Roy Long's postcards home 1918

These post cards are from Roy Long to his parents while he was in training before he went overseas in 1918. To see the post cards larger, double click; then, use your back arrow to come back to this page. I will attempt to transcribe each post card, but the handwriting and fading of those done in pencil make it very hard. Please let me know if you don't think I've transcribed it correctly. The first one is to his father "T. H. Long" note the address "Desoto, Mo".
"Feb. 17, 1918 S. Carolina

Hello,
I thought_____ you _____ this to let you [know] that well. hope you are the same. You spoke about ______ you want to they haven stoped them at all. They go even of the week. I got wine Tuesday. It is all might send him if you wants."


This next post card, also from Roy in South Carolina is to his mother "Mrs. Mary C. Long"

May 18, 1918 S. Car

Dear Mother,
I thought would write you a few lines to let you now that I am well and that I received the cake you sent me and it was all OK. Your son Roy
We are moving______I don't know where____. [postmark says "New York"]
The next one is from Augusta, Georgia

"Dear Father,
I thought send you a card to let you now that I am well and hope it finds you the same. I like fine here as far as I now you. From your son Roy M. Long [what follows is his rank and company---not sure if I got it right]Co. B3rd RODN Comp Air corps Augusta Ga"

Thanks to my sister, Jane, who shared these post cards.

Vivian Maupin and Roy Long 1918

Roy Long, 3rd from the left

The photo below just says the woman on the left is Vivian, but I believe this was the summer she was pregnant with Dad. It's a part of a photo with a large group of young people. I was happy to find it because I had often wondered what it must have been like for her in 1918 to be pregnant and unmarried. This photo at least tells me she wasn't locked away in an attic. At first, it shocked us that our father, LeRoy Long, was born out of wedlock. But, his father Roy Milton Long had left for World War I and couldn't really make an honest woman out of Vivian Maupin until he returned in 1919.
We also have the crocheted cap that Annie Reed made dad as an infant. Mom left the note that the star was in the top of the cap because his dad was a soldier over-seas. This tells me that despite the "inconvenience" of his birth, he was loved and cherished.
The photo above shows the cap was worn quite a bit---it's soiled around the edges. The glasses were also Dad's when he was very little. I don't think LeRoy Long is wearing the hat below, but here he is in 1919, probably.

Although we don't have any letters between Vivian and Roy, we do have this souvenir made out of silk.

And, he did bring the doll on the right back to Vivian from France.
Maybe someone else in the family has letters between them. We do have post-cards from Roy to his parents, and he never indicates any friction. But, that's another blog.

Wicker Roots, Part Two

Fast forward to recently. . .the internet and DNA have helped genealogy tremendously. A cousin, Ricky, referred me to his cousin's wife Leigh who was interested in genealogy. She had written R. Fenton Wicker (author of the Wicker Book and the one who had told me we were Newberry Wickers) to find out if we were related. She was not aware of the amount of research I had already done on the family. I became frustrated just hearing about it again, and then recalled a letter R. Fenton had written me indicating there was a possibility we were related. Ambrose Wicker (whom I'd always thought we were related to) had a son named Hugh Mack (my ancestor Hugh M. was my "brick wall") and R. Fenton gave me the name of one of Ambrose's descendents---G. E. Wicker.I wrote G. E. a letter; we traded e-mail addresses and photos. Seeing his photo made me more interested in finding out the truth, and I knew that was DNA. Ricky contacted his cousin Kevin (Leigh's husband) and I contacted G. E. (it needed to be someone with the surname WICKER). They agreed to scrape their cheeks. The results after 25 markers is that we are related. But, can't you tell by the photos below that Ricky and G. E. share some genes?
Thanks to Ricky, Kevin, Leigh and G. E., we now know a little bit more about our heritage. First, we are North Carolina Wickers. Also, we are Il (that's not I1) Look below at the population densities of those who are Il. If you double click on the photo to make it larger, we are M253 positive.
Basically, this tells us that our WICKER ancestors were probably Vikings originating in Denmark, Sweden or Norway. 22% of the British are Il or Wodan (the name assigned by Bryan Sykes in his book Saxon, Vikings, Celts); 64% of the British are R1 (Sykes' name for that is Oisin) like my LONG family.
If we are indeed of Viking DNA, this chart indicates it was probably in the 11th century and involved settlement not just raids. Our family was from the yellow area in England; green are Viking raiders; burgundy 8th century settlement; red 9th century settlement; orange 10th century settlement.

Although we still aren't in the Wicker book, I think I can make that dotted line on my chart solid. And, the R. Fenton Wicker book? Well, it went from $27.95 to around $80.00 on the secondary book market.

Colyton, England

Although I didn't know for sure that my Wicker family was from Colyton, England, I decided to visit the village with my husband and children in 1987.
According to R.Fenton Wicker's book Thomas Whicker came to America in 1685 as an indentured servant sending his son Benjamin back to Southleigh, England where he was living in 1704. I did the charts and notes in the 1980's before I had a computer program.
If you look at the map above Southleigh is to the left and above Seaton. I believe we visited Southleigh and there wasn't anything there really. So, we went on to Colyton which was the "city" for the parish.
In fact, that is where the progenitor (Richard Whicker) was from.
We, first, went to the church but didn't find any tombstones for Wickers.
But, it is still very moving to go to the churches and walk down the streets where you think your ancestors lived.
I do recall that the family had some problems during the English Civil War. But, since I didn't buy R. Fenton Wicker's book, I don't recall which side they were on Royalists or Cromwell, but I do remember hearing about the Civil War while we were visiting the church.

