OUR STORY CAME TOGETHER IN 1960

    

This was my dear husband

 just after we got married in 1960. 

       He was 32, almost 33, and we had written for a year and a half.  We met when he decided to come through Sacramento CA as he went down to meetings and family in San Diego CA.   A month later, he proposed to me by mail.   I accepted, and we were married in Sacto. CA at the Central Baptist Church.     It lasted until he passed on to glory in June of 2012.   

THIS IS THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, CRESCENT OR., THE FIRST CHURCH HENRY PASTORED, FROM 1953 - 1962

How I cherish the memories.   When I see Christ, I will be able to say gladly, "By God's Grace, I am here"  

          Henry graduated from Linda Vista Baptist Bible College & Seminary on May 12, 1952 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, and a Bachelor of Theology degree.   On May 18, 1953, he received a degree in Bachelor of Divinity, and a Master of Theology degree. How privileged I am to say that though I did not know before 1959, it was meant to be that we would marry.  

         How he believed and prayed and dreamed is reflected in this photo of him in 1952.  

  He was born 1927 while I was born six years later, in 1933.   All the time I was growing up, God gave me "impressions" of someone SURELY going to be my husband one day.   I did not always pay attention.   I did come to a certainty that there WAS someone out there - but I did not always act appropriately.    How thankful I am that God is Sovereign, and that He knows and cares, and that this man was praying for a wife, and believe me, I needed prayer.   

             My determination did not always stay with me, and I would get side-tracked from what God wanted me to do.   My self-will got in the way.   How it worked out is a testimony to God's grace in my life.

This was my photo at 12 years of age.   

Born in 1933, it was 1945 here.   

Very little upbringing in any faith, I remember as a little girl my mother saying to me,"When you grow up, and find God and believe in Him, I want you to tell me about Him, and I will believe too."

Somehow, Mother thought that because I was Jewish from my Daddy's side, that I would have "an in" with God.   It was not so, but it did give me A PURPOSE in my life.  I found myself looking for what was true, right, good, and found myself reasoning at a young age, about who God was, is, and should be in my life.

It was in the 5th grade, at age 11, that a gentleman came to my grade school class and asked permission to hand out New Testaments.  The teacher said yes, and I got mine.   In it was written II Timothy 2.15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."  

There were other verses given - it was a Gideon Bible, and very good for me.  I looked up all the verses, and gave my life and heart to Jesus as my Lord and Savior.   I was not attending church at that time.   In that year, I remember going to Girl Scouts and learning the ten commandments.   The Girl Scout promise was 

"to do my duty to God and my country," among other things, so my heart was tenderized to read God's Word. 

You must understand that I am a redhead, and that

in my life, I was "Italian, somewhat but not Jewish" 

and very English on my Mom's side.   

My mother's folks were from ingrained YANKEE NEW ENGLAND folk.  

 Their forefathers were independent, many of them Baptist, and inclined to think for themselves.   They came over on the Mayflower to escape persecution, and often were maligned or misunderstood because they were so independent, and did not "just go to church" perse.   Hardworkers, and inclined to be educated generally, they thought for themselves.

T

MY GRANDFATHER'S FATHER - GEORGE EDGAR CARPENTER

WORKING ON WOOD 

AS A FARMER, EVERYTHING THEY DID AND PRODUCED 

WAS TRADED FOR OTHER GOODS IN THE AREA.

 MY GRANDFATHER (FORREST RAYMOND CARPENTER) HAD 

STRONG DISSENTERS IN HIS FAMILY.  THIS IS HIS GRANDFATHER, 

GEORGE ALBERT CARPENTER.

THIS WAS MY GRANDMOTHER'S MOTHER AS A YOUNG WOMAN, 

VIDA MAY INGALLS.  THIS MAY HAVE BEEN THE WEDDING DRESS

TO LUTHER WILBUR BREWER OF EASTHAM, MA.  

LUTHER WAS A TANNER, WORKING WITH LEATHER TO MAKE

GEAR FOR HORSES AND CARRIAGES.

On my father's side, I knew little.  

