We own some thoroughbred racing horses and naming these horses has been a lot of fun. We have chosen to honor family members with several of them. One of our newest is Fighting Seabee in honor of our grandfather, Fred C. Hunter (who is biologically my husband’s grandfather, but I definitely claim him!). Fred Hunter, Navy photo Fred, who was born in 1920, proudly served in the 42nd Naval Construction Battalion in the Aleutians and Philippines during WWII. The sailors who serve in naval construction building necessary runways, roads, and bridges, are called Seabees. (By the way, I only recently...
The last of his siblings to die, my husband’s grandfather either didn’t know or didn’t remember the names of his paternal grandparents. His father, William Emmitt Hunter, was born 9 July 1874 most likely in Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina, married in December of 1910 to Winnie Huddleston, and died in that same county on 4 April 1953. However, William hasn’t been found in any census record prior to 1920. Where he was living before his 1910 marriage and the identity of his parents has been a mystery. Oklahoma Department of Health, certificate of death 005619 (1953), William Emmitt Hunter....
I hadn’t been able to locate my husband’s grandfather, Fred Hunter, and his family in the 1940 census. Searching for his parents and siblings individually didn’t help me locate the family. So, I turned to a census “trick” to find this missing family. PROCESS I chose one of the more unusual names in the family: Mabel. I chose the 1940 U.S. federal census and searched for the following: First name “Mabel” set to “exact” Born in “1912” set to “+/- 2 years” Born in “Oklahoma” set to “exact” Lived in “Garvin County” set to “exact” RESULTS With this search I...
Randy, at Genea-Musings, offers a weekly “Saturday Night Fun” challenge. This is my first challenge, but I thought I’d join in the fun! This week’s challenge…take a selfie of yourself and some genealogical item. My husband’s grandfather, who passed away only 11 months ago, served in the Navy Seals as a Seabee. Their slogan: “We build, we fight.” During WWII, the Seebees built roads, airstrips, hospitals, housing, bridges, and more. Grandpa built bridges. About 10 years ago, my sister-in-law took Grandpa’s navy photo, ring, Navy patch, and Seabee patch, and created this shadowbox. After his death, these were passed along...
