The Error of His Ways

Lafayette F. Mauzey was born in Ray County, Missouri in 1835.  His family had strong southern roots, typical for families in the newly admitted slave state. His mother's family had owned a family of African descent for multiple generations - a way of life that Lafayette eventually separated himself from.  His son Oscar, my great-great-grandfather, reported that the separation came after his father had seen the horrors of the treatment of the slaves.  Oscar detailed one such incident involving a man being tied to a tree stump as punishment from which the man died from exposure to the elements.

Grandpa Lafayette married in 1858 into a family staunch in their pro-slavery beliefs. The first years of Lafayette and Sarah's married life were spent in Platte County, Missouri in which slaves in 1850 accounted for 61% of the general population.  In 1860, the family was still at home in Platte County but by 1864 Lafayette had enlisted in the 12th Kansas volunteer regiment - enlisted to protect free-state Kansas from Sterling Price's advancement.  During his brief period with the 12th, he fought in the Battle of Westport in October 1864, which is known as the "Gettysburg of the West" and a turning point in Price's Confederate advance. 

Grandpa Lafayette's shift in his feelings towards slavery has always interested me.  Why? Surely he had noticed the horrors of slavery his whole life, was the neglectful murder of that one slave what brought on the change or was it more? My interest in other Bleeding Kansas and Civil War Kansas topics as of late caused me to take another look at possibly why Grandpa Lafayette shifted in his beliefs. I believe I found it, buried in information we already had.

Not long ago, a very distant cousin, and also a descendant of Lafayette gave my mom the Mauzey family Bible.  In it is this inscription:

"L. F. Mauzey was converted 

from the error of his ways

 in the year of our Lord 1864

 in Missouri, and moved

 to Kansas the same year." 

Perhaps Grandpa Lafayette's transformation was not just a philanthropic one, but a spiritual one as a result.  After the war, Grandpa Lafayette went on to become a minister of the Gospel, pro-Temperance and anti-gambling (both of the last two, his father was all but).  Isn't it funny how the answer to our genealogical questions are sometimes right under our noses?  This time it took a period of putting the research to the side and coming back at it with fresh eyes and asking different questions ;)

Part of my genealogy quest on this side of the family has been to pursue the histories and trails of the family that was unfortunate enough to be owned by my own.  I owe it to that family who had been enslaved by mine to preserve what past I can find on my end so hopefully it will benefit their descendants someday if they choose to pursue their past. The recent revisiting of the unnecessary murder of that poor man has pressed upon me to regroup my efforts to dig into this family's story once again.

Field Trip: Great Overland Station

  I have been putting this blog off for a while.  This is one that will bring on the tears (box of Kleenax is nearby as I write).  Back in October, Bubby and I took a buddy of his, Grandma and Shorty to the Great Overland Station in Topeka.  We'd been before, so it was low on my list but they had a special exhibit on firefighting in Topeka - well, that's all they had to say.  Actually, I almost put it off too long and missed it, but we made it the week before the exhibit closed.
  My Papa Mauzey (Grandma's dad) was a Topeka firefighter.  I am extremely proud of him.  He is my hero in so many ways.  He would be the first to tell you that he wasn't a hero because of his firefighting duties even though he saved lives.  I always thought different though, I like being contrary and I claim that comes partly from him.

My Papa

He was very opinionated (this may be an understatement).  He never let you doubt where he stood on an issue, and would even sometimes take a stance contrary to yours just for the sake of argument  - he loved a good debate ;)  That being said, when we started homeschooling the kids, he was one of our biggest supporters.  I always wondered about that because I had a stereotype in my head that his generation would be more status quo.  It might be that it was because they grew up in the time of one-room schoolhouses and education was much different than what it is today.  I didn't broach the subject, but now I wish I had. 

Me & my Papa, during a bicentennial parade, 1976

  Our relationship wasn't at it's peak though until after I got to be an adult.  I think we could relate to each other better.  We'd have long discussions about anything and everything.  I'd tell him all the new family history I was learning and he'd listen interested.  He loved hearing it, just no desire to seek it out himself. And he would engage me in conversations of anything new he had learned.
  And when Hubby and I had the two older kids and they got past the baby stage - oh, Papa adored them!  They had his heart and he theirs. 
  So, when we got to the Great Overland Station we were all excited to see some of Papa's firefighting stories fleshed out in pictures.

Bubby looking at the Methodist Home display

One of them was the United Methodist home fire.  This was one of Papa's first fires he fought.  It was pretty intense and one that made another newbie firefighter leave the force.
The artifacts from the Grace Cathedral fire were interesting....

Shorty was not very tolerant of the time being spent in the exhibit, so thankfully there was a hands on area downstairs which suited him just fine.

