Levi Spikes' Land in Winn Parish, Louisiana - 1860

A couple days ago, I wrote about the location of the 317.92 acres in Winn Parish, Louisiana, where my great-great-great-grandfather, Jacob Shelton settled in 1859-1860.  Today, I'm writing about the land of my other great-great-great grandfather, Levi Spikes (ABT 1805 - BET 1880-1900).  

A search at the United States Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM), General Land Office (GLO) Records Automation web site for Spikes in Winn Parish, Louisiana, brought up four results:  two for Levi Spikes, and one each for his son William H. Spikes (1832-1917) and Levi M[arion] Spikes (1867-1933).  I'll get to them in a bit. 

When I selected the two for Levi (each 39.57 acres, filed about two months apart in 1860), I got a page for each that provided details about the patents, with tabs to view the actual patent document image, as well as other documents (other patentees within the same land sections as Levi had).  On the patent details page, you could scroll down and use a mapping tool (checking the boxes in the Map column) to see just where Levi's land was located (click on the images to view them larger):

These two parcels are next to each other.  I went to the State of Louisiana's Division of Administration  Office of State Lands GIS & Data web page, and used the SONRIS Interactive Map linked there to create a combined image.  I chose "Maps Historic 62.5k" as my background Imagery and used the Draw tool in the AOI Toolbox to draw lines on the map to roughly outline Levi Spike's patents.  The result is the lighter green area below (click on the image to view it larger):

The background map, as discovered in my previous posts by exploring the United States Geological Survey's Historical Topographic Map Collection using a tool called topoView, was the 1950 Winnfield, Louisiana topo map, with a scale of 1:62500.

I grabbed a screenshot of the satellite image of this area from Google Maps, and used Microsoft Paint to outline Levi's land.  The result is below (click on the image to view it larger):

There's clearly been some settlement on the land, at least since 1950.  That did not appear to be the case on the oldest map I was able to find (so far), the United States Department of Agriculture Bureau of Soils 1907 Winn Parish Soil Map, digitized by the University of Alabama.  I zoomed in to the appropriate sections, grabbed a screenshot and used Microsoft Paint to outline Levi's land, as well as that of his two sons.  The result is below (click on the image to view it larger):

I noticed there are no small black squares (which mark buildings, such as houses)  within the Spikes properties.  This 1907 map indicates some old roads and old communities that don't exist any more, such as Whitford and New Atlanta.  It's possible that Levi and William, who were not required to live on their land as they acquired it though cash purchases, perhaps lived in one of these communities.  By 1880, Levi and son William had both moved to adjacent Grant Parish.  

Son Levi M. Spikes moved back to Winn Parish (from his father's home in Grant Parish) by 1894, and under the Homestead Act with which he acquired his land, would have had to live on and cultivate the land for five years before patenting it in 1905.  Perhaps the 1907 map just doesn't include any structures he may have built there.

I also mapped the properties on the 2020 Atlanta, Louisiana topographic map, with a scale of 1:24000, to see roads and features as they appear in more modern time.  The result is below (click on the image to view it larger):

© Amanda Pape - 2022 - e-mail me!

Jacob Shelton's Land in Winn Parish, Louisiana - 1860

Today (the last Saturday in June) is the annual Shelton Family Reunion in Louisiana.  My great-great-great-grandfather, Jacob Shelton (ABT 1822 - AFT 28 Feb 1874), settled in Winn Parish sometime between March 10, 1859 (when a son was born in Copiah County, Mississippi) and July 2, 1860 (when he filed a patent for 317.92 acres).  Recently I decided to try to find out just where that land was.

A search at the United States Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM), General Land Office (GLO) Records Automation web site for Shelton in Winn Parish, Louisiana, brought up three results:  Jacob Shelton, his oldest son Joseph L. Shelton (1847-1869), and his youngest son (my great-great-grandfather) Levi M. Shelton (1863-1941).  I'll get to them in a bit.  

When I selected Jacob, I got a page that provided details about the patent, with tabs to view the actual patent document image, as well as other documents (other patentees within the same land sections as Jacob had).  On the patent details page, you could scroll down and use a mapping tool (checking the boxes in the Map column) to see just where Jacob's land was located (click on the image to view it larger):

I wasn't too crazy about this map image, however.  I didn't like all the extra orange shading (which marked the entire township/range, the section, as well as Jacob's aliquots).  I also wanted a bit more detail in the base map.  So I looked for some other tools.

