2026 - 44 Birthdays to Remember

Margaret “Peggy” Nolen Wallis, My Mother

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 44 of 2026

Prompt: Something That Surprised Me

This story didn't surprise me, but it will probably surprise you.

My mother was born on St. Patrick's Day, so her birthday was always a double celebration. Over the years, we found some special ways to celebrate, and Mom was always ready for an adventure.

When I lived in Houston, she and my brother Dave came for a visit. Houston was known for its big St. Patrick's Day parade, so naturally we went to the parade and then to a local pub, where we drank green beer.

But that was only the beginning of our birthday adventures.

An 80th Birthday Road Trip — 2006

For her 80th birthday, I took Mom to Hot Springs, Arkansas. It was our first mother-daughter trip. (Daddy was working.)

I had a hard time finding a green window marker, but I finally found one and decorated my van with shamrocks and birthday greetings. On the back window, I wrote, “Honk for the 80th Birthday!” On her side of the van, I wrote, “It's My Birthday!” with an arrow pointing toward her window.

March 17, 2006 - Mom and the birthday van arriving at motel in Hot Springs, Arkansas. 
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We went to the historic Buckstaff Bathhouse and had the full treatment.

Mom at the Buckstaff Bathhouse in Hot Springs, Arkansas, during her 80th birthday trip.
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Always a flirt, Mom met an older gentleman in a restaurant who gave us tickets to his box seats at the racetrack. We had already planned to go to the races, so this was an unexpected bonus!

March 17, 2006 - Mom enjoying the horse races at Oaklawn Park, Hot Springs, Arkansas.
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We had so much fun that we decided another birthday trip was in order.

Branson for Her 83rd — 2009

Three years later, in 2009, we celebrated Mom's 83rd birthday with another trip, this time to Branson, Missouri.

Her niece Peggy joined us at Mom's home in Bentonville, Arkansas, and we continued on to Branson, where we enjoyed several shows.

March 17, 2009 - Ready to leave for Branson. All dressed in green for Mom's 83rd birthday!
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March 17, 2009 - Mom and her niece Peggy enjoying a show in Branson, Missouri.
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A New Adventure at 85 — 2011

By her 85th birthday in 2011, Mom was living in assisted living in Bentonville, but that didn't mean we had run out of ways to celebrate.

That year, I took her to Pinnacle Hills in Rogers, Arkansas, to get her ears pierced!

March 17, 2011 - At age 85, Mom gets her ears pierced at Pinnacle Hills in Rogers, Arkansas. 
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Afterward, she announced that she had given up her last prejudice when she got her ears pierced.

I loved that! Even at 85, Mom was willing to try something new.

Still Celebrating

After Mom moved to assisted living in Tulsa, we continued celebrating her St. Patrick's Day birthdays.

There were parties, funny hats, and poker games. She still enjoyed dressing in green and getting into the spirit of the day.

March 17, 2012 - Mom celebrating her birthday at Villages of Southern Hills, Tulsa, Oklahoma. 
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March 17, 2014 - Mom celebrating her 88th birthday with a game of Texas Hold 'Em with Bud.
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By her 89th birthday in 2015, Mom was spending much of her time in bed. But that didn't mean the celebrations stopped. There she was, wearing her St. Patrick's Day hat and green scarf, with Bud beside her.

March 17, 2015 - Mom's 89th birthday. Still wearing her green!

And Then There Was That Birthday in Houston...

Of all the birthday celebrations we shared, there's one I haven't mentioned yet.

It happened years earlier, when I was living in Houston.

A group of my girlfriends and I decided to take Mom to a nightclub featuring male dancers, à la Chippendales.

We even gave her dollar bills so she could “tip” the dancers.

She loved it!

And she didn't hesitate to tuck those dollar bills into their G-strings.

That's my mom!

2026 - 43 The Secret Wasn’t in a Recipe

MeMe, aka Elizabeth Moore Nolen, My Maternal Grandmother

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks
Week 43 of 2026
Prompt: Homemade

A recent group text among my maternal first cousins started with the suggestion that we should all get together and eat some fried chicken.

Fried chicken. Like MeMe used to fix.

But who knew how to fry chicken that way? Not me.

Paula said all she knew was that it involved a brown paper sack.

Peggy asked, “Honestly, do any of us have a large can of Crisco in our cabinet? Do they even sell Crisco anymore?”

