Rodman Campground & Some Wiggins Family History

We camped for the week at Rodman Recreation Area, located at the north end of Ocala National Forest, about 15 miles southwest of Palatka, FL.  Our campsite overlooked the Cross Florida Barge Canal, a failed attempt at connecting the Atlantic Ocean with the Gulf of Mexico.  It is now part of a mile-wide greenway across Florida.

Our campsite sat facing the canal, which was about 15 feet below us.  Behind us was a 25 foot high hill of dredge spoils.  So the campsite was exceedingly quiet, since the same configuration existed on the opposite shore.  Of course, when reserving a campsite we chose a site with good proximity to the toilets and showers, since a long hike at night in the rain is something that we prefer to avoid.  Unfortunately, the 25 foot hill stood between us and the facilities.  But, aside from the steep slopes and loose footing, it didn't add considerably to the distance that we needed to cover, so we were happy enough with our situation.

Our campsite at Rodman Campground.

The big surprise was that for the first time in Florida we were in a cell phone dead zone.  We drove nearly to the outskirts of Palatka before finding weak coverage there.  Then we drove about a mile west of the campground to the nearby lake and dam, where we were surprised to able to get three bars of LTE coverage.  So we adjusted our routine to include one or more daily stops at the dam, so that we could plan around some severe weather that was due mid-week.

On the way to Rodman Campground we stopped at an Aldi supermarket to do some shopping.  Back in 1986 I had become a fan of Aldi markets in Germany: they carried lots of off brand canned goods that were a staple of my diet back then, almost always production overruns at about half of the prices found at other supermarkets.  I was pleased to see that the same formula was at work here.  With the inventory constantly changing (much like when Costco was first started), there is a bit of chaos that you need to navigate through in order to find what you are after (if they have it), but it's more than worth it for our those trips where we have a long shopping list.  Especially so, since they often will carry some unusual imported items that aren't found elsewhere, providing a little extra variety to our limit camping menus.


It cooled off toward the end of the week after the cold front with severe weather came through.  But the severe weather passed on both sides of us, and all we had was a brief period of heavy rain.  The following day was the more unpleasant weather day, with highs in the 50s and very high sustained winds.

We've returned to Camp Jean in Oviedo for the weekend, where a bit of a surprise was waiting for me when we arrived.  Last week I had received an e-mail from Jana Flake of Eagle Mountain, Utah.  Jana had been my grandmother's (Eva Pearl [Wiggins] Malone's) Visiting Teacher the last few years of her life, when she was living in a assisted living facility in Belleville, Illinois.  She was wondering if I'd be interested in the family history that my grandmother had put together?  Yes!!!  I'd been looking for that for quite a while, and had given up all hope of ever finding a copy!

She recounted how my grandmother had been taking pills for a kidney ailment and water retention (likely a heart medication), but because they caused her to visit the bathroom frequently, she decided to herself to forego them for the 100th birthday party that was being put on for her by her church.  That led to complications that caused her health to decline rapidly from that point forward.  She also provided an important clue to why my grandmother split up with her husband (Paul Edward Malone) - he had gambled away the family savings.  That fits with another account where he is said to have called to have her cash in their life insurance policy, and after that time (in the 1930s) was never seen again by anyone in the family.

While caring for my grandmother, Jana was given her Book of Remembrance for safe keeping, the family research that she had started back in the 1950s (I know for a fact that she had worked on it that long ago, since my birth in the mid-1950s was a late addition to the family group sheet that she created for for my parent's family).  The book includes pages completed by my married older siblings in the mid-1970s, with the last addition to those being my niece, Stephanie Ann Emery, who was born in 1981.  And my brother Mike included an overview of his military career up to 1984, seemingly the last update to the book.  

Eva Pearl (Wiggins) Malone's Book of Remembrance.

The book also includes all of the known descendants of my Wiggins great grand uncles and aunts up until the early 1970s.  The latter was welcome news to me, as I had attempted to track these folks down myself over the past several years.  Several lines proved to be exceedingly difficult to research, due to a large number of re-marriages.  This information has allowed me to identify the few remaining unidentified people in a large family photo taken around 1949.

