My dad

I haven't posted anything in while, so I'm posting a photo of my dad when he served in WWII. My dad, Johnney Seagraves, is on the right and his brother, Endel Seagraves, is on the left.
My dad passed away thirty-three years ago this month.

More Seagraves photos

I got some more Seagraves photos but not all of these are Seagraves family. Some are with neighbors and the second one is with a church group. I think Church of Christ but I'm not sure.

Thursday's thirteen: My Dad

Johnnie B Seagraves 1922-1982

Photo taken at the Salton Sea (dad's last fishing trip)

(the pretty lady on the left is my mom, Jeannetta.)

It's almost Father's day and I find myself thinking about my dad. He's been gone for nearly thirty years, but I still miss him.

1. My dad, Johnnie B Seagraves, was born in 1922 in Mount Pleasant,Tennessee. But was raised on a farm near Pulaski.

2. My dad was raised on a farm and rode a horse before he could walk, but all his life he disliked horses.

3. My dad and his family came to Madera, California in 1936, when my dad was fourteen.

4. My dad learned to skate in an old barn, where he had nailed down ten can lids over the knot holes in the floor. He leaned to be a good skater, so he could skate with the girls at the roller rink that we still have in town.

5. He was drafted into the Army and served his tour in Hawaii as a ambulance driver and later a medic, taking care of the boys hurt in the war.

6. After the war when he came home, he used his Vet benefits to learned to be a Body and Fender man (that's someone who hammers out the dents and paints cars). According to his good friend Harmon Henderson, my dad was the best Body and Fender man in Madera.

7. In 1960, my dad met and married my mom, Jeannetta.

8. In 1961, I was born. :) In 1962 my sister Deanna was born.

9. My dad loved to fish and was very good at it too.

10. One time my dad went deep sea fishing and caught a shark. After wrestling with the thing for what seemed like hours (and may have been), he finally got it on board and decided to keep it. He took it home and cut it up. Soon all his friends found out Johnnie had a shark and came over to ask for a steak so they can try shark. My dad's good nature was his undoing, he gave everyone who asked a shark steak, until he realized he had given it all away.

11. Dad taught me how to fish, but I'm not very good at it on my own and don't fish anymore.

12. In 1980 my dad found out he had colon cancer.

13. In 1982, my dad passed away in the Veteran's hospital in Fresno. He was 60 years old. I was twenty-one. It was a very wet year and it seemed like the very skies wept.

Captain Seagrave

From The Writings of Benjamin Franklin: London, 1757 - 1775

Will it be permitted me to adduce, on this Occasion, an Instance of the like Honour in a poor unenlightened African Negroe. I find it in Capt. Seagrave's Account of his Voyage to Guinea.

He relates that a New-England Sloop, trading there in 1752, left their second Mate, William Murray, sick on Shore, and sailed without him.


Murray was at the House of a Black, named Cudjoe, with whom he had contracted an Acquaintance during their Trade. He recovered,and the Sloop being gone, he continued with his black Friend, till some other Opportunity should offer of his getting home.

In the mean while, a Dutch Ship came into the Road, and some of the Blacks going on board her, were treacherously seized, and carried off as Slaves. Their Relations and Friends, transported with sudden Rage, ran to the House of Cudjoe to take Revenge, by killing Murray.


Cudjoe stopt them at the Door, and demanded what they wanted?

The White Men, said they, have carried away our Brothers and Sons, and we will kill all White Men; -- give us the White Man that you keep in your House, for we will kill him.


Nay,said Cudjoe; the White Men that carried away your Brothers are bad Men, kill them when you can catch them; but this White Man is a good Man, and you must not kill him. 


-- But he is a White Man, they cried; the White Men are all bad; we will kill them all.

-- Nay, says he, you must not kill a Man, that has done no Harm, only for being white. This Man is my Friend, my House is his Fort, and I am his Soldier. I must fight for him. You must kill me, before you can kill him. -- What good Man will ever come again under my Roof,if I let my Floor be stained with a good Man's Blood! 


