I didn't have much of a relationship growing up with my Maternal Grandparents. We kept in touch through letters, cards, and phone calls. We got Christmas presents in the mail. Grandma made goodies and sent them to us, but we lived on the East Coast. They lived on the West Coast. Neither of us ever really had a lot of money to make a trip as much as we would have liked.
Mom had 4 children to take care of. I was the youngest, and the one born with a Birth Defect I inherited from my Father's side of the family. So my early life was doctor visits and Surgeries.. and medical bills. It wasn't until I was older that Grandma and Grandpa M came out to visit. They came every few years. They came for My Sisters wedding. Grandma made her wedding cake. I can't remember if they came for my oldest Brother's wedding. They came for my High school Graduation. They came to see their great-grandkids, too.
It's on one of these trips out to see us that My sister and I start asking questions. Mom has always told me snippets of her childhood and family when I asked. I'm a curious person by nature. And I always wondered why they never really talked about family. Mom only knew a little bit about her Aunts, Uncles and Cousins. As they got older the families just kind of moved away. They all went their separate ways, not staying in touch with each other.
Grandpa gave me the names of his siblings... Lois Dean, Jewel "Jule" Allard, Mada Jeanette, Peggy Marie, and Richard Cavitt "M". He told me a little about his Mother, Ocie Ida Cavitt. Her mother was Florrie Dozier who married Richard Cavitt... Supposedly Richard Cavitt was a Native American who changed his name to Richard Cavitt when he got married. So far I have not found any proof to support that claim. I actually found proof of Richard Cavitt's parents... no Native American ties yet.
He told me about his Grandma Willie Mae Hodges... Her father was Ben Hodges who had a farm or ranch in Texas. His brother had a sheep ranch. He didn't know much though.
One thing that I thought was interesting was that Grandpa had a Sister named Peggy Marie. She supposedly was born between Mada Jeanette and Richard Cavitt. She died young but he wasn't sure when.
I started looking for Florrie Dozier Cavitt. I found a lot of Cavitts and Doziers. And I found some Florrie's. I just couldn't find the right one... I finally gave up on her for a bit. I started looking for other family names. Of coarse when I was doing this it was when I was still in High school. I was trying to research this online on free sites.. I didn't have any money of my own and no jobs while in school.
One day I came across 2 things... 1 was a posting about Benjamin Franklin Hodges... it had his children and grandchildren listed... lo and behold there was my Grandpa's sibings... of coarse the person who wrote it didn't have my Grandpa listed or his sister Peggy Marie. (Not many people know about Peggy so that was understandable). I contacted "Wrazzy" and told her who I was... I helped her add my line to her research and eventually she sent me hardcopies of her research on the Hodges family in snailmail. That was the start of my research.. that helped me Identify more people... It had my great-Uncles and Aunt... (Whom Mom later found a picture of when she visited Grandma and Grandpa a few years ago. It was when my Great-Grandpa and his siblings where young. It's a kewl old picture) Things were starting become a cohesive picture.
I was still wondering about Florrie Dozier Cavitt. I forget how I finally found her years and years later. She was Mary Florrie Dozier, daughter of Thomas Jones Dozier and Salena Palestine Hooker. I made contacts with the Dozier family researchers and Cavitt Researchers. And I had my Hodges Contact. I was well on my way.
I later added Bill Manire as a Contact... He was a distant cousin who helped me a lot. He and his wife had did a lot of research on the Manire family all the way back to 1700's. Though it was still limited in the lineage. I've used it as a stepping stone... I've since then added hundreds more names to the tree...
I'm always scouring the web for any mention of the Manire Family.... It's how I've come across obituaries and some historical websites that helped. Now that I work I'm able to pay for access to places like Ancestry.com and footnote.com. Both sites have really helped me. I love finding new pieces of lost history. Ancestry.com has a buncha stuff scanned. So you can see the actual Document like a Census. And I've gotten pretty good at reading the old writing.
It's been fun.. and I'm still at it. Though my one problem now is that I have too many notes. I need to organize them but sometimes I just get distracted or overwhelmed. Sometimes it's a bit sad as I get excited over something new but don't always have someone to share it with who will get just as excited about it.
