Evelyn Orthelia Brown Williams: Her Final Chapter

Circa 1970s

My beautiful mother made transition on Monday, December 22, 2025. Evelyn Orthelia Brown Williams is now with the Ancestors. I call her name. I will miss her earthly presence more than I can express.

As I entered her information on the Find A Grave site and connected her to immediate family, I felt a sense of peace.

I lovingly wrote her obituary which, of course, only tells a small fraction of her story.

    Evelyn Orthelia Williams was born November 30, 1931 in Buffalo, New York to Lucy and Noah Brown. From their union were born three other children -- Verlie, Arthur, and Vivian -- who all preceded Evelyn in death.

    During her youth, Evelyn was actively involved in the Sunday School program and other activities at Saints Home Church of God in Christ. She lived her entire life in Buffalo and was a product of the public school system, attending School #31 and Fosdick Masten High School. While in high school, she was president of the Lambda Chi Hi-Y and president of Alpha Pi Eta Sigma Sorority. She worked briefly as secretary at the historic Michigan Avenue YMCA, where she met her future husband.

    On September 26, 1952, she and Willis B. Williams were married in the home of the bride's mother. Their marriage lasted 58 years only ending with the transition of her husband in 2011.

    The couple became the proud parents of five children: Sandra Ann, Richard Lamonte, Steven Arthur, Willis Barry, and Raymond Louis. And later, they became the loving grandparents of Elizabeth Orthelia.

    Evelyn's hobbies have included bowling and painting. She was passionate about her garden, looking forward to planting a wide variety of vegetables every year.

    Evelyn was the ultimate mother, opening her home to her children's friends; some of whom continue to call her Mom. She happily called Rickey Butler and Andrew King her sons throughout her life.

    Evelyn Orthelia Williams was called home on Monday, December 22, 2025. She leaves to uplift her memory: daughter, Sandra Bush; sons, Steven (Mary) Williams, Willis (Barbara) Williams, Raymond Williams; granddaughter, Elizabeth Orthelia Bonds; dear cousins, Elizabeth Miller, Melvena Tyus and Ohio family; nephew, John Craddock; niece, Heidi Williams and a host of family and friends.

Copyright © 2025 by Sandra Williams Bush, Ancestor Callings: Georgia and Mississippi Roots. All Rights Reserved.

WASHINGTON: A Family Surname

During my teenage years, I remember my Aunt Verlie proudly telling me that we were related to George Washington. Much, much later my education taught me he did not father any children so we couldn't be biologically related to ole George.

Decades later doing family history research, I found out that the Washington surname is considered one of the top names the formally enslaved chose as a surname after emancipation. Some articles even reported that WASHINGTON was the "Blackest name in America". According to the 2000 U.S. Census there were 163,036 people counted that year with the surname WASHINGTON and ninety percent of them identified as African American --  this was a higher percentage than any other surname.

It seems that my family chose the surname WASHINGTON after enslavement. which was the surname of Ned's wife, Darkas. Ned's mother Sylvia first used the surname Adair, and later Washington. In my blog post Connecting to An Enslaved Ancestor -- Sylvia Adair Washington I show the connection of my 3rd great-grandmother and her enslaver.

My Maternal WASHINGTON family line

My research was validated when I found the hand-written research notes of my Aunt Verlie about our Washington family line on 3-ring loose leaf paper. (1) On this sheet, she has circled "last name Adel was changed" (should be Adair). There is a spelling variation that I attribute to the time lapse in the telling or perhaps the teller never knew how to spell Adair. (2) In the margin Aunt Verlie indicated that her great-grandmother, Dorkie Washington and her great-grandfather, Ned Washington were slaves and that she checked. There is a spelling variation in the name Dorkie (it's Darkas on her death certificate) but her death date is the same as what I have found. Initially, Aunt Verlie wrote her great-grandparents as her maternal family -- which they were, so this leads me to believe that she was interviewing her mother, Lucy Washington Brown. Ned and Dorkie Washington would have been the paternal grandparents of Lucy Washington Brown but the maternal great-grandparents of my Aunt Verlie.

Notes from research on Washington family by Verlie Mae Brown Walton, date unknown         (expanded top portion from full page below)

Notes (full page) from research on Washington family by Verlie Mae Brown Walton, date unknown

When my aunt made transition in 2021, my brother, Ray and I cleaned out her house. We found a number of these hand-written pages on our family history. Unfortunately, my aunt was very secretive about her family history research, and I had asked her many, many times about it. Maybe now she is guiding me to build on what I have been able to find and document.