The Wiggins Clan Circa 1949 (relations are to Eva, 23, unless otherwise stated) 1 – Marie Wiggins (dau of 14), 2 – Floyd Wiggins (son of 13), 3 – Murray Wilbert “Wib” Wiggins (brother), 4 – Harry Waltman (husband of 20), 5 – Murphy “Mike” Wiggins, 6 – Earl “Jack” Wiggins (brother), 7 – Herdie Ross Wiggins (brother), 8 – Chester Paul Wiggins (son of 7 & 21), 9 – Charlie Hart (gentleman friend), 10 – Bernard Wiggins (son of 13 & 26), 11 – Charles Wiggins (brother), 12 – Elmer Woolen (son of 15 & 22), 13 – William Otis Wiggins (brother), 14 – Fred Wiggins (brother), 15 – Albert Woolen, 16 – Emma McCall (sister), 17 – Ellene Dorothy Wiggins (daughter of 14), 18 – Marion Wiggins (wife of 6), 19 – Earl "Jack" Wiggins (son of 6 & 18), 20 – Eathel “Pat” Waltman (wife of 4), 21 – Elizabeth Wiggins (wife of 7), 22 – Grace Woolen (sister), 23 – Eva Pearl Wiggins, 24 - Gertrud (wife of 10), 25 - Bernard Anton (child of 10 & 24), 26 – Donal Wiggins (wife of 13), 27 – Caroline Wiggins (daughter of 6 & 18), 28 – Louise Wiggins (wife of 11), 29 - ? (son of 6 & 18), 30 – David Louis Waltman (son of 4 & 20), 31 – ?, 32 – Melvina Wiggins (daughter of 13 & 26), 33, 34, 35 - ? (probably sons of 6).

In the photo above, numbers 29, 31, 33, 34 and 35 had not previously been identified.  Based upon the Book of Remembrance, they are likely:

• Mitchell M. Bishop, Junior, son of Marie (1).
• Carolyn Diane (last name unknown) Puriskie, b. 11 Mar 1941, daughter of Ellene (17).
• Billey Ray Wiggins, b. 31 Aug 1940, son of Jack (6).
• Paul Wilbert Wiggins, b. 25 Feb 1943, son of Jack (6).
• James Benny Wiggins, b. 5 Dec 1944, son of Jack (6).

Perhaps the most important bit of information that my grandmother left for me is found on the family group sheet for my 2nd great grandparents, Charles Augustus and Mariah Lucinda (McEveny) Wiggins.  It states that the information about them and their six known children came from a bible copy sent by Myrtle (Gregory) Armstrong, the daughter of Evaline Sarah (Wiggins) Gregory (my grandmother's aunt, the sister of her father).  Myrtle died in San Diego in 1975, having outlived all but one of her four sons.  So the prospect that the bible record has survived until today is somewhat bleak.  But at least it provides an authoritative, though second hand, source of information that is confirmed by Census records.  

A family group sheet noting that information about the family of my 2nd Great Grandparents came from a family bible in the possession of Myrtle (Gregory) Armstrong.

Charles and Mariah are found in Genealogies of Long Island Families, Volume II, where Charles is shown to be the 4th great grandson of John Wiggin (no S), who arrived in Boston, Massachusetts on board the Speedwell on 27 Aug 1656 (this information was found by my great uncle "Wib" Wiggins at the Library of Congress in the 1950s).  By 1670 John had moved to Southold, New York on the far eastern end of Long Island, which was one of the plantations created by the New Haven Colony (part of the United Colonies of New England [aka the New England Confederation]).  

Two of my direct ancestors in John Wiggin's line are credited with helping to evacuate General George Washington's army from Long Island after the Battle of Brooklyn Heights (aka Battle of Long Island) in 1776.  If the British had been able to capture Washington's army at that time, the American Revolution very likely would have ended almost as soon as it had started.  John Wiggin was my 8th great grandfather.