I found the State of Louisiana's Division of Administration  Office of State Lands GIS & Data web page, and used the SONRIS Interactive Map linked there.  I chose "Maps Historic 62.5k" as my background Imagery, and used the Draw tool in the AOI Toolbox to draw lines on the map to roughly outline Jacob Shelton's patent, the lighter green area on the map.  The result is below (click on the image to view it larger):

I was curious about the date of the background map, but there was nothing in the application to indicate what that was.  I thought it was likely to be a United States Geological Survey topographic map, so I went to their website and found the Historical Topographic Map Collection.  These can be explored using a tool called topoView.

I searched for Sardis, Winn Parish, Louisiana (because of the Sardis Church and Sardis Lookout Tower near Jacob's land on the historic map in SONRIS), and got 17 results.  The first of these was also the oldest map, and matched the one above.  It is the 1950 Winnfield, Louisiana topo map (Winnfield, the parish seat of Winn Parish, is just a bit to the north on my map snip above), with a scale of 1:62500.

I looked at the other 16 results for the newest map, and found the 2020 Atlanta, Louisiana map, with a scale of 1:24000.  (Atlanta is a town just south on the road on my map snip above.)  This meant I could get a sharper image when I zoomed in, and also showed roads and features as they appear in more modern time.  I downloaded a copy of this map as a .JPG, and used Microsoft Paint to zoom in and mark Jacob Shelton's holdings (outlined in orange), as well as add some other notes to the map.  The result is below (click on the image to view it larger):

It should be noted that what shows up as the "Swindelly Cem[etery]" on this map is not actually known by this name.  Today it is called the Brown Cemetery (established 1857), although it has also been known in the past as the Brown-Swindle Cemetery.  A large number of my relatives, including Jacob Shelton, are buried or have markers here.

The oldest map I was able to find (so far) is the United States Department of Agriculture Bureau of Soils 1907 Winn Parish Soil Map, digitized by the University of Alabama.  I zoomed in to the appropriate sections, grabbed a screenshot and used Microsoft Paint to outline Jacob's land.  The result is below (click on the image to view it larger):

The small black squares mark buildings (houses?)  - the ones with crosses on top mark churches.  On Jacob's land, in 1907 (a good 30 years after his death), it appears there were structures in section 9, near Sulphur Creek and the border with section 10, and in section 17.  This 1907 map indicates some old roads that don't exist any more, and some that still do (the one called Lovell Road today, on the east side of section 9).

Finally, I grabbed a screenshot of the satellite image of this area from Google Maps, and once again used Microsoft Paint to outline Jacob's land.  The result is below (click on the image to view it larger):

I thought it was interesting that, even today, you can see rough outlines of the old aliquots, forming a patchwork design on the land as viewed from space.  If I had to make a guess, I would bet that Jacob settled in that area that appears bright green in the satellite view.  It seems as though it might have been settled the longest.

Finally, I expanded the 2020 map a bit and outlined the land patents of Jacob's sons Joseph and Levi, as well as for other neighbors.  The result is below (click on the image to view it larger):

The lands of Joseph and Levi were patented in 1904 and 1903, respectively.  Joseph died in 1869 without any sons, so I will have to research just how his widow or only daughter was able to patent that land.  William J. Martin patented his land in 1889.  His daughter Martha Jane Martin married Joseph Shelton, and another daughter, Alice Virginia Martin, married Jacob's son James William Shelton (1859-1939).

Erby B. Barton (1877-1949), who patented his land in 1907, was a grandson of Leah Pickering Parton Spikes (1835-1903), my great-great-great-grandmother (more on Spikes land in a future post).  Erby's mother, Parlee Porter Barton, was the sister of James A. Porter, who patented his land in 1906.

And finally, we have James P. Swindall, who patented his land the same year as Jacob Shelton, 1860.  His name may be the source of the various names the Brown Cemetery has had over the years, Swindelly and Brown-Swindle.

© Amanda Pape - 2022 - e-mail me!

Happy Father's Day

My dad, Frederick Henry Pape (1929-2017), with my siblings Mary, Mark, Brian, and Karen in front, spring 1968.  I'm not in the photo because I'm the one taking it, with a Kodak Hawkeye Flashfun camera I got in 1966 (hence Karen is washed out).

© Amanda Pape - 2022 - e-mail me!

Happy Birthday to My Son Eric!

 Eric at Dinosaur Valley State Park, March 6, 2017.

