Biography - Posey Family

Edward,
Thank you for your message and your offer of help. As for what records, yes, birth, marriage, death and burial would be very useful. I have the full subscription to ancestry.com so I have access to census and many other records. I know where my Carls are buried. I guess I was hoping there were indexes to the material in the library that could give me an idea of what they had, without making someone go to too much trouble. I especially like photos and had hoped maybe there would be some in the library relating to my family. If there is a list of photos, I'd be very interested to see if they have any of Carls living in Navarro County, or Poseys or Martins or Westbrooks or Swanks, but let me be more specific.

I have little information on my paternal grandmother's Posey family. If someone is going to check records, that's probably the family I'd want checked. My grandmother was born Euna Ellerfair Posey, the daughter of Lonnie and Margaret Frances Elizabeth Martin. My father had never been able to find anything on his grandfather, because he assumed Lonnie was his real name. According to the book, Navarro County Texas Marriages 1846-1888, Vol I, a G. J. Posey married a M. F. Martin on 13 Apr 1887. If M. F. Martin is Margaret Frances Martin, then ‘Lonnie’ Posey’s real name was G. J. Posey. The timing of the wedding fits Euna’s birthdate of 1888. There was a Posey family living in Navarro Co, headed by William Posey of Alabama whose son was named George. Lonnie and Fannie named their son William, which was the name of George's father. That George Posey may be my great grandfather, Lonnie Posey, but I haven't been able to verify any of that. I've worked with Melissa Speed whose ancestor, Georgeann Posey was the sister of that George Posey. Georgeann or Georgia Ann married John Emerson Curington. They became an influential family in Navarro Co. If any records could be found connecting Lonnie to George or Georgeann or William, that would be very helpful.

If I'm prevailing on the goodness of a volunteer in the Corsicana library, I'd appreciate anything that person could find on any of my Posey relatives:
Lonnie (or perhaps G.J. Posey) was born ca 1866 in Alabama. He died in 1890 in Rural Shade, Navarro Co, Tx. I don't know where he is buried. If a record on that exists, I'd very much like to know it. Or an obituary, if a newspaper existed then and would have covered such an event.

His widow, Margaret Frances Marti, born in Tenn in 1872, married Wilton O. McDonald on 25 Dec 1892 in Navarro Co. She died in 1919, possibly in the terrible flu epidemic after WWI. She and Wilton had a daughter, Mattie, b. on 8 Feb 1894. Mattie married a Roy N. Justice. She died in Corsicana in Oct 1973; he died in Navarro Co, in Nov 1973. I think they might have had a child and I would very much like to try to track down their descendants, so any info on them from the archive would be very helpful.

Euna Ellerfair Posey, b. 2 Jul 1888, Rural Shade, married Edward Miller Carl, Sr. in 1906, had two children, my father, Edward Miller Carl Jr, 1909-1987 and aunt, Minnie Elizabeth Carl [Fischer, Ray], 1910-1990. Euna and Ed divorced in 1919. She then married William Elmer Mondell, 1888-1943, at some unknown date. After his death she married Charles 'Buck' Peters. She died on 14 Sept 1961 in Nevada, MO. Even though she was Mrs. Peters when she died, she was buried under her Mondell name, next to her previous husband in the Oakwood Cemetery in the north part of Corsicana. (She had a rather complicated personal life!) Wilton and Fannie McDonald are also buried there, as is her brother William. It would be interesting if I could find when she married Mr. Mondell and Mr. Peters, if such records might be in the archive.

Euna's brother, William Posey, was born in 1890 in Rural Shade. He was murdered in an oil field incident, south of Somerset, Atascosa County at the age of 31 when he had an argument with one of his oil well drilling crew, hit him with a hoe and the man shot him with a 30-30 rifle! He is buried in the same plot as his sister, mother and step-father in Oakwood. I'd assumed he'd never married because my father never mentioned that he did. Then in the 1910 US census for Corsicana, I discovered that Fannie, Wilton and Mattie McDonald were living with his parents, William and Martha McDonald. Also in the household was a Willie Posey, 20 and what appears to be his wife, Cleo Posey, 16! They were listed as borders and he was listed as being married for 0 which must have meant under one year. If there are any records on his marriage and who Cleo was, that would be very helpful.

And since I'm asking for the world here, I'd also like to know if there is any information on Margaret Frances 'Fannie' Martin Posey McDonald's parents, James Nathaniel Martin and Sarah 'Sallie' Westbrook Martin. James was born in Oct 1836 in North Carolina and died at some unknown date in Navarro Co. Finding when he died and where he's buried would be helpful. His wife Sallie was born 10 Sep 1841 in North Carolina and died 20 Feb 1927 in Kerens, Navarro Co. According to her death certificate, she is buried in Hamilton Cemetery, Navarro Co., Tx. I know nothing about her parents. I know there were Westbrooks living in Navarro County, but don't know how she might fit into that family, if at all. And finally, moving back over to the Carl line, Edward Miller Carl, Sr.'s mother was Mary Elizabeth Swank, 1853-1949 , the daughter of the Rev. David Swank who was born in Hardin Co., KY on 23 Sep 1823 and who died in Corsicana on 11 Feb 1906. I would be interested to know if there are any records on him, for example, where he's buried.

I'm sure I'm asking way too many questions, but if even one of them could be researched and answered, that would be wonderful. I don't know if the Corsicana library wants more photos of people associated with the area, but I have more than the Houston Elementary one. If you go to my website, http://www.charlottes-web.com/, you'll see a section on my Carl line, which also includes what little I know on the Poseys. There are more photos of people from Corsicana and Navarro Co. in there. I would be happy to send the library scans of any photo they might want.

And speaking of photos, I have another unidentified one that I think may be from Corsicana. It's a group of kids and looks to be from before 1920 so could be from when my father still lived there. (After his parents divorced in 1919, he and his sister went with their father to San Antonio.) I've attached a scan. I think my father might be the boy in the beanie behind the boy, also wearing a beanie, who is third from the right on the first row. I don't know what the event was, where or when, but if that IS my father, it would have been taken in Corsicana. You may want to post it too, to get feedback from knowledgeable people.

Thank you again for your help. As of Jan 27th, my father will have been dead for 20 years. I'm doing research on his family to honor him. Any help you or the library could give me would be most appreciated. As I said in my previous e-mail, I would be happy to pay for research time, scanning, copying and mailing.

Charlotte Carl-Mitchell
8762 East San Pedro Dr
Scottsdale, AZ 85258
480-922-7313
http://www.charlottes-web.com/ [email protected]