-- The Negroes seeing his Resolution, and being convinced by his Discourse that they were wrong, went away ashamed.

In a few Days Murray ventured abroad again with Cudjoe, when several of them took him by the Hand, and told him they were glad they had not killed him; for as he was a good (meaning an innocent) Man, their God would have been angry, and would have spoiled their Fishing. 


-- I relate this, says Captain Seagrave, to show, that some among these dark People have a strong Sense of Justice and Honour, and that even the most brutal among them are capable of feeling the Force of Reason, and of being influenced by a Fear of God (if the Knowledge of the true God could be introduced among them) since even the Fear of a false God, when their Rage subsided, was not without its good Effect.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Even though the name Seagraves has it roots in England (spelled Segrave back then), the Seagraves family in the US has roots in Ireland too.

There's a village named Seagrave which may or may not been given to one of my ancestors.

Either that or I'm a dirt relative.

And with my luck digging around in the family tree that's probably it.

(Dirt relative is someone that has the same name as say the lord or knight, but they got the name from the town not the family.)

Then some of the Segrave line moved to Ireland.

Two Segrave's men moved to the US from Ireland at around 1700 or so. One was a minister, Francis Segrave, who settle in the Isle of Wright with his four kids (his two sons later married had thirteen children each), and the other arrived here in chains.

James Segrave was a bad boy, his father's will reflected that. I'm not sure what James did but he ended up in a penal colony here in the US.

James escaped or finished his time and made his way to New Jersey, where he opened a pub and started brewing beer. And called himself George.

It turns out he was a Master Brewer back in Ireland (a family business). And where James the convict couldn't get a licence to run a pub---George could.

Respectable minster or the convict--Guess which one I'm descended from?

If you have a glass of green beer today to honor St. Paddy make a toast to my ancestor James (George) Seagraves Brewery Master and escaped convict, without whom I wouldn't be here.

The Seagraves and Powel family connection

I have been given permission to post the following.

Subject: Seagraves/Powell Genealogy Family Connections
Hello Janice,

Pat Powell, Springer here,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,tried to contact you on the Seagraves/Graves website about these families in Giles County, Tn.

The Powell's that are related to the Seagraves family are Ambrose Powell and his 2 daughters that married Joal Seaton Seagraves, which were Martha R. Powell, and a Emma D. Powell. We believe they were sisters.

I am in contact with a Suzy Inman in Nevada (I think), and she has this info posted on http://www.facebook.com/l/619bfK7yLo50uL_22R2qHJP3FWg;Ancestry.com

Sorry, to just now tell you why I am emailing you, I was wanting to fill you in on all the Powell Family from Virginia, Hall Co. Ga., Dade,Walker, Elbert, Wilkes, Hart Counties, Georgia.

Susy Inman and I made a connection with Ambrose Powell and the daughters that married Joal Seaton Powell, and one of their children were Lewis Riddle Seagraves.

It just so happends that the Powells were in Walker County, Georgia, and moved to Giles, County, Tennessee in 1854. Lewis Riddle Powell Jr. also moved to Giles or Lawrence Co. Tn. also, about the same time, and his son is buried in the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, in Maury Co. Tn., he married Janie Hinson. Ambrose Powell married a Mary Ann Carroll from Giles Co. Tn. and also another lady, and had these Children:
Keziah Caroline (Powell) Lanier, Fleming
Pressly Carroll Powell
James Powell

The Parents of Ambrose Powell was Lewis Riddle Powell and Sarah??? There are at least 10 or 12 children from 2 wives:

A female before 1820 in Hall Co. Ga.
Ambrose Powell
Pressly Powell
Green Oliver Powell
Lewis Riddle Powell Jr.
Newton Powell
Sevier Powell
Keziah Caroline Powell, born in the 1830's

Lewis Riddle Powell married a Elizabeth Burke, around 1845 to 1850 and their Children were:

Morning Francis (Powell) Cogins, Clements.
Nancy Powell
Lewis Ervin, or Irvin Powell (my Gr. Grandfather)
Upson Powell.

