Michael Talley's Blog – July 2009 Archive (2)

I was able to obtain a copy of the original application which my grandmother filled out when applying for Social Security. As I expected, It confirmed which date was accepted by the SS administration, but was of little other value. Did it contain the truth? That was what I needed to know. And if it was a lie, when was the lie first told? This brings me to another document that was supplied by one of my aunts. Apparently, what was found in the old bible was a letter that my grandmother herself… Continue

“Mamaherg” was raised by foster parents. Her mother died of tuberculosis in 1913. She had some older sisters by her father’s first wife and a baby brother. Apparently one of the older sisters was holding the baby while standing too close to the fire and the blanket caught on fire. This convinced her father, William Melhorn, that he could not work all day in the coal mines and take care of the babies at the same time. Somehow foster parents were found to raise my grandmother, who at that time… Continue