LoGenWriMo #3: A Photo Moment

I'm cheating tonight. I intended to write a sketch of an ancestor--and I hope to catch up on that one later in the month. I spent the day researching in Knoxville, and by the time I got home, it was too late to attempt to compose an entry for today. The sketch was intended to be an update of a post written in 2012 on Ashley Aldridge.

Instead, today's post focuses on a photograph, taken about 1947, which is one of the earliest of my brother Jim with our parents. My first cousin Linda appears to be in the background.

J.T. Thornton, Jim Thornton, Dorothy (Lantz) Thornton, Linda Feuerhelm
Home of I. L. Lantz, Blackcat Bottom, Amory, Mississippi

Indiana Village for Epileptics and Andrew Lantz

As I researched a very distant line of the Lantz family, I came across Andrew who died in 1943 at the Indiana Village for Epileptics.¹ I found it interesting such a place existed. Rounding up people with a neurological disorder to live in the same place with other sufferers seemed a little strange. Apparently it was created in 1905 by Indiana's legislature and was considered "progressive" at the time.² Dr. Walter C. Van Nuys served as the village's superintendent until his retirement in 1952.³ It was not Dr. Van Nuys, but Dr. J. H. McNeill, who signed my relative's certificate.⁴

Indiana Village for Epileptics, Colony No. 2, New Castle, Indiana, 1919; uploaded by Historic Bremen to Sauer-Schurr Family Album, Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/historicbremen/27917654397 : accessed 17 July 2018), CC BY-NC 2.0 license) 

An Indiana marriage law, passed 15 April 1905, the same year the legislature created the village, specified "no license to marry shall be issued where either party is an imbecile, epileptic, of unsound mind, nor to any person who is or has been within five years an inmate of any county asylum or home for indigent persons, unless it satisfactorily appears that the cause of such condition has been removed and that such male applicant is able to support a family and likely to so continue, nor shall any license issue when either of the contracting parties is affected with a transmissible disease, or at the time of making application is under the influence of an intoxicating liquor or narcotic drug."⁵ Andrew married Nannie King and fathered two sons and three daughters before the law was enacted.⁶ The children were Mary, Pearl, Elmer, Dora, and Henry.⁷ Andrew's institutionalization broke up the family before 1920.⁸  How lonely Nancy must have felt, forced to provide for her children without her husband's assistance! She survived him, dying 16 September 1956.⁹ Both are buried at Mast Cemetery near Kokomo, Indiana.¹⁰

Because treatments differed from those when the community was established, the Indiana Village for Epileptics expanded its mission to treat other neurological disabilities, becoming first the New Castle State Hospital and eventually the New Castle State Developmental Center.¹¹ It closed 15 August 1998, and its buildings were demolished in 2002.¹²

