His brother Henry signed as a witness.  Henry was almost exactly two years older than Peter.  His birthday was on October 9th, so they may have celebrated together and were close.  He actually was the only surviving brother that Peter had in July 1819.

I wonder if Peter knew he was ill at the time of his marriage?  Or if he knew he was ill when he found out that his newlywed wife would soon be expecting a child?  All I know is that he had consumption and that was not a good thing back in the 1800s.  Margaret gave birth in September of 1819, and you can tell from the title that Peter did not survive to meet his bouncing baby boy.  In July of 1819 Peter must have begun to have some serious problems with his disease, because on July 17th of that year he wrote down his final requests.

July 1819 will of Peter Hine

It is a very bittersweet thing to read.  He writes, “My beloved wife Margaret being pregnant, I give and bequeath unto the child of her body that tract or parcel of land…Twenty one acres…and interest in a certain undivided tract of land lying in Stokes County.  In case my beloved wife should be delivered of more than one child, the children are to possess equal rights to the above mentioned tracts of land.”  He leaves his other belongings to his beloved wife.

He tried to cover all circumstances as best he could.  One child?  Two?  They didn’t have ultrasound back then.  He also could not take it for granted that the child would even survive to adulthood.  That is never a given and there were lots of things that could happen to prevent that from happening.  But the main point was this:  his wife was going to live on and give birth to their child without him being around.  He would not be there to hold his child.  He didn’t even know what the sex of the child would be.

And he wasn’t exaggerating.  As the 1819 diary from Bethebara, North Carolina states, “July 22.  This morning the married Br. Peter Hein died of consumption.”  So less than a week after he wrote his will, he died at the age of 24.  Two weeks later would have been his first year wedding anniversary.  So we can be assured that he is one man who never forgot his wedding anniversary!  It must have been a sad reminder to Margaret. 

I found myself referring to Margaret as “his wife” when I contemplated these events this week.  That’s like referring to my mom as “my dad’s wife.”  Margaret is just as much my ancestor as Peter was.  Part of that is because I think of it as following my Hine line of the family.  But Margaret was my great great great great grandmother and I very much sympathize with her.  What a tragedy she had to endure.

But endure she did.  A month after that first wedding anniversary, she gave birth to her only Hine child and she named him after his father and grandfather.  John Peter Hine was born on September 3, 1819.  He endured as well and lived to collect on his inheritance.  His mother remarried and he grew up in a family.  Not a Hine family, though.  But he lived with his mom, step-father, and six Wageman siblings and made it to adulthood.

Hine descendants in 1919

I’ve talked about John Peter before.  He married Mary Malina Cox and they had seven children together, including my great great grandfather George Henry Hine.  I wrote about the 100 year anniversary of George’s death earlier this year.  Since that post about his death, I came across this old photo that was shared with me by my cousin Carla.  (Thanks again!) 

I am pretty sure this was taken at the funeral of George Hine in May of 1919.  I see some of his grandchildren, but I also see other Hine family members.  I don’t know for sure who they are, but I’ve seen them in another photo identified as Hine family.  I’m thinking they are the family of George Henry’s brother Allen Larkin Hine. 

Whoever they are, they represent the numerous descendants of Peter Hine.  He never got to meet his son or know if he would make it to adulthood.  He could never have imagined all of the descendants that he had in 1919, much less all of the ones who are alive today.  So let’s give a bit of thanks to the short, yet productive life of Peter Hine.

100 Years Gone, Bye George

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I’m repeating myself. Of course, these posts are all about repeating stories from the past. But this time I’m using a photo that I’ve used before. Twice before, actually. It’s just such a great photo, though. I really need to get a good print of this photo, by George. Those eyes mesmerize me.

George Henry Hine, circa 1900.

The occasion for posting this photo again is that May 3, 2019, is the 100th anniversary of the death of our George. That would be my great great grandfather George Henry Hine. My mother was Betty Lou Bucklin Landry. Her father was Fred D. Bucklin. His mother was Addie May Hine Bucklin, the oldest child of George. George got married to Susan G. (Grandma Sue or just Sue) Stanbrough on October 12, 1873, in Hamilton County, Indiana. Besides having my great grandmother Addie, they had five sons.

“The People’s Guide: A Business, Political and Religious Directory of Boone Co., Ind.,” 1874, p. 136

The family was from Indiana and lived there until 1894. I’ve shared photos of the family in Indiana before, but recently I found some more history of George’s family in Indiana. I knew that Sue’s Stanbrough family had moved to Indiana from Ohio around 1830. I also knew that the Hine family had moved to Indiana from North Carolina around 1835. But George’s mother was Malina Cox and the Cox family name was a recent discovery. I found that Malina’s father was Benjamin Cox, who was born in 1796. In an old book about Boone County, Indiana, it had a small mention of the family moving to Indiana from North Carolina in 1829.

