Tombstone Tuesday & The Browning Series Pt 10(e) - Susannah Olliezona Crago

With this post I combine two different sorts of genealogy 'prompts.' 

The first is Tombstone Tuesday, so today I feature the stone of little Susannah Olliezona Crago. This simple stone is at the Labette City Cemetery in Labette County, Kansas.

The second 'prompt' is one more of my own making.   I've been doing a series now for the last couple of years that I call "The Browning Series."

Samuel and Margaret Browning had thirteen children and after Margaret's death, Samuel chose a widow named Sarah Ann (Bell) Gaddis as his second wife.  Samuel and Sarah had two more children together.   My plan has been to feature each one of the fifteen children in a separate post (and often, their children as well!) and finally tie the family together with a discussion of their parents.

Susannah Olliezona Crago was the fifth child of Isaac Fordyce Crago and Susannah Browning.   Susannah Olliezona was born in 1871 in Noble County, Indiana.  She lived in Noble County for a few years after her birth but moved with her parents to Labette County, Kansas at some point around the year 1879. She was found in the census in June of 1880 living with her parents in Fairview Township in Labette County.

Olliezona is such a unique name, isn't it?  Ever since the first time I saw it I've liked it.  It rolls off the tongue.  Because of the sound of her name I always pictured her as a sweet little blonde child, her two pig-tails bouncing as she played in the Kansas sunshine.  Silly old sentimental me.

But she got sick one day......maybe.  Maybe she got injured somehow, or maybe she had a congenital problem.  Who knows.  But at some point between the time of the 1880 census in June and December of 1880, this sweet little girl died, and most likely in Fairview Township.   We'll never know for sure what killed her but as her mother Susannah's date of death was 1881, is it possible that the two were victims of some sort of illness?

Little Olliezona was buried at the Labette City Cemetery in Labette County, Kansas.  Rest in peace, sweetheart.

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Peek-A-Boo!

They say a picture can say a thousand words?  Bah.  I always have one or two more to add to that, ya know!  "Wordless" is a foreign concept for me.  So here's the picture...

Some of the explanation is under the picture but I just have to add my few words.  I wish I knew for sure who the woman was sitting on the porch holding the two adorable little pudgy toddlers, but I don't.  It might possibly be Daisie Catherine (Rush) Browning, the first wife of Roy Browning, my grandfather Virgil's brother.  If this is Daisie, she is holding Frederick Leroy Browning (b. 1928) and Esther Mae Browning (b. 1929) and would date the picture to around 1931 rather than the c1929 I have listed. Whoever the lady is, she is smiling a mile wide, though, isn't she?  I also don't know the identities of the older boy to the left nor the older girl to the right with her finger to her lips looking puzzled.  She's clasping the hand of a smaller girl who is only half in the frame.  I don't know who the smaller girl is either.  I also like the wagon off in the distance.

I do recognize my grandfather Virgil Joseph Browning in the big hat.  He's smiling, too.  It must've been a funny moment they captured.  And that lady peeking out behind the barn with an impish look about her?  My grandmother  Beulah Ethel Garrard.  At this point my grandparents weren't married yet -- that didn't happen until 1934 -- but they were dating.

Peek a boo, Grandma!  I see you!

I also recognize the "old home place," the Browning family farm.  Well...I call it the Browning family farm, but it's really the Nichols place.  My 3rd-g-grandfather Joseph Nichols bought the land (in 1849) and built the house and established it.  It was just passed from his daughter Eliza Ursula (Nichols) Swan down to Ursula's daughter Estella Jane (Swan) Browning and then to Stella's sons Virgil, Roy and Emerson Browning. 

I recognize that porch, too, and those dark planks to either side of the door.  I remember those well.  I played many a day on that porch.  This picture sure does make me smile.

Happy 69th, Mom!

My mom is 69 today.

From the beautiful little flaxen-haired girl in the pink dress:

To the young girl smiling in a school photo and playing in a kiddie pool:

....to the newly minted Mrs. Browning.....

to a mother, quite understandably exhausted:

 She's the best friend a person could ask for and a helluva nurse to boot....

...and the most awesome grandmother in the world!

 She's a lot of things to me.  She's not just my mom, she's a friend.  She's the woman I turn to when I need a level head with a splash of cold water or a shoulder to cry on and a comforting word of advice. She's got a will of iron and a feisty soul and more smarts in her little finger than most people I know.  I'm a lucky lady to call her my mom.  I love you, Mom.

Happy 48th, Mom and Dad!

My parents are celebrating 48 years together today.  Congratulations, Mom and Dad!  May you have many, many more.

New Illinois Adoption Laws

As of last November, the state of Illinois has changed their laws regarding adoptions.  Adult adopted persons (21+) born in Illinois can request non-certified copies of their original birth certificates through the Illinois Department of Public Health.


There are slight differences in the laws depending on whether the adopted person was born before 1 Jan 1946 (birth parents of children born after this date may request that their names be deleted from the non-certified birth certificate within their lifetimes, and all birth parents may indicate their preferences regarding contact with the adult birth children) but this new law is still the most open that the state of Illinois has ever been.

Amen!

Go here to read more about the new laws:

http://www.newillinoisadoptionlaw.com/