There was evidence in the Book of Remembrance that my grandmother had attempted to document my Malone roots back in Poseyville, Indiana (where my grandfather was born).  She did manage to find record of one of his uncles (Henry Harrison Malone), but that was as far as she had gotten.  She had no information about my McEveny 3rd great grandparents, despite being in the possession of a tintype photo of them taken around 1856.

Six Days

We have started to answer a question that has lingered in the back of our minds for some time now: What will we do with ourselves when we are stuck camping in one place for several days?  After all, weather permitting, we are otherwise nearly constantly on the move.  But for now the available supply of warm, sunny weather has us trapped on a peninsula with a million or so fellow cold weather refugees (though thankfully not all of them are campers).  As such, changing campsites every day would mean that a bit too often we'd be driving up north into cooler temperatures in order to find a place to stay without an advance reservation.  And since the added cost of reserving for one night is the same as reserving for two weeks, it is best to reserve a number of days at a time.  For us, that means five or six nights, as it is only the campgrounds up north where the Saturdays are not all booked weeks or months in advance.

We spent six nights last week at Gamble Rogers State Park near Flagler Beach, Florida, which was a fortuitous choice.  Fortuitous primarily because it is booked solid most of the time, and partly because there are a few local bike routes with either sufficient shoulders and/or low traffic.  Thus it made it easy for us to do a bit of riding in anticipation of heading north in about six weeks.  Even though the rides were short (most were about an hour), it helped to keep our surplus time manageable.

The weather was a little cool by Florida standards - mostly lows in the low 50s and highs in the low to mid 60s, and windy most days.  It did get a bit cooler some mornings and we did see highs briefly reach the 70s a couple of days, and we had a heavy rain one evening.  It was certainly warm and dry enough that we were able to be outside a high percentage of the time.

We were fortunate that there was a beach about a mile down the road where we could walk Lana (farther north, dog beaches are pretty much extinct).  So a morning walk on the beach was part of our daily routine.  In fact, Lana occupies most of our free time - walks first thing in the morning, more walks a few times throughout the day and one last walk just before lights out every evening.

Alea and Lana walking along Flagler Beach.

Some sightseeing soaks up additional time, though we had already passed through this area back in November (and Alea had lived in Florida for many years before we first met thirty years ago, and we've been back many times since then).

We did make it back for a visit to Fort Matanzas.

The Flag of Burgundy flies above the watch tower.

When it is not either too cold, too windy or two wet, a couple of hours spent in the evening around the campfire is pleasant way for us to pass some time.  Our standard fuel is a three hour wax log (i.e. Dura Flame), since bans on importing firewood are nearly ubiquitous now (so we would need to burn what wood we have before getting to the next campground).  The other benefit of the wax logs is that it is easy to make that three hour log burn in just two hours when desired.  Plus they are easily stored in one of the deep storage bins of our camper.

At this time of year, with cool mornings and cool evenings, a couple of games of Spite and Malice (the general rules can be found here, though we play a slightly different version of the game) with our morning coffee and/or after our evening campfire helps to pass some additional time.  Since skill is such a minor aspect of this card game, it results in a near equal split of wins and losses, thus assuring domestic tranquility.

Reading, solving Sudoku or crossword puzzles, talking with neighbors, blogging, planning the upcoming week and occasionally solving new problems/challenges related to our van or camper has so far been sufficient to soak up any additional extra time.

On really wet or cold days, cabin fever is a very real threat, given the tiny cabin of our camper.  Our preferred method of dealing with that is going to a movie (matinee or evening, since when it is that nasty out we don't have to worry about Lana overheating in the van while we are inside).  When that is not an option, we have a selection of videos that we haven't yet watched, or we can find a nearby Redbox for more recent releases.

In most places (but not at Flagler Beach) we'll usually have some amount of over-the-air TV to watch, allowing the Idiot Box to keep us properly indoctrinated about all the current fears that should be driving our behavior (after all, fear is The Great Motivator).  That can help take up the slack in the morning and evening on cool, windy or wet days, when being outside isn't all that much fun.  