Animal sculptor Louis Paul Jonas built this 45-foot fiberglass Tyrannosaurus Rex model for Sinclair Oil Company's "Dinoland" exhibit at the 1964-65 New York World's Fair.  This statue, along with a 70-foot Apatosaurus, were acquired by the state park and were on display at the park's dedication on October 2, 1970.

© Amanda Pape - 2022 - e-mail me!

Roll of Honor at the Waikīkī War Memorial Natatorium in Honolulu, Hawai'i

In honor of the upcoming Memorial Day and for The Honor Roll Project, I decided to transcribe the War Memorial Honor Roll at the Waikīkī War Memorial Natatorium in Honolulu, Hawai'i.

The plaque outside the War Memorial Natatorium honors 101 residents of the then-territory of Hawai'i who died in service in World War I.  Flowers and lei are presented at the monument each Veterans Day and Memorial Day.  The plaque was created and placed in 1931.

Above:  Roll of Honor - Pihana [cropped; credit Pihana Kea, November 2017] / Waikiki Natatorium / CC BY 2.0

Below:  20080525246 [cropped, 25 May 2008]  / Waikiki Natatorium / CC BY 2.0

Here is the transcription of the memorial.  The Latin phrase "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" is a line from the Odes (III.2.13) by the Roman lyric poet Horace.  The line translates as "It is sweet and fitting to die for the homeland."

Roll of Honor

“Dulce Et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori”

In the Service of the United States

Army

Vidal Agar | Adam Young Aki | Frank K. Aki Jr. | Bragee Arcilo | Ariston Arozal | Cipriano Bega | Anastacio Bueno | Esteban Castillo | Richard Belmont Caston | Henry Henley Chapman | Chin Sung Choy | Bidal Ciempoon | Alexander C. Cornelison | Julian Daguman | Juan De la Cruz | Carel J. De Roo | Frank P. Dolin | George K. Dwight | Rufino Esbra | Anatalio Eugenio | Henry J. Evans | Ephraim H. Ezera | Louis J. Gaspar | Francis J. Green | Abraham Hauli | Edmund Hedemann | Daniel K. Iopa | Edward J. Iskow | Kuulei John Kaea | Edward N. Kahokuoluna | Sam Kainoa | Charles Kalaeloa | Apau Kau | Charles Kino | Edward K. Kuaimoku | Han Young Lee | John A. Makua | Kenneth D. Marr |  Anthony R. Mattos | Philip Overton Mills | Sam Moke | Mariano Monsieur | Peter Naia | George O’Connor | John S. O’Dowda | Aurelio Orbe | Joe Puali | Juan Quibal | Manuel Ramos | William Russell Riley | Richard F. Rodrigues | John R. Rowe | Pablo R. Santos | Jose Sarsosa | William K. Scholtz | Rufo Tenebre | Moses Thomas | Paustino Tingking | George B. Tom | George M. Turner | Henry K. Unuivi | Manuel G. Valent | Frank C. Viera Jr. | James Waialeale | Levi Waihoikala | Clarence J. Watson | David L. Withington

Navy

Paul H. Auerbach | Archibald Bal | Frederick Char | Edward Fuller | Manuel Gouveia Jr. | Ivan Mantrose Graham | Herman Kaaukea | John Kana | Ralph J. Kauhane | Frank Raymond | John A. Silva | Charles F. A. Warren Jr.

In the Service of Great Britain

F. S. Blackwood | James H. R. Bryant | Kenneth Cameron | B. Clair Churchill | Alexander Collie | Henry L. Davies | J. Douglas | H. Fogarty | John Scott French | Edward Jones | R. L. Leander | Ted Llewellyn | Robert G. Mackenzie | Norman Maclean | James P. May | James Arthur Miller | Gideon Potter | Robert Sharp | Gordon Turner | John Turner | Claude O. H. Usborne | Thomas P. Williams

Above:  Flowers by the honor roll of the dead [cropped; 11 November 2011] / Waikiki Natatorium / CC BY 2.0 - click on the image to make it larger.

Below:  US and Hawaii Flags over the Natatorium [cropped; 11 November 2011] / Waikiki Natatorium / CC BY 2.0 

The War Memorial Natatorium was built, pursuant to 1921 legislation, to honor all of the more than 10,000 men and women from the Hawai'ian Islands who served in the Great War. The Natatorium, completed in 1927, was designed by architect Lewis Hobart and features a Beaux-Arts archway leading to its ocean-water swim basin. The archway, as well as the monument’s bleachers and bathhouses, include classical ornamentation such as friezes, pediments, medallions, statuary, and cornices.

