Ancestors from Scotland

 I was able to help my grandson Gideon do an ancestors project for school in PA this week. Using our ancestry.com  family tree, we were able to see that on my mother's side of the  family , her 6th great grandfather Hector McIntosh was born in 1750 in Scotland.  He married Mary McCoy (who was born in America)  in 1782 in North Carolina. We can only guess how old he was when he immigrated to America.  They both died in North Carolina.  Gideon also made this drawing of what Hector may have looked like.  We know the Scottish brought over the bagpiping tradition and wore tartan (kilts).  

Mary Louise Rice McDaniel (September 25, 1927 - May 31, 2022)

 Mary Louise McDaniel, age 94, of Jefferson City TN, passed away on May 31, 2022. What can one say about a life well lived? Mary Louise McDaniel (affectionately known to her sons as Mama Mac, mom and to coworkers as Ms. Mac) lived a long and fruitful life.  She was born on September 25, 1927 to the Reverend John and  Ethel Rice in the town of Whitney, South Carolina. She worked in a cotton mill while she was in high school to help support her parents.  She was able to get a work scholarship to attend nursing college in Spartanburg, South Carolina and attended school from 1947 to 1951 (three and a half years). She said college was tough, especially chemistry and anatomy, but she worked hard and made good grades. She received her state board license as a RN in 1951. She moved to Jefferson City, TN in 1952 and started working at Jefferson Memorial Hospital until her retirement in 1990. After retirement, she was able to travel the world a bit. She said her favorite places were California and Hawaii, but she mostly enjoyed working in the garden and growing flowers at her home on Julienne Drive. 

Louise loved her children and prayed for them constantly as they grew up in the tumultuous 60's and 70's and continued to pray for them until the day she died on May 31, 2022. Louise would want you to know that she was a Christian, loved her church community at Faith Baptist Church and that she is in a much better place now. Godspeed mom. We will miss you greatly. 

She is preceded in death by parents, John and Ethel Rice; husband James McDaniel and brother James Rice. She is survived by her sons, Michael Edgar Greene and Patrick Anthony Greene; granddaughters Stephanie Atkinson and Shanna Atkinson; great grandchildren Sparrow, Sage and River, and her sister Martha Rice Franklin (from Cowpens,SC).  

Graveside service 12:00 PM Saturday, June 4 2022 at Mitchell Springs Cemetery with Rev. John Pinkston officiating.  Family and friends may call at their convenience Friday June 3 2022 from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm at Fielden Funeral Home in New Market TN. 

Easter memories from 1960

A favorite family Easter photo from Easter 1960 

with my Grandpa J S Rice and Grandma Ethel Rice

and two sisters , Loretta (1) Deborah (7) and little Timmy (4 1/2)

Reunion of Briggs Family in the 1960s

My mom came across this old newspaper article and photo  from the 1960s.

Her grandmother is front and center,  Harriett Loretta Briggs Allen, 

and in this photo are her sisters and brothers at a Briggs family reunion.  

Harriet, my great-grandmother, was born in 1881 

and died in 1967. 

She was the daughter of Edward West Briggs and Laura J Proffitt Briggs 

She married Joby Allen and together they had 11 children - 

 one was my grandmother -

Ethel Mae Allen who would marry John Sherman Rice. 

Letter from my grandmother dated July 22, 1969

As I mentioned in my previous post, my mom found this letter written to me by my grandmother Rice in July of 1969. 

It brings back lots of memories of my Mamaw Rice (Ethel Mae Allen Rice). She spent a few months in TN with my Aunt Louise's family when she was sick with cancer. 

I can't remember for sure, but I think I wrote her a letter and she was responding.  She was living with us when she passed away in our living room in 1970.  We tend to remember the way things were right before someone passes away, so it was nice to read this again and rekindle the good memories.  (Click each page to enlarge) 

Letter From My Grandma Rice

Recently my mother found a letter that I had received from my Grandma Rice back in 1969.


I took these pics with my camera, but will have to scan these two pages later so I can share them.





My grandmother lived with us for about three years while she was being treated for cancer.  I had forgotten that she went to live in TN with Aunt Louise for a time, and while there she wrote me this letter.

scattered pictures, of the way we were...

My grandmother - Ethel Mae Allen (Rice) in a photo taken
when she was 19-21 years of age...this photo was taken before she married.  


At the age of 22 she would marry 
John Sherman Rice 
and they would rear three children:
Louise, James and Martha (my mom).

Celebrating Easter in 1960

Celebrating Easter 

with my grandparents 

and siblings in 1960

Rev J. Sherman Rice,

Loretta,

Ethel Mae Rice,

Deborah,

Timmy

old family photos

from May 1960 - my maternal grandparents 

Rev John Sherman and Ethel Mae Allen Rice

Grandparents are special

Two people who made a distinct impression in my life were my grandparents - Rev. John Sherman and Ethel Mae Allen Rice.  I remember our many visits to their home in Sandy Mush, North Carolina. They always had a special treat, usually ice cream, for us to enjoy when we arrived.  This photo was taken in April of 1960, probably Easter Sunday. My mother, Martha, was the youngest of their three children.   

tracing family history in NC

Buried at the Rutherford County Cemetery near Forest City, NC - my great-grandparents on my mother's side of the family. This is the same cemetery where my grandparents are buried.

Jobie Allen (May 20, 1872 - April 20, 1927)

Harriett Briggs Allen (March 27, 1881 - May 13, 1967)

They had six children:

Bessie Edna (Woods); Ethel Mae (Rice); Leila Idunia (Davis);

John Lloyd Allen; Gattis Ervin Allen; and Margaret (Hughes)

Honor thy father and mother

We took mom and dad to place new fall flowers on my grandparents' graves.  First, we visited Thompson Chapel Cemetery above where Dad's Father and Mother are buried.  Then we traveled to Caroleen, NC to visit the grave site of Mom's Father and Mother.  

It has been a long time since they passed, but it is nice to know they are remembered!