GeneaJournals

Researching the lost and celebrating the found branches of our family tree.

[geneajournals]

In Remembrance of Pearlie Mae Salter Hart (1925-2001)

Funeral program distributed at the funeral of Pearlie Mae (Salter) Hart, 24 February 2001, Greater Mount Moriah Primitive Baptist Church, Tampa, Florida.

Cover Page

Obituary

Pearlie Mae (Salter) Hart is my paternal aunt. She was my father's baby sister.

[geneajournals]

[geneajournals]

Caroline (Walker) Willis, 1839-1910

This infographic was generated 29 June 2026 by Google NotebookLM, synthesized from personal genealogy research provided by the user.

Research Notes for Caroline Walker | Ahnentafel #25

13 July 1867 – Caroline Willis, parent in Freedman’s Bank Record No. 1118 for John H. Franklin Willis [1]

13 July 1867 – C Willis , parent in Freedman’s Bank Record No. 1119 for Carrie Elizabeth Willis. [2]

1 June 1870 – U.S. Census: Caroline Walker, age 32 and born about 1838 in Virginia, was residing in Ward 8, Mobile, Alabama. She was listed as “Mulatto”. Caroline worked as a laundress and could neither read nor write. Her household was comprised of seven members included: John Walker, age 6; Maria Walker, age 15; Lizzie Walker, age 3; Maria Hamilton, age 45; Matilda Hamilton, age 14; and John Hamilton, age 13. [3]

1 June 1880 – U.S. Census: Caroline Willis, age 45 was born about 1847 in Virginia; her parent were natives of Virginia. She resided on Elmira Street in Mobile, Alabama in the household of her husband, John Willis, age 33. Caroline could not write and was keeping house for her own family. The Willis household included their daughter Maria J. Willis, age 22, son John H. Willis, age 16, and Elizabeth Carter, a 70 year-old widow born in Virginia. [4]

1881 Mobile City Directory: “Willis Caroline, c, laundress, res se cor Charles and Selma.” [5]

19 March 1910 – Death: Caroline Willis, Alabama Death Certificate no. 65, Mobile, Alabama. [6]

Caroline Walker is my 2nd great-grandmother through her son, John Henry Franklin Willis.

Sources

[1] "United States, Freedman's Bank Records, 1865-1874," digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-6QX9-3P2 : 25 October 2020), Mobile, Alabama, image 53 of 763, account no. 1118, John H. Franklin Willis; Parents: John Willis and Carolina Willis; citing "Registers of Signatures of Depositors in Branches of the Freedman's Savings and Trust Company, 1865-1874, M816, roll 2."

[2] "United States, Freedman's Bank Records, 1865-1874", digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-6QX9-3P2 : 25 October 2020), Mobile, Alabama, image 53 of 763, account no. 1119, Carrie Elizabeth Willis; Parents: Jno. Willis and C. Willis; citing "Registers of Signatures of Depositors in Branches of the Freedman's Savings and Trust Company, 1865-1874, M816, roll 2."

[3] 1870 U.S. census, Mobile County, Alabama, population schedule, Mobile Post Office, page 150 (penned), dwelling 1013, family 1056, Caroline Walker; imaged, “United States Census, 1870,” FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-6FZ9-M5J : accessed 19 April 2021).

[4] 1880 U.S. census, Mobile County, Alabama, population schedule, Mobile, enumeration district (ED) 144, page 512 C (stamped), 31 (penned), dwelling 282, family 322, Caroline Willis in John Willis household; imaged, “United States, Census, 1880,” FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYYL-715 : accessed 8 August 2020).

[5] Henry Farrow & Co's, Mobile Directory For The Year 1881, XVII vols., (Mobile: Henry Farrow & Co., 1881), p. 258, entry for Willis surname; digitized in "U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995," Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2469/images/13758348 : accessed 9 November 2013) > Alabama > Mobile > 1881 > Mobile, Alabama, City Directory, 1881 > image 138 of 185.