Above:  1928 Sepia Waikiki Natatorium War Memorial near Kaimana Beach [cropped] / Waikiki Natatorium / CC BY 2.0 

Below:  Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium Aerial [cropped; credit Ron Slausen, 19 May                                                  2009] / Waikiki Natatorium / CC BY 2.0

According to Act 15 of the 1921 Territorial Legislature, the memorial “shall include a swimming course at least 100 meters in length.”  The saltwater pool is also 40 meters wide.  When it opened on August 24, 1927, Olympic Gold Medalist and “father of modern surfing” Duke Kahanamoku dove into the pool to take the first ceremonial swim. It hosted celebrity swimmers like Esther Williams, Buster Crabbe, Johnny Weissmuller, and 34 members of the International Swimming Hall of Fame. The Hawai’i Department of Education used the pool for its mandatory elementary Learn to Swim Program.

Due to deterioration, the site was indefinitely closed to the public in 1979. The site is on both the Hawai'i and National Registers of Historic Places. It was named to the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s 11 Most Endangered list in 1995, and a National Treasure by the National Trust in 2014.

Above:  The Waikīkī Natatorium War Memorial, as seen from the hau tree terrace [August 2008]  / Rosa Say / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Below:  Sunrise at the Waikiki Natatorium [31 October 2021; cropped] / Flip Flops Hawaii / CC BY-SA 2.0

In 2001, the exterior façade, locker rooms and lifeguard offices (for the adjacent Kaimana Beach), volleyball court, and parking lot were repaired and reopened to the public. Restoration of the bleachers and saltwater pool, however, was put on hold.  Governments and organizations at the local, state, and national levels are still working on options to restore the natatorium.  

Above:  Honolulu [22 August 2005; note medallion at far right] / My Photo Album 2007 /  CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Below:  Waikiki Natatorium [Medallion, 14 November 2009] / jongela19 / CC BY-ND 2.0

© Amanda Pape - 2022 - e-mail me! 

Happy Mother's Day

Geraldine Margaret Guokas Pape (1928-2019) with her first grandchild, Eric Bolme, in Kirkland, Washington, September 1986.

© Amanda Pape - 2022 - e-mail me!

Easter 55 Years Ago

Easter 1967 - Typical family photo where some of us aren't looking at the camera and/or some of us aren't smiling.  Back row:  Geraldine Margaret Guokas Pape (1928-2019), Mary, Frederick Henry Pape (1929-2017), Brian.  Front row:  Amanda, Mark, Karen.  Still in our Easter clothes (Dad still had that shirt when he died), at my grandmother Sara Wolfe Guokas Archibald's (1907-1997) house at 1118 Bay Oaks in Houston, Texas.

© Amanda Pape - 2022 - e-mail me!

Indexing My In-Laws in the 1950 Census

The 1950 United States Census was released on April 1, and since then, I've been doing some indexing work (to make it searchable) at both the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) site and at FamilySearch's community project site.

Machine-learning and artificial intelligence (AI) processes were used to create an initial index for both sites.  The NARA site has a built-in transcription feature to allow you to correct and add names to the name index, which was available on April 1.

FamilySearch has been rolling out its index project state by state, as its partner Ancestry does its own machine-learning AI process to interpret handwriting.  There are three steps:  Name Review, Family Review, and Header Review.

In Name Review, you can pick an available state and then enter a surname you'd like to search for.  I noticed a few days ago that Name Review was available for Florida, where my husband's family was living in 1950.  So of course I searched for Gresham!

I worked through a few Gresham families that weren't mine, but in not too long, my Greshams showed up! The name review process was pretty easy.  You basically marked the name as a match, edit it if the transcription was wrong, or you could also mark Unsure (if it was very unreadable, for example).  "Not a Person" was used to mark lines with notes such as "vacant" or "not at home."  "Transcription Error" is not used very often, but I had a case where the AI interpreted the first name as a surname, so I used it there.

Mark's family was pretty much correct.  The enumerator has beautiful handwriting, and even included middle names (my mother-in-law Jewel did not have a middle name, so her maiden name of Moore is included).  The enumerator did forget to dot the i in my father-in-law Francis' first name.  This listing does create some questions, as I thought my father-in-law's middle name was Edward (a name used a lot in the family) and not Edwin. and I thought Jewel's name was spelled with one L.  I transcribed those names as they appear, however, because that is what you are supposed to do in a transcription - write it as it is, don't make corrections.

