Volume XXIII
June 27, 1998                                                                                      

Welcome

to the

Jernigan Family Homepage

Index

Information - Various types of information pertaining to the Jernigan family as well as allied families.

Inquiries - Questions about the various ancestors.  Can you help?

Updates - Announcements concerning the Jernigan family.

Reunions - Announcements of upcoming Jernigan reunions.

Other Sites on the Internet - Sites that have something to do with Jernigan genealogy, or sites that belong to Jernigans as well as genealogical sites that might be helpful to you. 

Editor's Note - My own personal ramblings of what has happened this month in Jernigan land!

Purpose - The reasons for this homepage as well as for the Jernigan Association.

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Information Exchange

Here you can post new info that you have located that you think will help other researchers. This can include census records, marriage records, death records, cemetery listings, great research libraries, useful places to visit online, etc.  If you wish to have your family line or Ged file put on the home page, please pay attention to the following warning: There is a problem with people taking ged files found on the internet and publishing the information as their own research in publications and books.  If you choose to place your ged files on this home page, I cannot guarantee that it will not be published elsewhere without your permission.  As long as you understand this, I will put your ged file on here.  If you are concerned about this, but would like to share your info, I would encourage you to email or snail mail your ged files to the person or persons you want to have it.

To the Bone, or Past!

(A history of the ten tribes of Calvin E. Jernigan & Susan E. Bardin)
by Reba Jernigan Powers
Department of Elementary Education
Texas A&M University-Commerce

"Tis but a little faded flower, but, oh, how fondly dear!
'Twill bring me back one golden hour through many a weary year." (cite)

(Ellen C. Howarth)

What's in a name?

The Scriptures tell us that "A good name is rather to be chosen than silver or gold." Families with the name Jernigan have been marching down through the annals of history since the year 1020 when Prince Bryan left the kingdom of his father King Scoland in Denmark. At the invitation of King Canute of England, Prince Bryan married Sabilla, the first mother of all Jernigans, and made his home just north of London. Prince Bryan and his descendants residing in England became lords, knights, barons, exchequers, judges, advisors, ministers of state, members of Parliament, etc., for hundreds of years. They were among the nobility in the Kingdom of England as their predecessors had been in Denmark, in Germany, and in other countries for thousands of years. (Lee Jernigan, Orange City, Florida, 1951)

Reportedly, the immigrant Thomas Jernigan sailed on the ship Truelove by way of Bermuda and landed in Virginia in 1634, becoming the "grandsire" of every Jernigan in existence in this country. Time would blow the seed of Thomas Jernigan and Ann Arlington through Tennessee and the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and later across the nation and back "across the waters." (Both Aunt Nette and Aunt Harriett have great grandchildren living in Japan.) Aaron Jernigan would become the first white settler in Florida when he pitched his tent in Orlando, which became the city officially known for many years as Jernigan, Florida.

A historical marker in downtown Commerce TX pays tribute to the city's founding father William Jernigan (1819-80). A native of Giles County, Tennessee, he had represented Polk County Arkansas in the Tenth General Assembly from November 6, 1854 to January 22, 1855. The former Arkansas legislator moved to Hunt County Texas and settled in a village known as Cow Hill. He and his eldest son James were proprietors of a general store called Jernigin & Son. Completion of a bridge over the South Sulphur River created a new trade route through this area in northeast Texas. Since the community that grew up around his store was unnamed, Jernigin asked on a buying trip to Jefferson City, Missouri that his goods be shipped to "Commerce." The town later became a trade center. Public records document William Jernigan's sale for a sum of fifty dollars of one acre of land in Commerce to County Superintendent J. C. Gee for use as a public school. This deed is the first one recorded in Hunt County and is dated September 30, 1874.

William Jernigan was a tax collector in Hunt County before the Civil War. The unsettled conditions of the times made this a dangerous business, and William wore a brace of pistols on his rounds. William was a Mason and was one of the signers of the original petition creating the Commerce Masonic Lodge in June 1875. The pioneer merchant had nine children, the oldest of whom was named James Hendrick Jernigan. J. H. was given the responsibility of overseeing a cattle drive from northeast Texas to Chicago when he was only fourteen years old. He had full charge of the animals, men, and money. He later fought in the Civil War as a soldier in the Confederate army. While serving in Oklahoma, he contracted measles and his condition was so serious that his unit was forced to leave him. Later, Indians discovered him and nursed him back to health. (Billie Jernigin Brown)

High Flyers

In October of 1930, grandson J. D. Jernigin, Jr., in a powerful plane, towed Captain Frank M. Hawks, Aeronautical Advisor to the Texaco Company, from San Diego to New York in the glider "Texas Eaglet." Following this 4,000 mile trip, made in thirty-six hours and forty-five minutes, the famous glider was placed in the Smithsonian Museum. The 1940's approached, and airplanes were splitting the skies at a breathtaking 150 miles an hour. When a silver bird landed in Center, Texas, Aunt Susie Russell was the first in the community to climb aboard for a ride, leaving her neighbors aghast at her daring. The late 1950's continued to reveal flying as somewhat of a spectacle. Rickie Jernigan found himself stranded on an impassable muddy road in his little red jeep one day. He had taken a detour to "see an airplane land" while enroute to Aunt Emily's. It is not known which of Rickie's four young siblings requested a closer view of the aircraft that day.

Aunt Matt's granddaughter, Gail Shulz, regularly boards airplanes in her position as sales representative for Becton Dickinson (BD). Jernigans today are zipping around the planet at a rate of speed exceeding two thousand miles per hour. The aircraft may still be making racket, but compounded environmental sound pollution and visual litter prohibit us from noticing it anymore. Drivers these days never run into ditches in their excitement to "see airplanes land." Such a contrast to our early beginnings, when in England, our ancestors were born and lived their lifetimes without venturing outside a four mile radius of where they lived! And even to our more recent history, when at the turn of the last century, Grandpa Calvin and Grandma Susan bounced out the 600 miles from Alabama to Texas in a crudely-built covered wagon without the convenience of a single McDonald's drive-through.

"We are the seekers of new lands,
we are the pioneers.
we have builded our lonely homes
on a thousand gaunt frontiers." (cite)

Carrying the Torch

Contemporary Jernigans continue to impact their world in various and significant ways. Kenneth Jernigan, President Emeritus of the National Federation of the Blind, has been the recipient of numerous honors as a result of the fine quality of leadership he has given to the movement of blind education/empowerment. Tammy Jernigan is a high-profile astronaut in the NASA program.

What follows is the story of Grandpa Calvin and Grandma Susan, who followed miniscule trails blazed by animals and Indians in their embrace of the harsh edge of the frontier. This visionary couple pierced the wilderness across the swampy Sabine River and carved a living out of the rolling hills densely covered with massive virgin pines, hardwoods, and cane breaks. Significant also in the following discussion is a sampling of some of the unique contributions of their almost thirteen hundred descendants.

Remembering Papa Jernigan

"Oh, I can do that," Rebecca said, as she raised her leg up toward her body until her foot rested behind her head. Daddy was telling us about his father, Papa Jernigan, who had died when Daddy was just nine years old. He chuckled as he remembered his mother warning, "Fern, one of these days, you're going to put your foot up there and not be able to get it down."

We were hysterical at the thought of a man in his sixties being able to put his feet behind his head. It didn't seem so phenomenal that Becca could do it. She was always "so thin you couldn't see her if she turned sideways," and very agile and flexible. She must have "taken after" Papa Jernigan, we mused.

It is unclear exactly how far-reaching the trait of being limber is in this family or exactly which ancestor brought it in. Cousin Eleanor Bardin Hobson says it did not come from the Bardin side. (We've decided to enroll her in yoga classes!) Aunt Monkey is the only child of Papa Jernigan's to inherit the flexible limbs. She has daughters and granddaughters who are similarly endowed. "Sugar" Davis and "Sissy" Bryan report that their late mother, Maude Elizabeth, granddaughter of Aunt Matt (Papa J's sister) could put her feet behind her head. Other siblings of Papa J have descendants who can also put their feet behind their heads.

Jernigan Ancestry

Papa J (Fern J. Jernigan) was a fourth generation descendant of revolutionary patriot Elisha Jernigan (died ca. 1804) and his wife Zilpha Gibbs, daughter of John and Sarah Gibbs, Sr. of Duplin County, NC. Born to Elisha and Zilpha were John, Jesse, and Sarah "Sally" who married Bryan Branch. Their son Jesse married Naomi Bell.

Naomi was the granddaughter of Robert Bell, an immigrant who arrived in the Virginia Colony in the early 1700's and acquired 150 acres of land in King and Queen County. About 1716, Robert Bell migrated south to the Province of NC, which had become a separate colony in 1712, and settled in Chowan Precinct.

Robert, who was twice married, had the following children: Robert Jr., John, Archibald, Jean, and Penelope. Archibald moved to Duplin County, selling his 320 acres of land in Bertie County for 16 lbs. of pork. His children were: George, Archibald, Sarah, Orson, Benjamin, Naomi, Doris, Mary, Nancy, and Joseph.