---

1 "Indiana, Death Certificates, 1899-2011," database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/60716/45232_355688-01219?pid=2827854 : accessed 17 July 2018), Andrew Lantz (1867-1930), 1930, Howard County, reg. no. 15212.^↩
2 Rebecca L. Loufburrow, The Indiana Village for Epileptics, 1907-1952: The Van Nuys Years (M.A. thesis, Indiana University, 2008), page 1; PDF, ScholarWorks (https://scholarworks.iupui.edu/handle/1805/1868 : accessed 17 July 2018)..^↩
3 Ibid.^↩
4 "Indiana, Death Certificates, 1899-2011," Andrew Lantz (1867-1930).^↩
5 "State Laws Regulating Marriage of the Unfit," Journal of the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology 4, no. 3 (September 1913), page 424; digital image, JSTOR (https://www.jstor.org/stable/1133362 : accessed 17 July 2018).^↩
6 Andrew Lantz, obituary, Gospel Herald 36, no. 12 (17 June 1943), pages 246-247; online, Mennobits (http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~mennobit>, accessed 11 Jan 2003). While the obituary states they married in Spring 1896, Edward A. Mast performed the marriage 22 December 1895 in Howard County. See: "Indiana Marriages, 1811-2007," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2MR-59CM : accessed 17 July 2018), Andrew Lantz Or Lautz and Nancy King, 22 Dec 1895; citing Howard, Indiana, United States, various county clerk offices, Indiana; FHL microfilm 7,032,686.
7 1910 U.S. Federal Census, Howard County, Indiana, population schedule, Liberty Township, SD 9, ED 146, page 135B (stamped), dwelling/family 150, Andrew Lantz family; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/60716/45232_355688-01219?pid=2827854 : accessed 17 July 2018); citing National Archives microfilm publication T624, roll 355.^↩
8 1920 U.S. Federal Census, Henry County, Indiana, population schedule, Prairie, Indiana Village for Epileptics, SD 6, ED 77, page 37B, line 76, Andrew Lantz; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/6061/4300613_00079?pid=83305327 : accessed 17 July 2018); citing National Archives microfilm publication T625, roll 438. He was also enumerated with Nancy, but it says he is "working out." Since he was working on the farm in the village, we can assume this was where he was working out. See: 1820 Census, Howard County, Indiana, pop. sch., Liberty Twp., SD 9, ED 153, p. 247A (stamped), dwelling/family 82, Andrew Lantz household; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/6061/4300613_01061?pid=83350089 :  accessed 17 July 2018); citing NARA microfilm publication T625, roll 438. He resided in the village during the 1930 and 1940 censuses, with the 1935 residence marked as same place. See: 1930 U.S. Federal Census, Henry County, Indiana, population schedule, Henry Township, Epileptic Village, SD 9, ED 33-25, page 167B (stamped), line 95, Andrew Lantz; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/6224/4584688_00340 : accessed 17 July 2018); citing National Archives microfilm publication T626, roll 593. Also: 1940 U.S. Federal Census, Henry County, Indiana, population schedule, Henry Twp., SD 10, ED 33-40, page 408A, line 16, Andrew Lantz; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/2442/M-T0627-01052-00853?pid=55481658 : accessed 17 July 2018); citing National Archives microfilm publication T627, roll 1052.^↩
9 Nancy Barbara Lantz, death record, 16 September 1956; Indiana History and Genealogy Database, Marion Public Library, Marion, Indiana (http://gen.marion.lib.in.us/Default.asp : accessed 17 July 2018); citing book 14, page 151, reel 9.^↩
10 Find A Grave (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/30731178 : accessed 17 July 2018), Andrew Lantz (1867-1943), memorial no. 30731178, Mast Hensler Cemetery, Kokomo, Howard County, Indiana; (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/30731179 : accessed 17 July 2018), Nancy B. Lantz, memorial no. 30731179, Mast Hensler Cemetery, Kokomo, Howard County, Indiana. Although Find A Grave calls this "Mast Hensler Cemetery," most death certificates, including Andrew's, include only "Mast Cemetery" for burials. See "Indiana, Death Certificates, 1899-2011," Andrew Lantz (1867-1930). ^↩
11 "Other Indiana Hospitals for the Mentally Ill and Developmentally Disabled," Indiana Archives and Records Administration (https://www.in.gov/iara/2671.htm : accessed 17 July 2018), New Castle State Developmental Center (1907-present; formerly New Castle State Hospital and the Indiana Village for Epileptics.^↩
12 "New Castle State Developmental Center," Asylum Projects (http://www.asylumprojects.org/index.php/New_Castle_State_Developmental_Center : accessed 17 July 2018).^↩

The Gypsy Gene

I grew up in a Mississippi home with slightly older parents and brothers who were fourteen and sixteen years older. With brothers graduating high school at ages two and four, I spent most of my childhood and youth pretty much as only child would.

My parents loved to travel. I remember making long trips to visit Aunt Daisy in Iowa. On trips like that one, we usually stayed in motel rooms along the way.

The vacations we really enjoyed were spent camping. We started out in a tent when I was about five. We went to a family camp in the Kiamichi Mountains of Oklahoma. Mom and Dad found a spot on a hill near the bathhouse. It rained quite a bit that week. Our next camping trip was made in a pop-up camper. We stayed in that camper a year or two. It really only had room to sleep with maybe a tiny storage space. We cooked meals outside on a camp stove. We graduated from that to a Starcraft which had a table where we could be comfortable when it rained as well as an indoor stove and sink. We made trips to Bull Shoals Lake and Eureka Springs in Arkansas, to Guntersville Lake in Alabama, to the newly opened Walt Disney World in Florida, to the Smokies, to Virginia, and many other places I've long since forgotten. We took it to Sardis Lake just for the weekend many times. It took only two and a half hours to make that trip. 

