A very good place to start.

I digress.  In preparing to present my collection of the past, what impresses me the most is the concept of Family.

What is a Family?  Is it the people who live in a home that are genetically related? Does it include those who came before?

When I as an individual look to who I am, is it all internal chemistry or is there some other force that extends down throughout time so that who we are is who we were.

I am shaped by My parents as they were shaped by their parents.  For me this helps me deal with my work to honor a lineage that I am part if not by blood or genetic material but by Love. It also shapes the need to pass this on.

Family is important the context of the immediate family as well as the context of the Universal family. 

I wish to point out that the record of the New Covenant between God and His people begins, "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham."  Those who wanted us to know about the New Covenant saw a need to link the present, the New, with the past. 


The eternal family is just as important to us as is the cellular family. 


I speak of my connection to the Kitchell Family with full knowledge that my genes would not match the genes of the Kitchell, but that all of our genes are part of a common set of genes. 

I recently was in the Hospital and had to explain my current family.  The Hospital wanted justification for who was to be allowed in to see me. I have no family that is legal but I have a family.  I have a son who is adopted by love.  He is not legally adopted as I was, but he is none the less my son and with his mother we are a family.  So my explanation was that there were two people that I wanted to be able to see me no matter what and they were and are, my Son and the Mother of my Son.  That is not a connection by genes for me, it is a connection by Love and that Covenant that I talked about above creates a Family by Love.

What follows is a documentation of pone part of my family by Love.

Jennie Salome Wilson Pearson and me, Roy Edward Pearson

My connection to the Kitchel lineage is my Mother, Jennie Salome Wilson Pearson.  Her mother, Bertha Adelia Kitchel Wilson, connects us into a lineage that goes back over 1400 years.  Now I will tell you at this point that there are some glaring errors in this lineage but not ones that invalidate the who but the what, 

I present three lineages.  Two are copies of each other and one presents a variation that takes a different road to the same place.  As near as I can as a layman, this lineage fits with my meager knowledge of history ( and I am a follower of British History).

So I present first the First lineage of which I was aware.  One of my Mother's Generation Cousins, James Roderick Kitchel had applied to join the Magna Carta Society in England.  This was similar to our Daughters of the American Revolution.  To be a member of this Society one had to be descended from a signer of the Magna Carta.  So Cousin Roderick had a Lineage done for him.

I am naturally a skeptic, and at this point of hearing this story, I said to myself, "right he is paying a lot of money to have his lineage researched so he can join a British Society that he has to pay to get into , after the lineage certifies him" .  After looking at the Lineage I just figured that he was being taken in as a joke, because hos link was the humiliated Royal that got the absolute rights of King to rule diminished by a bunch of Counts and Noblemen. 

However, that was back in 1987 before everything was all over the Internet.  I began to do some research of my own and found that the lineage could very well be correct. 

So that is my story, here are the copies of the lineage.  First Cousin Roderick's, then a lineage of some relative of my Great Grand Mother Mary Norris Kitchel the mother to Bertha Adelia Kitchel Wilson, and then a hand written copy of the lineage written by my Mother.

The next lineage I have no idea who compiled this.  They documented everything else
just not the author.   It is probable one of Hazel's  family as there is this separate lineage.  Zilpha is my mother's sister.   I do not remember ever meeting Zilpha.  I remember that she was very sick with Cancer. 

 Hazel

The following is was written by my mother.

Well that is it for now

Connections

In 1979 when I was living in Lutcher, Louisiana,running a Sonic, Alvin, Texas had the most rain fall in a 24 hour period ever recorded.   Alvin Flooded.  My mother Jennie Salome Wilson Pearson was managing a small Apartment Complex and woke up to find water in her apartment ( ground floor ) about 18" deep.


In 1979, at the time of the flood my mother was 75 and she managed that Complex until she was 85, so she was up there in years.