WASHINGTON surname articles

        Washington, Eric. "The Irony of the 'Blackest Name In America'". Historical Horizons, February 26, 2016. 

        Washington, Jesse. "Washington: the 'blackest name' in America". NBC News: The Associated Press, February 21, 2011. 

Copyright © 2023 by Sandra Williams Bush, Ancestor Callings: Georgia and Mississippi Roots. All Rights Reserved.

A favorite photo with Granny -- Lucy Washington Brown

Evelyn Brown Williams (left), Sandra Ann Williams, Elizabeth Bonds (on lap),
Lucy Washington Brown (right); Buffalo NY, 1978
 

The above picture represents four-generations of my direct Washington family line.

        Elijah Washington (born abt 1797)

            Ned Washington (born Feb 10, 1825)

                Peter Washington (born Dec 1872)

                    Lucy Washington Brown (born Nov 1,1904)

                        Evelyn Orthelia Brown Williams

                            Sandra Ann Williams

                                Elizabeth aka Libby

From the time my daughter was born, my mother wanted a four-generation picture with herself, her mother, me, and my daughter, so one Sunday we went to Granny's apartment after she came home from church. My brother, Raymond Williams, took our picture. Unfortunately, this is the only four-generation picture that we ever took, even though we had many other opportunities. 

Lucy Washington was born in Lexington, Mississippi on November 1, 1904, to Peter Washington and Mary Barrett Washington. Her obituary (April 15, 1996) stated that she "united with the Church of God in Christ at an early age in Mississippi. Upon moving to Buffalo, she joined the Saints Home Church of God in Christ where she was a faithful member for many years. Later she transferred her membership to the Good Samaritan Church of God in Christ where she was happy to be made Church Mother."

Granny was among the millions of African Americans who migrated to the North from their rural Southern homes, starting with the Great Migration in 1916.

Copyright © 2023 by Sandra Williams Bush, Ancestor Callings: Georgia and Mississippi Roots. All Rights Reserved.

1950 U.S. Census Anticipation

The 1950 U.S. census was released on April 1, 2022. There has been so much hype about its release, especially in the past month -- on the date of the release, there were even virtual parties during the "midnight hour". 

I wasn't excited about it at all, and I attended one webinar that left me so confused. But by the evening of April 1st, curiosity got the best of me, so I found myself taking a look at the Ancestry.com site and National Archives site. Both had prominent link assistance on their home pages for the 1950 census. To me, it seemed that Ancestry wasn't quite ready for the release (see image below). I found the National Archives site much easier to work with because I didn't have to figure out an enumeration district. There were other major sites that had assistance on their landing pages but since I was overwhelmed with all the hype, I just concentrated on the two sites I mentioned.

I already knew who I primarily wanted to find in the 1950 census: my parents, Willis B. Williams and Evelyn O. Brown; my maternal grandmother, Lucy Brown; my mother's siblings; my father's grandmother, Mary Lane Button; and my father's siblings.

I didn't like that I had to have an address to find the enumeration district (ED) on Ancestry. The whole point of my looking at the 1950 census was to find out where family lived.

Image from Ancestry.com on 1 April 2022 at 8:06pm

National Archives site

I liked that I could put in name, city/county, and state on the National Archives site. However, I didn't have much hope in finding m Brown family because it's such a common name.

MY MOTHER'S FAMILY

I was so happy that my maternal grandmother, Lucy Brown, and her children were the first "hit" when I did the search on Archives.com

1950 U.S. census, Buffalo, Erie County, NY, ED 65-124, sheet 15, household 111, lines 1-5 (Lucy Brown family); U.S. National Archives,_1950 Census_(https://1950census.archives.gov/search/).

In the top image, my grandmother, Lucy Brown, 46, is listed as a widow, living at 586 William St., Buffalo, Erie, New York. Living with her are all her children -- daughter, Verlie, 25, a registered nurse, employed in private duty; son Arthur, 23, a presser at a tailor shop; daughter Vivian, 21, a college student; and daughter Evelyn (my mother), a waitress in a cafeteria. 

The second image is from the bottom of the census page. Sample #4 from the supplemental questions is my Auntie Vivian.

