Ancestor Approved

Yesterday I was presented the "Ancestors Approved" award by Lori of the Genealogy and Me Blog. As a recipient of this award I’m supposed to list ten things I have learned about any of my ancestors that has surprised, humbled, or enlightened me and pass along the award to ten other bloggers who I feel are doing their ancestors proud.
Humbled
To continue to search for the parents of George Bright Frazier (1854-1921).
To continue to search for my mother's first cousin, Beatrice Lindley.
To continue to search for the burial place of Hanora Harrington Walcott.
To share my genealogy findings with my family.
Surprised
The family photographs in the possession of Carolyn Lucas Hall.
Discovering that my father's first cousin, Velma Williams Patterson murdered her two daughters.
My gr grandfather, William Newton Renfro had fathered 23 children.
Enlightened
To find that Tom Lindley was actually George Thomas Lindley.
The Adair family died within the same month as the Patterson murder trial.
John Schwartz was orphaned by age 10.

Well-deserving of the "Ancestor Approved Award" are:
Branching Out Through The Years by hummer
Gen Wish List by Tina Lyons
High Definition Genealogy by Thomas MacEntee
Graveyard Rabbit of Wichita County, Texas by Robin Inge
Dr. Bill Tells Ancestor Stories by Dr. Bill Smith
Greta's Genealogy Bog by Greta Koehl
The Educated Genealogist by Sheri Fenley
Cyndi's List by Cyndi Howells
Cemetery Explorers
The Robertson-Kubberness Connection by Gwen Kubberness

G. B. Frazier - A Family Mystery

The day that I discovered this funeral card tucked away in my Aunt Oletha's dresser drawer is still very fresh in my mind.  The early 1990s scanned image does not do the card visual justice.  In spite of weathering West Texas dust, the card has a beautiful black matte background with glittering gold lettering. More importantly, it is the only documentation of the death of my great-grandfather, George Bright Frazier. There are tidbits of his life that have been storied down to the family. Some of which I will share. Beginning with his death working backwards. G. B. Frazier was a local brick mason in the Comanche, Hamilton counties of Texas. At age 65, he and Mr. Little were atop a three-story scaffold braced at the bottom of a gully behind the local school in Gustine, Texas. During the remodel process to remove the second floor of the school, the scaffolding gave way. Both men plummeted to the gully below.  Severely injured, G.B. survived the fall and was carried home and laid to rest on the sofa where he died later that evening. His obituary found in Hamilton County did not list his name correctly but the facts clearly point to G.B. Frazier. In the Hamilton Herald and Record, published September 23, 1921 it reads: "W.S. Frazier of Gustine died on Monday night at his home in that city, his death being caused by falling from the Gustine school building Monday afternoon while building some flues. Mr. Frazier was well known here, having lived here for a number of years. He was a stone mason and assisted in erecting a number of stone business houses here. Mr. Frazier had many friends who will regret to learn of his untimely death." 

After many years into genealogy studies, I finally happened upon his original marriage certificate in Lampasas County, Texas.  Once again, I had to accept a misspelling of his name in the record index.  Even though the document is clearly George B. Frazier and Sarah F. Hill.  They were married in Bell County, however the marriage license remained unclaimed at the Lamapasa Courthouse until 2008.   

Each document brings our family a step closer to understanding the lad that left Kentucky under mysterious circumstances at age 16, Texas bound.  Some say, he was running from the law because he had murdered someone.  The stories differ as to the victim of the crime, some say he murdered his teacher, another version is he murdered his brother by accident.  Nevertheless, the link to his past, his parents remains elusive.