Delk Family History (and more!)

Which is what I should learn to do. I was given four cloth samples from Martha Maitlen. I only posted three. The fourth one is now posted and can be seen here. I must say, the story of how Martha and Elmer met should be told, especially after looking at the swatches of dresses that Martha saved along with notes for each one. Look at the dates. First date with Elmer, April 6th, engaged four days later, and married two months later. How well did they know each other before dating? Since they were first cousins, what did their parents, who were brother and sister, think? And, we know that Elmer’s brother Fernandis Orien, had been in communication with Martha before the marriage because of the letters that Martha had saved. Could he have gotten them together? Just speculation. Will post more soon.

Brian

The thing about maintaining a website is that it takes time and time away from family. So instead of working with relatives of the past, I figured I would spend time with my own family. It would be sad not to participate in your own family’s life because you were too busy researching and writing about relatives of a bygone era. But not all is lost, the living have to sleep sometime and genealogist don’t. So, I have started to add mini-biographies to the direct descendants of Ethelred; I did however start with John’s family. Let me say this, I am taking the information from a program that I have not updated in ten years. Some of it may be incorrect. But please comment and let me know what is wrong or what I can add so everyone is one the same page.

Brian

I have come to the conclusion that interacting with history comes in three forms. There is the form of online or the old fashion book research, looking at documents that others have made available to the public, knowing that something exist, that is tangible, but not actually being able to touch and feel the history. There is the museum experience, where you see the document or the photograph, just out of reach, but a more personable and enjoyable experience. Then there is the best experience of all, actually handling the material and being able to present it to everyone.

On Martha Maitlen’s page, I have added a new category, Cloth Swatches. This page is exciting because I am able to present a glimpse into Martha’s life and life in general in 1892. She wrote down everything, the dates, times, occasion. Take a look, especially at her hand written notes. And enjoy.

Charlie Delk, my grandfather, and his children have been added to the pull down menus. I was waiting for permission from the still living children, and now we are good to go. I have added 12 photos to Bernice (Butler) Delk, plus some documents of her’s. I am now working on adding more photos, plus some documents, which should be done before the end of next week. Brian

You know when you are told to back things up before you upgrade? and you ignore that advice and just plunge ahead. Well that is what I did, which is why there have not been any posts lately. I am almost completely back and running at 100%. I have updated a few people, Lillie Delk for one, but nothing significant yet. But, I am back and will have more updates later this week. Brian

I have now updated part of the Descendant Chart. Now, when you go to John Delk’s children, you can click on them and see their descendants. I have all of the png’s for this on an FTP site if anyone wants them to print out. Please send an email to photos@familyhistoria.com, and I will get you a password to get in. This is also a great way to exchange pictures if you want some posted or a higher res. picture for printing. Remember, the Descendant Chart is an Adobe Shockwave file, you need the plug-in, (see earlier post). It is also 6mb in size, so give it a minute or two to load. I made it huge so you can read the names, may change it later.

Brian

I have now updated Charles Wesley Delk with photos, and have included his wife, Bernice Butler with photos for her. You can only get to her from Charles page. I will be adding some documents to their site as well later in the week. I am still waiting to find out about adding their children to the site.

In other news, I am starting to work with the city of Pleasant Hill on a history project showing the growth of the city and also what the future may hold. I have a photo that I want to add to the site showing a corn field that was taken from Highway 163, the area is now developed with houses and businesses. Would like to get people to sit down and interview to talk about how the city has changed over the past 50 years. This will be an on going project that I hope will get people interested in the history that is around them and that they to will become involved.

Brian

I have uploaded a biography of George Washington Delk, written by his son, dictated by GW. Elmer and Martha’s obituary are now posted as well as some poem’s that Martha had written during World War I. Some photos of Franklin Elsworth Delk before he left for the War are on-line and one of Solomon Bennet Delk, date unknown, is also posted.

Remember to give everything time to load. I am trying to keep everything below 3mb in size, but if you do not have high-speed internet, it will take a few minutes. If anyone wants a photo at a higher resolution for printing, please let me know and I will give you a separate download link.

Brian

Dad just finished up John’s Bio, please look and if you have any more information to add to it, that would be great. Also, I have added death notices for George Washington, John and his wife Sarah. More to come soon.

Quick update, just so everyone knows what is going on. My real job has kept me fairly busy this month, which is good for me, but bad for this site. I have however scanned a book full of  photos and documents, and in the next few weeks will be updating quite a bit. I could just upload everything and call it good, but I am cleaning up a lot of these scans. The documents are faded and the photos, (not all) are in need of some help. I know I said I woudn’t do this, but in the long run it looks much better.

Dad and I are hoping to get away long enough to get some photos of John Delk’s gravesite and maybe make some other stops as well. Hopefully this will happen sooner or later. Again, please check back in the next few days for updates.