There was a model train set and even a real train too!

We spent most of our time at the model train

The kids stuff was fun for everyone, even cool grandparents!

Bottom line, trains never disappoint and anything that relates to family is always awesome! ;)

Guess Who?: Atchison

My Atchison batch + some tintypes:

W. Babberger - photographer

Conklin - photographer

Hill - photographer

J. C. Hill - photographer

Possibly a Beeson or Locker. J. M. Munn - photographer

Kleckner - photographer

Kleckner - photographer

Most likely children of Philo Mauzey.  McLeod - photographer

My tintypes:

I sincerely hope that this is my
gggg-grandma Charity Beeson (b. 1803),
but I don't know

Guess Who?: St. Joseph & Unknowns

If you see anyone you know, drop me a note! :)

J. T. Needles, St. Joseph, MO - photographer

Uhlman, St. Joseph, MO - photographer

Probably Albert Isaacs (son of Amos & Ally),
taken by H. S. Stovall, Weatherby, MO

The following pics are totally unmarked:(

postcard picture

Papa's Girl

Today we lost all of our menfolk (except Baby Boy) to the pursuit of the wild morel mushroom, so we needed an adventure for just us girls, which included Grandma.  Mookie has been dying to take some flowers to her great-grandpa's grave, so we took advantage of the beautiful day and headed out.  After a few side trips, and Mookie questioning whether or not we'd actually get there, we arrived to Cummings Cemetery.  Cummings is just a spot in the road nowadays, but it's the town where three generations of my family lived and are buried.  Mookie took the ultimate care to make sure the flowers were laid carefully for the Papa she loved so much:) 
  I wasn't as close to Papa at her age as I was in my grown up years, but I sure enjoyed the time spent visiting and just being together later on.  I tried to make sure we got in to visit him as often as we could because he absolutely adored his great-grandkids, and they him.  In fact, they got away with so much more than I ever could when I was their age.  The glass figurines in the front window my sister & I couldn't touch, Papa would set out for my kiddos to play with on the floor.  They loved to lay down on the floor as he grabbed their feet securely and said "now what are you going to do?", which would be followed by laughter and wiggles to get free. 
  Some of the pictures that are most dear to me are some we found when we were breaking up my grandparents' house after they had both passed away.  They were ones my Papa took one Halloween and epitomize the love that the kiddos and he shared.  He must have seen us coming and quickly grabbed his camera and opened the door and snapped pics as they were yelling "trick or treat!".  I keep these in their original photo develop packet in a drawer, every time I pull them out I tear up as I flip through the series that starts with us exiting the car to pics outside by the bush before we left.  I sure do miss going to his house, the door swinging open and a hug with a "how you doing girl?".  We miss you Papa, and hope to see you again one day!

ding dong!

"trick or treat!"

The kids with the glass figurines in the front window.

A Tale of Two Ladies

Every child has a family member or hero they strive to emulate when they're growing up.  Mine was always two of my great-grandmothers.

Mary Elizabeth Clem Gentry

Mabel "June" Tanner Mauzey

 Both were, to me, very beautiful.  Not that appearance has ever been very important to me, but it would thrill me when my Mom would say "your Grandma June would have loved your long brown hair", or someone would tell me that I had nice blue eyes like my Dad (who got his eyes in part from Grandma Mary, because both his parents had brown). 
  Both were exceptional at handiwork and creating beautiful things.  Grandma Mary quilted, embroidered and created cutwork as well as being a great baker.  She even baked cakes for a living after my great-grandpa died.  Grandma June excelled in those areas too and entered her creations constantly in county fairs.

Grandma June and pictures she made out of postage stamps

Some of my family produces beautiful embroidery, cross-stitch and quilting too.  While I would love to be able to do that, I have neither the patience or desire to except to try my hand at it occasionally.  I do think back on the time my Grandma Murray taught me how to embroider my first tea towel and said that my stitches were small and even like her mom's, and that was good enough for me:)
  Neither of them was just a girly girl either.  Grandma June enjoyed fishing with her father and brothers, something I'm sure she picked up as a result of losing her mother at a young age.  Grandma Mary was a great shot with a gun.  My dad said that she could pick a snake out of a tree with just one shot!
  Both were also kind, gentle, and proper Christian women.  All attributes to strive for. 
Now Grandma Mary died long before I was even thought of and Grandma June died when I was just two years old, but they have both had profound influences on my life just by the tales I was told about them.  I am so thankful for their examples and hope to pass on their good influences to my own children.  So whenever we drive through LeRoy, KS I point out the house where Grandma Mary lived to the kids, or when they ask me where I got my wedding ring, I proudly tell them, "that belonged to your Great-Great-Grandma June, and she would have loved you very much" :).

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!