My Mother Joyce

March is Women's History Month and my cousin, Sara Campbell (Remembering Those Who Came Before Us) challenged me to post 31 mini blogs about our female ancestors. Lisa Alzo at The Accidental Genealogist has compiled some prompts to make blogging about female ancestors a little easier.

March 5 — How did they meet? You’ve documented marriages, now, go back a bit. Do you know the story of how your parents met? Your grandparents?

My parents Joyce and Charles met and married in 1957. She was 20 and he was 24. I'm not exactly sure how they met, but I know they were both living in Birmingham at the time. Joyce graduated from Cullman High School in 1956. In her senior year book, her plans were to work as a telephone operator. She moved to Birmingham after graduation and went to work for Ma Bell.

Charles grew up in Jasper, Walker County, Alabama. He got into a wee bit o' trouble with the law when he was 17. As sometimes happened at that time, he was given the choice of the military or jail. He served in the Korean War. When he was discharged, he returned to Alabama. He was working as a mechanic for Hayes Aircraft when I was born and for several years afterwards.

They eloped to Tupelo, Lee County, Mississippi (I'm seeing a pattern here). My aunt Francis went along as the matron of honor and witness. The picture at the top of this blog is the two of them  in front of the church where they were married. Not being familiar with Tupelo, they drove around looking for a church where they might be able to persuade the minister to conduct the ceremony. They got lucky. The church custodian acted as the second witness.  

Welcome to My Blog!

You may have arrived here by accident or you may have gotten here through a search engine. Regardless, I'm happy you're here. If you are curious about the title, it is based on a quote from George Bernard Shaw's Immaturity: "If you can't get rid of the skeleton in your closet, you'd best teach it to dance."

Let me introduce myself. I'm Teresa Brewer Devine, an amateur genealogist and my family's historian. I've been researching my father's Brewer line and my mother's Eady line for several years. I've had some success. I've been accepted as a member into the United Daughters of the Confederacy based on the service of my paternal 2nd great-grandfather, John Augustus Travis Uptain. I've submitted an application to the Daughters of the American Revolution on the service of George Uptain, John AT's grandfather. I'm waiting (not very patiently!) to find out if I will be accepted.

Both sides of my family have been in Alabama for quite a few generations. My mother's Speegle and Lentz ancestors arrived before statehood in 1819. My father's ancestors arrived later, about 1840. Mostly, they settled in Cullman, Limestone and Walker counties. They came to Alabama by traveling from Pennsylvania and New Jersey, through the Carolinas, westward through Tennessee or southerly into Georgia before settling down in Alabama. I was born and grew up in Cullman County.

Many made their way to America from England, Scotland, Ireland and Germany, and I'm trying to track down an alleged "French Connection." The men supported their families by farming the land they received through land grants and outright purchases and, when called upon, the women did, too.

My family has served our country in most of its wars, from the Revolution up to and including Iraq and Afghanistan. Brother fought brother in the War Between the States.

This blog gives me an outlet to talk about my family,  the places that mattered to them, their experiences and lives. If any of the names or places I write about are familiar to you or you are curious about them, let me know.  I hope this also serves as "cousin bait."