Tuesday, January 11, 2011

My Christian Heritage

Lafayette Mauzey
   Lafayette Mauzey is my great great great Grandfather.  He was born in 1835 in Missouri.  His mother's family were big time slave owners and although not much is known about his father, we do know that he in addition to being a piano teacher was a gambler. These factors shaped Lafayette, not to emulate those lifestyles, but to go in the opposite direction.  Lafayette moved to Kansas and fought for freedom on the Union side.  He also became a Methodist Episcopal minister and was very opposed to gambling.
 
Lafayette's preacher's license
  His son Oscar Mauzey was a strong Christian.  He followed his father's lead and disallowed anything that resembled gambling (cards).  Both Lafayette and Oscar and Oscar's son (my great-grandfather) Cecil are memorialized in the Cummings Methodist Church stained glass windows.

Oscar Mauzey stained glass
 Oscar's son, Cecil was also a strong Christian.  When church services were going, you could hear Cecil singing loud enough to be heard outside.  Not that he was any good, just loud, praising God:)

Cecil Mauzey
 As a Bible believing Christian, I am so proud to have these guys and many others as my ancestors.  Thanks grandpas!

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures!!

  My Aunt Frances was the family keeper.  Her son (my cousin) and I have been working in tandem on family research to get our Gentry family and branches ironed out.  He recently sent some scantly identified photos which I was thrilled to be able to help out in identification of!
"Aunt Bee"
  Meet Rebecca Amelia Pribble Shields otherwise known as "Aunt Bee".  She is the only full sister to my great-great grandmother Flora Helen Marr Pribble Gentry.  Growing up I had heard fond references to this aunt:) 
"Uncle Herschel, Aunt Clara & Carl?"
   Meet my great-great-Uncle Herschel, Aunt Clara, and I think their son Carl ("Bee" would have been Hersch's aunt).  Uncle Hersch had one other son named Herschel Raymond who died when he was only 6, so I think this was taken after his death when Carl would have been about 10 in 1919/20.  
Hersch and Clara settled in Washington State.

"Uncle Ed"
  Meet "Uncle Ed"  I am pretty sure that this is Ed Pribble, half brother to "Bee" and Flora.  I have not seen a picture of him before, but there aren't any other likely candidates and I can see the resemblance to his father, Samuel Winfield Scott Pribble. *Note* - how wonderful are cousins?!?  This is not Ed Pribble, but most likely Edgar Gentry!  Thanks guys! :)  So much for the "resemblance" ;) (3/28/13)
   I am so excited to see what other treasures might lie in Aunt Frances's collection!