My Adventure Through Our Family Tree Branches

For over 50 years my Dad researched both his and my Mom's family tree branches - and loved every minute of it! Trying to fulfill the promise I made him the last month of his life, I have spent the past four years continuing where he left off - finding out about all the many family members who came before us, from the many branches of our family trees. The histories will still be published as my Dad always wanted. But what he wanted most was to share the stories of the people who came before us - the places they lived, the cultures of the times, the families they created, and the circumstances - good and bad - that would one day lead to us, their descendants. These are the stories of my Mom's families. . . .

Surnames in this Blog

BRUNETT, DeGRUY, DeLERY, FLEMMING, FORTIER, FRISSE, HORST, HUBER, JACKSON, McCAFFREY, McCLUSKEY, O'DONNELL, WEINSCHENK



Wednesday, July 27, 2011

WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY'S PHOTO - Grandma and Grandpa Flemming, ca. 1913

Charlie & Lizzie Flemming, with granddaughter Flo
(name of dog unknown)
Birmingham, Alabama ca. 1913
My great-great-grandfather, Charles Clinton Flemming (June 23, 1854-January 26, 1932), was the oldest of seven children born to James Flemming (1827-1907) and Sarah Jackson (1837-1902). Born in Darlington, South Carolina, Charlie, as he was known, was raised in Rome, Georgia. It was here that he met his future wife, Elizabeth Agnes McCaffrey (December 23, 1858-July 17, 1922). Lizzie was the third of thirteen children born to Thomas McCaffrey (1832-1896) and Charlotte McCluskey (1838-1917).

Charlie and Lizzie married on April 9, 1877 at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Rome. Together they had ten children. The family moved to Birmingham, Alabama, after the birth of their fifth child, in the mid-1880's. At the time of the 1900 Census, the family was living at 2500 1st Avenue (the Red Mountain Expressway stands where their house once stood), with their eight living children, including my great-grandfather Harry Flemming, age 22. Also living with the family was Roxie Sanduf, their 30-year-old black house servant from Georgia. Charlie was the Yardmaster at the downtown Railroad Station; Harry was a train Engineer.

I remember my grandmother, Susie Flemming O'Donnell (1909-1999), proudly telling the story that her grandfather Charlie had one of the first automobiles in the city of Birmingham (or was it the first?). If anyone knows what kind of car this is, please let me know!

In the backseat of the car next to Lizzie is their first grandchild - Florence Elizabeth Flemming. Flo, as she was called, was born in 1904, the only child of Charles Clinton Flemming, Jr. (1884-1935) and Marie Sophia Fidger (1884-1908). When her mother died, Flo and her father moved in with his parents. Charles remarried in January 1910, marrying Katherine "Kate" Aurelia Lambert (1885-1935) and together had seven children. Flo stayed with her grandparents until marrying Horace Thomas Kilpatrick (1900-1958) at the age of 18. They moved to Montgomery; the date of her death is unknown.

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