Haywood Shepherd "Possum" Hansell - Family Information

Haywood Shepherd "Possum" Hansell was born September 28, 1903 in Fort Monroe, Virginia. He was educated at Georgia School of Technology, graduating in 1924. He married Dorothy "Dotta" Rogers in 1932 in Waco, Texas.

Haywood Shepherd Hansell was the son of Haywood Shepherd Hansell, Sr. (1875-1868) and Susan Wharton "Suzie" Wilson.

• Haywood Shepherd Hansell, Sr. was the son of William Andrew Hansell (1843-1907) and Antonia Sabina Jones (1847-1917)
• William Andrew Hansell was the son of Andrew Jackson Hansell (1815-1881) and Caroline Clifford Shepherd (1821-1899)
• Andrew Jackson Hansell was the son of William Young Hansell (1794-1867) and Susan Byne Harris (1797-ca1873
• William Young Hansell was the son of John W. Hansell and Patsy Sammon

Georgia Tech Archives: Class of 1924 Haywood Shepherd Hansell, Jr., Sigma Nu Mechanical Engineering "Possum" Fort Benning, Georgia This boy’s nickname is the most appropriate thing that ever happened. Not that he is ever caught napping, but he certainly looks like his namesake as he makes his appearance for those eight o’clocks. His other qualifications include an ever-present pipe and an operatic tenor, slightly used. Oil Can Club; Scabbard and Blade; Free Body Club; Lieutenant Colonel, R.O.T.C. "Anything to keep from working, even to joining the Army." Major General Haywood Hansell USAF Resources: Blue Print 1924; Actual photo
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In my post about my Cherokee ancestor, Richard Bark Foreman, I made mention of Attorney William Young Hansell, who represented the Cherokee nation in their suit against the State of Georgia.

I welcome any readers who come upon this post who are interested in researching these (my) families - would certainly like to exchange and share research information.

William Andrew Hansell Notes

Copied from THE CHILDREN OF PRIDE - A True Story of Georgia & the Civil War, edited by Robert Manson Meyers, published 1972 HANSELL, WILLIAM ANDREW (1843-1907) Merchant, son of Andrew Jackson Hansell (1815-1881) and Caroline Clifford Sheppherd (1821-1899), was born in Marietta, Georgia on August 10, 1843. At the outbreak of the Civil War he was attending the Georgia Military Institute (Marietta); he volunteered for service and became adjutant in the 35th Regiment Alabama Infantry. In August 1862 he entered the corps of engineers as second lieutenant; in June 1864 he came to Atlanta to aid in the city defenses. After the war he planted in northern Alabama; in 1879 he settled in Atlanta, where he engaged in the fertilizer business for twenty-five years. He was a vestryman of St. Philip's Episcopal Church from 1895 until his death. He died in Atlanta on January 4th, 1907, survived by his wife, Antonia Jones (1845-1917) and was buried in Oakland Cemetery. __________________________________________________

Additional information about Haywood Shepherd "Possom" Hansell on Aimless Musings.

My Quaker Ancestry

The Religious Society of Friends

One never knows about the oral family histories that are passed down throughout the generations. Are these stories true? Are they 'romanticized'? Is the truth embellished?

The story passed down in my Troth family was that for love William Troth and Elizabeth Fields 'stole away' from England to come to the colonies because both of their families disapproved of the Quaker religious beliefs and of the union of William and Elizabeth.

Steal away perhaps, but they apparently had some wealth (or at least Elizabeth did). She "was necessitated to dispose of her jewelry to procure the requisite means to defray the expenses incident to her journey [from England to New England] as her family refused to supply her with the necessary means."

{Ancestry of the Haines, Sharpe, Collins, Willis, Gardiner, Prickett, Evans, Moore, Troth, Borton and Engle Families - compiled from notes of the late George Haines, M.D., with some additions by the compiler, Richard Haines, Medford, N.J., 1902}

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William and Elizabeth settled in Evesham Township, Burlington County, New Jersey in what is known as the Engle Farm. They prospered and were active in the Friends and in their community.

