A Family Tradition Flourishes

 

It was 1956 and I had fallen off of our beloved mare, Blondie.  At 20 months old, I already knew the joy of riding horseback and begged to get back on again, at least to ride back to the barn.  My Grandfather relented (he was always most happy to let me ride horses).  As they sat me back up in the saddle, I wiped away my tears and said “The Lone Ranger Rides Again.”

 

This story has been told over and over at family gatherings through the years for several reasons.  No one thought my heartfelt passion for horses would last a lifetime and everyone was surprised that a child so young would equate a television show to real life. 

Thus, I knew on this recent Saturday afternoon, when my Granddaughter tearfully begged her Mother to ride that, indeed, The Lone Ranger Rides Again … and would ride again … and again. 

 

Thank Heaven for little boys and girls and Arabian horses.  A Family Tradition Flourishes.

 

 

 

 

Orange Sherbet
 

1/3 cup granulated sugar,
1 cup water,
2 cups strained orange juice,
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice,
2 tsp. orange zest, finely grated,
2 tbsp. orange-flavored liqueur,
3 large egg whites, beaten until stiff

Methods/steps

 

Combine sugar and water in a small saucepan and heat until sugar is melted and mixture is clear. Remove and chill. In a glass bowl, combine chilled sugar syrup, orange juice, lemon juice, zest and liqueur. Mix thoroughly, and then fold in the egg whites using an over-and-under motion. Continue folding until no egg white streaks remain in the mixture. Pour mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze until firm.

 

Jesus called them to Him saying:  Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.  Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.  Luke 18: 16-17

 

From our ranch to yours, we wish you many

Happy trails,

Carrie Anne Wilson Woolverton

honeycrek2@aol.com
FB:     Carrie Anne Woolverton
           Honey Creek Farms Arabian Performance Horses

Who Is In My Family Tree?

Genealogists use seemingly complicated terms for pinpointing family members, such as Fifth Cousin or 4th Cousin 3 Times Removed.

 

Have you ever wondered how to decipher for yourself how your family members are related to you?  The Burleson Family provides a tidy chart for determining family relations:

 

If I put my Great Grandmother Dollie in box one, below her is her son Tony, and below Tony in box 3 is her granddaughter, Debbie.  Across the top in box two is Dollie's daughter Grace, next is her grandson Bill and in box 4 is my name, Dollie's great-granddaughter.  If you connect Debbie in box 3 across to my column 4, you will find that we are First Cousins Once Removed.

 

Another interesting chart has been provided by Anna Marie Lee, the Division President in TXDAR.  This chart provides how many people are in a family tree.

 

 

 

My sixth generation ancestors served in the Civil War.  From that generation, there are 32 people in my family tree descending directly to me. 

 

My 13th generation ancestors served in the American Revolution.  From that generation, there are 2048 people in my family tree descending directly to me.

 

If my family tree is traced back to Charlemagne in the year 750 AD, containing 41 generations, there are 2,199,023,255,552 people descending directly down to me (yes, that is 2 trillion, 199 billion, 23 million, etc.).

 

Genealogy is like a giant jigsaw puzzle.  There is always another piece to fit, another fact to find and another name to add to the family tree.  And delightfully so!

 

 

The search for one's ancestry is rewarding and exciting every single time a new fact is found.

 

 

Happy researching!

 

 

Carrie Anne Wilson Woolverton

honeycrek2@aol.com

FB:    Carrie Anne Woolverton

          Veteran's Daughter

          Family Tree Productions

          Honey Creek Farms



 

 





 

 

What's In A Courthouse?

Courthouses are located all over the United States, in every county and parish.  They have been in existence since the beginning of each geographical area and contain the records of all of the people who live and have lived in that jurisdiction.

 

 

The County Courthouse is a mecca for the lineage researcher.  Documents date back hundreds of years and contain the business and personal lives of residents, providing answers to dates, events and places to complete a family tree. 

 

 

Many counties have boundary lines which have changed.  Thus, one courthouse may house the records of several counties over time.  For instance, Kaufman County, Texas was formerly part of Henderson County and before that, it was part of Nacogdoches County, Texas.  Thus, a researcher needs to determine the geographical history of a county in order to know where to search for historical records and may need to look in the various courthouses for the ancestor's records.

In the County Clerk's office, you will find birth and death records, land and deed records, county court records, old criminal and dispute records, and marriage records.  Some county clerks may also have plat records for older cemeteries.

In the tax assessor's office, you will find county tax records and names of land and property owners.

 

In the District Clerk's office, you will find court records such as probate, divorce, disputes of all kinds and criminal records.

Birth, marriage and death records provide dates, places and parents for those born or died in that county or parish and those married there.

Land, tax and deed records provide places of residence, times of residence and names of heirs of land owners.

Probate records, oftentimes, provide all of the names of heirs and relationships to the decedent, as well as descriptions of property and holdings of the decedent and their date and place of death.  A Last Will and Testament and/or estate distribution is a valuable link for one generation to another.

 

These documents, pieced together, provide an excellent resource for the story of the life of an ancestor and their immediate family. 

