Grandpa Gurley Eugene Barr (No steps in our house)

 Gurley "Gene" Eugene Barr 

(1925-2013)

Barr, Woolsey, Miller, Bilderback, Lauderdale and associated families of Warrick and Spencer Counties in Indiana.

My Grandmother Mary Josephine Woodson Humphreys met and married my Step Grandfather (who I will call Grandpa from here in) on August 15th 1966 in Henderson, Kentucky.

Both Mary Jo and Gene were divorced and had one child Robert Rivers Humphreys Jr. from Mary Jo's previous marriage who was serving in Vietnam when Gene and Jo married. 

(I am the daughter of Robert Rivers, Lori Jo born in 1965.)

 

Before I present this genealogy I would like to convey that Grandpa was present for my entire life, I do not remember a time without Grandpa until after his death.

Grandpa was a war veteran who received a Bronze Star for his service in World War II and not until I was an adult would he describe his experience to any of us. I can tell you his demeanor and verbal description of what he witnessed during that time had deeply scared him. In modern times he would have been diagnosed with PTSD at the very least. I sat down with him on his "personal" couch one Sunday afternoon while beginning his family tree interview and the subject of his service came up, since it was a very important part of his life and he was rightly very proud of his service. I cautiously asked him if he would talk to me about his experience, the fact that Grandpa had never spoke about it in all the years of listening to his stories he would often tell about growing up and his life as a young man. Grandpa said "I will try to tell you, if I can find the words to paint the picture." a lump formed in my throat when he said that, I immediately knew he needed to talk about it to let it go in some way.

 (Reminds me of a song "You should have seen it in color")

The following is what he told me about that time.

    I was a young man, had never seen the world much. I grew up on a farm in Folsomville, Indiana as you know. My Mom and Dad bought a restaurant on Division Street and bought a house on Garvin St. in Evansville when I was still a young man before the war. Well, that was like moving to Chicago to me, small farm to a big ole city. We did have family in Evansville and I had lived with family in Evansville to go to school for a time. 

Gurley Thomas Barr (1901-1975) and Dora Elizabeth Woolsey (1900-1976)

    So there came the time when I joined the Army to serve in the War. Every man should serve their country, it was my duty to go. I went to Germany.

 Sgt. Gurley Eugene Barr 86th Infantry, Div. Blackhawks, 342nd Reg., 3rd BN., Co. K, 2nd Platoon. France/Germany Feb. through June 1945. Liberated Moosburg POW Camp. As the 86th advanced into the Ruhr region, the troops discovered the Attendorn civilian forced-labor camp on April 11, 1945. The camp had been established to provide labor to area factories and it housed up to 1,000 conscripted Polish, Soviet, and Czech laborers.

Attendorn Civilian Labor Camp - Blackhawk Liberation

Moosburg POW Camp (Nazi Camp - holding American and Allied Soldiers)

Blackhawk Campaign Map

    Germany was when I went from being a young man to a grown man. I could not understand or believe the things that I saw there. We were so cold and there were thousands of us. I was a Blackhawk, it was a big deal to be a part of the Blackhawks, very proud. The Army took us to France, they marched us fighting across the Danube River and we were cold and our boots and socks were wet, but we kept marching and fighting. It was a mess over there the people were living in terrible conditions. Buildings, churches and homes destroyed by the bombs.

 

One day after we had liberated a few camps and allied forces had obliterated the Nazi forces, the people we would see leaving these camps...well, we did not know they were alive or even human for that matter. The people were just walking bones to me, I will never get the sight of them walking passed us like zombies out of my head. They had no homes to go to, no food, no clothes, did not know where their people were and all we could do at the moment was give them what we had in our packs until they brought in the trucks from the allies and American Red Cross (I think) with food and clothes. 

Grandpa and I cried as he described the condition of the people he had encountered and his fear for what would happen to them without any place to go. I was also heartbroken for the young soldiers who did not know people do this to other people and could survive such horrendous conditions. Grandpa said most of us boys were just in a daze of shock not for the war and fighting, but for the people we saw, the dead and the alive, until they were finally home again.

So then, this courageous man, I called Grandpa, I had a deeper understanding of his personality and his life that I did not before.

