June 2014 Family Reunion

Jim and I had the great pleasure of attending the 92nd Leisure Family Reunion at Phil Leisure's farm near Fairmount, Indiana last weekend. A great time was had by all. As always, the food was delicious and the conversations stimulating!

Here's a few pictures from the afternoon:

The Max & Margaret Ewing Question Solved

Back in October of 2011, I posted A Marriage Conundrum – Max & Margaret (Leisure) Ewing. The conundrum existed because we had found two marriage records for this couple – one in 1927 and one in 1937. The question was did they divorce between marriages.

Thanks to Mariah Kendall Allen who left comments regard this couple we learned more about the them but still had no confirmation of a divorce. Mariah stated Margaret was her great-aunt and the family story “was Margaret’s dad Dora Roscoe ‘Dode’ Leisure did not like Max William Ewing and Margaret left for a while”. When exactly the separation took place is unknown but thanks again to Mariah for providing the copy of their second marriage license we know they divorced in 1936.

I’m sure that somewhere in the depths of Bartholomew County, Indiana court records the actual divorce file exists. However, for now, I’ll take this as confirmation of this couple's divorce. If the reason for the separation and divorce was the feelings of Margaret’s father, it appears that love won out in the end.

Thanks again, Mariah for the update.

~Becky

My Leisure Book is Out

I had posted a message similar to this earlier but, after some printing problems, I took it down. The issues have been resolved and Our Leisure Family is ready to print for anyone who would like a paper copy. I make no profit from the sale of the book as it is priced at cost. To order go to lulu.com and search for Our Leisure Family or my name Becky Stewart Higgins.

Anyone who would prefer can contact me at bhiggins9@gmail.com and I'll give you access to the PDF file on Dropbox. The PDF is free.

I just received my test copy of the book and am quite pleased with the outcome. I'm looking forward to doing business with Lulu in the future.

Nearing the End of a Journey

I'm finally nearing the ending of my Leisure project. I have some final proofing to do and perhaps a thing or two to add but the book is almost ready to publish.

The biographies included thus far are for my direct line: Joseph, Nathan, George Washington, Joseph, Mary Frances "Fanny", Clara Elizabeth "Lizzie", and Earl. I've also included the orphan train rider, William Sidney Emay - Fanny's husband - since I don't know anything about his ancestors.

Of course, there are many genealogy reports, with source citation, which include many of my indirect lines.  I've created a Page on this blog titled Outline Report which includes six generations from Joseph (Sr.) and show the full scope of this project. Any cousin who would like to have a biography of one of these relatives is more than welcome to send it to me at bhiggins9@gmaildotcom. However, time is short as I hope to decide exactly how and where to publish this project within the next month or so.

I hope the final publication will be of help and interest to fellow Leisure family members and genealogists in the future. I'm excited about closing out this project and am already thinking about my next.

~ Becky ~

Joseph Leisure and Slavery

Check out How My Hopes Were Dashed to learn what I learned in Kentucky about Joseph Leisure.

"Betsy" Montgomery Leisure Protects Her Property

Check out My Genealogy Pondering to see a transcription of how Betsy Leisure protected the estate left to her by Joseph prior to her second marriage. She was a smart cookie!!

Learning As I Go

Things I recently learned and am working through: about Joseph Leisure/Leasure/Lasure