Robert's second wife, Anne Ferguson, had a daughter named Isabel who married Michael King. William Rufus King, the great grandson of Isabel and Michael King, would serve as Minister to France in 1844 and later as Ambassador to Great Britain. In 1852, this great grandson of Robert Bell's stepdaughter would be sworn in as 13th Vice President of the United States with President Franklin Pierce and die six weeks after taking the oath of office. (Jean Bell)

To Jesse and Naomi were born William, Daniel, Elisha, Jesse Jr., and Ezekiel. Daniel, who fought in the War of 1812, married Nancy McKay in NC. John Rawls, Helen, and McKay were all born to them there. They moved to Florida, where Naomi was born, and on to Georgia, where Mary was born. The family was in Pike County, Alabama, by 1837, and Calvin E. was born there.

Calvin, a cobbler and farmer, married Susan Bardin on her eighteenth birthday, September 16, 1858. Their wedding ceremony was conducted by Bro. T. Cox in Bainbridge, Georgia. Susan was the daughter of Woodard Bardin, son of John and Nancy Bardin, and Martha Gandy. The children of Woodard and Martha were: John, Sariah, William Marian David, Susan, Nancy Caroline, Martha Ann Missouri, Joseph Key, Mary Senie, and Jessie Woodard. (Woodard Bardin d 27 Jul 1867; John Woodard Bardin d 26 May 1856) (Eleanor Bardin Hobson)

Of the Jernigans, it is known that they are not vertically challenged! Quite the contrary! Grandma Susan made her own significant contribution to the genetic pool regarding the characteristic of height, if not for being limber. In spite of her petite frame, Grandma Susan's brother, Joseph Key Bardin, is listed as being 6'11" on his Civil War discharge papers. Throughout the generations of descending Jernigans are many six feet tall women, as well as many men approaching seven feet tall.

"Royalty, did you say?"

The Bardin lineage has been traced back to Geoffrey Boleyn, grandfather of Sir Thomas Boleyn, Earl of Wiltshsire, who was born in 1477. Thomas married Lady Elizabeth Howard and to them were born: Lady Mary Boleyn, George Rochford Boleyn, and Anne Boleyn.

Henry VII, King of England, had two sons, Arthur and Henry VIII. When Arthur became king, he was made to marry Catherine of Arragon because of Spain's powerbase. Upon Arthur's death, Henry VIII gained the throne and was made to marry his late brother's widow, again, for political reasons. When Henry VIII later met Anne Boleyn, he fell deeply and passionately in love with her. Anne refused to be his mistress, so the king appealed to the Pope to annul his marriage to Catherine, rationalizing that the marriage was not in keeping with the ordinances of the Catholic Church, because, after all, she was his sister, he reasoned.

When the Pope refused to grant the annulment, Henry VIII stubbornly demanded, "Who has supreme authority here - the king, or the Pope?" Henry decided that it should be the king who held that supreme authority, and responded by abolishing Catholicism in his kingdom, establishing the Church of England, and marrying Anne Boleyn. Henry cherished Anne and was partial to the children she gave him. But, unfortunately, he eventually had to have her beheaded because she didn't give him a son.

Henry VIII and Catherine the Great's daughter Mary later ascended the throne, re-instated Catholicism in her kingdom, and killed every Protestant she could. For this she became infamous as "Bloody Mary." Upon Mary's death, her half sister Elizabeth, daughter of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII, became Elizabeth I, Queen of England, and ushered in the Elizabethan Age.

The Jernigans of Troy, Alabama

Grandpa Calvin and his Georgia-born wife Susan had ten children: William David "Dave", Harriett, John Harvey, Daniel Woodard "Bob", Mattie Martha "Matt", Elisha Joseph "Bud", Susan Ila "Susie", Fern, Antoinette, "Nette", and Charles Griffin "Griff." The children never knew their grandma Nancy, who had died several years before Calvin and Susan had married. Eighty-year-old Grandpa Daniel, a veteran of the War of 1812, passed away on Nov 21, 1868, having witnessed the births of the four oldest of Calvin and Susan's children. Nan and Dan had migrated through the states of North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, and Alabama and produced seven children whose offspring would spill across the continent, blazing trails and achieving levels of success in a myriad of fields which their farsighted ancestors had only dreamed of.

Barefooted Soldier

Grandpa Calvin answered the call to duty in the Civil War, leaving Grandma Susan with the sole responsibility of caring for little Dave and Harriett until the end of the war and his return. Sworn in as a private in Company G, 33rd Alabama Infantry Regiment, on the eighth day of March in 1862 in Daleville, Alabama, the young father and his war comrades walked barefooted to Pensacola, where the regiment was organized in April of 1862. The regiment first went to Greenville, Alabama, then on to Corinth, Mississippi, and later to Munfordville, Kentucky on 17 Sep 1862.

On the 8th of October, the regiment received its first terrible lesson in the horrors of battle at Perryville. It entered that conflict about 500 strong and came out with 88 rank and file, the others having fallen in the bloody struggle. Worn and weary, the regiment never lost its spirit, but fought to the end with undaunted bravery. The roll of honor of the organization is a long and creditable one. Because of the injuries which Grandpa Calvin suffered in the battle at Perryville, he was taken to a field hospital at Lookout Mountain in Chatanooga, Tennessee, where on November 1, 1862, by order of the Surgeon, he was furloughed to Dale County, Alabama.

Documents housed in the National Archives state that Grandpa Calvin deserted October  15, 1863. The gap between his documented dates of furlough and desertion raises some questions which call for further research regarding this issue. It has been noted that in this time of prevalent nationalism, deserters were shot down by their own troops. Grandpa Calvin never hid out, but in fact lived in the same community for another two decades. The available documents must be scrutinized and other evidence uncovered in order to adequately evaluate this situation. Several different factors could very well have come to play in this issue, one being that the capture of Alabama and Georgia by Union forces could have prevented Grandpa Calvin from reaching his unit by the time he was physically able to do so.

1885 - A turning point

In 1885, Grover Cleveland had become the first democrat to have been elected President of the United States in the twenty years since the Civil War. It was an unusual time in history. Cleveland was the only president to have ever served two non-consecutive terms. His administration was marked by honesty and hard work. When the press got wind of the illegitimate child of Cleveland's, he candidly admitted it. He restored to the presidency much of the prestige eroded by Congress during the Reconstruction Era. He exercised the veto power more times than had all previous presidents combined. The massive, hulking figure went down in history as one who believed in honest government, cleaning up corruption, and saving taxpayers money.

It was also in the year of 1885 that France had commissioned the building of the Statue of Liberty to be given as a gift to the United States. The nation was connected from the East to the West by the Union Pacific Railroad. Indian resistance had been crushed and the great buffalo herds wiped out. The United States Postal Service began special delivery mail service. Texas was being tamed by barbed wire fence and steel plows. Shelby County, which lay between the Attoyac and Sabine Rivers, was one of 17 original counties created by the Republic of Texas. In 1885, this county had nearly seventy new schools, and they built a new courthouse.

At local, state, national, and global levels, there were many signs of a better tomorrow, a brighter future. As the mood of the nation shifted to an upbeat mode, Calvin and Susan Jernigan began to lend serious consideration to the opportunities which lay in Texas.

Calvin and Susan's family of twelve grew to include two more. Three days before Christmas of 1887, J. H. married Victoria Hughes in Coffee County. On the 14th day of the following February, Matt was married to John James Myrick in Pike County, Alabama.

By Christmas of 1888, the family would have bid farewell to the two married children and their spouses and be in their new home in Texas.

How did Grandma Susan ever stuff that many long-legged Jernigans, now ranging in age from five to eighteen, into her conventional covered wagon? What a cozy scene that must have been! The otherwise long and perilous journey was made shorter by the company of family friends, the Andrews (Anderses), the McSwains, and the Anthonys (Aint-neys). Friendships begun in Alabama were cemented during that trip and continue to bear fruit in the present generation. Rickie Jernigan, great grandson of Calvin Jernigan, married Carolyn Anthony, daughter of Mozelle McSwain and John Anthony. Judy Jernigan, great-great granddaughter of Calvin Jernigan, married Chris Andrews, grandson of Talmage Andrews and Dela Warr.

"Fortune favors the bold." (Virgil) The East Texas area chosen by Calvin Jernigan for his new home was in many ways like the land he left in Alabama. The familiar climate, the terrain, and the foliage all must have made the transition easier. However, there were some surprises, and among these were the stinging lizards found in the sandhills of the Jericho community. Hoyet Walker tells the story of Grandpa Calvin demanding of his son, "What's that thing running around in the floor that looks like a fiddle key with its tail over its back like a feist dog?"

"Did he sting you, Daddy?" was Fern's devilish reply.

"To the bone, or past!" Calvin wryly countered.

Grandma Susan never lived to see her youngest five children marry and bear children. After a sojourn of seven short years in Texas, the matriarch passed away, becoming the first Jernigan to be buried at Mt. Pleasant Cemetery in Shelby County, Texas. In the years (yes, decades) to follow, adjacent plots were claimed for Grandpa Calvin, their children, and their grandchildren.

Uncle Dave and Aunt Mildred

Uncle Dave married Mildred Barber, who was a teacher at Melrose School in Nacogdoches County. They lived just across the Martin Creek, between Melrose and Martinsville. Their three sons were named Shelly, Ernest, and Lenny. Lenny married his first cousin, Julie Jernigan. They did not have any children. Shelly, his wife Anna Louise, and their daughter Aline G., made their home in Kansas. Shelly was a driver for ABC Cab Company after retiring from his position as officer with the Kansas City Police Department. When he died in 1951, his brother Ernest went to Kansas to his funeral and brought back Shelly's four-inch pearl-handled "thirty-eight" Smith & Wesson and billy club.

