Sunday, April 29, 2012

Ancestory

I haven't posted in a year.  The time has been flying by. I really like blogging, so I'm not sure why I stopped, except, I guess, I felt like no one was reading.

I'm painting today. I've got some projects done at home that I desperately needed. I've been working so much that I haven't had time to enjoy life. I feel like all I do is work.

During the past month I got a free trial from Ancestory.com and was able to find some old photographs and history about my family, the Blake's. I couldn't find anything much on my maternal side of the family, however.

This is my grandfather, Henry Barnett Blake (1910-1987) and my grandmother, Ann Lillian Poe (1916-1978). For some reason, there is no history on her side of the family. Her mother was Bessie Mae McCall (Pou).  She was married to Frank Keating, Morris Miller, and  Henry Pou. 

 This is Percival Chaffin Blake (1870-1927) and Sarah Roberts Blake (1879-1975), of Lumberton, Robeson, North Carolina. They had 4 children, Henry Barnett Blake, my grandfather, Earline, who lived only 1 year, Earl and Dorothy.  I would say my sister, Mary, has Sarah Roberts' mouth and my brother Tony, has the Percival's facial bone structure.

This is Sarah as an older woman.  The only thing I know of her is that she was not a very nice woman.


This is Sarah Hunter, my great-aunt, and her husband, Stephan Hunter.  She is the daughter of my great-great-grandfather, William B Blake and great-great-grandmother, Susan Olive Regan King.  They had Ruben King, William O, James C, Clifton, Augusta, Sarah, Mary Louise,
Lucy, Caroline, Henry, Anna Laura and Percival


This is another picture of my great-great aunt, Sarah Francis.  My great-great-great-grandfather, William's father, was Isham Blake Jr. of Fayetteville, Cumberland, North Carolina. 1804-1874 He was married to Margaret Ann Crosby of Massachusetts.


Isham's father was Isham Blake Sr. 1766-1836, of South Hampton, VA.  He was married to Mary Macy Clifton 1760-1844.

The only story I know about Isham Blake is that he went off as a fifer in the Revolutionary War and was at Yorktown in Lafayette's bodyguard when Cornwallis surrendered. There is a plaque in his honor:


and he is mentioned in books.

Isham Sr. and Mary Macey Clifton had 11 children. Isham's parents were Samuel Blake 1735-1807 and Amy Reddick of South Hampton, VA.

Samuel's parents, my 6 times grandfather and grandmother were Thomas 1710-1789 and Margaret Blake of Isle Wright, VA

My 7 times grandparents were William Blake of Isle, VA, 1680-1746 and Mary Sessums of Lawns Creek, VA 1685-1740

My 8 times grandparents were Thomas Blake and Alice Champion of Isle, VA

My 9 times grandparents were William Blake, of Somerset, England.  He was born 1620 in Somerset England, and died in 1703 in Norfolk, Massachusetts. He was the first of the Blake's to immigrate to America.


 I was always told I had Black Foot Indian in my blood, but through researching, I found that I actually have Cherokee Indian.  My maternal side ends when married a Cherokee woman, whose name is unrecorded.








Monday, May 2, 2011

Hollywood Sign

I took Mary and Katie hiking to the Hollywood Sign. It was a lot of fun, and a rough hike with a stroller.

Katie liked picking flowers

We went to the front of the sign and got pretty close

She's such a ham

Her treasures included feathers, flowers, and a "bean stalk" which was actually a long string of Ivy

Poser

Mary and Katie

Katie and I

The view was awesome

and she is even more stunning than the view


the neighborhood

we saw this awesome tree house on one of the streets

she had fun

This house reminded me of Snow White's cottage

Earlier, I got her skates from a yard sale.  $3

She had some trouble

We also ate at Mi Ranchito. She loves rice. I also got her watermelon juice. YUM

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Crazy Hair Day at Awana

Katie had Crazy Hair Day at church last night. I knew she wouldn't go for anything that made her look weird or ugly, so I just added lots of color with ribbons from the Dollar Tree gift wrap section then added body glitter.
 She loved it. She said all the kids at church were trying to pull the ribbons and play with it.
 She's such a model, with all her funny poses.


Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Sweet Harts and my Sweetheart

We went to Sweet Harts Sweet Shoppe in Sherman Oaks this weekend so Katie could ride in a Cinderella Carriage.
She wore her Cinderella dress and we waited on Benedict for the carriage to arrive
Katie loves to pose for pictures now.
She loves dressing up
She got excited when she saw the carraige arrive
And she looked like a princess in it
The carriage took us around a couple of blocks to Sweet Harts, where they were doing a huge promotion.  Jamie Priestly from My Name is Earl was there, along with Melissa Joan Hart and some others.  I recognized one of the HGTV Design Star 2009 contestant, Lonni Paul there. I think she was actually the winner of last season. I don't know if she was there to promote, or just lived in the area. Her family was with her. Katie was playing with her kids on the slide.
She stepped out of the coach like a real princess
While we were waiting for the coach, we took a few pictures
It was so nice and warm out
She went up and down the slide all day
Heather really wanted a picture with Melissa Joan Hart but she was too shy.  One of Heather's friends came along too and also wanted a picture so I asked for one and she was very nice about it. She's much thinner in person and she was very nice and excited about her shop.

We had a great day.  Afterwards, we drove to Covina and ate at The Hat.  Chili Cheese Fries with Pickles. YUM

Suds in the bucket and the clothes hanging out on the line

That song has always reminded me of Desiree.  I guess because she was the oldest of the kids and I saw her growing up. 

This past week she moved to New Mexico with Thomas, David and Sam.  She's been gone 9 days already. David's already in a new school, Ranchvale.  They seem to be doing well and I'm glad for them, but it seems strange. 

Desiree won't add me on Facebook or her blog so I have no way of seeing the kids anymore, unless she emails me a picture. It's hard because I used to see them almost daily and now I have to wait for a morsel to be sent. :(  That makes me sad.

Heather drove to Rosamond with Desiree, to get the truck weighed


I watched them drive away. I had to go to work.

We left at 2:00 in the morning.  Sammy was awake

But David was sleeping. He woke up soon after and then stayed awake the whole rest of the day.  I think it was a lot for him, but he did good in the car. He played with his DS most of the  way.

My mom was up at 2:00 a.m. to say goodbye.

after we dropped them off, we slept then got up the next morning, uppacked and started back for home.  We spent the night in a Knigt's Inn in Flagstaff, and woke up to 18" of snow.  The roads were closed, but we went through anyway and made it back home about 4:00 p.m. Sunday

The drive was beautiful but scary.  We saw a trailer cut in half on the road, with all it's contents exposed.