I just wanted to give you a little background on these 3 families, and I have a cousin, through Keziah Caroline (Powell) Lanier, Fleming, Ambrose Powell's daughter, by the name of Edward Graves Corlew, living at this time in Camblesville, Tennessee.

Just wanted to be of some help in trying to fill in some of the blanks of your Seagrave and Graves Family Genealogy. Am looking forward to hearing from you.

I am also on face book, under the name of Linda Springer. My email is springerpc (at) msn.com and would like to contact all the people on your Seagraves site, if they should like to know more about the Powells.. The Seagrave family lived close to Anderson Creek, and Ambrose Powell lived on Anderson Creek. Ed Corlew is going to try and survey the Seagraves Cemetery for family history purposes.

Looking so forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,
Pat (Powell) Springer

Could the Nasty Ol' Sheriff of Nottingham have been a Seagraves?

This is for my Seagraves in history series. I'm not sure if these Seagraves are in our genealogy, but its fun reading about them.

Could the mean ol' Sheriff of Nottingham have been a Seagraves?

Well, lets see . . . if you've read or at least saw a movie of Robin hood and there are lots of them, you'll know that there is something missing. Namely the name of the Sheriff.

It's true.

He is only called the Sheriff or Sheriff or Nottingham and nothing else.

Let's delve a little deeper shall we?

The Sheriff of Nottingham is an important figure in the legend of Robin Hood, and the archenemy of Robin and his Merry Men. The holder of the office of Nottingham's Sheriff, it is his task to capture outlaws such as Robin Hood, either to ensure the safety of trade routes through Sherwood Forest, or to keep them from poaching the King's deer. In some stories, the Sheriff of Nottingham is portrayed as having a lecherous desire for Robin Hood's lady, Maid Marian. He is widely considered to be the principal villain of the Robin Hood stories, appearing frequently, alongside such enemies of Robin Hood as Sir Guy of Gisbourne or Prince John (though rarely both).

The story takes place in 1200-1400

That's a awfully big time frame.

So who was Sheriff during that time?

The legends are generally set far from Nottingham, one explanation being that a short-staffed King of England placed the Sheriff of Nottingham in charge of law enforcement for much of northern England. This is the case in the film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves in which the Sheriff's influence has grown so great he attempts to take control of the throne.

In some versions, the Sheriff is more a cowardly schemer while his assistant, Sir Guy of Gisbourne is a more competent and determined physical threat to Robin. In other versions, the Sheriff answers to Prince John who is the main villain.

It has been suggested that the historical sheriff upon which the stories are based was William de Wendenal, Roger de Laci, or William Brewer.

Or are they?

The Sheriff of Nottingham was historically the office responsible for enforcing law and order in Nottingham and bringing criminals to justice. For years the post has been directly appointed by the Lord Mayor of Nottingham and in modern times with the existence of the police force, the position is entirely ceremonial and sustained to boost tourism due to the legendary connection to the tales of Robin Hood. However the historical position goes back to Anglo-Saxon times. The office is sometimes confused with that of the High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire. Before this, during 1068 until 1449 the position existed as High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and the Royal Forests.

So the office isn't necessarily called Sheriff of Nottingham.

Previously, from 1068 until 1449 the position existed as "High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and the Royal Forests."

And this is the time in question. So if I expand my search to include this office . . .

http://books.google.com/books?id=K3MaAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA484&lpg=PA484&dq=sheriff+stephen+de+segrave&source=bl&ots=iyGt-bdAhZ&sig=_hlsKsqoQFHLNDkGS72_ex-VrIE&hl=en&ei=0rF8TKa5G4SKlwfY0KTtCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CDwQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=sheriff%20stephen%20de%20segrave&f=false

Sorry couldn't copy and paste this. But it says here that Stephen de Segrave was at one time the Sheriff of Nottinghamshire during the time of December 12, 1264 which is in the time frame for the Robinhood story.

• 1223-1223 Stepehen de Segrave here's another link that says Stephen de Segrave was sheriff of Nottinghamshire.

Okay, so maybe I'm reach just a bit. But you have to admit it is very interesting. *wink*

Here's another interesting link.