Tuesday's Tune - He Stopped Loving Her Today

George Jones' "He Stopped Loving Her Today" is the quintessential county and western song and by far one of my personal favorites. I'm not sure when I first heard the song, although it was probably while riding in an old Ford two-tone pickup with my grandpa. Soon after college I was really in to classic country music and my love for the song was reaffirmed.

The song was released April 14, 1980. According to his biographer, Bob Allen, George Jones didn't like the song when he heard it. His producer, Billy Sherrill, remembered Jones saying "nobody'll buy that morbid son of a bitch." Of course, Jones was wrong. In fact, he was awarded a Grammy for best male vocal performance and the Academy of County Music named the song single and song of the year for 1980.

Jones' later credited the song for reviving his career. A career which lasted nearly 60 years and only ended at his death earlier this year.

Follow Friday - Favorites for August 2, 2013

Favorites is my weekly list of favorite genealogy, history and random finds from across the Net.

Whatever happened to Agnes?

A great article about useful Civil War veteran records at Poore Boys in Gray

A random act of genealogical kindness to make you smile at Know Their Stories

U.S. veteran in North Korea to uphold a promise to fulfill a 63-year-old promise

New Google Maps app with cool new features

For my crafting friends: tips for perfect pressing

Breathtaking libraries from around the world

Beautiful architectural illustrations by Carlos Diniz

The one that got away at Before My Time

A southern homecoming at Celebrating Family Stories

Secret treasures in CIA museum

50 shades of summer: Summer across the 50 states

Has technology killed handwriting?

Nancy at My Ancestors and Me shares the story of the Civil War's hundred-days Men

Wordless Wednesday - The next four generations

My mom and grandmother with Clifton and Minnie (Dudgeon) White. You can see the previous four generation photo with this group here.

Tuesday's Tip - Google Friend Connect is moot...now what?

One of my favorite aspects of Blogger was the Follower function. You know, all the small pictures of friends and readers of your blog. I enjoyed watching my readers grow as I put more and more effort in to my blog. I paid more attention to my Followers than the actual page views!

Google Friend Connect...my followers hidden to protect their anonymity ;)

The other thing I loved about Google Friend Connect was the ease with which I could follow other blogs. Just click "Join this site" and the blog was populated in my Google Reader. But wait, there is no Google Reader. So what is the point of Friend Connect? The fact that I'm following other blogs is listed on my profile and blog posts from the blogs I follow are listed on my Blogger homepage, but now that Reader is gone, they are no where else. I made this sad realization just the other day when I clicked to join a new site and realized that it sure wasn't going to start showing up in my Feedly reader!

So I started digging. It appears that in an effort to drive people to Google +, the Google team has now put together a Google + Followers option that merges your Blogger profile with your Google + profile. Your blog posts will automatically be listed on your Google + page. The point is that it merges your Google + and Blogger followers so that you no longer need to manage two sets of friends. Next problem? I don't use Google +. To me it's a weak version of Facebook (at this point) and not many of my friends use it. However, if Google + is your main social networking tool, it is a no brainer to merge your profiles to make it easier to share blog posts with your friends and family.

For now I'm going to keep my Google Friend Connect widget. For the good times. What will you decide?

To find out more about Google + Followers check this out. And for more information about merging your Google + and Blogger profiles, see here.

Surname Saturday - John C. Turnage

I am related to John C. Turnage through my maternal line. He was born May 18, 1851 in Missouri to Jesse C. Turnage and Esther Odell. According to Esther's obituary, the couple had 8 children, but I have only been able to determine six.

Jesse and Esther were farmers in Ray County, Missouri. When John was 13-years-old his father was murdered by members of the Bloody Bill Anderson gang on July 18, 1864. It's hard to even fathom how this affected the young teen. Soon after the death his mother Esther married Samuel Colley.

John followed in his father's footsteps becoming a farmer. I have found no record of John Turnage owning land, however, his mother had land up to at least 1897. I believe John worked that land with his mother. John married Emley O'Dell, his first cousin, on June 25, 1874.

John and Emley had four known children.

It didn't take me long to realize that I know very little about John Turnage. He was a farmer that lived near Rayville, Missouri. There you have it. Emley O'Dell died on June 24, 1916, the day before their 42nd wedding anniversary. John went on to marry a woman named Nora sometime between 1916 and 1920 and lived in Howard County, Missouri. He died November 20, 1937 in Howard County. However, he was buried next to his first wife in Ray County, Missouri at the Crowley Cemetery. 



The headstone states that he was a reverend, but all of the census records list his occupation as farmer. However, his death certificate states that he was a retired minister. His grandfather was a prominent minister so it is not a stretch to believe that he followed in his footsteps.

Due-outs for John C. Turnage:

1. Try to locate an obituary, either in Ray or Howard County, Missouri.
2. Research his religious affiliation and determine when he became a minister.
3. Reach out via message boards and local genealogy society to try to find a photo of John.

Follow Friday - Favorites for July 26, 2013

Favorites is my weekly list of favorite genealogy, history and random finds from across the Net.

Funny obits bring new life to a dying art

Check out this amazing online tour created by the Warrenville Historical Society

A 17th-Century Sex Manual That's Legitimately Raunchy; view at your own risk ;)

A Citizen's Letter Tattling on Some AWOL Soldiers, 1918

Return of a Purple Heart at Filiopietism Prism
Where Do I fit in? Valediction at Ahnentafal, Genealogically Speaking
The Puffy shirt and Seinlanguage
Dazzle camouflage: the art of war
The house that time forgot
A San Francisco photo mystery solved
The Civil War in 4 series at the Civil War Trust gives great information...all in four minutes
2014 celebrates the 90th anniversary of the Rand McNally Road Atlas (yes, I still use maps)
A cool map webpage find thanks to Randy at Genea-Musings
10 countries that love (and hate) America most
Royal baby, meet the relatives
How to find really obscure sources at Genealogy's Star

Wordless Wednesday - Happy Turnages

Jesse and Ora Turnage of Rayville, Missouri