[6] Alabama Department of Health, death certificate no. 65 (1910), Caroline Willis, 9 March 1910; imaged "Alabama Deaths, 1908-1974," FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1307888 : accessed 16 August 2022).

[geneajournals]

Memorial Day 2026

Photo: Elizabeth Fraser / Arlington National Cemetery Flickr

[geneajournals]

SNGF - What Automobiles Did Your Ancestors Own?

It's Saturday Night and Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings has given us the following topic, courtesy of Lisa Gorrell, for tonight’s Genealogy Fun:

“Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!):

1)  What automobile models did your ancestors have?  Pick an ancestor and share something about their cars.

2)  Share your information about your ancestor's car(s) in your own blog post…..”

In the late 1928 my grandfather, Frank Salter (1898-1982) owned a 1927 green Ford Model T.  The car had been specially ordered by the auto dealer for a customer.  My father recalled that the car was in the optional Channel Green color and had custom red and green bubble lights. When the original customer would not take delivery of the car, my grandfather, Frank Salter, bought it.

Gemini generated image.

My father told me that his family of five (parents and three kids) would drive from their home in Hopewell, Hillsborough County, Florida to Early County, Georgia to visit relatives.  My grandfather worked for a citrus grower, so they would always bring oranges for their family in Georgia.

[geneajournals]

Photo by Studbee on Unsplash

[geneajournals]

Robert Senar, Jr. (1907-2005)

In August 1988 Robert Senar was recognized as The Mobile Press Register Employee of the Month. At that time he was eighty-one years old and had worked for the newspaper for fifty-seven years.

Mobile Press Register, September 4, 1988. www.genealogybank.com (accessed April 2012). Copyright 1988 by The Mobile Press Register. Republished with permission of Alabama Media Group (AMG).

At that time he was eighty-one years old and had worked for the newspaper fifty-seven years.

To read more about Robert Senar see "A Quiet Life - Robert Senar, Jr. (1907-2005)".

[geneajournals]

Unexpected - 52 Ancestors

Roxanne (Bryant) Salter Freeman (1874-1932) is my paternal great-grandmother. It was totally unexpected that several records would record her maiden name as Brown. 

My search for the parents of my great-grandmother Roxanne started in 1995. I wrote about my search in my very first blog post, “Three Sisters—The Beginning.”  One of the records found in my initial research was the 1893 marriage certificate of Jno. [John] Salter and Roxey Bryant.

Figure 1. Miller County, Georgia, marriage register, Marriage Record, 1890-1906, Ordinary: p. 32, Jno [John] Salter-Roxey Bryant, recorded license and return, 13 May 1893.  

Twelve years later I finally found enough information to order Roxanne’s death certificate as detailed in my post “The highs and lows of Roxanne Bryant's death certificate”.  Upon reviewing the death certificate I immediately saw that the father of “Roxana Freeman” is noted to be “Mingal Brown.”  This was unexpected.  The informant on the death certificate was Frank Salter.  He is Roxanne’s son and also my paternal grandfather.

Figure 2. State of Florida, death certificate (certified copy) no. 6065, (1932) Roxana Freeman, d. 12 April 1932; Florida Department of Health, Tallahassee.

The Brown surname popped up on two more death certificates as secondary information.

Roxanne’s youngest daughter, Johnnie Lee (Salter) Blair died in 1930. On Johnnie Lee’s death certificate the maiden name of her mother was reported to be “Rosame Brown”.

Figure 3. Georgia State Board of Health, death certificate no. 30-875, Jonnie Lee Blair (1930)

In 1963 my paternal grandaunt, Rosa Lee (Salter) Turner died. Her death certificate gives her mother’s maiden name as “Roxie Brown.” The informant on that death certificate, Hattie Mae Brooks, is my paternal grandaunt and sister of the deceased.

