The Old Grey Winton, she ain't what she used to be!

The 1925 funeral record of my ancestor Mary Elizabeth Blakesley (#35) mentioned her surviving family paid for the use of a "grey Winton."

Well, that was not the name of any automobile that I had ever heard of before.

Then again, I'm not much of a car buff.

But, I was curious enough to find out more, and discovered an entire article about the Winton Motor Carriage Company on Wikipedia.

Turns out the company was founded by Scottish immigrant bicycle merchant Alexander Winton in Cleveland, Ohio, back in 1897, and it produced the type of upscale vehicles that would have been popular with a funeral home . . . at least up until 1924.

In the latter year, increased competition forced Winton to abandon cars to focus on boat engines. And, in 1930, they sold out to General Motors.

It is likely the vehicle Mary Elizabeth's mourners rode in looked something like the 1915 Winston Six Limousine pictured above.

Some new peregrination starting points from this find:
* Does the Carey Hand Funeral Home in Orlando have any photos of their old vehicles?

Rev. J. Dean Adcock (1876-1944)

A google search for "Dean Adcock" quickly retrieved this picture of the Baptist minister who officiated at the 1925 funeral of my ancestor Mary Elizabeth Blakesley (#35) in Orlando.

It led me to a good resource for anyone researching Baptist roots in the Sunshine State:

http://www.floridabaptisthistory.org/

There I found the Rev. Adcock was born 10 July 1876 in Tennessee. So, he would have been 49 years of age at the time of the Blakesely funeral.

As a younger man, he studied both at Union University and the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Upon graduation, he was called to Louisiana and served as a pastor in the towns of Mansfield, Bunkie, and Leeville.

It was in Mansfield that he met and married Miss Frances Rives.

The Adcocks came to Florida in 1912, when he was called to the pastorate of First Baptist Church of Tallahassee.

He became pastor of First Baptist Church of Orlando in 1920, so could not have known Mary Elizabeth for very long before she died in 1925.

He left Orlando in 1938 to become pastor of the Fifth Avenue Baptist Church in St. Petersburg. But, he would have still been in town when Mary Elizabeth's husband (and distant cousin!!) Edson McClure Blakesley (#34) died in 1931. Perhaps he officiated at his funeral as well?

He retired in 1943, and died the following 28th of May.

Some new peregrination starting points from this find:
* The web site referenced obituary details to be found in Florida Baptist Witness on 1 June 1944 (page 1) and 22 June 1944 (page 12). Is this publication indexed? Could it include references to any of my Baptist ancestors in Florida, even if they weren't clergymen?
* The web site also referenced Patricia J. Birkhead's 1996 book We've a Story to Tell: A History of First Baptist Church, Orlando, Florida. [ISBN 1577360206.] I own a copy. Can it tell me if the Blakesleys were members of the congregation, or did Rev. Adcock officiate at funerals of non-members, too?

201 North Magnolia Avenue, Orlando, Florida, 32801

The Orange County Property Appraiser 's web site in Orlando, Florida, is a tremendous resource for anyone trying to research where their ancestors lived.

For instance, I wanted to find out more about the address 201 North Magnolia Avenue, where my ancestors Edson McClure Blakesley (#34) and Mary Elizabeth Blakesley (#35) were living back in 1925.

Unfortunately, I discovered whatever type of building might have been at that address back then fell to the march of progress by 1954, when the current 4-story commercial structure (pictured above) was built.

Must've been a convenient location for Edson to retrieve his Civil War pension checks, though. It's right across the street from the downtown post office!

Some new peregrination starting points from this find:
* What happened to the building that was on this site in 1925?
* Are there any surviving photographs?

Mary Elizabeth Blakesley (#35), funeral home record

The Central Florida Memory project is a wonderful source of genealogical information for those with roots in or around Orlando.

The project is a partnership to preserve local historical resources that was formed in 2002, and now consists of the following partner organizations:

* The University of Central Florida Library.
* The Orange County Regional History Center.
* The Orange County Library System.
* The Museum of Seminole County.
* Rollins College's Olin Library.

Among the old records preserved at this site are those compiled by the Carey Hand Funeral Home, a treasure trove for the local family historian.

For instance, I found this image of the arrangements made for my ancestor Mary Elizabeth Blakesley (#35) back in 1925.

She was the wife (and distant cousin) of my Civil War ancestor Edson McClure Blakesley (#34), and the mother of Lola Blakesley Morgan (#17) in whose plot she was buried at Greenwood Cemetery.

The most amazing part of this discovery for me was Mary Elizabeth's funeral and burial only cost the family $205.00!

Some new peregrination starting points from this find:
* 201 North Magnolia Avenue is given as the Blakesley home address. Where is this? What is on this site today?
* The officiating minister was Dean Adcock. Who was he?
* The family had use of an automobile described as a "grey Winton." Did I read that correctly? What kind of car was that?