A few days later, Florida was available for Family Review.  In this process, you group households together, and also index all the answers to other questions asked of individuals on the census.  Once again, I could search for Greshams, and eventually mine turned up.

The first step asked you to select all members of the household.  The machine-learning AI attempted to do this based on information in the first four columns of the census page, but you could make corrections.

My Greshams were listed at the bottom of a census page, so I was also asked to look at the next page and see if any other household members were there.  That wasn't the case (youngest sister June was not born until 1952), but here is what that next screen looks like anyway.  Enumerators were supposed to check a box (visible in the image above) at the bottom of the previous page if the household continued onto the next page, but they did not always remember to do that.

The next question asked you to select the correct street name (in the far left column, usually written sideways) from those the machine-learning AI had identified.  If the name was missing from the selections, you could click "Other" and add it.  You could also make corrections to the street name if needed.  In 1950, the Gresham family was living at 1505 N. 50th Avenue (in a house that apparently no longer exists) in Pensacola.

Next. the program zoomed in so you could add the house and apartment/unit number (if there were ones), and record the dwelling serial number as well as some answers to household questions.  The enumerator was not supposed to repeat the street name on the apartment number line, so I left that out.  

Next, you reviewed and made any corrections (to transcription errors) to the names and relationships.  I did not have to make any changes in this section.

Then you reviewed race, gender, and current age.  The AI was generally pretty good at getting these right.  The exception was for children less than a year old, where the enumerator was to record the month of birth.  Apparently the AI was expecting numbers and not text in this field, because it's almost always been wrong.

Then you reviewed marital status, birthplace (which was followed by a code), and naturalization status (if applicable).  Mark and his parents were born in Texas; his sister was born in Washington, D.C. while the family was living in that area during World War II.  The codes for the birthplaces often needed correction, because the AI usually interpreted a zero to be the capital letter O.

The next columns addressed work status.  Not surprisingly, Francis (like most married younger men in that era) was working (the automatic assumption being outside the home), and Jewel (like most married younger women in that era) was housekeeping in the home.  Other choices for question #15 were "Other" and "Unable to Work," the latter often the case with older people.

If the answer to the previous question was "Working," these next fields were completed.  Francis worked 40 hours a week as a lithographic supervisor in civil service with the government (he supervised a print shop at the Pensacola Naval Air Station).  The last three columns included additional codes.  These almost always needed correction from what the AI saw, and often the AI saw something in fields that were empty!

Unfortunately, none of my Greshams were entered on lines that were supposed to get asked the supplemental questions, so this was the end of the Family Review process for them.  I clicked the Save button, and then was asked if I wanted to continue to do the page.  I always go ahead and finish the entire page, before conducting searches for any other surnames.

© Amanda Pape - 2022 - e-mail me!

Happy National Siblings Day!

Mark, Mary, Karen, Amanda, and Brian, December 1985, Austin, Texas

© Amanda Pape - 2022 - e-mail me!

April Fool - Biggest Surprise in the 1950 Census (So Far)

The 1950 United States Census was released at 11pm on March 31 (in my location - Texas) on the National Archives website, and in the span of about an hour and a half, I already found my spouse (and his parents and sisters), my parents and grandparents, my husband's grandparents, and a few of our aunts and uncles that were out on their own.  I'm about to go to bed and get some sleep (it's almost 1am), but I will be back at this tomorrow.

The National Archives site has been easy to use.  They used machine learning to teach the software to decipher handwriting, so there is a rudimentary index.  I'd also done some preparatory work to determine likely enumeration districts in advance.  

Here is the first entry I came across that surprised me.  I was searching for my husband's aunt, Ivis Moore Mew (1905-2004), who I knew lived in Corpus Christi, Texas, in 1950.  What I did NOT expect was to find her sharing a home with my spouse's paternal grandmother (Ivis' sister's mother-in-law), Betty Dickson Gresham (1888-1976)!  I knew Betty was also in Corpus Christi at the time, but I wasn't sure where, and I did not expect to find them together!  They were sharing a house at 101 Roosevelt and were both widows, Betty since 1941, and Ivis for just a year.  Ivis was still working as a registered nurse at Spohn Hospital; Betty was apparently retired.

Click on the image below (a snip from the census page) to make it larger.

© Amanda Pape - 2022 - e-mail me!