Uncle Dave preceded Aunt Mildred in death, and was interred in an unmarked grave in Sacul. Aunt Mildred remarried, but when the short-lived union dissolved, she took the name "Jernigan" back and proclaimed that she would be a Jernigan 'till she died! The last years of her life were spent in the jolly household of Frank and Effie Jernigan. Frank, the son of Uncle Bob, was Uncle Dave's nephew, and was also Aunt Mildred's son Lenny's father-in-law.

One night Aunt Mildred pulled off her jacket and threw it in the fire. Frank quickly fished it out of the fire and gently reprimanded her, telling her that she would need her jacket. "Oh, no. I won't. I won't be needing that jacket any more!" she solemnly retorted. Sure enough, Aunt Mildred never saw the light of another day. Her death that night was doubly horrible to the children in the household who had not only witnessed a death, but had witnessed the person prophesy her death. Thereafter, the frightened children often attributed strange night noises to "Aunt Mildred's ghost."

Aunt Mildred was laid to rest in Newburn Cemetery (Est 1856), on FM # 2026, 1 1/2 mile on the right. Her grave, which has a plank driven down in the ground at the head of it, is near the back beside Frank's baby daughter. Times were hard; there was no permanent marker erected. It remains unmarked today, as does Uncle Dave's.

At the tender age of seventeen, Ernest became a father for the fourth time. He and Iona Vercher of Jefferson County by then had two sons and two daughters. With his second wife, Jewel Hargrove, he had seven children. Ernest is remembered for paving the streets of Nacogdoches, the oldest town in Texas, with brick.

One time Ernest heard something unfamiliar under the front porch and discovered Bonnie and Clyde in hiding. He beckoned them to come in the house, and Jewel fed them and put them up for the night. When the infamous couple had gone on their way, Ernest and Jewel found a $100 under the pillow where they had slept. Not long after that, on 23 May 1934, Bonnie and Clyde were ambushed and met their death across the state line in Louisiana.

I remember visiting Ernest with my daddy one Sunday afternoon after church. As we sat on the large front porch that hot summer day, tears welled up in his eyes and flowed freely down his cheeks. He was glad to see us. He loved his family. Ernest was not the first Jernigan I ever saw cry, and he hasn't been the last. For throughout the Jernigan clan, you're sure to find a few common traits. They are usually fun-loving, creative, clever, and intelligent creatures with long limber legs, short fuses, big hearts, drooped left eyes, dimpled chins, and green thumbs. And more often than not, they are easily moved to tears.

From Uncle Dave's branch came many significant contributions. Lenny Jernigan was a veteran of WWI. Ernest's daughter Delia Ruth "Ruthie" Jernigan became, and remains, the only female descendant of Calvin and Susan to ever serve in the military. She retired from the United States Army after a long and successful career. Grandson Dewey Clifton "Captain" Jernigan served in the Merchant Marines during World War II. Grandson Elmer Jernigan is a veteran of the Vietnam Conflict. Dewey Clifton, Jr. retired after a twenty-five year career from the United States Air Force with the rank of Master Sergeant. His son Brian Keith Jernigan, also a lifer in the Air Force, died from contracting a rare form of cancer after being exposed to chemical warfare in Saudi Arabia.

Grandson Ralph Dave "Doc" Jernigan was a well-known and highly respected business man in Nacogdoches. Great granddaughter Beverly Jernigan Wisener is a United States postal worker; her brother Kenneth Edward is making a career of the United States Army. Great granddaughter Margaret Ann Jernigan Bruce is a Licensed Professional Counselor with a private practice in the Houston area.

Aunt Harriett & Uncle Jody

Aunt Harriet married Jody Irish, the son of Milton Irish, one of some thirty who took to the San Antonio River and escaped the Goliad Massacre. Uncle Jodie was a fiddler and a foxhunter. His champion trio of foxhounds, named Rouser, Ratter, and Rip, were widely acclaimed for their canine beauty and hunting prowess. Uncle Jody named his sons Rouser Levon, Lovick Rip, and Joe Rattler. The fourth son he named Pearl, in honor of his fox-hunting buddy, Pearl Walker.

Pearl Walker's father, James, bought a one-thousand acre tract of land near the Jernigans for two bits an acre. The Walkers lived in the wagon in which they had traveled until they could erect a house. James had a cowhorn full of gold sealed with beeswax. When a passerby thought to steal James' stash, he was met with a knife. James Walker carved his entrails out. His wife took pity and sewed the thief up with a needle and thread and applied axle grease to the incision, which healed nicely. When the wife of James Walker died, he married another, younger woman. With his two wives, he had nineteen children.

Pearl Walker was an illustrious character with a cowhorn mustache and a pet coon. Big-hearted with a love of entertaining, Pearl's wife would on a Sunday do away with an entire 48 pound sack of flour, making 84 biscuits at a time. She presided over the kitchen while Pearl presided over the two domino tables set up in the dog trot. Although Pearl never admitted to his involvement in the Ku Klux Klan, his grandson Hoyet declares that he saw his outfit (the hood and robe).

Pearl's brother Hunter Walker was a memorable character in his own right. His bid for Justice of the Peace at an old age drew a lot of controversy. "Well, I don't know," one would say, "Ol' Hunter drinks a little, you know."

Another would say, "You know, when my family was down with the flu, old Hunter kept firewood stacked up on our porch." Hunter was an old man and didn't even have a car, but he won that election.

Aunt Harriett was loving and giving and opened her heart and home to everyone. The 1900 census shows the five children of Uncle Jody's deceased wife, Jenny Amason, living with her, as well as Grandma Amason. Her twenty-two-year-old brother Fern was also living with them. In later years, after Fern had a family and his health failed, Aunt Harriett was faithful to go and see him. My daddy remembered Aunt Harriett's kind and gentle ways, and how she brought him peanuts when she came to visit his daddy.

Bill Irish remembers that his father, Rouser, was very fond of his Uncle Fern. "He thought the sun rose and set in him." Bill remembers going out to the sandhills in the 30's to see Uncle Fern. The family would climb into the A-model Ford, the kids piling in the back, and their mom and dad in the front. He says they were fortunate to have a car; many folks didn't. At eight miles per hour, they chugged down the old highway which wound around through Antioch. Bill says it was just like going to the other side of the world, that he felt as if he had been to a foreign country. He remembers the house being so high up off the ground, he could run up under it. He also remembers the grass burrs, and his Uncle Fern taking them for a picnic to the Big Ditch.

Ernest Daw, Jr. "June", the only child of Aunt Harriett and Uncle Jody's only daughter Christine was killed in The Battle of the Bulge in England in WWII. Soldiers were not ordered to participate in this dangerous mission; volunteers were solicited. June, a brilliant chemical engineer major with two and a half years under his belt in the engineering program at Texas A & M, was a tough P-40 fighter pilot. It is believed that when his plane went down, he was alive, and he was later killed on the ground.

Aunt Harriett's grandsons, Jack and Bert Irish, are both chemical engineers. Bert's two sons are chemical engineers, and are married to engineers. Grandson John Irish is a pastor. Great grandson Gary Irish and his wife Mary are a horticulturist team who have earned a name for themselves for research which they have done in their field.(Horticulture Aug/Sep 1996)

Always a strong, determined woman, Aunt Harriet faced the grave diagnosis of a brain tumor by setting a goal to piece each of her grandchildren a quilt. Jack Irish still has the butterfly quilt lovingly embroidered with his dear grandmother's inscription, "to Jack, from Harriett Irish, 1933."

Uncle John & Aunt Vicky

Twenty-one-year-old John stayed in Troy with his wife, Victoria "Vicky" Hughes. The couple had three girls: Myrtle, Mittie, and Johnnie Lee. A couple of miles north to the Baltic community, where John and Vicky reared their three girls, was Palmyra community, in which the Smith Drinkard family lived. A few miles to the west was Henderson community and the Locklar family. Barely five miles to the east was Center Ridge community, home of the Dixon Boutwells.

Myrtle married Cleveland Drinkard, son of Smith Drinkard. They had a daughter named Shellie Mae Drinkard. Shellie and Jeston Cowen grew up in Andalusia and were sweethearts for many years. Jeston, a veteran of WWI and the oldest of six children, assumed the role of head of his family due to his father's poor health. Shellie was a supervisor at the Arrow Shirt Factory, which at one time "employed as many as 3,000 people, putting many a sack of flour in many a house." (Billy Myrick) Shellie was dedicated at doing her best at whatever she did, and as a result was commissioned to personally make all of Johnny Carson's shirts. She was tall and attractive and had beautiful black hair. Her co-workers admired her and enjoyed her company. After the death of Jeston's parents, he and Shellie were married in a quiet family ceremony. Five years later, as he stooped to add a stick of wood to the fireplace, he fell dead. Shellie was again alone, except for her dogs to keep her company. The stuffed beagle given her by a friend after being confined to a nursing home was lovingly placed in her casket by Jeston's dear niece, Janice Hudson.