Regarding the IB, it's nice to know that Big Pharma has figured out how to offset the trend of mom's not wanting to vaccinate their children - one of them must have said to himself, 'I know, let's make the moms think they have to get vaccinated themselves, to keep mosquitoes from causing their babies' heads to shrink' (after all, mosquitoes are just about everywhere at some time of the year).  You have to love our health care system - the most expensive and most dysfunctional one on the planet.  And the only such system that thinks that making an entire country sick is a sustainable business model.  (By the way, there is no evidence that the Zika virus causes babies to have tiny heads, despite what the media would have you believe.)

So it seems that staying put for a while is something that we can tolerate.  We should be able to continue treading water well enough to give the rest of the country some time to warm up sufficiently before we begin traveling again.  But the next five or six weeks really can't pass quickly enough for us...

And, oh.  Alea and I celebrated our 28th wedding anniversary yesterday.  I'm not sure what the gift theme is for a 28th anniversary - hopefully it's something bicycle-related, as we probably have that covered.  ;-)

We have returned to Oviedo to 'Camp Jean' for the weekend, where we can get caught up on laundry and restock before heading out again on Monday.  Our next destination is Rodman Campground, situated along the Cross-Florida Barge Canal near Palatka, FL.

We spent our anniversary evening with Teri and Carson Robinson at their home in Orlando on Lake Conway, where Carson treated us to a cruise around the lake, followed by some awesome meatball soup, great wine and fun conversation.  And Lana had loads of fun playing fetch in the warm, shallow lake water (which is great, as she was definitely in need of a bath).  Their dog Buddy had hoped that Lana had come to play with him, but Lana's fear of big dogs kept that from happening.  Though disappointed, Buddy was very patient and understanding of Lana's fear.

Our skipper, Carson Robinson.

Alea and Teri as we cast off from the boathouse.

Our Winter Refuge

With a series of cold fronts last week bringing heavy rains, wind and cold temperatures, Alea and I sought refuge at the home of her sister Jean in Oviedo, FL.  In addition to saving us from many hours in the tiny cabin of our teardrop camper, it also gave us the opportunity to get our taxes and other financial affairs in order and to take care of other business that would have been more difficult on the road.

When we stay with Jean we camp in her garage.  It assures us of the good night's sleep that we experience in our camper, and it minimizes the amount of things that we need to temporarily remove from the camper.  That means there are fewer things that we can forget to take with us when we leave.  It also gives Lana refuge from Jean's pets and fostered animals.

Our Oviedo campsite.

With so many tax forms found online today, having access to Jean's high speed wifi and printer was a big benefit.  Lately we've been exceeding the monthly data limit on our AT&T MiFi, so being able to download all those forms likely will save us from going over our limit for this month.  

After a week here, Lana has finally learned to play with Kess, Jean's rescued Chihuahua, though doing so comes at the price of a bit of jealousy from her Lhasa Apso, Trip.  Lana is still unhappy about the five fostered Dachshund puppies, likely fearing that we might take one home with us (not a chance - they aren't yet house trained, and life is complicated enough on the road with only one dog).  She'll soon be relieved of that fear, as they are nearly old enough to go up for adoption.

These are smart puppies.  They constantly try to find a way to get through Jean's cat door, which gives them access to the people in the house.

We'll  be spending the coming week near Flagler Beach, at Gamble Rogers State Park.  When we've checked there in the past for available campsites it has been 100% booked, so we suspect we lucked into a recent cancellation.  We also suspect that the reason that it is so popular is that is has very long camping pads - thus very sought after by the motorcoaches with towables or the big diesel dualies with their oversized 5th wheel trailers (we are likely to be the runt of the litter there).  For us it means not having to travel as far from Oviedo to find a campsite, and with the park being farther south than other available campgrounds and being next to the Gulf Stream, it should be a bit warmer there as well.