Photographic Genealogy of Gene Barr

Ancestry Screen Shot - Compiled by Lori Jo Humphreys-Lee

Dora Elizabeth Woolsey Barr circa 1918

Back L to Rt: Helen Kingsbury Woolsey, Oral Woolsey, Elmer, Flora, Dora. Front L to Rt : Cleo A, Theodore T, Ella, Eva on her father's knee, Arrata Woolsey, Rena "Alice" Lauderdale Woolsey, & baby Dorothy in Alice's lap. Date: 1900

Rena Alice Lauderdale Woolsey circa 1890

Maternal Great Grandparents of Gene Barr

Gene Barr and his paternal Grandmother Sarah Ann Miller Barr

Andrew Alexander "Pa" Barr (1846-1919) circa 1918 

Great Grandfather of Gene Barr

arrived in America in 1848 from Ireland with his family.

2nd Great Grandfather - Paternal

George Augustus Chapman (1804-1887) Immigrated to Ohio from Scotland his wife, Ann Bromley Whitaker was born in England. George's Scottish Mother Agnes Lindsey-Chapman is a widow by 1850.

And so as a final dedication to the Genealogical work I conducted for my Grandpa is here concluded. Grandpa had no children and no nieces or nephews to carry on this family tree. As a genealogist I am saddened. As a Granddaughter to Gene Barr, I am very proud of this work and the person my Grandpa was, so I preserve just a small part of his story here.

Grandpa Gene Barr in 2007

Grandpa Gurley Eugene Barr in 1992 with my son Nicholas Eugene Sanders

My daughter Tessa Elizabeth Sanders-Clark with Grandma Mary Jo Woodson-Barr and Grandpa Gene Barr in 2009

There is so much more to tell about Grandpa and his life and the life of his family. I will be writing a blog for his Aunt Izel Mae Barr-Cook very soon as I inherited all of her family papers as well. I will be transcribing her birth, death and marriage records she had tucked into her family bible on hand written letters.

to be continued...

Recollections of 94 year old Mary Jo Woodson

 My Grandmother Mary Jo Woodson

Continued...

    The last 4 years of Grandma's life was very difficult. My father Robert Rivers Humphreys Jr. or Bob as he was called, was her son and only child and succumbed to small cell lung cancer that had completely spread throughout his body in October of 2017. Grandma was alone and it was decided Grandma would return to Kentucky with me until her things could be sold and/or moved by my sister to live with her in Louisiana.

    Grandma eventually moved to Louisiana living for a time with my sister. Grandma did not like the rainy weather and would often visit Florida with her sisters, she had to be around her family, as many of them as possible. While staying in Florida for about six months it became increasingly apparent to her sisters that she was no longer able to take care of herself unassisted due to her age and problems with her shoulder. There was an idea that she should be placed in an assisted living facility at which time I traveled to Florida.  I discussed this idea with her and she simply cried and said "No, I just want to go home!" I understood what my Grandmother meant by that. She missed her life, her independence and my Dad and Grandfather. Grandma and I decided the best thing for us was for her to come home to Kentucky permanently and I cared for her in my home.

NOTE: Grandma was profoundly hard of hearing due to years of working in the General Electric factory in Plymouth, Florida, where they manufactured Christmas light bulbs. Grandma and I had developed our own sign language and she was very good at reading lips especially her family members lips since she already knew their voices, pitches of speech and dialects. When Covid-19 masking requirements were required Grandma felt very isolated even among people.

    I was able to capture Grandma and her favorite recollections on video as I interviewed her about specific things. She really enjoyed story telling as did her Father. Those videos were posted on social media to share with everyone and they are treasures now. 

    Grandma suffered with COPD from years of smoking Marlboro Reds which she quit when Great Grandma passed away but, the damage had been done. Exacerbations of her lung disease would put her in and out of the hospital during the last few months of her life along with a shoulder that dislocated monthly. I had literally reached a point where my business and my life was set aside due to caring for my Mother along with Grandma, both living in my home. I enlisted my sister's help with Grandma. Grandma enjoyed and needed the help. 

    Grandma received the Moderna vaccine for Covid-19 in March 2021. While in the hospital during the first week of April 2021, for a COPD exacerbation she received her second dose.  Unfortunately, the nurse assisting her pulled Grandma's shoulder out of socket and she was moved to the nursing facility across from the hospital for extended care. (Note: After Grandma's death the hospital sent me a bill for x-rays and placement on the shoulder that they dislocated. If you know me, you know I addressed that tactfully.)