Mittie married Alonzo Boutwell, son of Dixon Boutwell. Helen, Gerald, and Doris were born to Mittie and Alonzo in Alabama, where the couple farmed and operated a grist mill. They later moved to Edinburg, TX, where the entire family perished as the result of asphyxiation on December 8, 1928. The children were 3, 6, and 9 at the time of the tragedy. Alonzo's brother Claude brought the family back from Texas by train to his mother's home in the Baltic community, where only six months earlier, her husband Dixon had lain in state after suffering a fatal heart attack.

Johnnie married Lonnie Locklar. One of their three sons, Willis, drowned when he was eight years old. Another son, James Jernigan Locklar, received academic honors while in school, but found difficulty in getting a job in 1938 when he graduated from Central High School in Phoenix City. He went to work for the WPA, which was hard labor. His supervisor noticed how small he was and gave him the assignment of "time-keeper." Not long afterward, Jernigan became ill and his personal physician concluded that Jernigan's heart had become enlarged. At the time of his death at age 25 in 1947, he was working for the U.S. Post Office. He left a daughter named Sandra Elaine Locklar. His son James Jernigan Locklar, Jr. "Jimmy" was born after his father died. Jimmy and his wife are nurses at Doctor's Hospital in Columbus, Georgia. Sandra is an international marketing consultant for Johnson and Johnson.

Their son Gordon and his wife live in Phoenix City, Alabama, just across the Chatahoochee River from Atlanta, Georgia. Gordon is retired after a long career in advertising and state circulation with the Atlanta-Journal. Gordon and his wife Barbara have three daughters. Karen is an elementary curriculum specialist, Lynn is a dental hygienist who has climbed to the position of office manager, and Betsy has a position with Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Uncle Bob & Aunt Georgia Texan

Uncle Bob and Aunt Georgia Texan left Shelby County and moved to Mt. Selman to grow tomatoes and roses. They became very skilled in doing so. Whether it was a tomato vine or a rose bush, they learned how to prune so that there would be a few large tomatoes or roses or many small fruits or flowers.

On Columbus Day, October 12, 1924, Uncle Bob came in from the fields to discover that his granddaughter had been born. When the doctor had finished the delivery, he paused to ask the attending neighbor, Sally Bell Pittman, if she knew what Louie Jernigan Carmichael wanted to name her baby. "Georgia," the neighbor replied, "she wanted her to be named Georgia."

"And what about a middle name?" inquired the doctor.

"Oh, just call her Georgia Bell, after me," she answered.

Uncle Bob took that precious baby girl in his arms and said, "Who is Sally Bell Pittman to name my granddaughter? Her name is not Georgia Bell; it is Nancy Jane!" When Bob demanded that the birth certificate be changed, Louie insisted that it would be bad luck.

The baby was called Nancy. By and by, she started to school. There she was to be known as "Georgia Bell," the name on her birth certificate. The little girl bounced back and forth good naturedly between the two identities. Finally, in junior high, when the family moved to Waco, her mother demanded, "Your named is Georgia Bell, and you will be Georgia Bell both at home and at school!" However, to this day, there are relatives who still know her as Nancy. Georgia is a beautiful person and a master storyteller. She is retired from a long and successful career with the federal government as purchasing agent. Georgia/Nancy attributes her success in life to a raisin' strap and liberal doses of love.

The opportunity later arose for Uncle Bob's family to relocate to Nocona and raise cotton. They lived in a furnished two story house on a hill. Uncle Bob and Aunt Georgia Texan were getting up in years, but Susie, Nora, Woodie, Rat, and Louie and her two babies lived with them, and they all worked together and made a go of it. They also raised turkeys in herds of four hundred which marketed for a dollar a piece, and the four hundred dollars gained for that herd of turkeys bought them a Ford Model T. It was not altogether easy money, however, because the venture required, among other hardships, night-long vigils with fires and lighted lanterns to keep the coyotes from getting them in the waist-deep prairie grass.

Frank's son Calvin was born there, as well as Joel Clifton's daughter Matline and Susan Ethel's daughter Charlene. On one occasion, Frank stood at the door talking to someone and young Travis started twirling the latch. He ignored his daddy's request to leave it alone, and when the visitor left, Travis was commissioned by his daddy to twirl the lock for a spell. It is still remembered that the little boy thereafter had no urge to participate in similar behavior.

Woodie Jernigan was a veteran of WWI. He met the love of his life on a tour of duty in Germany, but they broke up shortly before he was to return to the States. Years later, he returned to Germany and dated the woman briefly, but somehow their lost love was not rekindled. Woodie returned home, never to marry or have children. He retired as maintenance foreman with the Texas Highway Department and began a new career at Sheppard Air Force Base, where he retired in 1959. A clump of three pecan trees which Woodie grafted stand today in front of the last homeplace in Wichita Falls. He was a meticulous person, he always drove a Pontiac, and he was loved by all.

Many of Uncle Bob's descendants were well-known local entrepreneurs. Bryant operated a successful drycleaning business in Carthage for many years. Travis owned a root beer stand at the south traffic circle and also owned and operated the Deluxe Cafe in the once-booming East Center area. Calvin "Sprout" Jernigan was a respected patrolman for the Liquor Board of Texas. Effie Jean Jernigan O'Rear and her daughter Kellie Jean O'Rear Baty own and operate "Kellie's Kut and Kurl," a popular salon in the area. Great grandson Billy Ray Jernigan, who holds a B.A. and a Master of Divinity in Evangelism from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, pastors Pilgrim's Rest Baptist Church in Crystal Springs, Mississippi. Another great grandson, Clifton Wayne Jernigan, pastors the First Assembly of God Church in Plainview, Texas. Great granddaughter Judy Jernigan Andrews holds a Master's Degree in Education from Stephen F. Austin State University and is a classroom teacher in the Excelsior Independent School District.

Aunt Matt & Uncle John Myrick

At the age of sixteen, Mattie Martha "Matt" had married John James Myrick in Alabama. Aunt Matt was a beautiful, fashion-conscious lady. Photographs made of her down through the years depict her attire and coiffure in the style of the times. She was also full of spunk. She rode horseback wearing boots which snapped all the way up to her knees and mounted on a side saddle. Her daddy had given her a single spur which was designed for using when riding sidesaddle. Aunt Matt strapped the spur on the heel of her right foot. She draped her left leg over the horn of the saddle. With the single spur she used, she could manage a horse quite well. The Myricks stayed on their Alabama plantation, where they would produce twelve rollicking sons who would eventually scatter across the United States. Aunt Matt died at the age of 56. She had just milked her cow when she suffered a fatal stroke and fell in the cow pen.

Their sixth son, born on Leap Year, was givrn the name Mattie Olin "Ollie" or "Od." Aunt Matt had by then given up on having a girl, and giving this son her name proved the same as giving him a license to fight. Throughout his entire life, Ollie would tackle anyone who dared call him Mattie! When, on May 18 of 1907, Aunt Matt and Uncle John gave birth to their eleventh son, they named him "Lester Fern." Exactly two years later, on May 18, 1909, their twelfth son Elbert Lee "Buck" was born. As if the prolific Myrick did not have enough boys to carry on his name, his young brother-in-law Fern was later to give the name "Myrick" to his own first-born son, who arrived in 1913, on May 8. Emanuel Myrick later shortened his name to Manuel Myrick, using M.M. Jernigan professionally, but was better known as "Bub."

In 1906, Willie Carvel, the fourth-born Myrick son, took the lovely Miss Clyde Stokes to be his bride. When in 1915, a daughter was born to Fern and Lillie Bell, her mother named her Essie and her father named her Clyde, but the pretty little girl went through life answering to "Monkey", a name affectionately given to her by her (maternal) Uncle Jarrett Luman. Many folks never knew that her name was really Essie Clyde.

Papa Jernigan's last living children passed away in 1994. Emily passed away on January 10; Paul passed away on April 21. Aunt Matt's last living child, Elbert, passed away August 24 in the same year.

Aunt Matt's great grandson, Billy Bush, is an actor who resides in Malibu, California. For eight and a half years his twin daughters Rachel Lindsay Rene and Sidney Robyn Dinea alternately played the role of Carrie, the youngest Ingalls daughter, on the popular television series, Little House on the Prairie.

As a ten-year-old in a rural Baptist church in Alabama, Billy accepted the call to come to Christ. A few years later, as a young adolescent, Billy sat on the front pew and dozed off in a church service. Awakened by strands of "Just As I Am", Billy struggled to his feet and stumbled, catching hold of the altar table. The evangelist methodically went through the Romans Road with Billy, who soon found himself in baptismal waters for the second time, and with much chagrin that he had been too shy to tell the preacher that he had, indeed, already been saved!

Billy is a deeply spiritual person who believes that his relationship with his Creator is the most important aspect of his life. Like a "true Jernigan," he is easily moved to tears. He feels that he has always had an affinity for the stage. He enjoys the rapport which can be won when working before a live audience, but enjoys filming pictures for the simple reason that they can be accessed by a broader audience. Also, when the curtain goes down after a live performance, he cannot step back and view his work as an artist likes to do. One of Billy’s favorite pictures is Culpepper Cattle Company. Other favorites include Electra Glide in Blue, 40 Carats, The River, Jericho Mile, and Five Easy Pieces.