 

 

If some unfortunate circumstance has destroyed the records of a courthouse (such as a fire or storm), many times a duplicate set of county records will be housed in the state archives.

 

Creativity is necessary when digging for decades old documentation, but finding that diamond in the rough that gives you the information on your ancestors is well worth the time and diligent effort of looking.

 

Happy researching!

 

Carrie Anne Wilson Woolverton

 

honeycrek2@aol.com

 

FB:     Veteran's Daughter

           Family Tree Productions

           Carrie Anne Woolverton

 

GranMa Can We Ride?

 

GranMa, can we ride?  This is the chorus from the grandkids on every visit. 

 

 

It is fortunate when their visits coincide with pleasant weather, because my heart strings want to make horseback riding available to them each and every time. 

 

 

We are blessed with gentle mounts which make memories … precious times for the kids when they know the joy of horses and riding. 

 

 

Every kid deserves a horse and every horse deserves a little kid to love.

May the trails you ride be blessed this 2014. 

 

Men make counterfeit money, but in many more ways, money makes counterfeit men.

Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.  Psalms 37:4

 

Happy trails,

 

 

Carrie Anne Wilson Woolverton

 

honeycrek2@aol.com

FB:  Carrie Anne Woolverton

        Honey Creek Farms Arabian Performance Horses

        Ask GranMa Carrie Anne

        Family Tree Productions

        Veteran's Daughter

 

Bloom Where You Are Planted

 

Bloom Where You Are Planted

When I drive through the main gate to our home place, I am reminded of how blessed we are to share this part of Texas with abundant wildlife, plant life, beautiful horses and cattle, a friendly dog (who owns the place and lets us live here) … all God’s creatures, great and small.

 

 

There is a glen which reminds me of the Northern part of the province in Ontario where our family spent summer vacations in the wilderness.  There are meadows which remind me of the rolling landscape of my Grandfather’s ranch in Oklahoma where I spent the precious days of my youth.  There are tall trees which protect us from the wind and summer sun.  There are tanks brimming with fish and a creek which flows merrily through the ranch.  There are blankets of wild flowers which portray God’s paint brush as he decorates the landscape.

 

 

The ranch is graced with God’s most beautiful creatures, Arabian horses, who gather eagerly to welcome us home and to their pastures for a visit.

 

 

Sometimes I pinch myself, because I wake up to each sunrise in a place of peace and blessings.  This is an easy place to bloom.  It is a good place for our grandchildren to run and play.  It is a healthy place for our garden to grow.

 

 

Treating Burns

This treatment of burns  is included in teaching beginner fireman this method. First aid consists to spraying cold water on the affected area until the heat is reduced and stops burning the layers of skin. Then, spread egg whites on the affected area.

One woman burned a large part of her hand with boiling water. In spite of the pain, she ran cold faucet water on her hand, separated 2 egg white from the yolks, beat them slightly and dipped her hand in the solution. The whites then dried and formed a protective layer.

 

She later learned that the egg white is a natural collagen and continued during at least one hour to apply layer upon layer of beaten egg white. By afternoon she no longer felt any pain and the next day there was hardly a trace of the burn. 10 days later, no trace was left at all and her skin had regained its normal color. The burned area was totally regenerated thanks to the collagen in the egg whites, a placenta full of vitamins.

 

Cooler Corn

Use one cooler, wiped clean, then filled with shucked ears of corn. 

Next, pour two kettles-full of boiling water over the corn and close the top of the cooler.

30 minutes later, open the cooler and the corn will be perfectly cooked. The corn will remain at the perfect level of doneness for a couple of hours.

Cooler Corn is perfect for large barbecues and is way less of mess than grilling.

 

The Kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed. ... for behold, the Kingdom of God is in the midst of you.  Luke 17:20-21

 

From our ranch to yours, we wish you many

 

 

Happy Trails,

Carrie Anne Wilson Woolverton

Men of Available Age - Military Records

Our country has experienced many wars in its history, wars which affected us here at home and abroad.  When determining ones ancestors who may have served in any military capacity, it is good to know the span of years which any particular war encompassed.  Men and women served in the war effort over its entire time span, eligible ages were as young as 16 and as old as the individual could muster.

The next two generations in Mack's family tree were Men of Available Age for service in the War Between the States a/k/a the Civil War.  Each state, whether on the Union or Confederate side of the war (a few states, such as Missouri, were on both sides of the war), had its own militias and military units.  Because Mack's family were from the South (Texas), their service was in the Army of Texas, in the Confederacy.

 

Many military records are housed in the National Archives.  For Texas, many records are housed in the Texas State Archives.  The military and pension records contain much genealogical information, such as when and where soldiers were born, names of spouses and children, physical description of soldier and occupation outside of the military.  An online service which provides military records from all wars in which the United States has participated, as well as census and pension records, is fold3.com.  Ancestry.com and familysearch.org also offer military records of service in our nation's military.

The Men of Available Age were Lena's father, Robert Dysart Bills, and grandfather, John Randolph Ogilvie.  Also of available age were Jesse's father, Newton Craft Wilson and grandfather, Walker Beckett Wilson.  All four of these men served in the Texas military.