Maternal grandfather, Noah Brown and his sister, Ida Brown living in Cleveland Ohio was a surprise. I initially looked for Noah in Buffalo NY and then looked at Cleveland because that was his place of death in 1966. Interesting that Noah is listed as widowed (as is my grandmother in Buffalo NY). My happy surprise was finding my great-aunt Ida because I haven't been able to find much information on her as an adult.

1950 U.S. census, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, OH, ED 92-897, sheet 6, household 61, lines 17-18 (Noah Brown and sister Ida Brown); U.S. National Archives,_1950 Census_(https://1950census.archives.gov/search/). 

Also in the household is Jordan, *unknown*, number 19 with "SEE NOTE" which is at top of census form.

MY FATHER'S FAMILY

Richard L. Davenport and Anna M. Davenport raised my father, Willis B. Williams and his sister, Joan Williams, when their mother passed in 1941. Anna M. Davenport (Button) was one of his mother's sisters. In this record, my father isn't listed because he's in the Army from 1949-1951 during the Korean Conflict. However, his sister, Joan, age 19 is listed. They live at 209 Walnut Street in Buffalo NY.

1950 U.S. census, Buffalo, Erie County, NY, ED 65-150, sheet 1, household 7, lines 22-24 (Richard Davenport family); U.S. National Archives,_1950 Census_(https://1950census.archives.gov/search/).

In 1950 my father's grandmother, Mary Button, was living in Detroit Michigan, with a daughter, Verna and son-in-law, Robert Bynum. Finding my great-grandmother was another guessing game because at the time of her death in 1955 she was living in Buffalo NY with her daughter and son-in-law, Anna M.  and Richard Davenport.

1950 U.S. census, Detroit, Wayne County, MI, ED 85-1072, sheet 3, household 18, lines 25-29 (Robert Bynum family); U.S. National Archives,_1950 Census_(https://1950census.archives.gov/search/).

I am pleased with the family I have found. However, I did not find my father's siblings in Detroit, Michigan. Their surname is Burkett. I only got one hit on that name, followed by pages and pages with various name spellings. So finding them will be a search for another day.

Copyright © 2022 by Sandra Williams Bush, Ancestor Callings: Georgia and Mississippi Roots. All Rights Reserved.

My #12 -- Samuel BROWN

Number 12 on my ancestor chart is Samuel Brown, a great-grandfather, the father of my mother's father.  For awhile now, I have been on a mission of sorts to find his death information. Unfortunately, he's from Mississippi which did not begin recording death records until 1912.

So what do I know about him?  I know his son, Noah Brown, of Simpson County Mississippi is the father of my mother, Evelyn O. Brown.  The only record I have  found of Noah with his father is from the 1900 U.S. census. Although Noah is listed as "Infant" I know that is him because of everyone else in the household.

Year: 1900; Census Place: Beat 3, Simpson, Mississippi; Roll: T623_827; Page: 16B; Enumeration District: 97.

Also according to this census Samuel Brown was born April 1864 in Mississippi, had been married 15 years to Mary, they had eight children, and he owned his farm. I was able to find information on his and Mary's marriage on the FamilySearch site.

"Mississippi Marriages, 1800-1911," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V28X-W4S : 10 February 2018), Sam Brown and Mary Stamps, 10 Apr 1885; citing Simpson,Mississippi; FHL microfilm 886,975.

In the 1910 census Mary Brown is listed as a widow, the mother of nine children, and owner of the farm. The additional child (born after the 1900 census), is five year old Elizabeth. I knew Auntie Lizzie well and her birth date was March 5, 1905.

Year: 1910; Census Place: Beat 3, Simpson, Mississippi; Roll: ; Page: ; Enumeration District: ; Image: .

One document that had me "over the moon" was the Homestead Certificate, issued 7 Jun 1897 to Samuel Brown.

U.S. General Land Office Records, 1796-1907

So in summary, what I know about Samuel Brown:

• 1864 - Born, Mississippi (U.S. 1900 census)
  

• 1885 - Married Mary Stamps, in Simpson County, Mississippi (Mississippi Marriage Index 1800-1900)
• 1897 (June 7) - Homestead Certificate for Simpson County (US Land Office Record)

• 1905 (March 5) - Birth of last child, Elizabeth
  

• 1910 – Wife, Mary, widow (U.S. census), Simpson County, Mississippi
  

Conclusion: Samuel BROWN died after June 1904 (nine months before last child was born) and before 13 May 1910 (census date).  While I keep looking to close that span, I also hope to find more on him before that 1900 census and 1885 marriage information.






