Celebrating My Mom, November 2022

This past Saturday was my mother's birthday.   She was born Dolores Peggy Jane Granath on November 12, 1930 in Dolores, Colorado.   Yes, named after the small Colorado mining town that was the birthplace of both her mother, Blanche Ella Goodwin and her father, Walter Edward Granath, where they had married in 1916.   They moved around the mountains a bit, having children almost every two years like clockwork.   Walter worked at whatever jobs he could find, and they lived off of much of what they could grow or raise.   In spring of 1930, times were very tough.   Blanche's half-sister, Leda Crabill and her husband Bob White, had a 'successful' trucking business in the oil boomtown of Hobbs, New Mexico, and told them the oil patch was hiring.   That summer, Walter and Blanche made the difficult decision to move their family to Hobbs before school started in the fall, and when the time came, Bob drove up with one of his trucks to bring the entire brood down south.   Their first 8 children ranged in age from 12 to 18 months old. However, Blanche was pregnant with baby #9.  So, she stayed in Dolores with BOTH her parents and in-laws keeping watchful eye, and a few months later, Peggy entered the world.   When this little joy was only 2 weeks old, she and her Momma traveled on the train to finally join the rest in Hobbs.

My mom, Peggy has been gone from this earth 16 years.   I feel like it was a lifetime ago, and yet, only yesterday.  I still miss her every day, still talk to her every day in my head and prayers, and many of her traits I see in both of my children.   They have her kind spirit, her tough stamina.  Might we say stubbornness? Yes, I have that trait, too.   And both were also gifted with her beautiful, quick laughter and her absolutely unbelievable musical talent.   She would break out in a song at the drop of a hat, constantly all day long, and she knew all the words to thousands of songs.  Life had a soundtrack and my mom hummed along.  Yes, both of my children are thus gifted AND unable to live without music playing.

I wanted to write this post to celebrate my favorite memories of her, but there are just too many to process, even now.  So, I'm going to add a favorite photo and close.    This one is so classic, because she LOVED Christmas and the holidays.  I'm going to celebrate extra this year, just for her.  I am so thankful that she was my mother and that we will be together again someday in His glory.  I love her so much.

Mom loves the holidays!

Now, for my Granath cousins.  A little further back for today's post. This is Pappy (Walter Edward Granath)'s WW1 draft registration card. June 2, 1917. Two interesting facts. He put his birthdate as 1892, when I'm fairly certain it was 1891 (maybe he was supposed to register before turning 25, so he 'miswrote' it? very commonly done!!!) and also, they were about 4 months pregnant with Ruby. Another thing that I know. His oldest brother, John Preston Granath, was unsure of his own birth year, as he says on an oral history tape, "I was there, but I don't remember the exact year, ya know!"

Ogle and Hawkins cousins, check out this article that was in the Crosbyton, Texas, Review  newspaper on Nov. 3, 1922.  It helps us further narrow down the date when our Ogles moved from Denton, Texas to the Crosbyton area. We know the move was between March 31, 1920 (Teds birth in Denton) and Dec 4 1921 (Wesley's birth in Crosby county).  This may be as close as possible to the actual date.  Next, I'm going to see if I can research and find out when my Hawkins relatives moved from Denton to Crosbyton.  They might be easier to figure out, because they owned some land.

 

Blanche Ella Goodwin Granath

I have spent the past few months really focused on a project that I'd like to share.  In taking an Art Appreciation class for my Master's degree entry program, I created this tribute to my Grandmother Blanche Ella Goodwin Granath.  2019 has been a very difficult year.   My heart hurts with our family losses of JoAnn Granath Helfin (Jody) earlier this year, and very recently this month, Juanda Kay Granath Edmondson and Patrick Ivan Granath.  All three of these were dearly, dearly loved by me and my siblings and cousins.   We Granaths (and Ogles and Edmondsons and Heflins) are a close-knit family, and spent our entire lives visiting and loving each other.   My cousins from these lines are loved like siblings.   I am so grateful for the lives these Aunts and Uncle lived, and the influence they had on me.  I did not know Grandma Blanche, she died before I was born, but I experienced her influence through her children, also especially my sweet mother, Dolores Peggy Jane Granath Ogle. I am certain Grandma and my mom welcomed them as they entered Heaven.  Our family will continue together, as those who have gone before us would want.  We will love them and each other, until we are all joined again.   Here is the completed project I made in honor of Grandma Blanche, Aunt Jody, Uncle Pat and Aunt Kay.  Love them so very much. Tell me what you think. By the way, I got an A.

I found some of my Rue cousins !

I've recently been chasing down a new branch of my tree... or maybe its up a branch?  Anyway!  It is the Rue family line. Here's what I knew prior to this bit of research:

Not a lot of data there.  So, I contacted a few of my DNA matches on Ancestry and got replies !!  One lives very close to me and one lives in Colorado.  Both were very sweet and graciously shared their genealogy data and some photos with me.  One REALLY filled out some holes in this line and added several ancestors to another, all the while telling me to be sure to check out his sources and make sure his conclusions are correct.  I seriously love how supportive and helpful most genealogists are to one another, freely sharing information and themselves with their new-found cousins!  It does a heart good to be part of this family of researchers!  Now, I'm off to verify the information and start adding it to my tree.  I will update with a new tree graphic post as soon as I get that done.