Note that the document above mentions Southleigh as being still a part of the Colyton parish.
Here's a little history about Colyton. Keep in mind that Thomas Wicker left in 1685 which is the same year as the Monmouth (or Pitchfork) Rebellion. Click here to find out more about this Rebellion. According to Wikipedia:

"Colyton first appeared as an ancient village around 700 AD and features in the Domesday Book as 'Culitone'. . .

It was called the "most rebellious town in Devon" due to the number of its inhabitants who joined the Monmouth Rebellion in 1685."

On the map above (a replica) dating from 1610, the town is seen as Cullyton. If you're intested in historical fiction, the following books according to Wikipedia deal with the Monmouth Rebellion:

The Monmouth Rebellion plays a key role in Peter S. Beagle's novel Tamsin, about a 300-year-old ghost who is befriended by the protagonist.

Arthur Conan Doyle's historical novel Micah Clarke deals directly with Monmouth's landing in England, the raising of his army, its defeat at Sedgemoor, and the reprisals which followed.^[22]

Several characters in Neal Stephenson's trilogy The Baroque Cycle, particularly Quicksilver and The Confusion, play a role in the Monmouth Rebellion and its aftermath.

Dr. Peter Blood, main hero of Rafael Sabatini's novel Captain Blood, was sentenced by Judge Jeffreys for aiding wounded Monmouth rebels. Transported to the Caribbean, he started his career as a pirate there.

R. D. Blackmore's historical novel Lorna Doone is set in the South West of England during the time of Monmouth's rebellion.

John Masefield's 1910 novel Martin Hyde: The Duke’s Messenger tells the story of a boy who plays a central part in the Monmouth Rebellion, from the meeting with Argyll in Holland to the failed rebellion itself.^[23]

The Royal Changeling, by John Whitbourn, describes the rebellion with some fantasy elements added, from the viewpoint of Sir Theophilus Oglethorpe.

Aphra Behn's Oroonoko can be read as an allegory for the rebellion, with the titular slave playing Monmouth's role.

That last one is very interesting---Aphra Behn was my topic (assigned to me---I'd never heard of her) for a graduate class in research.

Searching for Wicker Roots, Part One

Wes Wicker and Vennie Watson Wicker, 1920's

My mother grew up with two young parents who didn't know much about their family history. Vennie's father died when she was very young and Wes's died before he was born---both from horse-back riding accidents. So, my bicentennial birthday gift for my mother Louise Wicker Long was some information about her family.

First, I wrote letters to family members to try to get some information (double click to read Peck's notes, then use the back arrow to return).

Then, we took our young daughter Rebecca to Mom's house for a few days, told her we were going on our "second honeymoon" but didn't really tell Mom where we were going---to Hornersville, Mo, Obion County, Tennessee and Hickman County, Kentucky to find her roots.

In Hornersville, we interviewed Peck Wicker (of Bar-B-Q Fame, above)and then headed to the courthouse in Obion County. Peck had told us his father was one of three brothers: Con (Hugh Cornelius), Johnny B.(John Bedford), and Walker (Marion Walker) Wicker who were born in Missouri. I later found out they had a sister, too. Click here for more photos and information about them.

Hugh Cornelius, Marion Walker, Francis, Jasper and John Bedford were all the children of John W. Wicker and Virginia Sampson. Click here for a blog and photos. Obion County, Tennessee had two Wicker families: John and Naomi Wicker who didn't live too far from Hugh M. and Sarah Wicker. The hard part was their children often had the same or similar names. (Two with the names John W., Sarah, William, Mary) The two deeds above are for J.W.Wicker. I'm sure the second one is our family because it mentions his siblings and their spouses' names, but I don't know about the first one. Below shows the marriages of the Wicker children in Obion County. As you can tell by the page numbers, they were all within about 20 years.
I spent hours trying to figure out who was who. I finally concluded with the help of the census that we belonged to Hugh and Sarah Wicker's family. After Hugh Wicker's death all of his children moved to Missouri and that helped me separate the two families. Click here for the blog about this. So, I had the Wicker family traced back to Hugh M. Wicker, but there I was stuck. The 1860 Census was the source of a lot of confusion. The census taker had poor handwriting and only used initials. My notes indicate that he was born in NORTH Carolina. But, the 1850 census is the one which has caused the most headaches. In that Lincoln County Tennessee census, the census taker wrote that Hugh M. Wicker was born in SOUTH Carolina which in Wicker World is a big deal. I felt pretty sure the two Wicker families in Lincoln County and Obion County Tennessee were brothers because the names of their children were so similar and they lived close to each other, but I couldn't prove it.
This began 10 years of letter writing to Wickers everywhere. I learned that there were two Wicker families---some from North Carolina and some from South Carolina.
I learned that a book was being written about the Wickers but R. Fenton Wicker believed we were Newberry Wickers because of that ONE census. I bought a "rough draft" of the book for $10, tried to convince Fenton that we belonged there, but with no real proof. .. . When he didn't include us in the final copy, I didn't buy the book.
Note on the family tree above, I have a dotted line for Hugh where I thought he should be. Also, note the name Ambrose. I was so convinced that we belonged there that when we went to England in 1987, we visited where the North Carolina Wicker's ancestors were from.