Speaking of slaves, William and Rebecca Gabbert were very involved as southern sympathizers. They were living in Missouri at the time of the Civil War. They not only were sympathizers, but William was a famous guerrilla Bushwhacker in Vernon County, Missouri. His exploits and those of his and Rebecca’s daughter and son, Eliza and John, and John’s wife Lennora, are chronicled in several books and displays at the Bushwhacker Museum, located in Nevada, Missouri. For more info about Rebecca and William, see my genealogy website. Don’t forget to click the links in the History section on their individual pages for more stories. Also, check out their children, John and Eliza, for more tales about spying for the Confederacy. John’s wife, Lennora, and Eliza both risked their lives as couriers. In the post about Confederate sisters, Lennora and Eliza tricked Northern soldiers into releasing their captured friends by posing as their distraught lovers. John Gabbert however had died in the fighting in 1863.

If you are interested in these Gabberts and want to find out more about them, I’ve also been corresponding with Jon Lockhart. John Gabbert and Polly Gabbert Wade’s older sister, Rachel Gabbert Lockhart, is his ancestor. He has a great blog called Family Ramblings and has done a lot of research on the Gabberts and the DePauw’s. Also, on this page, Merida Wade, John Wade’s father, is mentioned in a couple of posts about land patents. The two maps show where all the families (Wades, Gabberts, DePauws, Lockharts, etc.) originally lived in Washington County, Indiana. The Wade Farm was very close to West Washington High School, a few miles from Salem. Merrida and his wife Ferrabee, are buried just down the road at the site of the current Mount Tabor Church of Christ. I visited there in January of 2009, but I couldn’t find their graves, but I did find several other family members.

Here are some photos related to this post:

I braved the snow today to go to CVS in Loogootee. I could be wrong, but I don’t think there is any place in Shoals that sells Advil Cold & Sinus. That product is the only thing that can keep me going when my allergies are bad. It could be a cold or flu, but I’m hoping it’s just allergies that’s had me down for the last couple of days. The trees were so beautiful on the drive over, so I stopped and took some pictures. After Christmas I bought a small little camera to keep with me so I don’t have to haul the DSL around. The snow is nothing like what Carrie is dealing with in the Baltimore/DC area, but I still thought it was really pretty.

21st Inf Reg

Looking for information re service record of my late uncle, Paul Robert Sanders. Captured and POW for 38 months, Korea. Don’t know a lot about his service there. Life Magazine did a piece on him and my grandparents in their 20 Sept 1950 issue. I have discovered that he was a POW from 7-11-50 to 8-29-53. I believe that he was a Sgt. at the time of capture, not sure.

That would be an amazing thing to have a piece of your family’s life documented, no less than by Life Magazine. The photos they took are really interesting. Here they are in all their black and white glory. My favorites are of the downtown scenes. When did we have trees on Main Street? Well, I guess in 1950, but I sure don’t remember them, and I was born in ’56. And we had a Ford dealer downtown too? I can’t remember the post office being on Main Street, but I remember when the new post office was built, so I’m sure I went to the old one. What in the world is the building at the new post office location? Was it a large home or a hotel or something? I also love the depot pictures. You can see the Cutsinger Hotel where Lucille stayed (presently the American Legion) and even part of the Sherfick Furniture Factory in the background. It would only be two more years before the factory would burn down. I wish these photos would be in color though as I would love to know if the cars were different colors–like that popular 50′s turquoise color–or if it was not quite the fashion yet in 1950 and so all the cars were shades of gray. Also, was the sign that said Meats part of the original Tredway grocery store? I have a picture of the inside on my genealogy website. Did Coca-Cola give away free signs or something? It seems like every store had a Coca-Cola sign.

My second find was at a YouTube site. After my first success at Google Images, I tried searching for Shoals on YouTube and found this great video. It must have been made by a Terre Haute TV station, although I’m not sure which one. It tells the story of two unusual Indiana Mascot names. Ironically, I lived at both places. Shoals Jug Rox and Speedway Sparkplugs are the featured mascots. I lived in Speedway for two years when I first got married in 1978. It was the time of the Speedway bombings and the Burger Chef murders. Four kids who closed the restaurant were taken out to some fields and gun-downed. Oh, and I also worked there up to a few weeks before–arrrggg. You know, after that happened, I seriously began to wonder about myself. My grandma was in a horrible fatality, and her car was brought in to the Ford dealership while I was at my high school prom–right next door. I go to the University of Evansville, and the whole basketball team and several others die in a horrible plane crash. Then I move to Speedway, and a bomb goes off in a dumpster in the shopping center right next to my apartment. Not to mention the Burger Chef murders where I worked just for the fun of it. I knew two of the four kids killed. Wouldn’t you know that my brother-in-law was in the Pentagon on 9-11 in the very section where the plane hit it?

Well, at least this video is cheery. It shows my sister’s classmate, Mike Harding. And one thing more, the plaster Jug Rock on the principal’s desk in the video was made by my grandmother (the very same one who was killed on my prom night). I know because she created the mold at her flower shop. Are you hearing any weird Twilight Zone music? Doo doo doo doo . . . . . . .

Good finds. Happy hunting.

Carrie and I had our Christmas, and then we went to Sylvia and Nicks. Here are a few pictures. Don’t forget to check out the gallery.

