October Birthdays

Each  month you can learn about some of your ancestors on their special day.  Along with vital statistics, you can read the stories told through the years along and/or personal memories of my own. Please add your stories here too.  

03 Oct 1851 - FRANCIS BRISON AUSTIN, SR. - My great-grandfather was born on 03 Oct 1851 in Greenville, Greenville, South Carolina. He married Flora Ann (Annie) HUNSUCKER on 13 Mar 1880 in Raleigh, Wake, North Carolina. The family moved from North Carolina to Savannah, Chatham, Georgia, around 1888.  He died at the age of 61 on 25 May 1913 in Savannah and was buried on 26 May 1913 in Savannah, Chatham, Georgia (Laurel Grove Cemetery, Lot 2903).

Austin family at home on

208 West Anderson Street, Savannah, GA about 1889

In photo:  Standing left to right - Katie, Lillian, Will, Daisy

Sitting:  Frank and Annie, and Georgia and Fred on the steps

(Photo owned by Frank's great-granddaughter Stephanie Irish)

05 Oct 1884 – LOUIS FALLIGANT THOMAS, SR. – Louis was born in Savannah, Chatham, Georgia, to parents Adelaide Almira LAVIER and John Augustus THOMAS. He married Charlotte Melissa HORNE on 10 Feb 1910 in Savannah (St. Paul's Episcopal Church). He was employed as a Machinist. He died on 10 Mar 1920 in Savannah and was buried in Bonaventure Cemetery (Section A, Lot 136). The cause of death was Influenza/Pneumonia. Louis and Charlotte had one son, Louis Falligant THOMAS, Jr., who was killed in a streetcar accident at the age of six. Their marriage ended in divorce.

05 Oct 1824 – ANNE MATILDA ENGLISH TOWLES – Anne Matilda ENGLISH was the oldest sister of my 2^nd great-grandmother Sarah Jane ENGLISH. She was born in Bryan County, Georgia.  She married Daniel Freeman TOWLES on 17 May 1843. They had three sons: Henry G., Francis S., and Daniel F., Jr.  Anne died on 01 Sep 1854.

September Birthdays

Each month you will be introduced to some of your ancestors.  They will be listed in the month of their birth date.  Along with vital statistics, I will add personal stories I have been told and/or ones of my own as I have been fortunate to have personally known them.  Please add your stories here too.



Daddy Swann

01 Sep 1891 - OTIS FRANKLIN SWANN, SR. -Otis was my grandfather (Daddy Swann).  He was the youngest of eleven children born to Matilda Green HARPER and William Wilson SWANN in Conyers, Rockdale County, Georgia.  He married Eddye Mae LOYD and they had three children:  Frances, Mary Elizabeth, and Otis, Jr.

        Daddy Swann loved to tell stories of the family and I remember once he told me that when he was a young boy, he was walking down the road with his aunt.  She stopped and said to him, “Otis, look up in the sky.  I think one day trains will drive across the sky carrying a lot of people from one place to the other.”  He said he thought she was crazy!  Then he chuckled and added, “She really wasn’t crazy—look at the way people travel in the sky every day in airplanes!”