Uncle Bud and the Widow Fletcher

Uncle Bud was living with his widowed father in 1900. Siblings Nette and Griff were still young children. Aunt Mary had joined her brother Calvin's household after the death of her husband Henry Wyrick, who was thirty-four years her senior. Uncle Henry had been a widower with sons Leander (15) and Samuel (20) when Aunt Mary had married him in Alabama. The 1860 census show the family of four living near Brundidge.

Sometime after the census was taken that year, Uncle Bud got on a horse and rode across Texas to Comanche. (Ralph Myrick) It was in Comanche that he met the Widow Fletcher and married her on Christmas Day of that same year. Udora McGee Fletcher was first married to a miner named Edward James Fletcher, with whom she had two pretty redheaded daughters named Lillie and Dicie. Mr. Fletcher, who was thirty three years Dora's senior, had died in March of 1898.

Uncle Bud carried Aunt Dora and the girls to Shelby County. In the midst of a horrible smallpox epidemic in Shelby County in 1901, a daughter was born to Uncle Bud and Aunt Dora. The odds were against little Ethel Jernigan surviving; the smallpox monster was wiping out entire families and communities in Shelby County. But she survived, and her only child, Dr. Paul Stevens, would one day earn a Ph.D. from Texas A&M University, contribute the research and development which created the Texas Education Association Region Service Centers as we know them today, and rubbed elbows with President Lyndon Baines Johnson.

Paul's first memory in life is of being lifted to view his grandfather in the casket. He left Fort Worth in 1943 with ten dollars in his pocket. The next few years would be busy ones for him. He contributed twelve to fifteen hours per week in the coop house where he resided in Bryan. Meals were furnished with his housing, and he got an outside job working forty hours a month for which he was paid thirty cents an hour. The ambitious cadet plugged away on his undergraduate work. Bachelor's degree later in hand, Paul became a juvenile officer in Houston. From there, his career led him to a teaching field, and ultimately he moved through the local district administrative ranks and on to Southwest State University in San Marcos to supervise the preparation of many generations of public educators. While at Southwest, Paul had frequent contact with LBJ, an alumnus of the university and himself a former educator.

Paul's son Mick would earn a Ph. D. from East Texas State University and following an early career of success and integrity, join the faculty in the Department of Educational Administration at West Texas A&M University.

A son was born to Bud and Dora in Shelby County in 1903. This son, Ernest, would grow up to be a pillar to the family. Ernest's son Bobby Jernigan initially chose to be a mortician. An intern stint in Waco Texas changed his mind.

Uncle Bud and Aunt Dora, now a family of six, went back to Comanche and rented a house on the acreage of Wilson Harrison Couch. This would be a sad chapter in their life, for they would lose four babies in rapid succession (1906, 1907, 1909, 1910). Their obvious proximity and rental relationship led to Lillie's marriage to Reuben Couch. Theirs was a double wedding on 15 October 1916; Disie was also married to William J. Burdett. Ethel was betrothed in Comanche to Charlie Lee Stevens, who later served as Comanche County Constable.

From Comanche, Bud, Dora, and Ernest left the three married girls and moved to Fort Worth, where they bought a lovely place on Northwest 16th Street in the shadows of the Stockyards. The charming two-story frame house surrounded by tall shade trees continues to beckon to present-day descendants, who, when in the area, always make time to drive by and reminisce.

The family was active in the independent Baptist congregation led by the legendary J. Frank Norris of Fort Worth. Uncle Bud was a door-to-door salesman for American National Insurance and drew a weekly salary. He was a big man, and well liked. Paul Stevens says that his first memory in life is being lifted to his grandfather's coffin. When Uncle Bud passed away in December of 1923, Aunt Dora buried him at Oakwood Cemetery in Comanche, where she would be buried at her death, with the four babies which they had lost.

In the years of widowhood which followed, Aunt Dora creatively used her expansive house to gain income from boarders. She taught grandson Paul how to cook and clean. Then at her death, she was interred at Oakwood Cemetery in Comanche. With the exception of Merrell Jernigan (22 Feb 1906-24 April 1906), the family graves are unmarked (Margaret Waring, C1981, V3, p 84, Comanche Co Gravestone Inscriptions).

Aunt Nette & Uncle Isaac

Aunt Nette married Isaac Richards, a brother-in-law to well-known Shelby County evangelist "Sister Richards." Oletha Holt Richards was a tall, stately woman with perfect posture who was very zealous in her faith as a "Oneness" Pentecostal. She sang praises with the accompaniment of her guitar or accordion, and preached hell fire and damnation. Sister Richards is the great grandmother of one group of Aunt Susie's great grandchildren, the family of Linda Menefee Fincher and Doug Fincher.

Aunt Nette and Uncle Isaac went from Shelby County to Comanche County before settling in Temple, Oklahoma with their five daughters and one son. Baby daughter Ruby was born in Oklahoma. The Richards girls were "drop-dead gorgeous" and their daddy was reticent to let them out of his sight. Only if their brother Oscar accompanied them could they do so. Once beyond the outer gate, they went their separate ways, and would meet later and go in together. A rag on the gate was their signal that the coast was clear and it was safe to enter.

Aunt Nette sat rocking her firstborn one Sunday morning when the funeral procession of a little neighbor child passed her house. She shivered and held her own baby close to her, thinking "How on earth could I ever give up my darling baby?" The next Sunday, there was another funeral procession. The bloody flux had claimed the life of Aunt Nette's baby, who was eighteen months old, as well. Aunt Nette had eighteen pregnancies. She only lived to see one grandchild, Bessie Mae Colet. Bessie Mae lived with her grandmother until she was five years old. The two were very close. When Bessie Mae had to go to live with her mother, it broke Aunt Nette's heart. She died the very same year.

Lillie Mae Menasco, granddaughter to Aunt Nette's brother Bob, remembers going to visit Aunt Nette across the river in Temple OK. It was a short distance from their home in Nocona. Mae says she can just see Aunt Nette cutting across the field with a dishpan full of sweet potatoes, and remembers her aunt as thin and "worked down."

Aunt Nette played the guitar and sang old songs like "Down in the Valley." All of the girls played the guitar and sang; Jo and Ruby performed publicly. Aunt Nette valued education and wanted her children to do well. She packed beans and cornbread in lard buckets for their lunches. They walked through the snow and put their lunches close to the heater.

Aunt Susie & Uncle Crawford

Aunt Susie married Crawford Russell and had eleven children, the oldest of whom suffered an early and tragic death. The family was visiting with neighbors when little Stella ran back home to get something. Striking a match to see in the dark house, she cupped her skirt around the flame to enhance the light, and her skirt caught fire. She started running back toward the neighbor's house, but by the time someone got to her, she had apparently inhaled enough hot smoke and gases that she died later that evening.

Lillie Mae Menasco remembers bunking at Aunt Susie's. The combined families doubled up on these delightful weekend visits. One of the girls found herself in the middle of a threesome and complained that she was about to smother to death. "Just lay real still," Ira Russell told her slowly, "it may be the best thing that ever happened to us."

The nieces and nephews looked forward to visits with Aunt Susie, who warmed them with her loving smile, pampered them like royalty, and served wonderful cakes and pies in her kitchen. She even had a recipe for "snuff," which consisted of sugar and chocolate. It is often said that Aunt Susie loved children and would do anything to entertain them, but her grandchildren also give her credit for being a firm disciplinarian. They say that it took only a reminder from their grandmother that she was "going to take them to Pea River" for them to straighten up. The children had never actually been to Pea River, which flowed near Aunt Susie's native Troy, Alabama home, but they recognized this as a promise of a switching if they didn't behave.

Russell Hairston remembers encountering his grandmother's wrath. He and his playmate Stevie Webb locked a local boy who was referred to as "afflicted" in a large chicken pen with a nanny goat and about twenty Rhode Island red pullets. On another occasion, Russell and Bonnie Sue Hughes went into the barn and threw all the eggs against the wall. Aunt Monkey said, "You didn't have anything to do with this, did you, Sue?" Russell, however, got a tanning from his mother.

Aunt Susie was feisty and adventurous. The first woman in the community to ride in an airplane, she was always ready to go anytime anyone mentioned going, and she would say, "I'm going to get on that car," as one would say they were getting on a wagon. She bought Levi Garrett in the big brown bottles and puckered when she laughed to keep from losing her dip. Laying two fingers perpendicular to her lips, she could spit at least eight feet. She was a good shot with a cap-and-ball pistol. Still, she was feminine and attractive and spoke freely about romance even when she was old and had suffered a stroke.

She was a spiritual woman whose deep and abiding faith could not be shaken. Her husband's manufacture of and slightly excessive use of John Barleycorn caused him to become unwelcome in the Baptist Church that they attended. So, Aunt Susie took the children to the Church of Christ, and many of the older children continued in that church all their lives, but the younger ones returned to the Baptist Church. Something that Ma said in a church business meeting, either in the Baptist or Church of Christ., which became an exclamation of affirmation often repeated by family members. was spoken by some male member of the congregation. He seconded her statement with, "Well, I do, too, Susie." (Russell Hairston)

Grandson Tommy Hairston patented the pacemaker and the hollow fiber renal dialysis, the only system being used world-wide today. His ongoing work is with artificial skin development and a mini-reactor system called a bioreactor for growing monoclonal antibodies for cancer treatment. Tom says his work is fun, and the timing just happened to be right for some big developments, which in turn gave him a good chance to make a name for himself.

