My first book has been published and can be found on Amazon.

It is a composition of my grandmother Hartman's poems, some pictures, my testimony, and my poetry before becoming a God follower up until now. I am the baby in the picture on the cover of the book, and my grandmother is holding me, my mother is in the middle and my great grandmother Stella Bruce is on the right. Four generations.

I think you will find this book to be inspiring and entertaining. Hope you check it out.

Book two is in the making, hope to be published buy the end of this year.  My thanks to Writer's Ink, our group meets at the Mayo library  every Tuesday. If you live in the north Florida area come by and join us. Everyone has a story to tell and a book inside of them.

My Mother

My mother Henrietta Estelle Hartman was born June 23, 1923. Her family called her Henny.
She was known by Rita from the time she met my father until she passed on April 21, 1985.
She was the youngest of four children
 Helen Christine Born May 15, 1910   D. 7-12-2000
Fredrick David Born March 22, 1915  D. 12-01-1999
Merritt Dean    Born Feb. 10, 1920     D. 10-07-1991

The picture on the left was her as a child. She and her brother Dean were close since there was only three years difference in their ages. She always told the story about the duck plate that hung on their grandmother Stella's wall.
 When they would go to visit her, my mother would point up and say,
 "cock-a-doo" and Dean would say, "no silly, that is a duck".
But being the hard headed little Dutchman that she was, she would stomp her foot and say,
"uh-uh it's a cock-a-doo".    

  I have that plate, it is over a hundred years old.

The picture of mother in the middle is how she looked when she went to stay with Helen in Chicago.  The year was 1941.  She had been living at home with her parents in southern Illinois, a place some refer to as Horse Creek.   The guy she was suppose to marry was in the army. He got killed in an accident.  
   His rifle went off as he was jumping onto the back of a truck.
 Everyone thought it would be good for her to get away for a time.
 This is when she met up with my father.
  When she found out I was on the way they moved to Springfield.  

They stayed together until I was sixteen. I got married in August, mother left a few months
later.

The last picture is her on the beach in the Florida Keys. I went up and got her in the winter of 1983.
  She stayed with us in Big Pine Key until June of 1984.

Voices From the Past

How many times have you heard someone say,
"if I had known then what I know now" ?  If you
could go back and relive your life, what would
you do different ?  Would you be the same person
as you are now ?  Are you happy with who you are?
Did you chart your own course or did you try to
follow the plan God has for us ?  People from your
past can have a lot to do with shaping who you are,
just by the words they speak.  The bible says in the
book of James, " the tongue can no man tame: it is
an unruly evil, full of deadly poison".  Words can
tell a story, paint a picture, state facts, they can build
us up or bring us down.  With the exception of some
poetry, this book will be based on facts as they have
been revealed to me by the voices from the past.

Armstrongs

A focus on my father's mother's family.

First her father and mother, their stones, they are buried in St. Charles Cemetery in Iowa.

Evangeline and "Mack" were married Dec.25, 1875
in Warren Co. Iowa. Over the next ten years they had four children, two sons and two daughters.


Macks father was John W. Armstrong 1817-1901
His mother was Florence Spellman 1818-1860
They were married April 1, 1856 in Franklin Co. Ohio. John W. was married before to Mary Fickle.
She was B. 1823  D. 1850

John W.s father was Thomas C. Armstrong B. 1787
D. 1864. His mother was Deborah Scott B. 1787
D. 1854.   I followed this line back to 1638 to an
Adam Armstrong born in Cumberland Co. England.
This is as far as I plan to go with this branch.




     
I believe I covered Evangeline " Porter" Armstrong in a previous post. With a picture of her father
Samuel Marion Porter. B. 1835  D. 1916.  Her mother was Mary Webster. B. 1838 D. 1883

I finally found the newspaper clipping that told how my grandfather died. William H. Berkey was found in his auto, in a neighbors garage. The car was still running, he had been overcome by fumes.
This was in the Burlington Hawk-Eye newspaper, in Iowa. The paper was dated Feb.4, 1932.
He was buried in the Brethren cemetery  in Douglas, Polk Co. Iowa.
The 1925 census shows Daisy still with William. However in the 1930 census he is living apart from her although it says he is married. I am guessing she married Robert L. Womack maybe in 1931. I still have to prove that.

Grandmother Daisy Florence's family

Daisy, my father's mother was born Sept. 3, 1879 in St. Charles, Iowa. She was raised by her mother Evangeline Porter and her father McLain C. Armstrong.

She was first married to William Henry Berkey. They had four children, my father Earl LeRoy was the first born on Aug.3, 1902.The last record I have of her with William is 1924 census she would have been 45. She left him sometime around that age and married Robert Lee Womack who was 17 years younger than her. When she was 45 he was 28.  He passed in Oct. of 1945 and she passed the following spring in April 1946 at the age of 66. I was three years old.

Since I have not searched Daisy's father I will focus on her mother.Evangeline Porter. I found her living with William and Daisy in one of the census, since her husband passed a few years before her, he in 1909 and she in 1912. She was born Oct. 19, 1856 in Henry, Iowa. Her mother was Mary Webster 1838-1883 and her father was Samuel Marion Porter 1835-1916. I was fortunate enough to get a photo of him from another member of Ancestry. Enclosed with this post.
He would have been my great,great grandfather, my grandmother Daisy's mother Evangeline's father.

 I have a tiny bible and a pair of scissors given to me at my birth from (my mother said) Mack a nickname for Robert Womack, I do not remember him or Daisy.
I was always told Daisy left William because she did not want to live by his strict religion ?

No wonder I love horses...

The Percheron is a breed of draft horse that originated in the Huisne river valley of western France, part of the former Perche province from which the breed takes its name.

In the last post I shared a letter and it's envelop. The return address said,
Des Moines Valley Stock Farm
F. Berkey & Son
Importers and Breeders of Percheron Stallions & Mares
Ankey, Iowa

Frank Berkey was my great grandfather, his son William my grandfather.
Elizabeth "Seese" Berkey was my great grandmother.
Her parents were:
 Gillian Seese     B. Dec.22, 1829---D. Apr. 13, 1908
 Eve "Lehman" Seese   B. Apr.16, 1835---D. Sep.4,1907 all in Penn.

To the best of my knowledge Frank and Elizabeth had nine children.
 My grandfather William being the oldest, 1874
Hiram F. 1877   Fannie M. 1879   Anna  1880   Oliver  1882   Ida May 1886  Harry Joseph 1888
Eva Viola 1891    Leo   1895

Frank's parents were Joseph 1822---1909  and  Mary "Berkebile" Berkey 1821---1872

When my great grandfather Frank passed away and they sold his farm my father inherited $35,000, that was a good amount in 1944.
 He bought a model T and living room and bedroom furniture for my mother.

  He blew....through the rest.  As I said before he liked to have a good time.