Copyright © 2019 by Sandra Williams Bush, Ancestor Callings: Georgia and Mississippi Roots. All Rights Reserved.

Happy 85th birthday to Mommy: A Throwback Pictorial

My mommy, Evelyn Orthelia Brown Williams, is the daughter of Noah Brown and Lucy Washington of Mississippi.  She was born November 30, 1931 in Buffalo NY, the youngest of four siblings, that include Verlie, Arthur, and Vivian.

Although a city girl (born & bred) her favorite music is Country (1950s & 1960s) and her favorite hobby is gardening.  One of her special memories is visiting cousins in Ashtabula OH (which is basically the country).  I guess Mississippi roots run deep.

This is the earliest picture I have of Mommy.

Mommy at age 12 with her sister, Vivian Elizabeth Brown, age 14
So I asked why the long faces --  this was an Easter picture and they didn't like their outfits.

Fosdick Masten High School social club, circa late 1940s
Mommy seated, 2nd from left. Friends throughout adulthood (seated): Julia Bolden (left of Mommy), Bronite Blenman (right of Mommy) and Harriett Carlise (far right)

From a Buffalo NY newspaper when Mommy was part of a debutante ceremony.
This article is yellowing and unfortunately I don't know the newspaper.

With brother, Arthur Brown

Wedding picture, September 26, 1952.
She and Willis B. Williams were married in the home of her mother, Lucy Washington Brown

25th birthday party, 1956

Mommy told me that Daddy gave her this 25th birthday party

Birthday dinner at local restaurant, 1980s
Left to right: Daughter Sandra Ann,; Granddaughter Elizabeth Orthelia; Evelyn Orthelia; Husband Willis Burkette; Son Richard Lamonte (Flick)

Starting With Me

Sandra Ann Williams , born 1953, in the crib my father hand-made.

Most books, articles, workshops, etc. on genealogy state that research starts with yourself but it never dawned on me to do my own biography until recently.

I was born and raised in Buffalo, New York, the daughter of Willis B. and Evelyn O. Williams. Under their strong love, guidance and support, I was instilled with the importance of family, loyalty and community.

My earliest memories are of growing up at 218 Walnut Street in Buffalo and attending P.S. 47.  Months before my sixth grade graduation, my family moved to 523 Woodlawn Avenue in Buffalo's "Cold Spring" area. I remember my brothers and I thinking that we were rich because it was a beautifully tree-lined neighborhood with large well-kept homes. My brothers, Richard, Steven, Barry, and Raymond were transferred to the new neighborhood school, P.S. #53.  For the few months until my sixth grade graduation, I stayed in the old neighborhood living with my great-aunt, Elizabeth Mason aka Auntie Lizzie during the school week and going home for the weekends.

In September 1965 I attended the neighborhood school Woodlawn Jr. High (from 7th through 9th grades), and later East High School (1968-1971).  After a few false attempts at college -- Howard University {I attended Howard because it was my mother's dream to go there}, Villa Maria College, and Buffalo State College -- I finally earned an undergraduate degree from Medialle College in Human Services (1981). 

Not finding a job in my field, I worked a variety of jobs before taking a county clerical exam and being offered a job at the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library where I worked at many of the city branches, including the mobile units, the RAM Van and Lookie Bookie. While at the library, I attended evening classes at the University of Buffalo School of Information Library Science and earned a Master of Library Science degree (1991).

My biggest joy has been my daughter, Elizabeth --  her birth, raising her, seeing the woman she has become and sharing travel experiences with her. (At her request I never mention her age or birth year and seldom full name on social media.)

I met my husband, Joseph Bush, in 1986 while we were working at the Central Library. We married and honeymooned in Niagara Falls NY on January 6, 1996.  I retired from the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library in August 2015 after 30 years of service. My last position was Branch Manager of the Frank E. Merriweather, Jr. Library.

Since 1995, I have performed as a solo artist and as a charter member of Tradition Keepers: Black Storytellers of Western New York.  In addition to storytelling, I am a djembe drummer with the group Daughters of Creative Sound (since 2004), an African American women's percussion ensemble. 

I am currently ENJOYING retirement!

Pieces of Me -- Saints Home C.O.G.I.C.