The Russells have always worked hard and stuck by each other. As soon as one finished school and got a job, he helped the next one through school. Their hard work has paid off. Many of them have earned advanced degrees, with a large representation of classroom teachers, college professors, and educational administrators. Grandson Billy Hairston is a physician with a busy family practice in Nacogdoches. Great granddaughter ginger Russell skipped high school altogether. With her eighth grade diploma in hand, she enrolled at Lon Morris College in Jacksonville and went on to Stephen F. Austin State University to earn a BSW. Great granddaughter Andrea Sheridan is employed by the Texas Education Agency, where she is the liaison to the State Board of Education.

Fern & Lillie Bell

Fern married Lillie Bell Luman. He was a man who spoke with authority. When he was ready, he was ready. No one ever had to guess where he stood. His personal affirmation of a statement was the word "sa." He never drove in his life, but he bought several brand new vehicles and "taught" his boys how to drive.

Fern was a giver. He once met his friend Mr. Stevens going to town. He hailed the friend and learned that he was going to see his son, whom he had just learned was dangerously ill. Fern pulled off his shoes, jacket, and shirt, and gave it to his friend, adding, "If you'll follow me home, you can have my pants."

"If nature has made you a giver,
your hands are born open,
and so is your heart;
and though there may be times when your hands are empty,
your heart is always full,
and you can give things out of that-
warm things, kind things, sweet things,
help and comfort and laughter-
and sometimes gay, kind laughter
is the best help of all."
(A Little Princess, by Frances Hodgson Burnett)

Fern died leaving my father, Paul, at age eight, a very rich little boy. He did not leave him a sack full of money, nor did he leave him vast property holdings. He must have been quite a Bible scholar, for he grounded my daddy in spiritual truths and Biblical doctrine. He taught him Job 19: 25-27, "For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another." My grandfather explained the Second Coming of Christ in such a way that the little eight year old boy would remember it and would also teach it to his children and grandchildren.

Paul became a preacher of the gospel. He was a respected Bible scholar around whose feet many new converts and well-seasoned Christians sat to learn. Following in his footsteps were his nephews, Arvie Jernigan and Gene Hughes.  Arvie, a graduate of Southwestern Theological Seminary in Arlington, for thirty-five years pastored the Lakeland Street Baptist Church in Fort Worth, a ministry recognized for its fundamental stance and missionary outreach. Gene Hughes, a graduate of Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Missouri, and married to a graduate of that same institution, pastors a church in Kansas. Both of Gene's children and their spouses are also graduates of BBC. Son Marty pastors a church in Oklahoma. Gene's sister, Lou Ann Simmons, also a graduate of Baptist Bible College, began her career at the world-famous Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. It has been noted that many members of the immediate and extended family were baptized, married, and buried by Paul.

Great grandson John Henry Hughes earned a B.S. in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas, a M.S. in psychology from Stephen F. Austin State University, and a Ph. D. in cognitive psychology from Rutgers University. He is a partner in The Artemis Group, a marketing research company which focuses on improving service quality, customer satisfaction, and profitability for companies.

Sonja Hughes is living out the dreams of her great great grandfather, Calvin Jernigan. She has a B.S. and an M.S. in Animal Science with a specialization in Equine Nutrition and Exercise Physiology. Her M.S. thesis studied the rate of adaptation of thoroughbred racehorses to a fat-supplemented diet. Sonja's first experience with horses was in England as a kindergartner, when she and her sister took riding lessons. In high school, she got a job as a racehorse trainer and subsequently found her passion - horse racing. She has tacked horses, fed horses, cooled off horses, bathed horses, and cleaned many a stall. She has worked Horse races at major tracks as well as East Texas brush tracks. After college, Sonja worked two years for the Texas Quarterhorse Association coordinating the state-bred incentive program for Quarter Horse racehorses. She now has a position with Farmland Industries, Inc. in Chicago, and owns a thoroughbred brood mare with a 1997 foal having a pedigree that should, in Sonja's estimation, give her a license to fly.

The chickens will come home to roost!

A woman attending the 1980 Jernigan Reunion in Center greeted a red-headed man, saying that he looked very familiar to her. Oh, he didn't think so. He was from Dallas. "Do you shop in Safeway at such and such location?" inquired the lady politely. The man had to admit that, on second thought, he did recognize the woman. Come to find out, this couple, Georgia/Nancy Tiner's grandfather (Bob) was a brother to Jerald Irish's grandmother (Harriett), and Georgia and Jerald lived a couple of blocks apart in Dallas.

Donnis Marie Harmon, great granddaughter of Aunt Harriett, graduated with a degree in education from Southwest University when Paul Stevens, grandson of Uncle Bud, was at the helm of the education department there, and neither of them ever knew the other.

With the exception of Aunt Matt and Uncle John, who had stayed in Alabama, Grandpa Calvin and his children were initially clustered together in a tight web. But as time marched on, economic conditions and opportunities scattered the clan to the four corners of the earth. However, modern technology has now restored once-lost family communication. A simple click of a mouse transmits textual, visual, and auditorial messages to Jernigans all over the world. Jernigan Family Genealogical Police people Kay Stone (post mail) and Marla Boots (electronic mail) vigilantly guard the family heritage and mentor wanna-be Jernigan genealogical enthusiasts. We've come a long way since our English heritage of 1100 when our ancestors, who stayed in the immediate proximity from birth to death, had no concept of launching a vessel and sailing across the waters.

Events are happening faster and faster as time passes; such is the nature of man and progress. In our rush to move onward and upward, we must not forget that someone has always gone before, making that which we are trying to improve exist, that we might be, and that we might leave something of ourselves for the next generation to improve one. "If we see farther, it's because we stand on shoulders of giants." (Sir Isaac Newton)

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Questions

If you have reached a point in your research and can't get any further or if you have a question about something you have found, we'll post an inquiry for you here.  Please keep your info as brief as possible.

Kathy and Robert Schueren have a ??G grandfather who was in the Confederate States Army but they can't find him anywhere that they have looked. His name was Eldridge Jernigan and he was detached from the 15th Regiment of the Confederate Calvary on November 14, 1863 with 48 dollars. He was under Captain J. B. Vaughan. They can't make out which company and all they can make out on the paymaster is Captain A. Mc V. Any help would be appreciated. Thank You in advance.

*****

Rita Litchfield is trying to find info about three Jernigan persons:

Bessie Jernigan, b July 1890, m. Charles WOMBLE, 20 Dec 1908, Winston Co., MS.

James Jernigan, b 1 Aug 1885, d Nov 1970 TX; m. Miranda 'Maggie' CLAY, 1909 in TX.

Jules Jernigan, b sometime after 1900; m. Uldean KEMP in MS.

Would appreciate any help in getting more info about these families and about who the parents were for these Jernigan persons.

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Reunions

Reba Powers sends us news of a Jernigan Reunion in Shelby County, TX.  It is a reunion for descendants of Calvin Jernigan and Susan Bardin scheduled for July 11/12, 1998.  Reba writes that she already has confirmations from every branch of this family with eight states represented so far! Put it on your calendar. This promises to be a blast!  It will be held at the Pinecreek Lodge in Nacogdoches, TX.  Each guest room has a kingsize bed, refrigerator, TV/VCR, and extra rollaway beds available upon request. Resort amenities include: driving range, basketball, volleyball, two fishing holes, one swimming pool, two hot tubs and horseshoes.

The schedule is as follows:
Fri July 10
3:00 ..........check-in
6:30...............dinner

Sat July 11
8:00 ..........Breakfast
6:30...........Dinner

Sun July 12
8:00 ..........Breakfast
3:00...........check-out

Reservations are full at the Pinecreek Lodge, however, there are other hotels in the area where you can stay. Contact Reba for more info on this.  Daytime rates (no lodging) are $5.00 per individual, which gives you access to all recreational facilities, plus a fee of $8.00 for dinner. Saturday will be BBQ! They have THE BEST!!! Daytimers also need to call in their reservations.  The reservation number is RWS# 98024.
Pinecreek Lodge; S. Alazan Rd, Nacogdoches TX 75961; Phone: 888-714-1414. If you would like to put your deposit on a credit card, you may call them at the above number.   

Walking the brick-paved (by cousin Ernest Jernigan) streets of the oldest town in TX will be only one of the treats in store for you on this memorable weekend!  When I visited PineCreek Lodge, I could hardly tear myself away. The cabins are spread throughout a beautiful pine thicket. The creek is so pretty.  And there are lots of wooden stairs, decks, porches, porch swings, rocking chairs. You will love the environment! Be sure and bring your camera; this place is a photographer's dream.  

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Other Sites on the Internet

Here you can find other sites on the internet that you may wish to check out.  If you wish to visit one of these sites now (you must be online to do this), just click on the highlighted address and it will take you there.

Nancy Mikell told me about this site by the Bureau of Land Management and I looked up the Jernigans.  I had this information on the homepage, but had to revise it as many of you were having problems loading it. There are a lot of Jernigans on this site and you may want to check it out for other names you are researching.  The URL is: http://www.glorecords.blm.gov

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Sharon Tingley passes on this list to end all list of sites on the internet for genealogists!