I recount this event to tell you that there was a chest of drawers which held all of my Mother's Family pictures, and some of them were destroyed from the rising waters of that flood. .  Most of the pictures on this site were survivors of the Flood.  The flood left water marks on all of mother's furniture and when people who are not from Alvin, or who arrived in Alvin after 1979, might ask mother what the water marks came from.  Mom would explain they were from the Flood. She would quickly remind them, due to her age that it was from the Alvin Flood, not Noah's Flood.  That was my Mom.

My Grandmother, Nana, Known to others Bertha Adelia Kitchel Wilson

I have recently regained Contact with one of my Mothers Great-Grand Nephews who has graciously agreed to put up with me for a while so I can send him the Physical Photos and Memorabilia I have kept.  The Connections between Jason and I are our Grandmothers.  Mine pictured above Berth A Wilson and Jason's pictured below Betty Gayle Wilson Carlton. The picture below is of my Mother and Betty Gale.  The picture is taken at the Home of Hazel Rehm in Alta Loma, Texas,  When My mother could no longer take care of the Apartments she was managing, She moved 10 miles down the road from Alvin to Sante Fe, Texas (formerly Alta Loma).  She stayed in a small house behind Hazels Home.  Hazel and Betty Gayle were Cousin.

My Mom and one of her favorite Nieces, Betty Gayle Carlton

This is the Home of Mary Kitchel, my Great Grand Mother.  The top Picture is a family gathering and the bottom picture is the restored Home, which is now a Texas Landmark.

I find it ironic for a generation that takes photos of everything, that so few people are interested in the photos that people over 100 years ago took of their lives and families. 

I was adopted at 2 years old.  I do not know anything about my birth family.  I have no family of my own. 

I loved my Parents very much but I was always closest to my mom.  She was a story teller.  I get my tendency to talk too much from her.  A gift I treasure, but those around me might question the value of that gift.  From those stories and the fact that I knew many of the people in those stories I have a very keen sense of what Alta Loma, Texas, was like.  But I am getting ahead of my self. 


I am taking a new direction with this Blog, My Parents Lives In Pictures.

Just sending a bunch of pictures really does not mean much with out knowing the Who, What, Where, Why and When of those Pictures.  So this is the narrative of the pictures that I will send to my Cousin.  This narrative spans from at least as far back as 1905 in Photos and to the 1880's in Story. 

So welcome.  Hope you enjoy the journey. 

More of the Pearson Side

I think the first three pictures are already on the "This is My Life" blog in one form or an other. Below is a picture of my Dad, probably in the early 1920's. Dad and his brother George worked in the oil fields for a while and then headed to New Orleans to get a job on a freighter and see the world. That did not work out and they heard about the oil boom around Houston and went there. In the 1930 census they were sharing a room in Houston.



Dad worked for Continental Oil in Houston in the 1920's and the 1930's.



The horse that Dad is riding is probably Uncle Earle's horse. The horse lived at out place for a while.



My parents in an out of focus picture from their Honeymoon Trip to Arkansas. This is at Mom's Oldest Brother Ed and his wife Bert's home. The Edward in my name is after Uncle Ed. Oddly I am most like his brother, Bruce. I have always felt a connection with that part of the family.



Last is a picture I have no information on. Do not know who the boy is or where the picture is taken. Might be in Arkansas. Would like to know about this picture.

The Pearson Side of the Family

I was contacted by one of my cousins about information on our common family tree. My Grandmother was Ola Martin Pearson. My Cousin, Melba McNeely Stewart was the daughter of Catherine Pearson McNeely. Catherine was the daughter of Lelia Ethel Martin Pearson. Ethel was my Grandmother's sister. Both married Pearsons, but not directly related Pearsons.



Melba sent me a link to pictures she had placed on Ancestry.com. In the pictures was a picture of Twins that looked a familiar to me. I had pictures of myself when I was six, taken with a pair of twins. I do not remember the picture being taken or who the people in the picture were. My Mother was good about labeling pictures, but all I knew was the adults were Uncle Henry and Aunt Ethel and they were "Pearson Relatives". The twins were just "The Twins". Catherine was also labeled by her first name only.

So I have had these pictures and not known who they were.

Upon examination of the pictures, with this new information, I recognize my Grandmother in one of the Pictures. In the Picture above are Melvin and Melba McNeely.

