For My Cousins
As you know, Grandma McFarren's roots have been quite a mystery. It's amazing how little we knew when she died, but, from all I can glean, our family is not unusual. I've assisted several people researching their own families and find that they have similar stories to tell. With the flood of information available now at our fingertips, and increasing constantly, most people will be able to solve these mysteries before long. The other thing we share with most other families is "family lore." I have taken our family stories with a grain of salt but felt they were all worth checking out, and that has proved worthwhile to some degree, but has also taken me down blind alleys, particularly when it came to finding Grandma's mother.
You will probably remember some of these stories, and by all means, if you know more, I would like to hear about them!
Our family tradition and lore about Cornelia Patton McFarren:
I remember prompting Grandma for stories about her childhood, and she told me about her stepmother, who was addicted to chewing coffee beans, and having to run to the store to get them for her, a cautionary tale about coffee addiction, I'm sure. She told me about burying cabbage in the ground for use in the winter, and about learning to embroider as a child. How I wish I'd nagged her for more!
At one point, Barbara McFarren shared some photos of Grandma as a child, as well as one of Sam Patton and his wife, Martha, the coffee bean chewing stepmother. I vaguely remembered the portraits on the library table in the living room at Grandma and Grandpa's house, and the box of pictures I loved to sort through on a lazy Sabbath afternoon, but hadn't seen them in many years. It is great to be able to put faces on these legends.
This is very little to go on though, isn't it? The first thing I did was research the Pattons, which was quite fruitful, but I thought that by doing so I would find Grandma's birth place, and therefore her mother's final resting place. The specific place still alludes me but I'm circling in on it! Despite uncertainties in some areas, there is much to share now, so I thought it best to begin.
Now that we have Samuel Patton's Death Certificate from the State of California, we have several questions answered. Even that official document has errors. The person who gave the information to the state was Grandpa Exie McFarren. He was never a stickler for exact and accurate information. Just ask Auntie Alice when you get to heaven, because she had more than one birthday date every year as a result of Grandpa playing loose with the facts! I quote Aunt Alice, quoting Grandma, "That man never could get anything straight!" Can't you just hear it now? He was full of entertaining tales though, wasn't he? I'll not take a lesson from Grandpa though, and strive for accuracy as much as possible.
Rather than go from current time back, I'm going to start with the distant past as far as I know it at this time. I hope you enjoy the story thus far even a fraction as much as I have enjoyed researching it. I will let you know along the way if I'm including conjecture, as well as facts. There is much yet to be done and I have a feeling this will be a pastime for me for the rest of my life.
By the way, I talk to Grandma a lot about this. She likes it when I discover things and I can hear her chuckle and call me "my Judy," which always made me feel pretty special. Being raised as an only child certainly didn't hamper her ability to mother…or grandmother!