 

Robert Dysart Bills, the father of Lena Bills Wilson, served in the 19th Texas Calvary as a Sr. 2nd Lieutenant.  His record shows that he was 6'4 3/4" (very tall for a man in 1862), a stock raiser with light complexion, grey eyes and brown hair, born in Marshall Co., Tennessee.

 

 

 

John Randolph Ogilvie, the grandfather of Lena Bills Wilson, was a Second Lieutenant in the 4th Texas Infantry.

 

 





Walker Beckett Wilson, the grandfather of Jesse Craft Wilson, was a Sergeant in the 8th Texas Calvary.  Walker served in the War of 1812, the Battle of San Jacinto, with Texas Rangers and in the Texas Calvary in the Civil War.  For his service in the Battle of San Jacinto, he received a grant of several hundred acres of land in Texas.

 

Newton Craft Wilson, the father of Jesse Craft Wilson, was a 2nd Lieutenant in the 35th Texas Calvary.

 

In addition to the military records in the Archives, there are pension and land records which have valuable genealogical information.  Through the years, soldiers were paid for their service with grants of land.  These land grants are found in the county courthouse deed records and the various state archives.

 

Many counties have published histories of their soldiers in every war as well as genealogical societies recording soldiers buried in their county.  Lineage societies have online databases and published lineage books, which provide the soldiers who have a record of service documented as ancestors of the lineage society members.  These databases are searchable online.  Two databases of recognized soldiers and patriots which are available to the public are maintained by DAR and Daughters of the War of 1812. 

 

Happy researching!!

 

Carrie Anne Wilson Woolverton

 

FB:    Carrie Anne Woolverton

          Veteran's Daughter

          Family Tree Productions

          Ask GranMa Carrie Anne

 

 

 

 



A Plan and A Purpose

As a breeder of performance horses for many years, I can tell you, most assuredly, that many of the breeds as we see them today, in the show ring and in magazines, are very different from what they were decades ago.  Selective breeding, plus the import of foreign bloodlines, has largely changed the the horses from their foundation stock.  Some folks say improved, but other folks say “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.”  Like the Foundation Quarterhorses, the Foundation Morgans and the Foundation Appaloosas, the American Foundation Arabian horses are different in substance, disposition and ability from their modern counterparts.

In the early 1990’s, I realized that the older bloodlines were vanishing.  I began to research the finest performance horses of 50-60 years ago.  One individual stood out from all of the rest.  He was the Donoghue Texas-Bred Pulque++, a champion in a variety of disciplines many times over.  I was fortunate to meet one of Pulque’s last remaining sons, Windfire, in 1994.  We then obtained Windfire’s son and grandson, BT Sun Dancer and Mesqual, and founded the Pulque++ Preservation Program.  Pulque++, Sunny and Mesqual are Early American Foundation Arabian horses, meaning that all of their ancestors were registered in the United States prior to 1944, some lines having been here prior to 1900.  We also acquired mares descended from Pulque++ to cross with Sunny and Mesqual for optimal line breeding of the EAF bloodlines. 

 

 

In the spring of 2004, Lov Que Soraquett foaled a big chestnut colt by BT Sun Dancer.  He had four white stockings, a nice star, strip and snip and a flaxen mane and tail – just what we had “ordered.”  We named him Irish Gillan HC and couldn’t wait for him to mature!  The years have gone by, Gillan is now grown with personality plus and good looks.  He embodies the American Foundation Arabian horse, making his ancestors of yesteryear very proud indeed, bringing what were fine qualities back then to current times.  When Gillan’s training under saddle was complete, words cannot describe the feeling of riding him for the first time – a dream of 15 years coming to fruition.  Gillan is everything for which we have hoped and planned.

 

In the spring of 2006, KA Golden Bubbles foaled a beautiful chestnut colt with flaxen mane and tail and four white stockings by BT Sun Dancer.  We named the handsome fellow Honey Creek Austin who has competed well in the sport horse arena and taken to working cattle quite nicely.

 



We are bringing what was a great foundation back to today’s performance arena.

 

Hamburger Stroganoff

1-1/2 pounds ground beef

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons salad oil

1 cup chopped onion

6-ounce can mushrooms

1 can beef bouillon soup

1-1/2 tablespoons flour

1/2 teaspoon caraway seed

Dash of nutmeg

Dash of Worcestershire sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

2 cups sour cream

Brown meat.  Remove from skillet and pour off fat.  Melt butter and oil in skillet and saute onions and mushrooms until onions are clear.  Remove from skillet. 

Add flour to skillet and brown.  Add bouillon and blend.  Stir in salt, pepper, caraway, nutmeg, and Worcestershire.  Return meat, onions, and mushrooms to skillet.

Simmer all together for 15 minutes.  Before serving stir in sour cream.  Serve over noodles. 

SERVES: 6

There will be more joy in Heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.  Luke 15:7

From our ranch to yours, we wish you many happy trails,   

 

Carrie Anne Wilson Woolverton