On October 1, 2014 the church I had known as Saints Home Church Of God in Christ was demolished.  Until news reports and the preservation efforts I did not know that it was the oldest synagogue in Buffalo NY, although I knew it had been a synagogue.

"Preservationists chain themselves inside oldest synagogue to prevent demolition
from The Buffalo News (Buffalo NY), October 12, 2014, page C3

Saints Home Church of God in Christ is where I was first touched by those soulful spirituals that still comfort me today.   Some of them include:

A Little Talk With Jesus

I Shall Not Be Moved

I Couldn't Hear Nobody Pray

His Eye Is On the Sparrow

Every Time I Feel the Spirit

Pass Me Not

In addition to my parents and grandparents, this is the place that shaped my moral character.  I fondly remember what I now think of as "church before church" when the Mothers and/or Deacons of the church led Testimony  --  a tradition where you would stand before the congregation and publicly thank God for his blessings.  I also fondly remember Sunday School, chicken dinners, Easter programs, Christmas programs, and the first family of the church  --  Rev. and Mrs. Carl Roberson and their children, my church friends.

My father, Willis B. Williams, painted a larger-than-life picture of Jesus and it was dedicated in a ceremony in the Spring or Summer of 1961.   I am guessing at the season because my little brother Raymond was born in November 1960 and he is the baby in my mother's arms. The painting was right behind the pulpit and commanded your attention as soon as you entered the sanctuary.  

Adults:  Willis B. Williams, Evelyn O. Williams, Lucy  Brown; Children: Raymond L Williams (Baby), Steven A, Williams, Richard L. Williams, Willis Barry Williams, Sandra A. Williams

I remember my father on the floor of the living room painting this picture over a period of time.  Daddy painted the picture to donate to Saints Home in honor of my grandmother, Mrs. Lucy Brown  and my mother because that was their home church.  It was the first time I ever saw Jesus as a man of color.

This painting by Willis B. Williams was inspired by the scripture:

"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.   Revelation 3:20 King James Version 

Although I did not attend Saints Home after puberty, I still feel saddened by the demolition. A piece of my growing up past no longer physically exist  --  for decades I passed the building that once housed Saints Home C.O.G.I.C.   Sometimes I even went out of my way to see it because it spoke to me in a way  --  connected me, transported me, and grounded me. The building may be gone, but . . .

The bride wore pink - Evelyn Orthelia Brown

My parents, Willis Burkett WILLIAMS and Evelyn Orthelia BROWN were married on Friday, September 26, 1952.  The bride wore a dusty pink gown.  My Mom told that was the fashion at the time.  (Two months later her sister, Verlie BROWN, married Raymond T. WALTON in an ice blue wedding dress.)  The maid of honor was my Dad's sister, Joan WILLIAMS.  The best man was Auntie Joan's boyfriend Isiah.

I always loved my Mom's wedding dress and she gave it to me  (or I kidnapped it) when I was in high school.  I never dreamed about wearing it because (1) it was a size that I never was, and (2) and I never planned on getting married.  However, I did have dreams for the gown  --  I wanted to have a master suite with the gown as the focal point on a dressmaker form.

Neither my Mom nor I ever did anything to preserve her gown.  It's been on hangers from one house move to another.  At any rate I think it still looks good even through a bit wrinkled.  I showed my Mom this picture today  --  the anniversary date of her wedding anniversary  --  and she was surprised I still had the gown.

From the Buffalo Criterion newspaper:
Mr. and Mrs. Willis Williams are cutting their cake at their wedding reception at the home of Mr. Williams uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Davenport, Friday, Sept. 26 following their wedding at 5 p. m. at the bride's home.  She is the former Evelyn O. Brown of 386 William St.  The couple spent the weekend in Detroit.












IMAGES:
Photograph. Isiah (?), Willis Burkett WILLIAMS, Evelyn BROWN,and  Joan WILLIAMS 26 September 1952. Buffalo, Erie, New York. Private collection of Evelyn Brown WILLIAMS, Buffalo, Erie, New York.

Photograph. Wedding dress of Evelyn Brown WILLIAMS. Private collection of Sandra Williams Bush, Buffalo, Erie, New York.