     The experience of spending the weekend in the nursing home was very traumatic for Grandma. The presentation by the home Representative we received before sending Grandma there was a total fabrication of what they offered us as a family, including the lack of routine hygienic care of Grandma by the nursing staff. Grandma was a very beautiful woman and her hygiene meant everything to her. The nursing center denied visits because of Covid-19 and placed Grandma on a two week quarantine without notice. Grandma was very disturbed about this. This was the straw that broke the camels back. Tuesday morning, April 13, 2021, my sister and I arrived at the center and removed her from the facility, bringing her home with Hospice Care. Hospice Care was set up and everything arrived for her that day. My sister and I carefully charted her intake and output and medications, making notes about her care.  

       My mother and I sat with Grandma the night of April 19, 2021 and it was time for comfort care medication, which was started a few days before. (Grandma's shoulder was out of socket and the Doctor was not sending her to the E.R. to have it put back in place and began comfort meds.) I told Grandma, you know, its time for your comfort meds and you do not have to take them if you don't want them...she looked me in the eyes and said, "Yes, I want them please."   I don't know why I asked her that time after all the other times of keeping her med schedule without question. I gave her the medications and sat down in the recliner next to her bed and Mamma had came in and sat in a chair. We chatted quietly as Grandma rested and I stared at her chest counting her respirations. I counted 13 in a minute. I was relieved and after charting her meds. We sat there for 30 minutes until she was asleep and heavily medicated, I might add...

 

As I turned the lamp off and walked towards the door my sweet Grandmother belted out "Good night Dahlin!" I smiled and said Good Night Grandma, love you...

    We enjoyed so many things together and comforted each other through the rough days. Grandma insisted on doing the dishes until the last year of her life. I was tired and Grandma was aggravated losing her independence but, we loved each other so things just happened to us as we all lived in my home, where, she peacefully passed away during the night on April 20, 2021 at the age of 94 years. Her last words were that of a southern belle, and that was exactly what my Grandmother was a true blood southern belle..."Good Night Dahlin!"

Mary Jo Woodson Humphreys Barr
1926 - 2021

My Grandmother was loved by everyone who had the privilege to have met her. She loved people and saw the potential in everyone to do great things. Grandma spoke very loudly to herself and she would often speak aloud to her Mother and Father whose portraits hung in her room. I would often listen, not to invade her privacy but to cherish the words she spoke to them in her prayers. Grandma read her Bible through and through many times over. Before she passed I ordered her a portrait of Jesus to hang in her room. She would have loved it hanging over her bed it arrived the day she passed. Not a day will end without missing her, her death impacted me at an entire different level than my Dad's. I know the biggest fan of my life and hero is sleeping now...

 

Bessie Burden of Livermore, Kentucky

A word before I introduce my next subject..

Beginners in Genealogy quickly discover common ancestors for many people in the small communities of Western Kentucky. Families in this part of the country are intertwined, intermarried and jokingly will say, (but sometimes true) inbreed, in many ways and through many generations our roots run very deep indeed. While researching connected families to my own tree and families connected through marriage, its not uncommon to find that our small communities are the result of a small group of families that first came to this area for many reasons such as to settle on Revolutionary Land Grants and the promise of fertile land and land full of wild game to sustain a family. These early pioneers came by oxen carts and wagons with supplies, families and livestock through the Cumberland Gap. The rivers that surround the area provided food resources and alternative transportation for migration into the region using Flatboats from The Falls at Louisville. Early settlers came from Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina migrating into Tennessee and Kentucky.  With that said, I am discovering the life of a woman who is a part of a family that is one of those "inter-connected" to my family.

I dedicate this Blog post to my niece Madison Case and my precious little baby angel nephew Lucas, who never lost his wings or suffered the burdens of this world. This is for you both...

 

Bessie F. "Mammie" Burden - Atherton - Rowen

I met Bessie's Great Grandson when he was 17 years old the winter of 1994. I had moved to Livermore after I divorced and was living with my sister and her family until I could get settled. 

One winter day while listen to local chatter on the home base CB radio of my brother-in-laws I heard this young man who sounded very near and very loud. I asked him who he was and in this big voice he said, "Well they call me Big D!" he quickly figured out where I was and told me we were neighbors and I lived next door to his Dad. At any rate to make a long story short, I made friends with this young man. He married my little sister and the rest is history. I could not ask for a better brother and he is loved dearly by the whole family. So, while preparing for this blog I wondered what interesting ancestor should we expose this time? I have been working on Dwayne;s (Big D) family tree for a number of years and I remembered Bessie. Aha! What a wonderful and colorful life the records tell me about Bessie. I contacted Dwayne's Mother and asked her if she would mind if I wrote about Bessie...