Eventually the Starcraft was replaced with a Coachman travel trailer. I was probably in the last couple of years of middle school then. They replaced the Coachman with an Allegro motor home sometime when I was still in high school. It was a very large rig and more than they really needed so they downsized after I was in college. I think the first smaller motor home was a Midas. They finished their camping in a Minnie Winnie which they purchased on the road in Florence, South Carolina. I think there was one other motor home in between those. Dad who was two years older than mom retired at 62; she retired at 65. When she retired, they spent a lot of time camping. They often made long trips, being gone for several months at a time. They made a trip to New England and a trip out west. They made many other trips as well. They had campground memberships which made it very affordable. They only paid $1 to $5 a night, depending on the agreements between campgrounds. Their favorite camping spot was in the Smokies at their "home" campground, Mill Creek Resort in Pigeon Forge. 

I lived in Cincinnati part of the time and often drove down on weekends when they camped there.When I moved to East Tennessee, they rarely stayed at my house, preferring to stay in the RV in Pigeon Forge. As they grew older, Dad's comfort level driving diminished, so they did most of their travelling during my breaks so I could drive.

The Minnie Winnie parked at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park in Florida

Mom and Dad at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park in Florida

Mom called her love of camping and traveling "the gypsy gene." I remember telling her about all the places Levi Lantz lived. He was born in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania. He moved to Wayne County, Ohio, where he married Barbara Yoder. They moved to Knox County, Ohio for a brief time before returning to Holmes County, Ohio, which adjoined Wayne, to care for some of her aging relatives. They moved near Oak Grove, McLean County, Illinois, where my grandfather Abraham met his wife Laura. Levi, however, moved on to Howard County, Indiana, where his wife died. He then moved to St. Joseph County, Michigan, back to Oak Grove in McLean County, Illinois, to Johnson County, Missouri, and eventually to McPherson County, Kansas where he died in 1887. After I'd recited all his moves, Mom declared, "That's where I got my gypsy gene."

My Sanborn Connection

Heather Rojo at Nutfield Genealogy posted about her connection to John Sanborn of New Hampshire. On her Facebook post, she asked if her Facebook friends were descended from John, and my reply was "yes."

I thought it might be fun to include my line from John here. It would take "forever" to write a documented post so I'll leave documentation of the individuals and their parentage for future posts. I have not done extensive work on the Sanborn line, and I did learn the exact location in England where John was born from Heather's post! It's a post I've "pinned" for future reference.

Generation 1.
John Sanborn (son of John Sanborn and Ann Batchelder): born abt 1620 Brimpton, Berkshire, England; died 10 Oct 1692 Hampton, New Hampshire. I'm descended from his first wife Mary Tuck, daughter of Robert Tuck and his wife Joanna.

Generation 2.
Joseph Sanborn: born 13 Mar 1659; married Mary Gove 28 Dec 1682; died abt 1722, Hampton, New Hampshire.

Generation 3.
Abigail Sanborn: born 1 Apr 1686 Hampton, New Hampshire; married Ebenezer Dearborn 7 Oct 1703 Hampton, New Hampshire; died 26 Feb 1768 Hampton, New Hampshire.

Generation 4.
Benjamin Dearborn: born 13 Aug 1713 probably Chester, New Hampshire; married Susanna Colcord 31 Oct 1735; died 15 May 1772 Plymouth, Grafton County, New Hampshire. (County was formed in 1771.)

Generation 5.
Samuel Dearborn: born 15 Apr 1745 Chester, New Hampshire; married Abigail Ward, daughter of Rev. Nathan Ward and Tamasin Ireland Ward, 22 Jul 1777 Plymouth, Grafton County, New Hampshire; died 22 Jul 1833 Plymouth, Grafton County, New Hampshire.

Generation 6.
Nathan Dearborn: born 4 Sep 1785 Plymouth, Grafton County, New Hampshire; married 1 - Sarah Seeley 6 Feb 1812 Washington County, Ohio; married 2 - Lucy Perkins 26 Sep 1813 (probably in New Hampshire - there's a story about their wedding trip by horseback that is widely circulated); died 22 Feb 1847 Malta, Morgan County, Ohio. (I'm descended from Lucy.)