I threw mine out years ago. It was rancid. All I ever used it for was chocolate chip cookies, and I don’t bake cookies anymore.

Paula replied, “No Crisco here. Strictly olive oil. Ma Sue would be ashamed of me. She was a die-hard Crisco fan. Unfortunately, most of her can sitting on her cabinet was her ‘used’ can.”

That was the end of the conversation until I started probing for more details.

I remembered that each of MeMe’s three daughters—Margaret (my mom), Betty (Peggy’s mom), and Sue (Robbin and Paula’s mom)—knew how to fry chicken MeMe’s way. But no one had a written recipe.

I remembered flour, salt, and pepper in a brown paper bag. Put the chicken in, close the bag, and shake. And yes, there was Crisco in a heavy skillet with a lid.

But what else?

I asked if anyone remembered anything more.

Paula: “Brown paper bag, lol, sounds perfect.”

Me: “Electric skillet or on the stove?”

Robbin: “Ma Sue always made hers in an electric skillet. I make mine in the electric skillet.”

Paula: “Yes, electric skillet.”

Aha! Someone does carry on the tradition!

Me: “So Robbin carries on the tradition. Tell me how you make it!”

Robbin: “Just like the above including the paper bag. I get my Crisco hot at first so when you put chicken in you get a crispy coating, then turn it down with the lid on til tender, turn up, brown little more and wala.”

Me: “Nothing on the chicken before you flour it? Does the Crisco completely cover the chicken or just enough to crisp it and then turn it?”

Robbin: “Just enough to crisp it and turn it. Put spices in flour sack and shake.”

Me: “Paula and Peggy, have you made it?”

Paula: “Not since my kids were little. I don’t have an electric skillet anymore but I wish I did. My kids loved the drumsticks when I did make it. But what Robbin said, exactly how I did it.”

So now two sisters had admitted to knowing how to fry chicken the way their mother, Ma Sue, had taught them. And Ma Sue had learned from MeMe.

But I still had questions.

Me: “Do you remember if MeMe used an electric skillet?”

Paula: “Good question. Possibly a cast iron skillet.”

Robbin: “I think she did have an electric skillet and I’ve even seen her make it in a cast iron skillet.”

Paula: “Seems like she had an olive green electric skillet.”

Me: “Did you just rinse the chicken, pat dry, and then in the bag?”

Robbin: “Yes.”

Finally, Peggy weighed in.

Peggy: “I never made it. I can’t even stand to fry bacon in my house. Too messy. Sorry, I can’t really help but . . . I would say, put all purpose flour in a brown paper bag. Season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and Lawry seasoning salt. (Betty put it on everything.) Put chicken pieces in and shake. Put in about an inch of really hot Crisco. Brown chicken and then turn the heat down, cover and cook. Sound right?

“Betty had olive green electric skillet but cast iron before that. Mom was a little touchy about the iron skillet because Denver took it in the divorce.”

Well, there’s a family detail I hadn’t expected to uncover in a discussion about fried chicken!

It took a lot of prompting to reveal the whole process, but in the end, we all had the same memories, even those of us who had never made it ourselves. Each generation had its own little variations, but one thing everyone remembered was that brown paper bag.

Maybe the secret wasn’t in a recipe after all. Maybe it was in that brown paper bag, filled with flour, salt, and pepper, shaken just the way MeMe taught her daughters, who taught theirs.

MeMe's fried chicken, recreated from family memories and a photograph of MeMe, with a little help from ChatGPT. 

 

2026 - 42 “Silver Dollars and Anna Angels.”

 

Anna Mae Moore Harmon, My Maternal Great Aunt

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 42 of 2026

Prompt: A Life Compared to Mine

My great-aunt Anna and I had some similarities and some differences.

Anna grew up in the Sand Springs Home for Children and Widows with her brother William, her sister Elizabeth (my grandmother), and several dozen other children. I grew up as the youngest of five children in my own family. My extended family, including Aunt Anna, lived about 50 miles away, so we saw them often.

The Aunt Anna I knew was married to Henry “Hank” Harmon. They lived in an upstairs garage apartment belonging to family friends George and Ella Wright. Anna was the aunt who always had a little trinket of some kind to give you as you walked out the door.

