In May 2004 I stumbled across a little freeware program call GedHTree that allows me to import my Family Tree Maker program’s data, converting it to a neat little HTML tree. I just had my Family Tree Maker program create my data as a ged file and GedHTree using that to create its webpages with data. All I can say is “pretty slick”!
Click here to go to my GedHTree Webpages
I also have my Family Tree Maker database online at genealogy.com. FTM Online
Here you can look at the Carmon family tree on my mother’s side.
This is a webpage is about my ancestors from Altoona, Pennsylvania. My maternal great grandparents who are buried in Gainesville, Texas were both born in Altoona. Carmon/Jacobs Line
And I guess I could tell you a little about myself…….. Let’s see…… I’m a native Ardmoreite, and I love Ardmore. Being a 1949 model, I’ve ran up and down these streets for quite some time now. During the first 21 years of my life, I grew up at 805 3rd Northeast at the Carmon Lumber Company, with my mother, Louise Bridges, and grandparents Stanley and Addie Carmon. Oh, Stanley is my real first name too, but so there would be less confusion, they started calling me Butch when I was about 2 years old. My parents, Louise and R.V “Battleship” Bridges, were divorced when I was 6 months old. My mother died in 1990 and my father in 1992.
This is an early photo of my mother Louise when only black and white film was available. Someone used the B&W photo to paint over in color paints. I’ve been told the artists used a very thin, watery coloring to do their painting with on B&W photos. Here’s that same photo in it’s original black and white
Here I am at 9 months old . I’m learning to drive already!
Here’s a 1953 photo of me and my brother, Billy Charles Bridges. Billy was born June 7, 1947 (2 yrs before me) and died March 11, 1979 in Duncan, Oklahoma. Billy was retarded from birth, and my family kept him in special schools his entire life.
I had another brother who died at birth. He was born in Oklahoma City April 1, 1946. His name was Charles Richard. My mother had a miscarriage in a pregnacy before Charles Richard. So, if they were all still alive, I’d have 3 brothers.
Here is a photo from the Ardmoreite, taken around 1960, of me in the church choir. I’m the second one from the left on the first row.
front row l-r, Jimmy Young, Stanley “Butch” Bridges, Janie Jenkins, Paul King, Larryl King, Paul Grider, Duane Perkinson
middle row l-r, David Smith, Linda Owens, Kenneth Echer, Linda Grider, Barbara Whitehurst, LaVeta Carol Young
back row l-t, Jimmy Echer, Bobby Harris, Wayne Harris, Mary Lou Whitehurst, Diane Owens, Cheryl McMurray
The program was a Christmas Cantata at the Calvary Presybterian Church, 800 3rd N.E. here in Ardmore. The program was under the direction of Mrs. O.L. Perkinson, and Mrs. Carl Jenkins. If you can identify any in this group, let me know, and I will start a listing.
Here’s a picture of my great grand mother Carrie Ida Murphree as a child . The picture was probably taken around 1880.
Here’s a picture of my great grandmother Ida Murphree Miller’s house in 1910 located at 518 “H” Street Northeast (SE corner of H and 6th NE). The man is in the picture is Bob Wilson, Ida’s husband and he is holding Harry Carmon, my mother Louise’s brother.
Ida’s last husband was Henry Clay Miller, born in January 7, 1852 in Grayson county, Tennessee. H.C. “Judge” Miller was a member of several typographical unions.
Here’s my great grandmother, Carrie Ida Murphree Miller, age 90, mother of Addie Carmon. Ida is of Choctaw Indian descent from here birth in Murphree’s Valley in Alabama. I remember her putting on a bonnet before going anywhere back in the early ’60s. Ida was born October 2, 1874 in Alabama to George Bailey Murphree and Ann Taylor Thompson.
Here’s my great grandmother Miller’s house back around 1900. Back then her name was Ida Murphree Wilson. Standing with her is my grandmother, Addie Wilson Carmon. Their horse and buggy looks like it’s ready to go! This house was located at 518 “H” street Northeast in Ardmore.
Here’s my Grandparents Addie and Stanley Carmon around 1910. Stanley was born November 5, 1889 in Gainesville, Texas to Howard “Tuck” Carmon and Ada Jacobs Carmon. His parents originally came from Pennsylvania around 1880.
Here’s my Grandfather Esco Bridges.
Here a picture of my dad, RV Bridges. They called him “Battleship” Bridges when he played Ardmore High School Football.
This is a shot of my dad RV around 1936 when he had a 15 minute radio broadcast here in Ardmore on KVSO, playing and singing with his guitar. They say he did a lot of playing and singing locally in those days.
This is my uncle Ira Bridges, Jr., who lived in Ardmore. Lots of the Bridges clan call him Junior.
Here’s my cousin Ivadee Vojtek, who lived in Eureka, California all her adult life. In 2010 Edith Ivadee Murphree Vojtek and her husband Robert “Bob” Vojtek moved to Connecticut to be close to their son, Robert Vojtek. This picture was made in 1942 in Ft Worth, Texas when Ivadee worked there. Photo of Ivadee
Here’s my aunt, Marie Carmon (now Pruitt) when she was a teen back in the late ’20s. She was my mother’s sister. There was also Pratt Carmon, their brother. Another brother Harry Jacob Carmon died in 1952.
Here’s a picture of Marie Carmon’s daughter, Joyce Boyd Brakebill and her husband, James Brakebill. They live in Oklahoma City as does their son Jimmy and daughter Jan.
Here’s a picture of my cousins Howard and Irene Forland Heath who lived in McAllen, Texas all their lives. They owned an electrical shop there in McAllen and he was a journeyman electrician. Howard died in 1980 and Irene in 1981.
Here a family picture of Stanley and Addie Carmon’s son Pratt Carmon and his wife Helen. They’re on the left. Their son is in the far back right, Jerry Carmon and his wife Ida Walters Carmon. In the middle is their daughter Carol Jean Carmon Cole and behind her, Sammy Cole, her husband.
I first went to school at Washington Elementary at 5th and G Street Norwtheast. (It is now called the Early Childhood Center.) One thing I remember at Washington School was playing on the front lawn of the school one day, and that was a “NO NO”. I was called into the principal’s office, Mr. George Connelly, and he gave me a paddling with a thick board. Needless to say, I didn’t do that any more (I’m a quick learner).
From Washington School, I went on to the old Ardmore Junior High which was located at A street NW and 2nd (which has since been torn down). From there I went on to old Ardmore High School, located at North Washington and 2nd Street, graduating in 1968.
Several of my friends from back in those days, reminded me of the bicycle built for 5 that I had in the ’60s. I paid a man $20 to weld 5 old bike frames together. That thing was so long, you had to go way out to center when you turned the corner to keep from hitting the curve with the back wheel. The bad part was some riders didn’t peddle, and that meant one or two doing all the work. But it was fun!
In 1972 I moved from 3rd NE to SW E Street. From E SW Jill and I moved to Lone Grove in 2008. I have only lived in 4 houses in my entire life. My grandfather Stanley Carmon was a bricklayer and building contractor and he built 29 schools in the state of Oklahoma around 1930. He also built several homes here in Ardmore.