Generation 7.
Betsey Dearborn: born 4 Sep 1818 Malta, Morgan County, Ohio; married Stephen Taylor 8 Mar 1837 Morgan County, Ohio; died 12 Mar 1899 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma Territory.

Betsey Dearborn Taylor, abt 1881

Generation 8.
Laura Lucy Taylor: born 25 Apr 1854 McLean County, Illinois; married Abraham Lowden Lantz 15 Feb 1874 McLean County, Illinois; died 25 Sep 1922 Monroe County, Mississippi.

Generation 9.
Irving Lee Lantz: born 19 Nov 1885 Oak Grove, McLean County, Illinois; married Gillie Mae Hester 5 Aug 1917 Monroe County, Mississippi; died 5 Sep 1971 Amory, Monroe County, Mississippi.

Generation 10.
Dorothy Ann Lantz: born 30 Aug 1924 Monroe County, Mississippi; married James Thomas Thornton, Jr. 17 Mar 1946 Amory, Monroe County, Mississippi; died 22 Mar 2010 Amory, Monroe County, Mississippi.

Generation 11.
Me!

Happy Anniversary, Levi & Barbara

Levi Lance } to } Barbara Yoder }

I solemnized the marriage of Levi Lance and Barbara Yoder I vow the 9th day of Nov 1837. Jacob Bowman J.P.

Wayne County, Ohio marriage records, volume 4A, p. 167, Levi Lance-Barbara Yoder marriage, 9 Nov 1837; Wayne County, Ohio courthouse, photocopy in possession of Lori Thornton.

The above marriage record and transcription belongs to my great-great grandparents, Levi Lantz and Barbara Yoder. They were married on this day 178 years ago.

SNGF: Ancestors I Met

Randy has challenged us to name the ancestors we had an opportunity to meet in tonight's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun.

Since I don't want to name living ancestors, I will omit my parents, but that is 2.

The only others I met were my 4 grandparents. That's what I get for being born so long after my brothers!

Paternal Grandparents:

James Thomas "Tom" Thornton (1893-1977). He lived in Monroe County, Mississippi his entire life.

Nona Josiah "Jodie" Fowlkes (1894-1974). She lived in Monroe County, Mississippi her entire life as well. Interesting story of how she got her middle name. Her father died the night before she was born so she was named for him.

Maternal Grandparents:

Irving Lee Lantz (1885-1971). He was born in McLean County, Illinois and moved to Monroe County, Mississippi in late 1896. He actually did not have a "real name" but the family just called him "Mose" or "Moses." Before he moved to Mississippi, he named himself after a traveling salesman who came by his father's dry goods store in Carlock.

Gillie Mae Hester (1893-1993). She lived in Monroe County, Mississippi her entire life. She was a twin, but her twin Lillie Faye died at nine months of age. "Nanny" as all of us grandkids called her had been kicked in the eye by a horse as a child, and there was noticeable damage around her eye area from that childhood injury. She lived a long life, but she didn't quite make it long enough for Willard Scott to recognize her.

So - I met a total of 6 of my ancestors. That's fewer than Randy. My older brothers only met one of their great grandparents, but both were probably too young to remember the encounter as they would have been aged 2 years 5 months and aged 5 months respectively.

I'm glad Randy's genealogy fun was quick and easy tonight because I've got to finish the laundry and get started packing. My presentations for FGS are all finalized. I hope to meet some of you. I'll be the one running around most of the time.

Who Are Marie's Friends?

The female standing in this photo was my grandfather's sister Marie Lantz (who later married Grover Hosmer). I suspect this photo was taken in the mid-1910s in Monroe County, Mississippi, probably near Aberdeen. I have no idea who the others are or what the occasion was.

This was submitted for "Smile for the Camera."