Fifty Nine and a Half

Yesterday, in addition to today being the 50th Super Bowl Sunday, had another reason for being a red letter day:  I turned 59 1/2 years old, signifying that Alea and I both now have full access to our IRAs without having to worry about tax penalties.  We have no plans to use any of those savings for several years, but it is nice to know that there is no longer the threat of a penalty when we do.

We left O'Leno State Park on Thursday morning.  We awoke to some fairly heavy rain, so we opted to hook up and find breakfast on the road, rather than standing in the rain and trying to cook.  So I donned my Gore-Tex rain coat and went about making preparations to get under way.  In less than 5 minutes, enough rain had leaked through the coat to completely soak my t-shirt and pants.  And Alea was soaked nearly as badly.  It didn't help that we'd been given the lowest campsite on our part of the loop, resulting in our camper being in a small lake about 3" deep by the time we departed.  But we got everything done and headed out for Tomoka State Park, albeit a bit waterlogged.

We checked the weather forecast while en route and found that this was the first of three cold fronts heading our way, each packing plenty of rain, wind and lows in the 30s and low 40s.  So about halfway to Tomoka we decided to make a detour to Jacksonville, home of the only REI store in Florida, our best option for finding good rain gear to help us muddle through this stretch of bad weather.  We were in luck, and they had a large collection of rain jackets to choose from.

The rain was quite heavy on our way to and from Jacksonville (we drove for a few hours in the rain, most while driving 70 mph).  We noticed that it appeared that our Camp Inn camper again had a leak coming from the window condensation drains, though it seemed considerably worse on the driver side (where most of the traffic was passing us) than the passenger side.  We didn't check on that until the next day, but found a large amount of water under our HyperVent pads.  While it was upsetting to see that we still had a leak problem, it was a relief to be able to mop everything up in less than three minutes - much preferable to having to haul the mattress out to let it air dry (pretty hard to do in the rain!).

With that discovery, we looked more closely at where we had discovered other problems earlier.  We had a very small amount of water that made its way into the deep storage via the bottom of the hatch lid.  We'll add to some silicone that we earlier had added near the corners of the hatch drain pan, which should block the pathway that the water is using to find its way inside.

And we found a minor leak in the upper driver side of the galley, where the new cap seal/side seal hadn't been fully sealed.  We added some sealant and think it is likely that has been fully rectified.

The big problem was that the solar plug is still leaking, a LOT.  We had to once again disconnect and remove the battery, then placed our ceramic heater in the deep storage for several hours to attempt to dry things out as best we could.  With our lack of earlier success at sealing the plug from the inside, we've decided to seal it from the outside, running a bead of silicone around the edge of the plug.  It may not look that great, but it is a small area, and hopefully that will finally solve the problem.

Chief Tomokie Statue.

Once we got to Tomoka State Park, we met fellow Camp Inn owners Chuck and Martha, whom we had met briefly at last year's Camp Inn Camp Outt, right after they had picked up their camper at the factory.  They had arrived to participate in a get together of the Saint Augustine Tear Jerkers.  It was unclear what was on the agenda, so we decided to go out for dinner a few miles away at Greektown Greek Taverna.  We invited Chuck and Martha to tag along, but at the time the weather was good and they declined, as they were getting ready to cook their own meal.  We left, and within three minutes the monsoon rains returned.  So we were surprised mid-way through our dinner when they showed up next to us.  We had a fun time talking, discovering that they had both worked at the Morton Thiokol plant in the middle of nowhere in Northwestern Utah, a place that we had passed several times on trips to and from Salt Lake City.

A couple of days later, Camp Inn owners Terry and Van showed up, but by that time it was cold and windy.  So we only had a chance to meet with them very briefly.  We looked to see if they were up and about when we left early on Sunday morning, but being intelligent people, they were most likely huddled inside their camper where it was warm.

We took a drive up to Fort Matanzas on Saturday.  It was an early Spanish sentry post to protect the approach to Saint Augustine from the south via Matanzas River.  Because of the blustery conditions the free ferry across the river had been canceled, so we had to content ourselves with viewing it from across the river.