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"A Friend's meeting, however silent, is at the very lowest a witness that worship is something other and deeper than words, and that it is to the unseen and eternal things that we desire to give the first place in our lives. And when the meeting...is awake and looking upwards, there is much more in it than this. In the united stillness of a truly 'gathered' meeting, there is a power known only by experience, and mysterious even when most familiar." Caroline Stephen, (1908).

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My paternal grandmother, descendant of William Troth, died three months before I was born. Her maternal grandmother was a Cherokee of the Paint Clan and her paternal line was English and of the Quaker persuasion. My mother always told me that this grandmother was a Gentlewoman full of grace.

Her son, my father, exhibited the personal qualities I associate with the Quakers: spirituality, kindness, love, humbleness, and a genuine concern for others.

At his funeral a Baptist minister conducted the service. A Catholic priest who knew my father personally (a Frenchman who served in the San Luis Valley in Colorado) also spoke.

The priest mentioned the goodness of my father and his love for his family and how he helped everyone he met. He said that my father genuinely loved people, was never judgemental and he was now with the Saints. That is just about all I remember from my dad's funeral. It is enough.

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"Friends' deep spirituality is a source of profound social activism. The need for aiding others ranged from early equality for women, anti-slavery, and religious freedom to penal reform and avoidance of war, and living in such a way as to take away the occasion of all war. These concerns continue today."

Our family histories

Shirley Abbott, in Womenfolks Growing Up Down South writes that "We all grow up with the weight of history on us. Our ancestors dwell in the attics of our brains as they do in the spiraling chains of knowledge hidden in every cell of our bodies. These spirits form our lives, and they may reveal themselves in mere trivialities -- a quirk of speech, a way of folding a shirt. From the earliest days of my life, I encountered the past at every turn, in every season. Like any properly brought up Southern girl, I used to spend a lot of time in graveyards."

Perhaps learning about our heritage - about our ancestors - gives us insight as to who we are. Maybe we are just curious folks who like learning about our ancestors and solving puzzles. Perhaps there is something familiar in a child that reminds us of a grandmother or an aunt or a mother and we want to know more.

I became interested in learning more about my heritage about the time my last child was graduating from high school - and then I was off and running. I couldn't learn enough and I have never lost the desire to learn more. And more.

Several years ago I read a letter my great-grandmother wrote about coming to Texas from Arkansas with wagons, kids, horses, pots and pans (and a daughter's suitor following on horseback until he became disheartened - and sadly, he went back to Arkansas and killed himself). This great-grandmother wrote about the Cherokee Indians coming to their camp while her husband and sons were gone - whooping and hollering and knocking over her large kettle of boiling water which she prepared for washing clothes and how angry she was.

They camped in many places before settling for a brief period of time in Oklahoma (for the birth of twins), then Texas and later Lincoln County, New Mexico and finally in Colfax County, New Mexico. She wrote that Pat Garrett came by, offering his help with whatever she might need while the menfolks were gone. This great grandmother lived until she was 90+ and walked to the post office each and every day and kept a fine home. She saw her brother Darl killed in the front yard of their Bentonville, Arkansas home by 'bushwhackers' during the Civil War. She had many stories.

We all have a story to tell. I treasure the generous genealogy friends I've made through the years as we have shared our research. This 'hobby' has enriched my life and I have learned much about my family and about history and about friends.

My Irish Ancestor Alexander Glenn

My Scottish Ancestor Thomas Culwell

My French ancestor Daniel Jouet

Michael Erskine from Virginia to Texas

When we first moved to Seguin, we knew one person: the realtor who handled our home purchase and then of course, the owner of the house we bought. Well, as is often said: "It is a small world." First, I discovered a Jouett cousin. Then folks in Seguin who were 'connected' to my Sammon and Williams and Harrison ancestors. I love the research and the puzzle-solving.

