My Mama, Nellie Frances CANTY

NELLIE FRANCES CANTY THOMPSON

18 Apr 1912  --  20 Jul 1957

Mama was a Yankee.  Born and raised in New London, Connecticut.  If she remembered her Daddy at all, it wasn't any better than I knew her as he disappeared from her life when she was a small child.  I was just 5 when she died of cancer, leaving me a few memories and photos.  Fast forward to present and now I have my genealogy, a way to find out more about her and about her parents' families.  In any case, this blog isn't about her Yankee side.  Its about finding out about what it was to be a CANTY.

Her father lost his mother at a young age, had to live with relatives, ended up in the Army and that put him in Connecticut.  I've tried to ascertain what happened next.  Divorce?  The family says Fannie (my grandma)  was widowed 4 times so according to them, he must have died.  No one knows anything about the "first" husband.  But those records.... They say he was living down is Georgia with his brother around 1918.  My mother would have been 6 years old.  So why was Thomas Canty living with his brother in Clyo, Georgia when he had a wife and 3 children up in New London, Connecticut?  So far, I don't know.  I'll need to find marriage/divorce certificates and Thomas' death certificate.  Still searching...

Anyhow, back to my Mama.  Did she know she had Southern roots?  I think she would have liked to learn more about her Canty family.  So, next I'm going to see what I can find out about her Grandpa Canty.  Again, back we go, heading toward the era of the Civil War.