And speaking of doors, the doorknobs in that apartment were made of glass. I still think of Aunt Anna whenever I see glass doorknobs in antique stores. I also have a silver dollar she gave me one Christmas, still wrapped in shiny pink paper with my name written in her handwriting. I recently opened the little package and discovered it was a 1921 silver dollar.

As I've gathered bits and pieces about Anna's life, I've discovered some interesting similarities between us.

Hank and Anna Harmon, "watching the wrestling match".
Click on image enhanced by ChatGPT for larger view.

Early Adulthood

The 1930 census shows Anna living with my grandparents, her sister Elizabeth and brother-in-law, and their two young children. Anna's occupation was listed as a teacher at an institution. I suspect she may have been employed by the Sand Springs Home, where she had grown up.

Years later, when I graduated from college, I lived with my Aunt Sue in Sand Springs for about six months and did some student teaching. So we both spent part of our early adult lives living with relatives and working in education.

A Career in Nursing

At some point, Anna changed careers and became a nurse.

My mother's 1942 diary contains several references to letters and telephone calls between her and Anna. An address recorded in the back of the diary places Anna at 1420 Eighth Avenue in Fort Worth, Texas. I haven't yet discovered what took her to Fort Worth, but I wonder whether she was there for nursing training or employment.

By 1950, Anna was back in Sand Springs, working at Still-Hildreth Osteopathic Sanitarium. The census identifies her as hired help at the institution, although her occupation was left blank.

This hospital had a connection to Anna's childhood. Originally known as Sand Springs Home Hospital, and later Oakwood Sanitarium, it had been built by Charles Page to care for children at the Sand Springs Home, particularly those suffering from trachoma, an infectious eye disease. The building stood just down the hill from the Home where Anna grew up.

In 1944, Oakwood became Still-Hildreth Osteopathic Sanitarium, specializing in the treatment of nervous and mental conditions. In 1957, it changed management and became Ridgewood Hospital.

In a January 17, 1960 letter, B. F. Breeding, superintendent of the Sand Springs Home, wrote that Anna had become a practical nurse and was still working at Still-Hildreth. He apparently continued using the old name.

Vintage Postcard of Sand Springs Home Hospital enhanced by ChatGPT. 
Click on image for larger view.

By 1965, a Tulsa city directory listed Anna as a nurse's aide at Oklahoma Osteopathic Hospital. I remember her working there, and I especially remember her crisp, starched white nurse's cap.

Anna's nursing career also touched my own family. When my father was serving in occupied Germany and my mother gave birth to her first child, Aunt Anna, a nurse, was there to support her. My mother's obituary specifically mentions that help.

Our careers eventually took very different paths. Anna worked in nursing, while I pursued a career in air traffic control. Both of us, however, had established careers long before we married.

Marriage and Family

One of our greatest similarities is that neither Anna nor I married young, and neither of us had children.

Anna married Henry “Hank” Harmon on August 8, 1953. According to their marriage license application, she was 47 and Hank was 52.

When Bud and I married, I was 57 and he was 59.

There was one interesting difference. Anna continued working after marriage. The 1965 Tulsa city directory lists her as employed at Oklahoma Osteopathic Hospital, while Hank was retired. I, on the other hand, had already retired from my career when Bud and I married.

By the time we married, both Anna and I had already spent many years building lives and careers of our own.

Our childhoods were quite different, and we chose different careers, but we shared something important: we both had full lives before marriage and found companionship later in life.

Remembering Aunt Anna

Although Anna never had children of her own, she certainly left memories with the children in her extended family.

When Anna died, Hank gave me her collection of pierced earrings and handkerchiefs. I've since lost the earrings, but I used her handkerchiefs to make little angels that I called “Anna Angels.” I gave one to each of my cousins, attaching a tag that said Aunt Anna was watching over us.

It seemed a fitting way to remember an aunt who was always giving us little treasures.

I still have that silver dollar in its pink wrapping, with my name written in Anna's handwriting. And whenever I see glass doorknobs in an antique store, I think of the little upstairs apartment and the aunt who always had something special to give us.

Anna may not have had children of her own, but she left us all something to remember her by.

The original pink wrapping from a Christmas gift Aunt Anna gave me, with my name in her handwriting. Inside was a 1921 silver dollar.
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2026 -41 A Glorious Mess

John Howard, My Maternal 5th Great Grandfather

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 41 of 2026

Prompt: What the Timeline Shows 

I began this research with a simple question: Did it make sense that John Howard’s son could have been born in Cherokee territory in Georgia?