I realized this morning that I never posted anything about my dad's going to Heaven this past January.  Perhaps its still too hard to realize that he's not with us anymore.  We've even had an Ogle reunion without him now.  It was hard, but we hugged each other and did it.  It was good to be together again.  We lost several very special Ogles in the past few years.  We missed the Strauss family, who had a schedule conflict.  Anyway.  Here is my dad's obituary content, except I corrected the typos and mistakes that newspapers always end up making.  I will post more about him in a few days.  When I can.

Oma Ogle, 89, went to be with the love of his life, Peggy Ogle, on Jan. 19, 2018.

Visitation is 5-7 p.m. Jan. 22 and a service is 10 a.m. Jan. 23, both at Waldrope-Hatfield-Hawthorne Funeral Home, 307 E. Sandstone in Llano, (325) 247-4300. The Rev. Richard Dye, pastor of First Christian Church of Plainview, will officiate. Interment will follow at Llano City Cemetery.

He was born Oct. 28, 1928, to Charlie Clinton Ogle and Ollie Lena Hawkins in East Grand Plains in Crosby County, Texas, and raised in Crosbyton. 

He married Dolores Peggy Jane Granath on Feb. 24, 1948, in Levelland. He started his life long career with Pan American Oil in 1949, which later became Stanolind Oil, Standard of Indiana, and Amoco Oil, from which he retired in 1984.

He and Peggy lived in Hobbs, Artesia, and Tatum, New Mexico, before moving to Llano in 1997, bringing with them their lifelong love for square dancing.

His career was only a small part of his life. While they lived in Tatum, he was a member for 18 years of the Tatum Board of Education and served in all the board offices; a lifelong Lions Club member; and a fire department volunteer fighting raging grass fires across eastern New Mexico.

When they came to Llano, they joined First Christian Church of Llano, where he was a deacon, board member, and longtime treasurer. Oma and Peggy were also founding members of the Llano Food Pantry.

After Peggy’s passing, he also became an active volunteer for Special Opportunities. He was a regular worker at the Llano Crawfish Open benefiting Llano charities, including his beloved Food Pantry and Special Opportunities, and, of course, a charter member of the morning donut shop club.

Oma was preceded in death by his dear wife, Peggy, and was the last survivor of the four daughters and seven sons of Charlie and Ollie. 

He is survived by all of his children, Douglas Clinton Ogle of Fritch, Debra Kay Strauss of Midland, Melba Jholene Olsen of Plainview, and Kyla Michelle Bayang of Tomball; grandchildren, Scott Alan Strauss, Gregg Patrick Strauss, Sara Katrina Olsen Wall, Richard “Eric” Leif Olsen III, Stephanie Michelle Strauss Watty, Martin Kyle Bayang, and Victoria “Vicki” Lynn Bayang; great-grandchildren, Aiden Kane Strauss, Nathan Goodwin Strauss, Natalie Paige Wall, and Carter Colby Strauss; sisters-in-law Billie Jo Fields Granath of Odessa, Juanda Kay Granath Edmondson of Llano, Myrna Lea Granath Brown Stark of Hobbs, and JoAnn Granath Heflin of Llano; brother-in-law Patrick Ivan Granath of Lovington, New Mexico; and countless nieces, nephews, and cousins.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you make memorial contributions to the Llano Food Pantry, 8203 Texas 29 West, or First Christian Church, 1105 Oatman, Llano, TX 78643.

The family would also like to send out a thank-you to Velma and Michelle.

Found another fun record today that made me do a happy dance.  Then I made myself use my newly created "Document management system" and spent a couple hours making sure its properly sourced and attached where it needs to be.  I realized that I could probably work about 4 months on my Rinker line and barely make a dent in it.  I've got some real work to do there, thanks to finding some really awesome genealogy buff Rinker cousins.  They sent me ALOT of stuff to process and attach.  I also received an entire large envelope of Rinker photos that I know fit in my tree somewhere, but I haven't exactly figured out where yet.  But I will start on it!  Anyway.  Here is the cool record I found.  First, who is it?  This marriage record belongs to my great-great-grandparents.

Kyla Ogle - Dolores Peggy Jane Granath my mom - Blanche Ella Goodwin  my grandma - Ella Jane Rinker my great-grandma-  then the 2 in this record are Ella Jane's parents:

It reads:

"To the Judge of the Probate Court of the County of Champaige, Ohio.  Married on the 6th day of October A.D. 1853 Samuel H Rinker and Mary Ann Pinkerton by me, Enos French, M.G. "

(Minister of the Gospel)

From the Marriage Records of the Probate Court of Champaign County, Urbana, Ohio, 1849 to 1856, Book E.  Found on FamilySearch.org:  "Early Marriage Bonds of Ohio, copied by the DAR"

More on this family branch soon!