Favorite search engines:
http://www.altavista.digital.com/ (Alta Vista)
http://www.aol.com/netfind/ (AOL searcher)
http://www.excite.com/ (Excite)
http://galaxy.tradewave.com/galaxy.html (Galaxy)
http://www.hotbot.com/ (Hot Bot)
http://www.infoseek.com (InfoSeek)
http://lycospro.lycos.com (Lycos)

People searchers:
http://www.anywho.com/resq.html
http://www.555-1212.com/whte_us.htm
http://www.four11.com/
http://in-114.infospace.com/_1_196816106__yp.ch/reverse.htm (reverse finder)
http://www.switchboard.com/
http://www.whowhere.com/

Geographic information:
http://www.mit.edu/geo/ (finds county for known place and state)
http://www.ahip.getty.edu/tgn_browser/ (geographic thesaurus)
http://www1.proximus.com/lycos/ (Lycos road map)
http://www.mapquest.com/ (Mapquest)
http://www-nmd.usgs.gov/www/gnis/gnisform.html (geographic name locater)
http://www.expediamaps.com/PlaceFinder.asp (Microsoft worldwide info)
http://members.aol.com/oldmapsne/ (Historical Ink; old maps, NY&NE)
http://www.outfitters.com/genealogy/land/twprange.html (township & range system)
http://www.multimap.com/ (United Kingdom)
http://www.livgenmi.com/1895.htm (US atlas, 1895)
http://www.peabody.yale.edu/other/gnis/ (Yale geographic name locater)

Vital record sources:
http://www.cdc.gov/nchswww/howto/w2w/w2welcom.htm (center for health stats)
http://www.medaccess.com/address/vital_toc.htm (where to write)
http://www.inlink.com/~nomi/vitalrec/ (Naomi's list)
http://www.census-online.com/links/index.html#top (online census materials)
http://www.doitnow.com/~moravia/census.html (alternate, census online)
http://members.tripod.com/~rosters/ (searchable South)

Giant genealogy sites:
http://cpcug.org/user/jlacombe/mark.html (barrel of links

)
http://www.CyndisList.com (Cyndi's list)
http://www.wwnet.com/~krugman1/fgc/ (Ford genealogy club)
http://www.genforum.com/ (genealogy discussions)
http://www.polaris.net/~legend/genalogy.htm (genealogy gateway)
http://posom.com/hl/ (genealogy helplist)
http://www.citynet.net/mostwanted/ (genealogy's most wanted)
http://emcee.com/ (genealogy online)
http://genealogy.tbox.com/ (genealogy toolbox)
http://www.gensource.com/ifoundit/ (genealogy search engine)
http://www.genhomepage.com/societies.html (genealogical societies)
http://www.lds.org/Family_History/How_Do_I_Begin.html (Mormon FHCs)
http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/ (National Genealogical Society)
http://www.nehgs.org/ (New England Historic Genealogical Society)
http://www.rand.org/personal/Genea/ (Rand genealogy club)
http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/searches/ (Roots Web Searches)
http://www.bc1.com/users/sgl/html/usa.htm (searchable genealogy links)
http://genealogy.traveller.com/genealogy/ (Traveller southern families)
http://www.ukans.edu/heritage/research/dbd.html (UofKS sourcelist)
http://www.usgenweb.com/ (US Genealogy web)
http://www.usigs.org/index.htm (US Internet Genealogical Society)
ftp://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/roots-l/genealog/genealog.vital-mo (genealogicaland historical societies of Missouri; to change states, delete "mo" and substitute the postal abbreviation of the state of your choice)

Church history:
http://www.ncccusa.org/ (National Council of Churches)
http://www.ats.edu/members/denom.htm (theological seminaries)
http://www.rrlc.org/guide/arc02.shtml (American Baptist)
http://www.cob-net.org/ (Church of the Brethren)
http://www.catholic.net/ (Roman Catholic Church)
http://www.cin.org/ (Catholic information network)
http://www.catholic.org/colweb/direct.html (Catholic web directory)
http://www.disciples.org/historc.htm (Disciples of Christ)
http://www.ecusa.anglican.org/ (Episcopal Church, USA)
http://www.elca.org/ (Evangelical Lutheran)
http://www.fum.org/ (Friends United/Quaker)
http://www.rootsweb.com/~quakers/index.htm (Quaker genealogy)
http://www.mercer.edu/mainlib/SpColl.html (Georgia Baptist)
http://www.depauw.edu/lib/services/Desc/dept.htm#archives (Indiana UMC)
http://www.lcms.org/ (Lutheran, Missouri Synod)
http://www.jewell.edu/academia/currylibrary/partee/partee.html (MO Bapt)
http://cmc2.cmc.edu/arc.html (Missouri United Methodist)
http://cc.owu.edu/~librweb/spuma.htm (Ohio United Methodist)
http://www.libertynet.org/~pacscl/phs/index.html (Presbyterian)
http://www.rca.org/ (Reformed Church in America)
http://carolus.furman.edu/library/welcome/specpage.htm (SC Baptist)
http://www.ucc.org/ (United Church of Christ)
http://www.gcah.org/center.htm (United Methodist archives)
http://www.gcah.org/Conference/umcdirectory.htm (UMC state archives)

Ethnics:
http://www.islandnet.com/~jveinot/cghl/searchable.html (searchable Canada)
http://www.genealogy.com/gene/www/emig/emigr.html (emigration from Germany)
http://genealogy.org/~palam/#iareg (Palatines to America)
http://www.nh.ultranet.com/~tbrass/AMST/Amst.html (Dutch in New Amsterdam)
http://www.familyworkings.com/genealogy1.htm (German genealogy)
http://www.kst.dit.ie/nat-arch/index.html (Ireland's national archives)
http://www.rootsweb.com/~irish/index.html (Irish Genealogical Society)
http://gentreegenealogy.com (Irish genealogy)
http://www.anywhere.co.uk/news.html (Scots birth, death, marriage indices)
http://www.scotclans.com/ (Scots clans)
http://www.tartans.com/genalogy.htm (Scots genealogy)
http://www.origins.net/GRO/ (Scotland General Register Office)
http://www.house-of-tartan.scotland.net/story/story.htm (tartans & clans)
http://www.tartans.com/ (tartans)
http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/ (UK genealogy)

Wars:
http://www.cfcsc.dnd.ca/links/milhist/ (Canada war timeline)
http://funnelweb.utcc.utk.edu/~hoemann/unit1.html (Civil War fighting units)
http://homepages.dsu.edu/jankej/civilwar/civilwar.htm (CW Dakota State)
http://sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/ (Civil War, UofKY)
http://www.cwc.lsu.edu/civlink.htm (Civil War, LSU)
http://www.usgenweb.com/military/index.htm (military history for genealogy)
http://carlisle-www.army.mil/usamhi/ (Military History Institute)
http://www.cfcsc.dnd.ca/links/millib/index.html (military libraries)
http://www.toast.net/~beau/gs1812.htm (Society of the War of 1812)

Book sources:
http://www.clark.net/pub/rmharris/netdlrs.html (antiquarian books)
http://www.appletons.com/homepage.html (Appleton's)
http://www.glbco.com/ (Blair's)
http://www.esva.net/ghotes/biblio/bkdealer.htm#dealer (dealers & publishers)
http://www.hearthstonebooks.com/ (Hearthstone)
http://www.higginsonbooks.com/genbooks.htm (Higginson genealogy)
http://www.hopefarm.com/genealog.htm (Hope Farm, NY books)
http://www.midcoast.com/~picton/ (Picton Press)
http://server.mediasoft.net/Scott/C/ (Willow Bend)
http://www.yogs.com/ (Ye Olde Gen Shop, Indianapolis)

Lookups:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~bwo/#States (books we own)
http://www.mindspring.com/~wcrews/BooksPlus.html (mostly Southern books)
http://www.longstreet.net/census.html (census lookups)
http://www.cswnet.com/~mgoad/dar.html (DAR patriot index)
http://www.concentric.net/~Mikerice/hl/usa/index.shtml (genealogy helplist)
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/2154/springin.htm (surname springboard)

Mailing lists:
http://members.aol.com/johnf14246/gen_mail.html
http://members.aol.com/gresinet/gen_mail.html
http://www.rootsweb.com/~maillist/
http://php.indiana.edu/~stephenl/ownlists.htm
http://www.eskimo.com/~chance/lists.html

