Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Family Tree-

Natalie said she "loves Papa Married a Mormon" and wanted some details on the branches of Papa and Mamma's tree.

The following information is from a typed and handwritten spread sheet.  It was part of a written response to Michelle Heuser (who is Belle's granddaughter) and her uncle Charles (the youngest child of Papa and Mamma)

William J. Fitzgerld (above his name she handwrote "Swen")
First wife Edna Calloway
Second Wife Marie - no children

Isabelle C. (above her name-handwritten "my grandmother").
First husband Lamar Morrison , divorced.  Children Thomas L. Morrison and William Morrison.
Second husband Lee Empey - no children
Thomas and William each married.  Thomas had a daughter Michelle or Shelly as she was called. William had a son named Mark.

Thomas N. (not written in but for our purposes The Great Brain)
First wife Fern Smith - died- had one child who died at the same time.
Second wife Florence Beverage - children 2-  Thomas (Tucker or Tuck) and Mary M. (Pickering) - Thomas and Florence divorced.
Thomas/Tucker had 4 children.  He passed away before his dad.

John Dennis married Joan (Josephine Speciale) - no children

Charles E. married Mary - they had no children, but Mary had a daughter Jeaneen.

Gerald (above his name in handwriting are the words, "not in the Books".
Married Ruth Hamilton had 2 sons James Thomas and John Michael.


This is the most complete family list I have encountered.  When I corresponded with Tom Fitzgerald, son of Gerald, he didn't have any changes.  I tried many times to reach Shelly (Michelle Heuser) but no luck.  Anyway, if you read the dedications to The Great Brain books most of the grandkids can be found in one book or another.

Thanks Natalie for your question.  I hope this helps. Please keep the questions coming and stop by often.

8 comments:

  1. OK. Why did John change the name of some of his siblings (Katie for Isabelle and Sweyn for William) but not for others (Tom)?

    I can see him changing all the names to "protect the innocent", as Jack Web would say, but then why not be consistent and do it for everybody?

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  2. I think it is sad that many of the children of Mama and Papa have no decendants.
    Have you had any contact with Thomas (The Great Brain's son's) children? They have quite a legacy.

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  3. Cherie,
    Thomas or Tuck died before his father did. I only have his obituary, which was short. Mary Pickering was the other child, she was younger that Tuck. But because her parent's divorced I don't know if she knew much about her dad. I did have one address for her, but the letter came back "returned no referring address." I do know that Mamma tried to keep in touch with them in the years after the divorce, but no details beyond that. It's sad isn't it.

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  4. Sorry it was difficult to word because of all the same names :D But, I meant Thomas/Tuckers children. You said in the post he had 4 children - Any luck with them? Finding them?
    I am guessing if you could not find Mary you probably could not find Tuck's children. It would be so amazing to know if they realize they are related to all of this.

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  5. The line of contact ran dry. I still have letters in their returned envelopes to family or friends that I could try to hear from. I would love to find a grandchild or great grand child and get their opinion either way. Maybe in time I'll find one of them.

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  6. Isn’t it interesting that so many famous book families are extinct. Like the Great Brain family, or Little House family.

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  7. That is interesting. A decade ago when I started this project and really had no clear idea what I wanted. I kept imagining that I could study deep enough to have a historical society that supported the Great Brain, much like Little House on the Prairie has. I think both of these tales deserve to be kept alive. We have already nearly forgotten the heritage that nourished the growth of this nation. Pretty soon everyone will have forgotten. These stories keep it alive. For fun google The Little House books. There is a great website of places to tour and visit and additional books about their lives. It's wonderful.

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