Newspapers / The Chapel Hill Weekly … / July 14, 1963, edition 1 / Page 7
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Sunday, July 14, 1963 Her Line Is Climbing Family Trees By PA.QLTTA FINE Mrs. Memory Aldridge Lester, who describes herself as “a bom city slicker and social butterfly,” is scarcely the type you would / expect to find jumping ditches and roaming over a deserted, weed - and - vine - infested backet woods farm in search' of old fam ily cemeteries. Yet, this is ex actly what she does, and it does n’t matter if it's blazing hot, freezing cold, or raining. Dress ed in boots and raincoat, and armed with an umbrella, a fork* ed stick (for snakes), a notepad and a pencil, she has been dis covered more than once down on her hands and knees digging away at a partially buried old tombstone, or seated crosslegged on a folded newspaper as she copies down the barely decipher able inscription on a crudely en graved stone for information needed to complete a family bloodline in her genealogical re search for southern archives and family historians. Known widely as an expert gen ealogist and the author of seven volumes of genealogical research which she sells to state archives, and libraries v from Massachus etts to California, she gathers her material from old ceme teries, family Bibles that date back to 1711, Civil War letters, court records and even an old 1755 tax list of Orange County; correspondence with other gene alogists is also fruitful. ‘‘Tracking down a family line is like working on a gigantic and fascinating crossword or jig-saw puzzle,” she said. “When I sud denly uncover some bit of infor mation that makes dozens of other pieces of information fall into place, I get so excited I can’t sleep. I send wires and make telephone calls like mad.” There is a purpose in Mrs. Les. ter’s “madness.” Since many court records were burned or lost during the Civil War, her research often provides missing links of information for histori ans, and it has even been known to benefit heirs seeking to estab lish their rights to estates. “It’s really not so difficult to trace a family once you get a lead,” she said. “One of the secrets you have to know is that in the old days the first male Shop Next I in CARRBORO I ■ft for Grow ||tti ; CCB| . ' ' > j " b the past five years alone, Wi our customers’ deposits rose (iron $27 Million to over Bfcg $53 Million, an increase of Wm (almost 100%! Loans made jto customers more than doubled! Come grow with (Centra! Carolina Bank! AUmbf Federal Deposit \ Ineurooce Corporetfioe child was always named for the father and the first daughter for the mother. So if yfc come across this name any Al and a date to set the it can lead you forward or back ward.” Like many others who took up genealdgy as a. hobby, Mrs. Les ter became interested in this field when she decided to trace down her own family tree. This interest was intensified after she joined the DAR. Her grandfather Aldridge, who lived to be 98 and had known all four of his own grandparents, was a storehouse of information. Their question-and-answer con test began when he was 79 and continued, with a lot of “dad blames,” until his death. “Climbing one’s own family tree can be both fun and embar rassing, depending on the limb you’re investigating," she said. “For instance, there was my bel ligerent great-grandfather who ran afoul of the law for street fighting irk Tennessee.” She also knows one high and mighty fam ily who boasts proudly of an an cestor who they aren’t aware was hailed into court more than once on charges of illegitimate parent hood. Farmers. Negroes, and even rural traveling salesmen have given Mrs. Lester help in tracing down leads on various family lines. It was a traveling sales man who told her about the old Turrentine family cemetery in Orange. County. “It’s way out in the country, south of Rouge mont," she said, “and it goes back to the first settlers. It was all grown up in trees and weeds, but I cleaned it out and found .crude rocks with names that were divided in the oldest man ner probably by some black smith since there weren’t many .stone cutters around then—and dates that went hack to 1717. From stones like these, you can get ages and know what to work on since this gives you a genera tion.” From this lead. Mrs. Les ter helped trace the family to A. D. Turrentine, Durham golf champion, and the late Dr. Sam B. Turrentine, former president of Greensboro College and a trustee of Duke University, Mrs. Lester believes curiosity | is reason enough to want a family L line traced—but more important, | since individuals make history, I records of individuals are import- I ant to history. This is the valu- I able by-product of digging up in- I formation on one’s forebears. I A native of Trinity, Alabama, MRS. LESTER (who discovered that eight of her ancestors lived in North Carolina 200 years ago), Memory