States:
http://skyways.lib.ks.us/kansas/genweb/mhgs/index.html (midwest gen society)
http://www.asc.edu/archives/genealog.html (Alabama genealogy)
http://www.cogensoc.org/cgs/cgs-home.htm (Colorado genealogical society)
http://www.cslnet.ctstateu.edu/ (Connecticut library)
http://www.rootsweb.com/~flsgs/ (Florida genealogical society)
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/9829/Ga.html (Georgia helplist)
http://www.sos.state.il.us/ (Illinois Secretary of State)
http://www.statelib.lib.in.us/ (Indiana library)
http://www.uiowa.edu/~shsi/index.htm (Iowa historical society)
http://home.att.net/~ladylake10/ipl/ipl_main.htm (Iowa pioneers)
http://www.kumc.edu/kansas/KSL/Ref/ksl_ref.html (Kansas library)
http://www.kdla.state.ky.us/kdlaindx/kdlaindx.htm (Kentucky library &archives)
http://mlin.lib.ma.us/ (Massachusetts Library and Information Network)
http://www.mnhs.org/ (Minnesota historical society)
http://mosl.sos.state.mo.us/rec-man/arch.html (Missouri archives)
http://www.system.missouri.edu/shs/ (Missouri historical society)
http://www.nehgs.org/ (New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston)
http://www.state.nj.us/statelibrary/libgene.htm (New Jersey library)
http://www.sara.nysed.gov/ (New York archives)
http://unix2.nysed.gov/ (New York library)
http://www.health.state.ny.us/nysdoh/consumer/vr.htm (New York vital records)
http://www.ah.dcr.state.nc.us/archives/ (North Carolina archives)
http://statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us/NCSLHOME.HTM#information (NC library)
http://www.ohiohistory.org/ (Ohio historical society)
http://www.ok-history.mus.ok.us/ (Oklahoma museum of history)
http://arcweb.sos.state.or.us/ (Oregon archives)
http://www.state.pa.us/PA_Exec/Historical_Museum/DAM/overview.htm (Penn archive)
http://www.cas.psu.edu/docs/pde/LIBSTATE.HTML (Penn. commonwealth Library)
http://www.state.sc.us/scdah/respol.htm (South Carolina archives)
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/escn_database_reports/ (old SC papers)
http://www.historic.com/schs/ (South Carolina historical society)
http://www.sc.edu/library/socar/mnscrpts/index.html (USC's South Carolinia lib)
http://www.state.tn.us/sos/statelib/tslahome.htm (Tennessee library & archives)
http://www.vsla.edu/index.html (Virginia library)
http://www.westvirginia.org/ (West Virginia online)
http://www.wisc.edu/shs-archives/ (Wisconsin historical society)
http://www.dpi.state.wi.us/www/wis_lib.html (online Wisconsin libraries)

Surnames:
http://www.one-name.org/top.htm (Guild of One-Name Studies)
http://cgi.rootsweb.com/surhelp/srchall.html (surname helper)
http://www.eskimo.com/~chance/lists.html (surname mailing lists)
http://www.gendex.com:8080/display?page=surnames& (surname search engine)
http://surnameweb.org/registry/ (surname web's registry)

Lands:
http://www.avana.net/~lhaasdav/Patentlocations.html (all states)
http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/ (BLM eastern states land records)
http://www.innernet.net/hively/newpage29.htm (PA lands, with links)
http://image.vtls.com/collections/LO.html (Virginia land office records)

Newspapers:
http://www.dds.nl/~kidon/medie-link/uspapers.shtml (Kidon US dailies)
http://www.dds.nl/~kidon/media-link/usweek.shtml (Kidon US weeklies)
http://www.dds.nl/~kidon/media-link/capapers.shtml (Kidon Canada)
http://caroline.eastlib.ufl.edu/flnews/projects.html (state newspaper projects)
http://www.lib.virginia.edu/cataloging/vnp/contacts.html (state projects list)
http://www.naa.org/hotlinks/index.asp (state associations, dailies by state)

When they're gone:
http://users.deltanet.com/~steven/cemetery.html (cemetery listings)
http://www.funeral.com/cemeterystates/ (cemetery listings)
http://www.funeralnet.com/cgi-local/notfound.pl?/ (funeral home listings)
http://www.dreamscape.com/goldlinks/cemetery.htm
http://www.Islandnet.com/ocfa/ (Ontario cemetery listings)
http://we.got.net/docent/cem/uscem.htm (US cemeteries)
http://www.inwd.com/death/usa.htm (US cemeteries)

Other related sites:
http://www.firstct.com/fv/stone.html (breaking down the wall)
http://www.ala.org/alonline/ (American Library Association)
http://www.genealogy.org/~bcg/ (Board for Certification of Genealogists)
http://www.firstct.com/fv/oldhand.html (deciphering old handwriting)
http://www.nara.gov/regional/stlouis.html (fed personnel records center)
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Acres/3207/ (Low Country Huguenots)
http://OfficialCitySites.com (index of local government sites)
http://www.umdl.umich.edu/moa/moa_search.html (UMich literature search)
http://www.vanished.com/pages/database.html (misc. online databases)
http://www.mcpl.lib.mo.us (Mid-Continent Public Library)
http://www.libraryspot.com/librariesonline.htm (libraries everywhere)
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Prairie/8088/philly.html (Philadelphia)
http://www.usps.gov/ncsc/ (Zip Codes)

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Editor's Note

"Summertime and the living is easy".  Yeah right!  Whoever wrote that didn't have three teenage daughters, a husband who travels all the time, a full time job and a house to run, much less had time to do genealogy!

I have to apologize for the looks of this homepage.  I know that there are lots of spaces in the information section.  I had difficulty importing the info from the Land Grant page and ran out of time in trying to sort out how to get rid of those spaces.  I wanted you to have the info and it was either take it with spaces or leave it.  

I, like a fool, decided to work on that organizational thing I put in my New Year's Resolutions and went to work on my bedroom which was a neat freak's nightmare.  Once in there I decided that we really needed a new rug.  That meant removing all of the furninture including the bookcase that covers one wall.  Once that was done it was obvious that the walls needed painting.  It turned into a project out of control and one that I certainly shouldn't have tackled at this point in time.  But I have to say, thanks to some hard work by my daughter Cyndi and my husband Ed, (and some reluctant and grumbling help from the twins as they scrubbed walls) the room looks wonderful.  Now the rest of the house...

We are just about to head out for our annual summer trek to Pennslyvania.  That is the reason this homepage is a little earlier than usual.  We'll be spending our vacation at the family farm in Fombell, PA.  And while my family continues to enjoy the beauty of PA's rolling green hills for another week, I'll be off to Texas to visit my brother and his family and to end up at the Jernigan Reunion in Nacogdoches with some of you!  I can hardly wait!  It should be a lot of fun. Look for the reunion report in the next homepage.

The girls, of course, are out of school for the summer.  Cyndi has a real boyfriend now.  A relatively new experience for us. But I think we are adjusting ok.  John seems to be a nice young man.

Krystal just finished up a school of fine arts course.  She was selected to attend the drama section of this school.  They put on a terrific show which included a trash bag fashion show.  The latest fashions were quite stylish, however, I don't anticipate wearing any of them any time soon!  

All three girls will be going to high school next year.  That is hard to believe!  And for the first time, all three will be riding the bus.  I was reveling in the thought of my newfound freedom of not having to take and pick up kids from school.  No time limit to my days...until I thought about them dating.  Guess I'll have my time limit for a few more years!

My brother, after many years of study, has received his doctorate of divinity.  He graduated on May 31st in Richmond, VA.  Unfortunately, I was not able to go.  But needless to say, I am very proud of him! Hey, we finally have a doctor in the family!  

This month's celebrations were my father's birthday and Father's Day!  Dad was out of town on his birthday on a business seminar.  But we called to wish him a happy birthday.  Father's Day, I must admit needs a raincheck around here.  We did spend a little bit of time with our Dads, but most of it was spent in our room painting walls!  My husband must love me very much.  If nothing else, he is definately a good sport!  Happy Father's Day to all of you Jernigan Dads out there!

Tigger, one of our cats, has a new talent.  He has decided that the higher he can climb the better.  You can often find him draped in any one of a number of trees in our yard like a bobcat with legs hanging.  Or his latest accomplishment is to roam the highest peaks of our roof.  I figure it won't be long until he tries out the chimney.  That would be an adventure that I would rather not have!  But although he has been on a couple of roofs in the neighborhood, at least he always manages to get himself down!  

There was a civil war reenactment of the siege of Charleston this month.  They had a land and sea battle! They reactivated the batteries that surround the harbor of Charleston for the first time since I don't know when.  With the heat here in the summer, I chickened out on the layers of period dress and opted for a t-shirt and jeans!

The memorial service that Ed and I went to in Florence was wonderful.  It was very moving to hear the stories of the Gold Star mother's who had lost their sons to war.  And the main speaker was an inspiration.  The prevailing message was that we should remember all of the men and women who have served their country in whatever capacity.  The worst dishonor that we could do to these brave men and women would be to forget. Ed did a great job in presenting the monument to the civil war dead at Florence. (Of course he is always good at these things!)  It was a warm day and I was asked a number of times if I was hot. But I wasn't too uncomfortable.  It did give me a good idea of what it was like for my women ancestors a hundred and thirty years ago!  Perhaps the living is easy...

Happy Hunting!

Your editor,

Marla Boots

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The purpose of this home page is to provide:

1. a place for Jernigan researchers to locate each other to help one another through an exchange of info.

2. a listing of Jernigan researchers and the lines that they are working on.

3. a place to list new information found by researchers.

4. a place to post inquiries.

5. a central clearinghouse of Jernigan information to better help everyone in their research.

6. a forum for the Jernigan Association that we are trying to start.

7. a place to post notices on current or upcoming Jernigan events.

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The Jernigan name has so many different spellings and variations that it boggles the minds of most Jernigan researchers. Some of the spellings include Jarnagan, Jarnegan, Jannikin, Janagen, Jernagan, Jonikan, Johnikin, Jonikin, Journagan, Jernegan, Jermegan,  Jonerkin, Jernican, Jurnigan, Gernigan, Jerningham, Jarningham, and so on.  This home page is for researchers of all spellings of the Jernigan name.

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