The Picture below is of Me and the twins. (If you click on these pictures you can view the larger original pictures)



Below are Lelia Ethel Martin Pearson and Henry Clay Pearson at their home in Bryan, Texas.



Catherine is the woman hugging her son Melvin. I am not sure who the other people in the picture are that have not yet been named.



In the corner of the porch is Ola Martin Pearson, my Grandmother and Ethel's Sister.



Last is a group picture.

The Border

A lot of whoop-te-do about the border with Mexico these days. Well lets flash back to the 1910's when Pancho Villa raided across the border. Below is a picture of my Uncle and Cousin, members of the Texas National Guard as they Bivouacked in South Texas near Mercedes, waiting for President Wilson to send them in to Mexico as needed.

The back of the picture say it is 1914 or 1915. Doug Kitchel is on the ground and Bruce Wilson is holding him down, kind of. Doug's leg, is unbent due to accident with a horse that caused him not to be able to bend his knee.

Next we see Bruce at the Chickamauga Battleground. Bruce's Grandfather Kitchel had been a member of the 2nd Minnesota Brigade at the Battle of Chickamauga. The Brigade was one the first to reach Missionary Ridge.

Below is a photo of me standing about about the same place Bruce stood.  The place has changed a bit.  This picture does not have the quality of the original.  

Rehm Family Pictures

I received a few pictures from my Cousin Marilyn.




The three Rehm boys are Albert Joseph, Jr., John Henry, and Roderick Walter (not necessarily in that order in the picture).

The people I know, in addition to the boys are, in the far back row from left to right is an unidentified man, my mom Salome Wilson Pearson, John Pearson, Jean Hurt Thomas, and Barney "Goog" Thomas. In front of them is Albert Jr., Zilpha Wilson Hurt, and unidentified lady, Gin Platzer (I think), and Bertha Kitchel Wilson. In front, kneeling, an Unidentified lady, Roderick "Roddy" Walter, John Henry Rehm, and Hazel Hurt Rehm.

I am not sure about Aunt Gin.I really only knew her when I was young, 9 or 10 at the oldest. 



I am really at a loss about this picture. I know only five of the seventeen people. In the front row is my mother, Salome, her father Roderick, her sister, Zilpha, and her mother Bertha.



This is my mother around nine or ten. This picture looks less like her than any I have seen.



Mom in her late teens? Jean with her?



Here is a picture I had of Hazel and Mom.




Here is a close up cut out of the picture above.




Here is Mom at Aunt Jean's house with a cousin, Bea Kitchel, from Fayetteville, Arkansas, I think.



Next to the last is Mom at the Alvin Nursing Home with visitors Hazel, I think maybe Minneford, and Bea.



Last is a picture that I am without any knowledge. It is a very nice picture though. I am pretty sure that Hazel is the girl that is third from from the right.

If anyone provide names for the unknown people, or correct my identifications, please email me at lylifespics(at)yahoo.com.

Home Aways

Mom lived with several relatives between the time she graduated from school and the time she got married. She lived with Aunt Loretta. She was married to Charles H. Wilson. Like most mothers of her time she lost one child, Charles Bruce. She had four other sons. Harold F., Donald J., William K., and Charles H.

I visited Aunt Loretta in Houston with my parents several times. Below is my mother at Aunt Loretta's house.



Mom with Don, one of Aunt Loretta's boys.



Another picture of Mom and Dad while "courting". Should have been in one of the posts below.



Mom and Dad took care of mother's parents. I think this is mom and dad's house in Almeda, Texas. This is the picture as taken and below is a "close up".



Mr. DeMille, I am ready...



Below is a picture of Mom's older sister Zilpha Wilson Hurt. With Zilpha are her daughters Jean and Hazel. Jean married Barney Thomas and had two son's, Gary and Thomas(Tommy). Hazel married Albert Rehm and had five children, Albert, John, Roddy, and twin girls Marilyn and Geraldine. Shown are the three boys. Marilyn and Geraldine were born after this picture.



Another close up.