Tuesday, August 31, 2010

My Other Side - Camp Family

If you read my blog - you know how proud I am to be a Benton - and to have grown up surrounded by that wonderful Clan. I greatly credit who I am to having been raised in a big extended family of grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins. We had some great times.

Even so...there has always been another side that was missing. You see, my sweet mother, Gladys Lorraine Stokes Benton, was, in truth, Gladys Lorraine CAMP Stokes Benton. She, along with her two brothers James Earl and Joe Edward were born to Margie Anna Carter Camp and James Daniel Camp in and around Jefferson, Texas back in the 1920's.

This is a picture of Joe Edward Camp and James Earl Camp circa 1930.


And here is their sister and my mother Gladys Lorraine Camp at age 7 - which would be sometime after July 1930.


Like Glinda the Good says in "Wicked", every family has their secrets - and mine has its fair share. At some point, in the year or so after these pictures were made, things went wrong in the Jim and Margie Camp family. I won't get into the details here - but it was sudden and sad. The parents went their separate ways and these three sweet children were left with my great-grandparents, Charley and Lily Carter. They did not know where their parents were - or if they would ever see them again. Before I - or you - start "blaming" anyone - let's remember this was the Depression -with a CAPITAL D. Times were very different, easy communication from distances was difficult and people were trying to survive.

Sometime two or three years later after the EVENT, Margie returned - reportedly having been in Oklahoma trying to find work and put together money to raise her children. She then took Gladys and Joe and moved to Florida. James Earl stayed behind with his grandmother and uncles on the Carter Farm. Charley had passed away during this time.

This picture was taken around the time Margie returned and moved with Joe and Gladys to Florida.


So, first Margie and the children went around Lake Okeechobee - and she had a hard time finding work. They traveled north and landed in Gainesville, Florida. And thus, I am a native Floridian - and proud of it - rather than being a native Texan - which I also sort-of claim - and proud of my Texas heritage as well.

This picture is of Gladys and Joe after they are living in Florida.


Margie met and married Furman Lee Stokes in Gainesville - in 1938. He was a wonderful man and he loved Joe and Gladys and was a good "Daddy" to them for the rest of their lives. But...when I was a curious child, I wanted to know what happened to their "original" Daddy. I was just told - he abandoned his family. Of course, as with secrets, that was not the whole story - or necessarily even the true story. That will all be in a different post. Let's just say, I was always bothered to not know anything about my Grandfather Camp.

You may know, I am into genealogy and family history. Through my research I truly hit a dead end where James Daniel Camp - my biological grandfather - was concerned. So, I posted a question on Ancestry.com. (By the way, if you aren't watching Lisa Kudrow's program on NBC, "Who Do You Think You Are?" - which is sponsored by Ancestry.com - you should. It is wonderful). As usual, I digress.

I was contacted, through my post on Ancestry.com, by Mike Stout who told me his wife, Christine, was the daughter of Frank Camp, who was the brother of my grandfather James Daniel Camp. We began to email back and forth - and found we had some similar pictures of James when he was a young man. Mike told me that my grandfather had remarried and had two more children, Elizabeth Ann and James Leland. He had heard that Elizabeth Ann had died but thought James Leland might still be living. I am having visions now of a brother my mother never knew she had. I am picturing a man - probably in his late 70's who could go at any time. I wanted to meet him, or at least talk to him. Maybe he would know what had happened to my grandfather and why he never had contact with my mother and uncles.

About a month ago, Mike Stout (who is a truly kind and generous person) emailed me and said that James Leland Camp's wife had passed away and Christine was going to go to the funeral and would try to tell James Leland Camp about me and find out if it would be okay if I contacted him. She did get to tell him and he said - yes, by all means - please have her call me. I finally did last week call him. I felt awkward and shy to some extent - what would I say?? Well, when he answered the phone, I just said "Is this James Leland?". He said, "Yes it is". Then I said, "well this is Lynda, I am your niece." The conversation started and has continued and this weekend I met some of my Camp family - at long last. Here I am with my "Uncle" James. He is only six years older than me, so he seems more like a cousin, and definitely like a friend.



I hope I have "teased" you with this posting. So, stay tuned, for more about my adventure into my family's past and the mysteries surrounding what happened way back in the 1930's.

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