All I knew at the time was that his Mother was Jewish, of New York state, and that his father Orestes Donato was Italian, from Northern Italy.   My father had been raised by his Aunt Sally, not his mother.   His father returned to Italy with two brothers.   I know now that he remarried, and that I have relatives in the U S A.  I know now, that my father's father - Orestes Donato, was born in Tunisia, Africa while his father - my great grandfather Major Guiseppe Donato was a Major in the Italian Army while serving under the Italian King.

His wife, Nunia, was born in Russia.    There was no evidence of any religious affiliation - so I assume that they were Jews that came here hoping for a better life.   

This was my Dad in 1940.   I was 7 years of age at that time, and thought my father was very handsome.   He had been boarded out "as soon as he was old enough" by Aunt Sally who did what she thought was "proper" and then sent him to the New York Episcopal School of Music - where he learned to sing tenor, read music and to participate in the Episcopal church there where the school was situated.    Aunt Sally was of a "different" way of life for me.  She told palm readings to the rich and famous in order to make a living.  She lived in No Falmouth MA (Cape Cod) in the Summer and in the winter, lived in Florida.    I saw her only about three times in my life, and those were brief.   My biggest memory of the great grandmother is that she was a HUGE woman, who looked much like Golda Meier.   Strong features,  very intelligent, and quite in charge of her family.   My family was never able to discover why my Dad's mother was not raising him.   I did later on in my life discover he was born at the Ipswich NY Women's Reformatory.  

       My sister asked me, Why would that have been? where he was born?   I told her what I knew.   That in our country a law had been passed around 1884 and was in effect until about 1904 - which declared "a law establishing reformatories and villages" in which people who were homeless, on the street, and without work would be put in the villages, and anyone who was judged "immoral or indigent" was placed in a reformatory.   If a woman got pregnant, unmarried, or if married and the husband was out of work, then she would be considered as "a prostitute" so it is likely my grand-father was out of work, and not able to support her.  Even if the child was his, he could stop authorities from doing this.   They had the power to put anyone where they wanted.    I understand that in "these villages" that were created it was like a nightmare of travesties where the care was just "watching over cattle" not people.  

Many tried to commit suicide the conditions were so bad. 

Well, such as it was, the law was repealed before I was born. I understand that my Great grandmother Nunzia Donato was living up until 1975.   I would have liked to have known her.

My mother and father, the day after I was born, 

on June 9, 1933. 

       On my mother's side, I am related to the Carpenters, Cooks, Browns, and Greens who many of them were children of those that came over on the Mayflower in 1620. 

My Mother at age 17 had me, in 1933.    Strange, but Henry's mother was only 17 when she had him as her first child of nine. Anna Maude Sandine married Wm. Henry Cash, and in 1927 Henry was born in Rison Arkansas.  

     From what I understand, on Henry's Mother's side, she was a full blooded Swede, named Anna Maude Sandine.

Henry's father was named after a famous preacher Uncle Wm. Henry Cash who before the Civil War was a plantation owner, but after the Civil War he became an Itinerant Circuit Preacher and was beloved by all. 
       
  He was the father of Reuben who then had Ray and Roy Cash.   Roy Cash was Johnny Cash the singer's father, while Ray Cash was Henry's grandfather's father.  So Henry's grandfather Garret Gibson Cash was a first cousin to Johnny Cash's father.   

Rev. Wm. Henry Cash  1852 - 1912

Apr 12, 1861 – May 9, 1865 were the Civil War years.

I will put a link to the obituary of this dear man.   Although my father in law did not become a preacher, my husband did.  How grateful I am for believing folks in our families that prayed over the years.  

This was Henry's birth certificate.

I believe that the "daylight standard time" was

                                                             

a conflict that day, and the doctor who delivered Henry chose to use May 26, not May 25th.   I understand another friend of mine to have had her Mother choose the 26th instead of 25th but she too celebrates two days of "birth" ...

   

Here is Wm. Henry Cash (Jr.) at age 14 with

his grandmother Lenora Lee (Akins) Cash

Her birthday was on the 25th.   

Later on in this blog I will list more accurate dates for those in my family
 who wish to take note of them.   

This is the first entry of my life and Henry's.  I look forward to sharing it as I go along.    

There is much to discover online from GENEOLOGY WEBSITES.    LATER I SHALL RESEARCH THE FAMILIES ONLINE AND PERHAPS HAVE A BIT MORE TO GO ON.