Another thing Grandma mentioned was that her family had reunions in Steubenville, Ohio. My sister and I decided to look into this, so we drove to Steubenville, to the historical society there. What we found was a write up from one of those Yocum reunions which led us to look around and discover our ancestor, John Yocum, living in that area with his wife, Sarah Davis, and a long list of children. There are land records, church records, grave sites, and obituaries about these ancestors.
According to the records we found there, John Yocum was born in Reading, PA in 1799. Naturally we followed this trip up with a trip to Reading, but do you know how many John Yocum's there are in that part of Pennsylvania? Neither do I, but it is a large number. I have a cousin who spent a lot of time trying to untangle all the John Yocums, but we still don't have a clear connection. Yes, some online trees, name a certain family, but can't seem to prove it. I'm always open to suggestions!
To move forward, John had a son, Philip, who married Margaret Randolph (this was his second wife). They had a son, Lafayette, who married Ida Mae McClure and they are my grandmother's parents.
Ida Mae was a quilter (I have a couple quilts she made) and a great cook ( I enjoy making her recipe for chicken and dumplings-below). They lived in Illinois and later in Missouri, where Grandma grew up.
Ida Mae's Chicken and
Dumplings
1 stewing
chicken (or a 2 ½ to 3 lb. frying chicken)
2 or 3 quarts
of water (enough to cover chicken)
Salt and
pepper to taste
2-3 cups of
flour (for a fair amount of dumplings)
Cover stewing
chicken with water. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer until tender. (Salt can
be added to the water if desired.) Remove chicken from the broth and allow to
cool slightly; remove the meat from the bones and cut into bite size pieces.
Return the chicken to the broth and add pepper to taste. Bring the broth to a
boil.
While the
broth is coming to a boil, mix together 2 -3 cups of flour with salt to taste
in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the center of the flour. Pour in enough hot
chicken broth to moisten the dry ingredients. Stir together until you get a
rollable consistency, Roll out to about a ¼ inch thickness and cut into two
inch squares. Drop dumplings into boiling broth one at a time and gently stir
after each addition. Cook until done. (no longer tastes doughy) About 10-15
minutes. Makes about 6 servings
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| Ida Mae McClure Yocum |