Halifax River with Fort Matanzas in the distance.

So we spent yesterday in the warmth and comfort of Jean's home in Oviedo, where we played with her fostered dachshund puppies and watched the Super Bowl with the rest of the family.  We'll spend the rest of the week here, doing taxes and waiting for the cold fronts to clear out.  Then we'll head off to the next campground, wherever that may be.  

Some of the dachshund puppies that Jean is currently fostering... 

O'Leno State Park

When we slept in our camper the night before we left Palmetto, it had been over a month since we had last done so.  Even though we were in a quiet neighborhood, we seemed to hear just about anything that moved.  The reason?  Teri and Carson's house is made of concrete block, so we had spent the previous five weeks well insulated from any outside noise.  But we have quickly re-adapted to the slightly noisier milieu of camper life.

A couple of days before leaving Palmetto I managed to pull a muscle in my lower back, so I've been hobbling around a lot lately.  It is finally getting back closer to normal, after causing some fitful sleep the past few nights.

After leaving Palmetto we spent the evening with Marty Malone, Alea's high school friend.  She has two cats, Max and Marley, so it was questionable whether Lana's presence would cause any issues.  The uncertainty ended quickly, with Marley's deep, throaty growl and slow, menacing approach toward Lana.  Max was more curious than threatening, but the sight of two big cats backing her into a corner was unnerving for Lana.  She remembers Joe's cat, Sid, and wasn't eager to have to relive those experiences.

We made do by leaving the cats inside and spending the afternoon by Marty's screened-in pool.  The dog/cat drama continued to play out with the sliding glass door assuring that nobody got hurt.  Eventually they all calmed down and Lana tried to ignore them.  After all, the pool vacuum would come on now and then, so her efforts were best focused on making sure that such an odd and threatening device stayed in the pool.  An occasional growl or 'woof' was sufficient to keep the wild pool vac at bay.


After leaving Marty's we stopped to see where Alea had lived on Green Key Road in New Port Richey.  The tiny little house was still there.  It is memories of the ease of living in such a small space that have us thinking of eventually finding a permanent home base with a similar small footprint somewhere in the Sunbelt.  That might be a house, condo or trailer - time will tell.

Alea's old house on Green Key Road.

The neighborhood had changed quite a bit, with new estates and condos lining the road in areas closer to the Gulf of Mexico.

The ruins of an old sugar mill in Yulee, FL.

We had thought there were some available campgrounds farther south than where we are currently located.  But those sites were tent-only, so we kept driving until reaching to O'Leno State Park, where we had camped for one night back in November.

This time around we've had more time to explore the area (the last time it rained a lot).  The Santa Fe River passes nearby and not far from here it disappears underground, only to reappear a few more miles down the road.  For that few miles it travels underground through a maze of limestone caverns.

We invited Ralph and Debbie Martin to come over and visit with us, which they did yesterday.  I met Ralph through Ancestry.com, where AncestryDNA originally stated that we were third cousins (that was later revised to be a less close relationship).   We are fourth cousins, having the same third great grandparents, Simon and Anna (last name unknown) Williams of Posey County, Indiana.  Ralph's Martin-3rd-ggf was Elder James Martin (who was not a direct ancestor of mine, but whose life was intertwined with those of several of Simon Williams' children).  He likely was a big part of what led my 2nd great grandfather, Elder Lewis Williams, to also become a Baptist preacher.  While Elder James Martin was not a direct ancestor, he was perhaps the most interesting person that I had researched in connection with my Williams book, as it eventually turned out that there were an abundance of records for him during the period from 1805 to the early 1820s.  That is rarely the case for folks who lived on the Indiana frontier, but the records of the marriages that he performed there and in Kentucky give a very detailed account of his life during that time period.

We spent a few hours learning a bit more about each other, and we hope to see them again in June when our planned cycling route passes fairly close to their permanent home in Maine.

It looks as though the rains will return later today, and tomorrow we head over to Tomoka State Park to spend a few nights with some fellow teardroppers.