Finding Your Folks: The Grays of Line Creek, Part 3

We're going to wrap up the Grays this week with the final installment of Carol Hoyt's beautifully written story about her own branch of the Gray family. Carol writes:

“Now for a little about Hosea's oldest daughter, my great grandmother.

"Rosana Gray married Isaiah Washington Bishop 26 Dec. 1875. They lived in Fayette County near Isaiah's parents until Isaiah disappeared about 1892. There are several theories about what happened to him. Some say that he may have been killed in the woods by wild animals. The most likely theory is that he went to Texas. The family never heard from him again. When Isaiah disappeared, Rosana moved into a house next to her father's. The house is no longer there. Rosana and Isaiah had 6 children:

“(1) Onias Bloomer Bishop, born 9 Feb. 1878, married Ethel Lee Gaines 16 Dec. 1903 in Bartow County, Ga. They had three children. Ethel died in 1909 and Onias married Kate --?--. He and Kate had four children. Onias was a banker in Adairsville and he died 24 Sept. 1941.

“(2) Launa Bishop, born 9 Feb. 1878, married Walter A. Grovenstein 1 July 1903. She and her husband moved to Jacksonville, Fla. They had three children. Launa died in Jacksonville 5 June 1944. Their descendents still live in Florida.

“(3) Viola Villula (Lula) Bishop, born 24 Oct 1879. She suffered from some kind of seizures. Rosana often referred to her as "poor Lula." After her mother died, she spent extended time in Florida with her sister Launa and in Kansas City with her brother Walter.

“(4) Gertrude Bishop, born 4 Dec. 1883, died 5 June 1895. She is buried at County Line Christian in south Fayette County.

“(5) Leonidas (Lon) Bishop, born 6 May 1885, married Annie Lester 20 Jan. 1920. They had four children. Lon died 17 May 1961.

“(6) Walter Douglas Bishop (my grandfather), born 14 Oct. 1886. He married Emmie Rawls 7 Aug. 1907. She died 25 Nov. 1907. According to the obituary, she died of a six-week fever. We had always heard that she died of 'consumption.' She is buried the Mt. Pilgrim Lutheran Church cemetery in Haralson.

“Walter then married Cleopatra Nelson (probably in Pennsylvania where he did his internship). He was a physician and worked at the Soldier's Home in Sawtelle, Calif. Cleopatra died of tuberculosis and is buried in the Los Angeles National Cemetery.

“My grandmother (Mary Janet McConnell) was head of nurses at St. John's Hospital where Grandpa did his internship. Upon the death of Cleopatra, she wrote a letter of condolence. This began a year long correspondence. In July of 1918, my grandmother went by train to California and they were married a few days before Grandpa left for France in World War I.

“When Grandpa returned from the war, he and my grandmother moved to Kansas City, where they lived until their deaths. Grandpa died of a heart attack while seeing patients in his office, 21 May 1943. Grandma died 14 April 1979 and they are both buried in Memorial Park Cemetery in Kansas City, Kansas. Walter and Mary had three children: Walter Douglas Bishop, Jr., Lorence Bishop and my father, Julian Bishop.

“Walter took his family to Georgia every other year, so my father knew the Gray family well. We have pictures of him standing in front of the well at the Gray girls' house, playing with the dogs and swimming in what appears to be a river (possibly Line Creek?). After the outbreak of World War II (all three Bishop boys served in the military) and the death of their father, they did not make any more trips to Georgia.

“My dad made the comment that he would like to go to Georgia one more time before he died, so in December of 2005 I took my parents on a trip to Georgia.

“Haralson had not changed all that much in 60 years. We had a wonderful time visiting with Lat Gray and his father Hosea Pickens Gray Jr. Hosea showed us the confirmation certificate of Hosea Gray in 1870. He also had the original deed for the property. We were served sour dough bread which was a recipe that had been brought from South Carolina. This trip will always be a special memory as my Dad died in December of 2006.”

Again, I want to thank Carol for sharing her family memories with us. I have tried to add what little I could from research here in Coweta County and, last week, I checked the deeds at the courthouse to see what Gray owned which land and where it was. There were about 10 pages of Grays doing land deals in the Grantee and Grantor indexes combined. That's a lot!

The first five purchasers are unfamiliar names - Samuel (4th Dist.), Andrew J. (5th Dist.), Jonathan (2nd Dist.), A.W. (1st Dist.) and Ambrose W. Gray (1st Dist.). All made land purchases in Coweta between 1834 and 1839.

The next purchaser is Abraham Gray who, in 1838, purchased 50 acres in Land Lot 303 from William Westmoreland. Abraham made two more purchases from William in 1846 and 1847. All were in the First District. There are too many deeds to mention here but you can find them on microfilm at the Georgia Archives or at any LDS Family History Center. If you live close by, you can do what I did and visit the Coweta Superior Court building in Newnan and see them first hand.

If you'd like to correspond with Carol, her full name is Carol Bishop Hoyt and she lives in Neodesha, Kansas. Her e-mail address is choyt@terraworld.net.

Family histories about your ancestors who lived on Atlanta's south side are always welcome. Send them to jkilgore@thecitizen.com or JodieK444@aol.com. Mail to The Citizen, P.O. Drawer 1719, Fayetteville, GA 30214. All letters and e-mails I receive are subject to being used in the column.