I also have a connection with Michael Erskine who, according to Guadalupe County Records, at one time owned 90,000 acres of land (can that be correct??). That is a GREAT DEAL of land. The 1850 Guadalupe County, Texas census (above) shows him with 20,000 acres (which is a great deal of land, also). Mary B. Erskine Elementary School is named for Mary Browne Erskine, daughter of Alexander Madison Erskine and Elizabeth "Betty" Mainey and was a great granddaughter of the above Michael Erskine.

My connection with the Erskine family is through Eleanor Powell "Ellen" Erskine, daughter of Michael and Agnes Davidson Erskine who married John D. Anderson.

Now, the 'stuff' bores my husband silly - but those who search and research their roots find this 'stuff' quite interesting - and I always enjoy the Search!

Eleanor Powell Erskine Anderson and John D. Anderson's daughter Chloe Jane Anderson married Henry Grady Niblo - and therein lies my Sammon/Williams/Harrison connections. If anyone who happens upon this site is researching those families, I would be delighted to find another interested researcher. November 23, 1874, Henry Grady Niblo is listed as a postmaster of Gonzales County, Texas. The Gonzales Inquirer, January 5, 1878, lists Henry G. Niblo was a member of Knights Templar.

I had not thought of Michael Erskine in some time until I heard Mark Gretchen's talk at the Noon Book Talk this Thursday and he mentioned that Michael Erskine was one of the slaveholders in Guadalupe County. I knew that of course, but hadn't done any research with this Erskine family in several years (probably since we moved from Denver). Now - I'm off and running again!

Apologies to any reader who comes upon my Aimless Musings and is definitely not interested in the nuts and bolts of genealogy!

The following is an excerpt from John Gesick's Under the Live Oak Tree (Chapter 10, Twentieth Century Education).

Mary Browne Erskine, known among her many students as "Miss Mamie," was born November 17, 1866, in Belmont, Texas. Her father, Alexander Madison Erskine, helped survey the Guadalupe-Wilson County line in 1874. Her grandfather was Michael Erskine, who had bought the Jose de La Baume Ranch in the Capotes and conducted the first cattle drive to California in 1854.

Mary B. Erskine's family moved to Seguin where she spent her whole life. The family's home was on Nolte Street. As a young lady she attended General Jefferson's Montgomery Institute across the street from the present-day Sue Smith School on Jefferson Avenue. It was a school for girls.

She knew, as a young woman, that she wanted to teach young children. No college education was required in those days, but she did have to pass a test. Her excellent character also served her well. Those who knew her respected her high ideals and principles. She was hired to be the primary teacher. Later Mary B. Erskine became the principal, thus performing two functions.

"Miss Mamie" became an excellent teacher. Her first grade students learned to read by phonics and memory work. She had a knack for keeping her charges busy all day. As a strict disciplinarian she expected her students to follow the rules at all times. She wasn't mean, just firm and fair. One of her favorite phrases was "Just and Right." One story is told that some high school students made too much noise coming down the stairs. Miss Mamie came out and said "Children, you have been taught how to come down the stairs!" The guilty must have never forgotten and must have loved her, for in 1922, an issue of the high school's The Cricket Chirps was dedicated to her.

She tried to teach the children to be proud of themselves, their state, and their country. Often she told her students that when she was a young girl she had given her pennies to help build the Washington Monument in Washington, D. C. In turn, Miss Mamie collected pennies from her students to contribute to the San Jacinto Monument in Houston. She kept them spellbound on Washington's Birthday, telling about Betsy Ross and then cut out a five point star with one snip.

Mary B. Erskine was very active in St. Andrew's Episcopal Church where she taught Sunday School. She never married.

On June 27, 1926, Mary Browne Erskine died. Seguin demonstrated its love and admiration for Miss Mamie on the day of her funeral. All the businesses in town closed and the flags flew at half mast.

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In the Guadalupe County, August 1860 list of Slaveholders, Michael Erskine is listed as having 20 slaves and his daughter Ellen Anderson, two.

Michael Erskine's slaves - 6 females and 14 males. The ages range from five years of age to 56.

Ellen P. Anderson owned one male, 45 years of age and one female, three years of age.

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It is very sad to read of people owning - people . . .