I Need Ya for the Harvest Boy . . .

Unfortunately, I've both been busy and forgetful for the last month and a half, but now that we're done w/ the 'busy' season at work, likened perhaps unto harvest season. If you know what I do, you should get the analogy.

That said, I'm hoping to get back to posting more regularly. I need to find a way to hook up the scanner that I've recently acquired, but that could be tricky. Until then, I'll post what I have scanned and type what I can remember. I also need to get to the lineage/Matthew Ch. 1 posting for my grandparents so this connects somehow, but until then. A few pics to suffice.

Memories of the Great War:
From WWI: Found with these pages (letters from Ida Benton Lester Ponder to her sister in 1920) this clipping gave me more information regarding the Ponder side of the family, which I did not have before and to my knowledge no one knew who is now alive. The gist of the story is that Clemmie Ponder Cates (identified as Mrs. John G. Cates in the clipping), the daughter of I.B. Ponder above, was selected among 130 or so mothers of soldiers who died during the Great War to make the trip to France to see the graves of their sons buried there. Recognized as American Gold Star Mothers, the group left in time to get to the site on Memorial Day. The back side of the clipping notes that it is from the June 19, 1933 edition of the Macon Telegraph. It notes that Clemmie wore gold crosses for her son Robert Cates as well as her brother, Gordon, who is mentioned in the aforementioned letters.

It notes that she returned to 131 Appleton Ave, which I presume is in Macon, GA as I have some record of them living there in the 1930 census. If you open the full image, you should be able to read the entirety of the clipping. I'll type the full version of it and repost the typed version soon, but this is a clip from it. I can't even imagine what it must have been like for her as both her brother and her son died within 10 days of each other of illness, not bullets, and both within 2 weeks of the Armistice on Nov. 11, with her son, dying on the very day the Armistice took effect. Here's part of the article:

“‘My boy was 19 when he went,’ the smooth-faced, strong, dark-haired mother recalled. ‘And he was the oldest. He’d been begging to go for a long time, but I just couldn’t give my consent. Finally I did on July 17, for I thought then they were just about to draft the 19-year-olds, and he was so anxious.

‘He became sick at Camp Johnson, and didn’t get well on the way over. They sent him to the base hospital at Brest. We got one little letter dictated to a Red Cross woman saying he’d been a little sick, but that he’d soon be on his feet again. The next thing we heard—we got the telegram saying he was dead.’”


More to come on WWII later. I was going to post a couple of Pa's (Robert H. Clinton, Sr.) WWII memorabilia, but have run short on time. I'll post more with those later.

AFN
DCC
Athens, GA 27 March 2009
Rainy