Article. The Buffalo Criterion

Griot Stroll

On Saturday, June 28, 2014 Tradition Keepers: Black Storytellers of Western New York presented a Griot Stroll with several members telling stories about Buffalo's Black History.  I told my mother's story, Evelyn O. Brown, relating to the historical area where we were telling.  Taking the liberty of a storyteller, this is the story I told:

Evelyn O. Brown

          On this stroll you will hear about the famous and the prominent features of the African American influence on this area. I am not famous and I am not prominent. My name is Evelyn Brown and I am one of the first generations of my family born in the north. I was born in Buffalo during the 1930s. Both my parents were born in Mississippi and several members of their families came to northern states during the Great Migration -- this was a period when African Americans moved from the South to the North for better opportunities for them and their children . The were following the great American dream just as European immigrants did went they made it to Ellis Island.

          This area had been home to African Americans since the early 1800s. I was a toddler when the Jessie Clipper Monument was established by the Common Council in 1935. It’s right over there on the corner William Street and Michigan Avenue. Private Clipper was the first Negro soldier from Buffalo to die in World War I. The monument stands in memory of the valiant service of Negroes in all wars . . . take a moment to visit it.

          The Buffalo I grew up in was a segregated city. I grew up in this area in the 1930s and 1940s and I remember when it was a thriving community. And more than that, it was a neighborhood. Children would walk to school together and then back home again at the end of the day. After we did our homework, had dinner, and did our chores, we got to play outside for a while. The boys would play games like stick-ball or marbles. The girls would play games like hopscotch or jump rope. We would play to sing-song rhymes like “Ring-Around the Rosie” and “Miss Mary Mack”.

          Right along this area and down William Street there were drug stores, restaurants, candy stores, cleaners, hotels, nightclubs, funeral parlors. We didn’t have to leave the community for anything. We certainly need to go downtown; of course most of the stores downtown didn’t want Negroes in them anyway unless we were the cleaning staff. That’s pretty much how I ended up working at the Michigan Avenue YMCA. I had a secretarial diploma from high school. My typing, shorthand and general clerical skills were very good -- I was at the top of my class; but Negroes weren’t hired to work the front offices of the white businesses and companies.

           Did you know that the Michigan Avenue YMCA was designed by a Black man? His name was John Brent. The Y had an important place in our community -- it was a gathering place, a communal place. It had a cafeteria, gym, swimming pool, barber shop, tailor shop, library; and classrooms, locker rooms, dormitory rooms, and billiard tables. I started going to the Y in high school. Several of my friends and I were members of a girls Hi-Y club. One of my fondest memories was a powerful little woman named Mary Chapelle, who taught us deportment classes -- that is, how to be a lady. There were also similar classes for boys and young men on how to be a responsible members of the community.

          The media did not report our news -- for that we relied on Ebony and Jet magazines. For local news and events we had the Buffalo Star and later the Merriweather family published The Criterion.

          So as I said in the beginning, I am not prominent in Buffalos’ Black history and I’m not famous. The Michigan corridor IS important to Buffalo’s Black history and it was important in my life.  I met my husband, Willis B. Williams, at the Michigan Avenue Y and we dated along the Michigan Avenue corridor.  We were married almost 60 years until he made his transition in 2011.

          My name is Sandra Williams Bush and this is the story of my mother, Evelyn O. Brown.

When I got home later I had two messages from a dna cousin on my mom's side; a branch that she doesn't really know about.  The Stamps family from Mississippi.  Ancestors calling my name . . .

Sandra Williams Bush

Tradition Keepers: Black Storytellers of WNY

Dad & Mom once upon a time

Yesterday while at my Mom's the ancestors tapped & poked & led me to a box of photos.  While I was going through them my youngest brother came through and I pulled out some, playing the "remember this" game.  Some pictures provided memories of an event, some were memories of the picture or a reflection of a family member who is now an ancestor.

I am becoming a blogger to document my ancestors journey as I answer / recognize their pokes, prods and revelations.

I don't remember ever seeing this picture before.  My Dad, Willis B. Williams, is in uniform with his sister, Christina Burkette aka Aunt Peaches.  From other pictures I've seen I believe the two men behind my Dad are his brothers and the older woman is their grandmother.  At his point in his life my Dad lived in Buffalo NY but he was from Detroit MI, so I'm guessing he was on leave in Detroit.

 

 

 

My mother, Evelyn O. Brown (2nd from left, seated) in a school club photo from Frosdick Masten High School, Buffalo NY.  She has maintained friendships with Julia Bush (Bolden), (1st left, seated), Brontie Blenman (center seated) and Harriet (far right, seated.)



 

I have always loved this picture; in it I see innocence, hope for the future, and friendship.