I asked Fen—my ChatGPT research assistant—and shared John Howard’s profile and timeline. The response was immediate: “What a glorious mess.”

That turned out to be exactly right.

Image created by Fen, my ChatGPT Research Assistant,
Click on image for larger view. 

The research became a mix of overlapping names, counties, land grants, court records, tax lists, DNA matches, and unsourced online trees. But with Fen’s help, I also began separating the records, identifying the two different John Howards, and rebuilding a timeline that made much more sense.

John Howard in Onslow County

The John Howard I believe may be my fifth-great-grandfather was active in Onslow County, North Carolina, during the 1740s.

He appears in land and court records there, including a 300-acre grant entered in 1743 and issued in 1746, a 640-acre grant dated 1749, and court records identifying him as a justice or prominent local man.

These records place a John Howard in Onslow County during the period when several of his children may have been born. Unfortunately, they do not provide a confirmed birth year for John or clearly identify all of his children.

The Bute County will

The strongest record connecting my suspected John Howard to a family is his will in Bute County, North Carolina.

John Howard’s will was dated September 24, 1770, and proved in February Court 1771. He named his wife as Mary and identified five sons:

• Julius
• Bevelah or Beverly
• William
• Thomas
• John

He also provided for his daughters, although he did not name them individually.

Of the five sons named in the will, four—Julius, Thomas, William, and John—now have strong DNA support through their descendants. Bevelah had no known descendants to test.

The DNA evidence also strongly supports several daughters: Sarah, Mary, Judith, and my ancestor Mahala, who has 145 descendant matches.

Mahala is not simply a possible daughter added to fill a gap. She is my fourth-great-grandmother. Her son Elbert was my third-great-grandfather, and his daughter Hester Williams—wife of Daniel McCorkle—was my second-great-grandmother. That is a name many of my cousins will recognize.

Mahala’s 1792 marriage took place in Warren County, in the same Bute/Warren area associated with John’s family. Her descendants also carried names such as Julius and Elbert, which echo the documented Bute family. She was not named individually in John’s will, but the geography, family names, DNA evidence, and direct descent make her a strong and reasonable candidate.

The Granville County John Howard

For a while, I had mixed records from another John Howard into my ancestor’s timeline.

A different John Howard lived in Granville County, North Carolina. His will was dated December 3, 1778, and proved in February Court 1779. His wife was Sarah Howard, not Mary.

This John named David, Benjamin, John, Sarah Davis, and Mary Howard. The Granville tax lists also show John, David, Benjamin, and a younger John together.

Those records belong with the Granville John and Sarah, not with the Bute County John and Mary. Separating these two families was one of the most important parts of this project. I had to move the Granville deeds, tax lists, and constable records to the correct family and remove children who had been attached to the wrong John.

The children who remain uncertain

Some proposed children remain doubtful. Lucy Howard has only one DNA match and may belong to another John Howard family, possibly the John Howard who married Lucy Davis. James Howard is no longer supported by the current DNA evidence.

The Granville children David, Benjamin, and John Jr. appear in tax and other records, but they belong with the Granville County John and Sarah, not with the Bute County John and Mary.

So, was Thomas born in Georgia?

Secondary sources and compiled family histories say that John and Mary lived in Georgia or Cherokee territory for a time. Those sources may preserve an older family tradition, and they could explain why Thomas’s birthplace appears as Georgia in some trees.

But the primary records do not yet prove that connection.

The Onslow records place a John Howard in North Carolina during the 1740s. The Bute will places a John Howard with wife Mary and sons Julius, William, Thomas, and John in North Carolina by 1770. The Georgia information comes primarily from secondary sources and online trees, many of which appear to combine several different John Howards.

So I still do not know whether Thomas Howard was born in Georgia, whether the Georgia tradition belongs to this John Howard, or whether it was attached to the wrong family.

That was the question that started this research.

After all the sorting, correcting, comparing, and separating, I still do not know the answer. But I now have a much cleaner timeline, a clearer distinction between two different John Howards, and a stronger understanding of which parts of this family story are documented, which are supported by DNA, and which remain a glorious mess of possibilities.