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 |  A sporadic account of my reaction to life. |
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Over the years I have sporadically attempted to keep a journal. Each attempt has failed miserably. I think they expired because I established rules that were too ridgid for them. So, this attempt will bring with it very few rules. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** There are many incredibly kind and thoughtful people in WDC. One of them is zwisis. Out of the blue she sent me this flower gift. It reminds me of the Bluebonnets of Texas. Thanks, Sarah. And, I must not forget the very talented katherine76 who created the flower...thank you. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Well, it appears that my blog is going to the dogs. It aslo seems as if folks have gotten me pegged as a dog lover....they're right. Our very own Anyea   has gifted me with this Valentine card. Now I ask you, "How sweet is that?" Thanks, Anyea  ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** I have been fortunate to encounter many generous and kind people during my tenure in WDC. Debi Wharton is one of them. She gifted me with the following sig. It shows how sensitive and caring she is. It also shows that she read some my entries. She'll never know how much I appreciate the gift and the attention to my blog. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| Beatriss Jane “Barbara” McDONALD, my great-great grandmother on my mother’s side, was born in Alabama on February 17 in the year 1866, the daughter of Alexander McDonald and Lydia Ann Walden. She lived in the aftermath of the US Civil war in the heart of the Old West of Arkansas, Texas, and Oklahoma, giving birth to eleven children and losing two of them at young ages. Her life was not easy. She died at the age of forty-four, never to hold any of her grandchildren. At least she was buried near two of her children in a grave in Wingate, Texas. Apparently, Beatriss’ parents migrated from Alabama amid the aftermath of the Civil War to make a new home in Texas. It was in Hill County, Texas, where I found my first record of Beatriss in the 1900 US Census. By that time, she had married Robert Denson, at age eighteen, and proceded to bear children, eight of whom were all still living when the Census was taken in 1900. One child was recorded as being an infant, Floyd, appears in subsequent records as Joseph. Her last child, Edna, would follow four years later in 1904. She would lose a child in 1902 and another in 1906. It is interesting to note that the census records show a child being born on two-year increments from her first child, Thomas, until Edna. My grandmother Stella was her oldest daughter born on July 8, 1890. The two census periods of 1900 and 1910 reveals to us almost all we know about Beatriss. Although many researchers list her parents by name, there is no reasonable documentation to identify them. An ornate headstone sits on Beatriss' gravesite memorializing her existence. Unfortunately, the headstone would, by today’s standards, be considered sexist and offensive to women. And, I suppose it is. Maybe it is because I have researched her family that I look upon her life and accomplishments with both affection and sadness. She deserves to be remembered with more dignity than with what was shown, however absent-mindedly it was done. I am sure is was the sign of the times. Her headstone does not give her full name. It appears in only a small script as Beatriss, as if that is all that is necessary for one to know. At first glance one would take the headstone to be her husband’s, for his name is the most prominent on the stone. She is identified as “wife of” as if it is that position which fulfilled her purpose in this life. It is only the inscription at the bottom of the marker that give one the clue that it is in fact a woman who is buried therein and not a man. And, even then the inscription itself ties her to her husband and her children, which appears to the expected position of a woman of that era. The inscription simply says, “She was a kind wife and affectionate mother and friend to all” It is sad to me that this woman has been left to find her identity and worth solely through her connections to others. A lot of history can be created through nine offspring. To be sure I owe my existence to her. However, she was a person in her own right capable of making her own history; and she deserves to be remembered as such. However, it does not appear that history will remember much about Beatriss Jane McDonald. But, so it was for women at the turn of the Twentieth Century. We really have come a long way since then. At least I hope so. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
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