Squirrel Hunting Can Be a Dangerous Thing

I was checking out the FBI files and other things over at Footnote.com tonight and decided to search for my Lantz surname which is a less common surname after looking for another one that was more common. (Neither family appeared to be of interest to the FBI, but I did decided to do a global search for the less common name.) What I discovered made me call my mom and tell her that she never told me that Harry went squirrel hunting. (Harry was Mom's first cousin or my first cousin once removed.) Mom's immediate response was that he got shot squirrel hunting, so I knew that she knew the account that I'd just discovered in the 25 October 1930 edition of the Woodville Republican. When I saw that article, I knew that there couldn't be that many Harry Lantzes living in Scooba, Mississippi at the time so I knew it was "our Harry." It seems that Harry was out hunting squirrels and one of them got stuck in a tree so he went up after it. Another hunter who didn't know Harry was up in the tree saw some movement up in the tree so he shot. Nothing came down so he gave up and moved along. Later someone else came along and heard Harry's moans. He was able to rescue him.

According to Mom, that bullet is what eventually caused Harry's death. You see, they never removed the bullet, and it eventually made its way to his heart thirty-four years after the incident.

Wordless Wednesday: Irving Lantz House, Amory, MS

Jeptha "Jep" Lantz

On this day (February 21) in 1852, Jeptha Lantz was born to Levi and Barbara (Yoder) Lantz. Jep is enumerated in 1860 in McLean County, Illinois. He has not been located in the 1870 census although some of his brothers are still living in McLean Co., Illinois and his father and some siblings are in Howard Co., Indiana. (His mother is listed in the 1870 mortality schedules for Howard Co., Indiana.) In 1880, he is in Mottville Twp., St. Joseph, Michigan. (His father Levi moved there about 1874 and left in 1882.) We know that the family lived from about 1882-1885 in Johnson Co., Missouri before moving to McPherson Co., Kansas in 1885. His father Levi died in McPherson Co. in 1887. In 1900, he is living with his brother Samuel in Madison Twp., Greenwood Co., Kansas. He also appears in the 1895 and 1905 Greenwood Co., Kansas censuses. He is said to have never married. He does not appear to be enumerated in the 1910 census. His brother Samuel is living in Center Twp., Lyon Co., Kansas. He does appear with his brother Samuel in Center Twp., Lyon Co., Kansas in 1920. I have not located Jeptha or Samuel in the 1930 census, but other researchers have said that Samuel's wife died in Madison, Greenwood Co., Kansas in 1932 and that Samuel died in 1941 in Haskell Co., Oklahoma and was buried in Madison, Greenwood Co., Kansas beside his wife. I have no information about Jeptha's death.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

When Jasia first announced the topic for this edition’s Carnival of Genealogy, I thought, “that will be easy.” The more I thought about the topic (inviting 4 ancestors for dinner), the more challenging it was to decide which four to invite. As I’ve read all the responses from other bloggers, I’ve realized that a lot of their thoughts are along the same lines as mine . . . “which 4 will be able to get me past that brick wall?” However, I also have some very interesting and colorful characters that I’d just like to ask a few questions.


I think that I’m going to choose Abraham Lantz, my great-great grandfather, as the first ancestor, and we’ll dine at his house because I’ve heard he always insisted on seven courses at each meal. I suspect his wife Laura was an excellent cook, having grown up on a farm in Illinois. I’d like to know what it was like for him when he, being an Amish man, chose to marry Laura, a Methodist woman. I’d like to hear him tell stories of moving around in his childhood, his days as postmaster, his store in Carlock, Illinois, and about his move to Monroe County, Mississippi. I’ve always been intrigued that he moved down with some of his Amish friends when they established the failed settlement at Gibson even though he was no longer one of them. While I realize that his Amish group was one of the more progressive ones of that faith, it just goes against everything you hear about shunning.


Next, I’d like to invite Rev. Stephen Bachiler (or Batchelder). If you don’t know about this colorful character, read a few of these articles at Lane Memorial Library in Hampton, New Hampshire. You will immediately know that our conversation will not be lacking that evening. I want to know all about his struggles with the church, about his time in Holland, about his trip to America, about his troubles in Lynn (and elsewhere) and his establishing the church in Hampton, about his return to England, and, for lack of a better way to state this, about his women, especially his third wife who appears to have been the inspiration for The Scarlet Letter. I’d also like to know whether or not he married the woman in England that Mary (wife #3) claimed he had.