Bessie's Grand Daughter, Marilyn Smith Huckleberry gave me her blessings by telling me some quick memories of her Grandmother whom she called, "Mammie" 

"I called her Mammie, she was my second Mother. She had a hard life. I remember her freezing in the mornings and there was ice on the Kitchen walls where it was so cold. She would build fires in her coal stoves, she had one in every room."

Memories that first came to her mind of her Mammie do indeed describe a hard life and she understood Mammie had a hard life not just at the end but through-out her entire life. One thing about Mammie that I have learned by listening to her family talk about her and through pictures is that she knew how to make the best out of what little she had and enjoyed life.

Map of McLean County, Kentucky

Bessie Burden was born on the 30th of September 1908 in Livermore, Kentucky to Richard or Henry Ellis Burden and Ora Ann Taylor. 

To understand Bessie I studied the census records of her parents. Ora Taylor Burden and Ellis Burden worked very hard in Livermore all of their lives to care for their family.

Ora Taylor Burden, Ellis Burden and Grandson Melvin Howard

 Picture from the Linda Anderson Genealogy collection, Granddaughter of Melvin Howard.

 

Mattie Moad

Chapter 2 - First comes Marriage

Jumping to 1887 Grandmother Mattie is now a 17 year old young lady. On April the 6th Mattie marries Nicholas H. Voyles born in Posey County, Indiana in 1866, who is 21 year old painter and is the son of a widow Jennie Green Voyles of Georgia (1826-1911) and his deceased Father was John Henry Voyles of Pickens, South Carolina (1821-1877).

Courting in the 1880's

Unfortunately, the 1890 Federal Census was destroyed by fire and so we have a 20 year gap in information. What we do know is that Mattie and Nicholas had a son William George Voyles February 24, 1888. We also know according to court, marriage, death and burial records that Nicholas Voyles and Mattie Blackburn divorced in 1890. On December 11, 1890 Nicholas married Bertha Brigman then died at 27 years old, probably of consumption aka tuberculosis October 17, 1893 in Evansville, Vanderburgh County, Indiana and is buried at Oak Hill Cemetery. 

Mattie is now a 21 year old divorcee with one son in a south western Indiana small town. On January 10, 1891, Grandma Mattie seals our fate by marrying our Grandfather Merritt Harrison Utley in Posey County, Indiana. Harrison was the son of a relocated farming family originally from Muhlenberg County, Kentucky both parents families were from the Paradise and Lewisport area after their families traveled west from the colonies after the Revolutionary War. James Perry Utley (1831-1899) and Susan Cobb McLain (1831-1913). Harrison, a widower was born in 1854 and was 37 years old. Mattie was his second wife after his first wife Mary Byrd died in childbirth in 1884. Harrison had a daughter named Grace who was born in 1882.

Now we have a blended family until Harrison and Mattie have two children William Perry Utley in 1892 and Ada Mae in 1895. Marriage was bliss perhaps until sometime after 1900 for the Utley family. We find Harrison and Mattie divorced due to record showing Mattie finds a new Beau...

Third times a charm?

On May 7, 1906 I found our subject in love again at 36 years old, perhaps third time is a charm for her...

Mattie marries Allison Voyles Sr. Allison's relation to Mattie's first husband Nicholas is unknown but at this time would not have made much fuss because remember Nicholas passed away in 1893. 

Allison was 28 years old, Mattie was 36, twice divorced and had 3 children. What makes this coupling interesting was they married May 7th 1906 and Mattie gave birth to a son, Allison Voyles Jr. October 29th 1906....Scandalous!

Sadly, Allison Sr. died December 31, 1908 at 30 years old of tuberculosis.

In 1909 our Mattie Blackburn Voyles Utley Voyles is now a twice divorced and once widowed 38 year old woman with 4 children. By this time the older children are grown and working to help support their family. 

1908 Evansville, Indiana Young boy basket weaving.

Mattie Moad/Mode is made

In the 1910 Federal Census for Pigeon Township, Vanderburgh County, Indiana we find a family at #12 Mayhugh Street in Evansville. Mr. Hardin Mode, 23 years old, his wife Mattie 39 years old, William Utley 17, Ada Utley 16 years old and Allison Voyles 3 years old. Hardin's occupation is listed as odd jobs, William works as a dobber at a mattress factory and Ada works as a spool-er at a wool mill.