Oh, by the way, the graphics I used above are by Tammy DeYoung and can be found at Aimee Asher or at Plum Creek Collectibles. She even has several fabric designs at JoAnn Fabrics and Hancocks.

Now back to the recall. After I got it home I thought it would be a good idea to hook it up to my computer for a 2nd monitor. Well, that didn’t work. I have a Sony Vaio All-In-One, and didn’t realize that it doesn’t even have any computer outputs. I looked on the Sony website for possible graphics card updates and saw my computer cord was recalled due to electrical shock hazard. I checked the parts number, and sure enough, mine is on the list. I ordered the part. They say not to use the computer anymore. They have got to be kidding. Really? I haven’t even got the email response back from them, and I’m supposed to wait until they decide to send me a part?

Back to the output problem. I found a dandy little device that I’m going to get as soon as I pay for my medical bills, Christmas, etc. It will output any monitor through a USB port to DVI or VGA ports on the tv, and it even sends the audio too through RCA jacks. When I’m working on my genealogy, I have dozens of pages open, including my legacy software and my genealogy website. It clutters the screen pretty fast so this would really be a nice fix. Here is the details on the Arkview USB WA62 to DVI/VGA/HDMI.

I also found one from Atlona that says it does video on the extended tv, so I might have to do some research first. Here is a link to the Atlona. It looks a little less cluttered and comes with all the cords needed, but it only does HDMI. I can’t imagine the need to hook up to anything but that though.

I’ve also been watching a lot of Christmas shows on the tube. Every year I love watching the White House Christmas Open House, and tonight it was on ABC with Oprah Winfrey. It was good to see little kids in the White House again. Sarah was lucky enough a few years ago, actually it was right after 9-11 in early December, to get to visit the White House at Christmastime and see all the beautiful trees and decorations. She was a member of the Ball State University Singers, and they were invited to both the White House and the Pentagon to entertain the police officers and firemen. Here is a layout from that bittersweet time.

Another memory of Christmas is coming back to mind, and it’s not a very good one either. Right after the White House Show the Evansville TV Channel 25 put on images of the University of Evansville plane crash. Thirty-two years ago this very night I was a senior music major at the University of Evansville. I was in my regular practice mode, spending several hours playing the piano in a little closet-sized room in the basement of the UE Music Building. I took a little break, left my books, and went to the lounge to get a pop. There were kids out in the corridors huddled, some visibly upset. It was shocking to hear that our whole basketball team, all the coaches and some sportswriters, were killed in a plane crash at the local airport. The temperature was below freezing, and the ice had built up on the wings, causing it to crash on the hillside. I knew one of the sportswriters, Marv Bates. He was in a summer class of only about 12 people with me in the summer of ’77, and I thought he was a great guy. A few of the ballplayers were in my classes too. It was a rough week, singing at the funeral in Roberts Stadium, and then coming home for Christmas (and finding out my dog was killed by a car, by my future brother-in-law, no less). I became engaged to Mark within a few more days, so I can safely say that 1977 was my most memorable Christmas season.

I hope everyone has a memorable Christmas–but only good memories that will last for years to come.

First as a side note, Carrie has had to fight for EVERYTHING she gets. She made it through the Virginia Military Institute, although female cadets aren’t exactly appreciated as much as their male counterparts. She made it through the officers courses for the US Marines–no easy task. And finally she spends her spare time as a volunteer firefighter as well as competing in the Scott Firefighter Challenge. She bought this beautiful helmet on which she had a friend air brush US Marine and patriotic scenes. It really is a beautiful helmet. She entered it in the Helmet competition at Vegas and won a first place plaque with a beautiful rendering of the helmet. What is surprising is that some elderly, well-dressed man came up to the display table and stole it! I just can’t believe that someone would actually steal from a service person, male OR female, serving their country–and who is a firefighter to boot. She probably will be deployed this summer after completing a course in Communications at Quantico, Virginia. I hope that if someone finds it in a pawn shop, they will let us know. Maybe if the guilty party sees my post, they might consider sending it back to her at the Quantico Marine Base. They could even send it anonymously to me at: Cyndy McAtee, P.O. Box 163, Shoals, IN 47581.

If you know anyone that could help by spreading the word about Carrie’s helmet, please, forward the link to this blog. Thank you for your help.

This is a video of the Nationals at Las Vegas.

Here is a video of Carrie from last year in the Scott’s Firefighter Challenge.

Sarah at Spring Mill

Sarah came home for a visit, and this is the first time that I’ve sat down and written about it, although I posted the pictures in my gallery a long time ago. We had a great time, and Sarah got to visit both her grandparents’ homes. She ate out with her Dad and drove around her old stomping grounds in Loogootee and Bloomington. One of the best times came when we visited a state park, Spring Mill. She brought up that she hadn’t been in a while, so we took a little impromptu trip there.

This is a great pic of her from our little hike in the wood. She’s the one who spied the teeny tiny hummingbird so I could get some good shots. It was a fun day, but I wish she had more time here. It seemed so short, and I hate now that I won’t be able to see her on Christmas due to my surgery. It makes me really sad, but I will be going down there over spring break for sure. I sent some of her Christmas gifts with her Grandma and Grandpa Sherfick, and her Dad is going to be with her, but Carrie and I will really miss her.

Click here to see other beautiful pictures of Sarah in Indiana.