Five Generations

     While home on Winter Break, I had the chance to scan a few of Grandma's pictures.  These two were especially fun to view.  This first one is of me at about seven months (guessing) and my great-great grandmother - Pearl Selena Astlin Beall (around age 86 - died the following year).  
     This is what was written about her in Grandma's binder: "She was a good person, easy-going, a hard worker, very compassionate, and she treated everyone well. She was tall and thin, with black hair and blue eyes. She raised her family in the lock house at Lock 25, where there was no electric or running water. The house consisted of a kitchen and living room on the first floor and two bedrooms on the second. There was a cookstove in the kitchen and a woodstove in the living room. She washed the family's clothes in a big tub with scrub board and ironed them with a flat iron, which was warmed on the wood stove, that she used to cook the meals. There was no refrigerator but there was an ice box. The water was fetched in a bucket from the well across the road. Meals that could be stretched to feed nine people were served -- fish, potatoes, beans, biscuits, and cornbread. In the winter, there was always a pot of soup on the cookstove. Life was not easy for the ladies of her time. None of the children were born in a hospital -- they were delivered at home by Aunt Polly (the black mid-wife that lived up the road) and the local doctor."

     This next picture is of five generations of Beall-Poole-Null women.  That's me around 9 months old on Pearl's lap again -- Her daughter, my great-grandmother Edna Mildred Beall (she's around age 67 here) - Her daughter, my grandmother Helen Elizabeth Poole (around age 45 here), and my mother Judy Louise (around age 19 here).

Find a Grave

The other night I received a message on Ancestry.com from an archivist at Monocacy Cemetary in Beallsville, where many of my maternal grandmother's family are buried. He was looking for a better picture of my great-great grandfather than one I had posted on the site, so that he could post it on his findagrave.com page. When I went to his page and then followed the links of several others that he sent me, I found some great photos and a lot of details I didn't know before. Great site for family history diggers!

Some other family grave pages I came across:

• Mary Astlin - Great-Grandma Beall's mother
• George Astlin - Great-Grandma Beall's father
• Benjamin R. Poole - Granddaddy's grandfather
  

Ancestry: Beth-Judy-Helen-Charles Wade Poole-John Elgin Poole

Raymond

On Monday, I went down to Poolesville to join my mom, aunts Susie, Deatle, and Maggie, and Uncle Robert at Poolesville United Methodist Church for Raymond E. Poole's funeral, internment, and celebration of life. Raymond was my Grandma's first cousin; the picture below shows her (Helen Poole Null) on Raymond's left and another cousin, Mary Jo Horn, on his right.

Raymond's father Ethan Poole and Helen's father Charles Poole were brothers. Also, Raymond's mother (Sarah) Anna Beall and Helen's mother Edna Beall were sisters. Doubly first cousins!

Raymond was well known around those rural parts of Montgomery County; he and his family had run Poole's General Store at Seneca Creek for many years. When I was a child and teen, we spent every Memorial Day Sunday at the reunion picnic that they hosted on their family lawn adjacent to the store and in front of their house.

photo source

Mr. Tipton, an articulate gentleman and old friend of Raymond, spoke so well about Raymond's life and how he came to have to give up the store. He recounted old stories of his brother Whistle, himself, and Raymond to illustrate how Raymond had deep roots in Poolesville and how he had developed a solid business and nurtured a loving family there. We were all touched by Mr. Tipton's kind words about Raymond and his loving wife Billie.

The funeral was in the same church where Raymond and Billie married many years before. My Grandma and Papa also wed in this sanctuary in December of 1947. This window is dedicated to Captain John T. and Mary Poole; I will have to do a bit of research to see how they are related.

Raymond was laid to rest in Monocacy Cemetery in Beallsville among many of his ancestors.
We returned after the reception to visit the graves of my great great-grandparents Pearl and "Jimmy Dean" Beall (Edna and Anna's parents -- he was a locktender at Edward's Ferry, where he raised his family) . . . . . . and the grave of my grandmother's parents, Charles Poole and Edna Beall Poole. My mom, aunts, and Uncle Robert promise to return with me soon to do the grand tour of the cemetery. More gravestone pictures to come!