In 1915 on November 2nd, little Allison Voyles Jr. dies from Typhoid Fever.

Mattie's Pa Jack Blackburn passed away earlier in the year August 28th.

Moving forward Mattie loses her Ma, Charlotty Duckworth Blackburn and her eldest son William George Voyles in February of 1922. 

Fast forward to 1926. November 20th. Mattie is 56 years old. We now find a marriage record for Mattie and John Henry Schisler. Mr. Schisler passed away in 1941, which is strange because we find Mattie Schissler (Spelling difference on record), claiming to be a widow, claiming to be 50 years old and living with her 36 year old married daughter Ada Young and Granddaughter Martha Young.

Note* Ada may have been married but was living separate from her husband and other child.

So, finally Mattie settles into her retired life without a husband even though records state she is a widow and so she claims the rest of her life. Yes, she was widowed at one point by poor Allison Voyles Sr. was she ever really divorced from any of her husbands? Was she even really married to Hardin Moad? Did she even know? I would not tell this story had the Voyles family researchers insisted on me putting Mattie's business out there. She was infamous for her time. Was she a lush making her difficult to live with? Probably. A bad house keeper? The living now will never know. Was she beautiful? Probably. We don't have any pictures of Mattie. We know she did not always tell the truth.

Mattie Moad was our Grandmother, she was married as she claimed by record 5 times. Regardless, I'm sure her life was not an easy one. A lesson we could learn from her is the grass isn't always greener on the other side and there is no prince in shining armor that will rescue us from our common lives.

Mattie Moad died in the wee hours of the morning July 25, 1932 in her sleep in Evansville at the home of her daughter Ada Young on West Alabama Street. For a genealogist her grave marker is just short of saying Jane Doe. Nothing indicates who she really was...Just a little girl from a small town in South Western Indiana looking for a better life. 

1870 Child with a book

 

Mattie Moad - Chapter 1

Mattie Moad

Chapter 1

Martha “Mattie” Blackburn is born to Black Township, Posey County, Indiana farmer William Jackson Blackburn (1843-1915) and his wife Charlotte Duckworth Blackburn (1846-1922) on the 15^th of September 1870. 

Charlotte affectionately called Charlotty, in official birth returns for her children, was the daughter of Green Duckworth also of Posey County. She had been born, raised and raised her (7) seven children during the civil war and post-civil war era. From 1865-1881 Charlotty was birthing babies! William Jackson Blackburn had deep roots in Posey County as well. The census records confirm close, large family bonds within the community. Known as Jack Blackburn he served in the Union, 25^th Indiana Infantry, Company A, as a Corporal and at the end of the War had promoted to Sergeant. 

The area of Posey County at that time was rural and primitive even for those days of the 1840’s through 1870’s. Black Township encompasses Mt. Vernon reaching to the river borders and Solitude at its northern border.

Families were large by nature and out of necessity to manage labor for their farms. The farms were not generally large scale money making operations such as today. The farms were raised just to feed the family. The rural farming poor. They were the civil war veterans who were the descendants of Revolutionary War Veterans who moved west to claim their land grants in Kentucky and Indiana. Many were immigrants escaping the escalating conflicts such as the Scotch-Irish and severe poverty of Great Britain (Ireland and England) and Germany as seen in this family tree.

Southern Indiana was growing rapidly in post-civil war and many newly freed slaves migrated to the Evansville area just in time for the manufacturing boom.

Black Township School, Posey County, Indiana - Sketch by Anne Doane

As a young farm girl from Southern Indiana, Mattie probably did have a good grasp on socially acceptable behavior, Jack was a preacher and Mattie had the benefit of learning Christianity to guide her through her daily life. Church was probably a luxury only to be enjoyed by those who could travel to services and did not have daily choirs to tend to just to keep the family surviving on a small family farm. 

Daily life consisted of choirs, taking care of younger siblings, if you were able, you could go to church, if you were within walking distance, you might be lucky enough to have a school house to learn how to read and write. 

Your parents decided when you were ready to marry and keep house on your own. Mattie was luckier than most girls she stayed at home until she turned 17 years old…

Chapter 2 posting soon!