Curiosity never killed this cat.
~Studs Terkel
Hello family and friends and greetings to all of you from San Diego. A spirit of curiosity is essential in the effort to research family, hence the witty quote at the top of this page by the late Studs Terkel. At his request these words are found on his headstone.
In my last post I shared some pictures of important family gatherings in diverse places, celebrating family events. This post will reflect that same thing with another picture of people gathered for an important family celebration, as well as some other celebrations, along with an historic 6 generation picture spread.
First of all though, I want to offer congratulations to two couples whose anniversaries were in the last few days. Chris and Amanda Clark Farrell (Amanda is the daughter of Jerry Clark and Jane Clark Brock) were married August 6, 2006 and celebrated 8 years of marriage on Wednesday.
Happy Birthday Heather. This Sunday, August 10, is the birthday of Heather Robson Cotten, daughter of Paula Tuzzolino and granddaughter of Vicki Gower Johnston. Heather, one of the 14 great grandchildren of Leroy and Nola Shannon Gower, lives in San Antonio, Texas with her husband Sean and daughters Victoria and Alexandria. This weekend, however, Heather is in Oak Harbor, Washington where she was raised and where she graduated from High School. She is visiting her mom Paula and her grandmother Vicki.
The picture above, taken earlier this summer, shows Heather with her daughters Lexi and Tori. The image below is a 6 generation family picture. Not often in my family records can I find pictures like this which span six consecutive generations and over 150 years.
The following is a list of the names and dates of those pictured:
- Victoria Cotten (b. 2007)
- Heather Robson Cotten (b. 1976)
- Paula Harrell Tuzzolino (b. 1951)
- Vicki Gower Johnston (b. 1933)
- Nola Shannon Gower (1903-2004)
- Finetta Dearien Shannon (1861-1960)
The genealogical note for this particular post concerns Finetta Dearien, the oldest person in the picture spread above. Her mother was Roena Norton, a young woman, possibly a teen, who became pregnant with Finetta by her step father Augustus Dearien. Finetta's embarassing birth lead to the disappearance of her young mother Roena sometime after 1861 when Finetta was born. What happened to Finetta's mother Roena is a mystery that may never be solved. But the search continues. Especially for those of us with the curious spirit of Studs Terkel.
The picture above shows Jeremy (on the left in the blue cap) with his family. Far left is his grandmother Thelma Shepard Boyd; far right is his mother Kim Boyd Clark in front of her husband Jeff Clark. To the right of Jeremy is his wife Desiree, his San Diego cousin Kori Boyd, his brother-in-law Justin Davis, and his sister Amanda. Also in this picture are Jeremy and Desiree's 5 children: twins Dominic and Isaac, Ciara, Damian and Ashlyn. This family picture was taken last weekend at a restaurant in North Kansas City, Missouri.
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Steve Shepard
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