Aldridge was the daughter of o Methodist minister who moved every four years to a new parish, "usually in the middle of a school year,” she recalled. \ She met her future husband, Robert MacDonald Lester, when she was 12 and he was almost 16. “It was at a picnic, and he was wearing his first pair of long trousers,” she said. “We didn’t like each other at all, but later, when I was going to Athens Col lege and he was going to Vander bilt University we rode the same train often, and things were dif ferent.” At Athens College, Memory Aldridge played tennis and var sity basketball, and ran relays on the track team. She was bus. intss manager of the yearbook, editor of the college newspaper* president of the George Elliott Literary Society, and member of the glee club and the dramatic society. Later, she attended the University of Alabama, where she was a member of Kappa Del ta sorority. She received her AB degree and graduated cum laude in a class of over 100, which was predominantly male. In 1915 she married Robert Lester, who was then principal of the high school in Covington, Tenn. It was in Covington that Mrs. Lester taught history and organized girls’ athletics. She coached a basketball team that was a champion in West Tennes see for two years. f”~ " 1 ■ i j ! . i >* ■ •/• *..;•■> \ I />_ jUg^M fV «1961 VOLKSWAGEN OF AM(tlC*/ IN®. 1 Why is our nose so stubby? The VW doesn't need o Jong front hood be-' Couse the engine's in back of the car. This gives you a couple of advantages overj the long-nosed jobs. Obviously, it makes for a shorter car. So you can move in and out of traffic. And its ond out of tight little parking spots. Your chances of denting a fender in the process are practically nil, too. Because the VW's short hood lets you look right down your nose at the road. ■The point is this: Everything on the VW is there' for a reason. Including our changes. Unless you've nosed oround VWs for years, you may not be aware of things like Our fully synchromesh transmission. * Or our quieter, more powerful engine. Or our 3,012 other inside improvements. On the face of it, the VW looks the samei underneath, it's changed. Which is one reason the VW depreciates so little ond stays in style year after year. Nose ond all. TRIANGLE MOTORS, Inc. ® 615 W. Chapel Hill St Dnham _ THE CHAPEL HILL WEEKLY While her husband was in ser vice in World War I, Mrs. Lester took a position with the YWCA at the hostess house at Camp Wheeler, Macon, Ga. Because of her excellent work, she was promoted to a more responsible job as assistant director at Camp Morrison, Norfolk, Va. After the war, the Lesters re sumed civilian life at Covington, Tenn., where Dr. Lester became superintendent of schools. Their son, Robert Jr., was born dur ing this period. In 1921 the Lesters moved to New York where Dr. Lester was to work on his Ph D. in English at Columbia University. He was a member of the English facul ty there until he joined the Car negie Corporation, where he re mained until his retirement a few years ago. While the Les ters were in New York, Mrs. I-ester took graduate work. She was subsequently librarian of the graduate English library at Col ■umbia, and after some years she was also in charge of the class ics library. With a staff of four, she held this position for 10 years. During World War II she work ed in the Memorial' Hospital, the Navy League, the United Sea mans’ Service -and the Officers club, for which sie received cer. tificates of merit at the close of the war. A more recent honor was her inclusion in Who’s .Who last year. In 1949 she was offered the position of associate editor of a new magazine, “The Southerner.” As a roving editor she did a top notch job in public relations. She wrote articles on Southern lore and others on modern aspects of living in Dixie, articles which she describes-as “a sort of civilian Ernie Pyle travelogue.” At the present time Mrs. Les ter is interested in securing a portrait of the Earl of Hills borough, (of the family of Wills Hills), for whom the town of Hillsboro was named. As chair man of the Hillsborough His torical Society, Mrs. Lester feels that the securing of such a por trait is a fitting project for Or ange County in celebration of the N, C. Tercentenary. “The new courthouse would be the place where th -ortrait could be seen by sightsc. s of historical Hills boro and till the blank wall be hind the judge’s bench,” she said. "There are precedents for the hanging of a portrait in a courthouse when the building was named for the man; consequently there will be no danger of adding other portraits to the walls.” Mrs. Lester has turned a hobby —tracing family lines into a valuable service for many com munities and states. She is an acknowledged expert in the field by heads of state archives. Npgfa . ji | ■- ; LA SERTOMANS New officers of the Chapel Hill La Sertoma Club were installed at'a