So sixty years later the Hine family – at least the George Henry Hine family – made their way south to Louisiana. They homesteaded in Jefferson Davis Parish around China. In a letter I shared previously from May of 1916, Sue wrote about how George had come close to dying on May 2 (1915). He was doing quite well in 1916 as a result of quitting his medicines and drinking cold water. (Per Grandma Sue’s letter.) She talks about how Addie and the family had moved back to Louisiana after their stint in Arkansas. She was also glad that their son Roe lived close by and could answer their ring when they needed something.

Obituary for Grandpa Hine in the Jennings Daily Times Record on May 22, 1919.

I always thought it was so sweet that Sue’s son Rowe (Roe) lived so close and could help them out in their older years. But then I realized that Rowe died only four months after that May 1916 letter was written. Like my sister Jodie, he died at the age of 36. And I’m sure his death must have impacted their family as it did ours. I’m sure that bell she mentioned in the letter was one of the bittersweet reminders of her son.

Then came that fateful day 100 years ago when George passed away after he and Sue had been married for 45 years. He was 72 years, 5 months, 6 days old. As Sue would say a few years later when speaking of her brother’s death, “the Death angel came for him.” The newspaper article that gave notice of his death talked about how much George suffered his last few years.

So Grandma Sue was probably thinking of her dear George when she wrote that letter to family about her brother’s death. Even though she wasn’t specifically writing about George, the words probably fit her sentiment about her husband’s death, “I was glad he did not have to suffer (any longer). and of course we all have that debt to pay sooner or later.”

Addie’s last birthday bash

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Addie had two of her brothers with her at her last birthday.

Here is a photo from almost 60 years ago. I don’t really know how that could be possible, since I was born just over a month later and I am nowhere near that age! The information on the copy of the photo stated that this photo was taken at the celebration of Addie’s 84th birthday. Since Addie May Hine was born on September 23, 1876, that would put the date of this photo around September 23, 1960.

Addie was the oldest child of George & Sue Hine. She had five younger brothers named Bert, Roe, Lonnie, Jim, and Ollie. Roe died in 1916, Jim died in 1949, and Ollie died in 1954. So at the time of Addie’s last birthday, only Bert and Lonnie were still alive to celebrate with her. She also had her surviving nine children at the event and numerous grandchildren. I know her children were there, because there is another photo from that day.

But in this photo, front and center of the photo is Addie and her two brothers. On the left with the white short-sleeved shirt is brother Bert. On the right with suspenders is brother Lonnie. As you can see from their faces, this was a joyous occasion! I have to admit, Addie does look a bit disinterested, but at least she is not scowling.

I can make out a few other people in the photo. On the left in the background is a man with his body toward the camera but facing to the left. I believe that is Addie’s youngest son Roy. To the right of him is a man wearing a white shirt and a dark checked collar. That’s Addie’s son and my grandfather’s identical twin Clarence. For some reason the way he is standing reminds me of my cousin Brent. And the guy standing to the right of him in a dark plaid shirt reminds me of myself or my brother Rob. Something about the way he is standing. I don’t know who they are, but maybe someone else will know and inform me.

And then there are the man and woman to the right of the Hine siblings. I know that the man is another son of Addie named Herbert. He is the grandfather of Joseph and John Connors. I don’t know who the woman is or what she is telling Uncle Herbert. Hopefully we can find out at least who she is. I doubt that we’ll discover the other information. (The woman in the photo is actually the 14-year-old daughter of Uncle Herbert. Her given name is Mary Louise Bucklin. She is married to Joseph Connors, III, so she is now known by the name Louise Connors.)

There’s one other person in the photo that I just noticed tonight after I picked out this photo to share. On the right edge of the photo is a young girl sitting on a tricycle. It looks to me like it could be my sister Jodie. She was also the first child of six. Though at the time she was only the oldest of four. I was born the following month and my baby sister Jamie was born in July of 1962. Jodie would have been three weeks shy of her 7th birthday. The girl in the photo looks about that age.

From the photos it looks like it was a good turnout for Addie’s birthday bash. And as I said, it was her last birthday. She passed away on Nov. 25, 1960. She looks like she was in pretty good shape at this event. I’ve wondered if she was aware of me or ever saw me. It kind of seems likely. Maybe one of her children told her, “Mama, Betty Lou had another baby today. It’s a boy.” Though she probably didn’t jump for joy, she might have said, “Oh, good,” and sat back in her rocker with a pleasant disposition.

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