As much as I’d like to invite a few of my other colonial New England ancestors who all have such fascinating stories, I think I’ll head south and pick up a few “loose ends” for the rest of my dinner party. My next dining companion will be Gabriel Fowlkes, the immigrant. He is supposed to have been born in Wales about 1696. However, no one can find a record over there, so I want to know if he was born in Wales or not, and where it was. I’d also like to hear why he chose to migrate to Virginia. I’d like to know about his life in the British Isles and then about his trip to America. I’d like for him to tell me what he knows about his family history.


My final invitation is issued to Richard Thornton. I know that will make my cousin Terry very happy! I want to know the exact date (instead of my present range of 1790-1795) for when he was born and exactly where he was born, who his parents were, what he knows about his family’s history, his moves, and why his family liked to hide from record takers or burn courthouses so much! I want him to tell me all about his wife Agnes and her family. There seems to be a gap between the date for their marriage and the first known child so I’d like to know if I’m missing some of his kids and who they are. I’d like to have him talk about all his children and what they were like growing up, especially his sons who died in the Civil War. I’d like to ask him if he’s related to the David Thornton in Fayette County, Alabama and if so, how.

Seeing Double

My grandfather enjoyed trick photography. Here is a photo that he took of himself. Yes, there is only one person here. He cloned himself. I love the photo because it shows so much of the family's homestead. For a discussion of this type of trick photography, see Seeing Double: Cloning Humans with a Camera at the American Museum of Photography. My grandfather Irving Lantz was born in 1885. I estimate he is 25-30 in this photo so I would guess the photo was taken between 1910-1915.

Bride & Dog

I'm told that this is a photo of my grandmother, Gillie Mae Hester, on her wedding day, 5 Aug 1917. She married my grandfather Irving Lee Lantz on that date. This photo has always made me wonder if her dog served as her wedding attendant. I used the scratch removal tool to get rid of a crease in this photo. (Actually, there is another arm to the side of the dog, so that was probably her real attendant, her mom, a cousin, or a guest.)

It's amazing to me that my grandmother even met my grandfather. He was quite a bit older than she was. They lived in different parts of the county. My mom tells me that he was delivering mail during that time and that is how they met. It's still difficult to fathom that he, a resident of Aberdeen, was delivering mail to an Amory route which would have been about 20 miles between the two homes. (It's about 16 miles between the two towns.) I guess they drove further to work in those days than one would think.

The marriage lasted for 54 years until my grandfather's death in 1971 at the age of 85. "Nanny" died in 1993 at the age of 96.

Gulf Ordnance Plant

The theme for the mid-September edition of the Carnival of Genealogy is to tell any story about a wartime event or soldier in your family. I've blogged extensively recently about soldiers and the military, so I thought I'd do something a little different. I thought I'd go with the "wartime event" category and discuss what was going on back in the states while the servicemen were in Europe and in the Pacific.



In the little town of Prairie, Monroe County, Mississippi was a plant called the Gulf Ordnance Plant during World War II. Basically, they made bombs which were used in the war. I had several relatives that worked there during the war. It was good employment for the area, and the company transported its employees from all over the area to the plant via bus. My grandfather was among those who rode the bus from Amory to the plant where he maintained the refrigeration. I have a copy of a pay stub of one living person who worked for the plant. The check came from the Proctor & Gamble Corporation.






What really makes my grandfather's service, even in this manner, interesting is that his father, having been a member of the Amish sect, was exempted from Civil War service. His father later married "outside the faith". While my grandfather was certainly old enough to serve during World War I and did in fact register for the draft (at age 32), he was not called upon to serve then. Many of the men who did not go to the war in the Monroe County, Mississippi area served their country by manufacturing the munitions that were used in the war. Many women were also involved in the making of bombs.

Brent Coleman, former police chief of Aberdeen, Mississippi, has written extensively on the Gulf Ordnance Plant. Much of his research was published in a special issue of TomBigbee Country Magazine. (Sorry , I would provide contact information, but their web site's pricing information is outdated, so I'm pretty sure they aren't currently maintaining this site which is full of popups because it is housed on a free site.) [The full citation for this is: Coleman, Brent. The Gulf Ordnance Plant at Prairie (MS), 1942-1945, The Gulf Ordnance Story: A Special edition of TomBigbee Country Magazine. Aberdeen, MS: TomBigbee Country, 2002. ]