joint meeting with; the Tar Heel Sertoma Club last Tuesday. From left are Louise Council, presi- Lilacs Like Deep , Rich Soil By M. E. GARDNER A lady just called about her lilac plants. She told me that they were strong plants when set and that she used peat and sand mixed with her red clay soil when they were planted. Now she says that they are old enough to bloom but only one rather weak bloom has appealed. Lilacs prefer a deep rich soil and one that is not too acid. I suggested that she have her soil tested and use enough lime to raise the pH to about 6.5 or 7.0. Also, that she fertilize the plants with a good general purpose fer tilizer such as an 8-8-8. Generally speaking, lilacs seem to grow better in the up per Piedmont and mountains than in jhe lower Piedmont and east ern r Cerolina. They do especially well in "limestone country " Another lady was worried about a nice azalea (Indica) plant which was not growing as it should. I stopped by to see this plant. It was healthy enough but was rather flat-topped as the Another Style Craft Exclusive! finidwd frames of _ Mh&F /VaZ~T solid Rattan make car ii'lWm rt < v OGW !A “ Bforttisfwef “-: any one of 23 chapel l " r ' ture as easy as living Hil!homes - .With it. See it today!. First one here is a lucky j S’ 3=l~ Egg Fu Yong. •-1 WEEK NIGHTS including Wednesdays Jro^OFnNEFlfll^R? ’fll. 9 New Chapel Hill Bird... Durban*, N.C. Saturdays ’til 6 Kenneth C. Royall, Jr., President dent; Mildred Colville, treasurer; Mar garet Haskell, secretary; and Helen Jones, first vice president. Jane Houck, second vice president, was absent when the picture was made. terminal shoots were not elon gating as they should. After examining the plant I decided that it had been planted too deep. In addition, it was heavily mulched with leaves. This “ did. not pose much of a problem because the plant was' easily raised a little with a .round pointed shovel and a little ex tra care. Azaleas, rhododendrons, camel lias, blueberries and other plants in this group are comparatively shallow rixtted and will not tphe= erate deep planting. If the plants are bailed and burlapped the top of the ball should be set even j with the soil line and then mulch ed. The same Ls true for container j grown plants. Pine straw is bet tor than leaves or i>eat because \ water penetrates more easily. I have given advice on this many times but the question keeps popping up. This is Japanese beetle time and you should eliminate* them as soon as they appear. The beetles are shiny brown and green with 12 white spots. They are about one-half inch long. They spend about 10 months as grubs in the soil. Then they go through a short resting, pupal stage, and emerge as adult beetles. They attack more than 200 plants and -Will cause severe damage unless controlled. Spray any plants infested with the beetles with Sevin. This me • terial is effective, and safe. The other method of control is to treat your lawn with Chlor dane in the spring. This ma terial will kill the grubs which “feed on the grass roots. It will also control other soil insects in cluding ants and white grubs. ' ANTIQUE LACQUER CABINET; Mahogany GIFTS Grandfather Clock. (Shop will be closed Aug. 19th to Sept. 3rd). Also several spacious rooms of 18th and 19th ft j century- furniture, china, old silver, and ob- j jects of art at Chapel Hill’s original antique \ and gift shop. 1215 E. Franklin, Chapel Hill • 9:30 to 5:30 Daily VJT Summer Chorus Sings Tuesday The University of North Caro lina Summer Session Chorus will present its first concert of the summer Tuesday evening at 8 in Hill Hall auditorium. The chorus is under the direction of Charles Horton, who is on a leave of ab sence as Head of the Department of Music of Campbell College. The . major work on this pro gram will be Schubert's -“Meri am’s Song of Triumph,” with Nelle Kemp as guest soloist. Mrs. Kemp has done outstanding work with opera and oratorio groups on both the west and east coasts. She was for a time a singer with the na tionally known Grass Roots Opera Company. Other works will include Bach’s “Cantata 118: O Jesu Christ,” “Pater Noster” and "Ave Maria” by Igor Stravinsky, “Let Down the Bars, O Death,” and “The Coolin' ” by Samuel Barber, and a setting of Walt Whitman’s poem "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking” by Norman Lockwood. Accompanist for the chorus is Robert Steelman of Kinston. This concert is being sponsored by the Music Department's Tues day Evening Series and is free to the public. YOUR RUGS Will Look Better Last Longer with Care By Professional Rug “Chapel Hill’s Only Qualified Rug Cleaner” Dial Operator, Ask for Durham WX2OOO, Bernson Page 1-B
The Chapel Hill Weekly (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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July 14, 1963, edition 1
7
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