Figure 4. Arizona Department of Health Services, death certificate no. 9740, Rosie Lee Turner (1963).

Why did people, including her children, think Roxanne was born a Brown rather than a Bryant? It is an unexpected and unsolved mystery.

[geneajournals]

Rainbow Bridge Memorial: Darla Jean 2004-2019

Darla Jean came into our lives in April 2004. She passed over the rainbow bridge on New Year's Eve 2019.

[geneajournals]

Merry Christmas

Template design by With Faith & Love via Canva.com

[geneajournals]

Family Heirloom

One cherished family heirloom is this platter.  I was in elementary school when my grandmother, Arnita (Harris) Willis Jackson (1889-1980) passed down the platter to my mother, Annis (Willis) Salter (1912-1995).  Grandmother said that the platter belonged to her mother, Eveline (Senar) Harris (1849- abt.1911).   My mother only used the platter on Thanksgiving.

The platter is 17.5" X 13.5".

The maker's mark on the back of the platter

Using Google I searched for “homer laughlin hudson platter.” Among the results I found a very similar platter described as an “Antique Homer Laughlin Ironstone Platter: Hudson Pattern, Floral Accents…Vintage from the 1910s.”

Eveline (Senar) Harris was my matrilineal great-grandmother.  I wrote about her in “E is for Eveline Senar.”  This is a synopsis of that post.  

Eveline Senar (1849-aft. 1911)

Eveline Senar was born in December 1849 in Alabama.  She is one of nine known children born to Stephen H. and Sophie Senar.  The correct spelling of her name at birth is not known.  Contemporaneous spellings of Eveline’s name in various documents are: Emmaline, Emelia, Emaline, Emma, and Emeline.

Eveline Senar married Willis Harris on Thursday, 28 November 1867 in Mobile, Alabama. They had ten known children.  Eveline and Willis Harris lived in the household of her father, Stephen H. Senar for over ten years. 

By 1896 Eveline was a widow.  She appeared in the 1900 and 1910 U.S. Census in Mobile as head of households consisting of her children, and other family members. Eveline was also listed in several editions of the Mobile City Directory. Her occupation as noted in the census and city directories was either washwoman or laundress.  The last document found for Eveline Harris was her listing in the 1911 Mobile City Directory:  “*Harris Emeline, lndrs, h 143 Glennon av.”

[geneajournals]

Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day

Attack on Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941.

Boston Public Library, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

[geneajournals]

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - My Six Word Memoir

Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings has presented the Saturday Night Genealogy Fun aficionados with an unusual challenge:

❝Hey boys and girls, it's time for more genealogy fun. Here is your assignment, should you decide to accept it (you ARE reading this, so I assume that you really want to play along - cue the Mission Impossible music!):

1)  Larry Smith invented six-word memoirs (see https://www.sixwordmemoirs.com/).  

2)  How do you want to be remembered?  What is most important to you?  What six-word memoirs would you write?  

3)  Write at least one, on any subject, and the sky is no limit.

4)  Tell us about your six word memoir(s) in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post of mine, or in a comment on Twitter or Facebook in response to this post.❞

My six-word memoir is:

Researching family to cherish their lives.

[geneajournals]

Happy Thanksgiving

"There's always something to be thankful for on Thanksgiving. Even if it's just not being a turkey." --Unknown

[geneajournals]

Veteran's Day 2025

Honoring my father, Daniel R. Salter (1920-2013), a World War II Veteran.

Daniel R. Salter and his sister, Pearlie Mae Salter .

Thank you for your service.

[geneajournals]

Throwback Thursday: 7" vinyl 45 RPM singles.

"Too Busy Thinking About My Baby," by Marvin Gaye was released in April 1969. I probably bought this record in May 1969 at a price between $0.69 and $0.99.

"Whenever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home)," was the B side.

[geneajournals]

Wordless Wednesday

Halloween circa 1991.