Anna (Annie) Elizabeth Blankenship Franklin was born Dec 27, 1854, with she and my sister share their birthdate. (The headstone is difficult to read but is correct, requiring a very close look Many thanks to Dr. Brad Willis for this treasured photo..

Anna Elizabeth Blankenship, born in Marshall, Texas, was married to Hugh Samuel Franklin who died 11 March 1893. Their first child, Martha Jane, was born in 1874. Grandpa Franklin was, sadly, only 38 years old when he passed away, and was buried in First Street Cemetery. Our father Hugh Alvin Yankie is named for Grandpa Hugh Samuel Franklin, his maternal Great Grandfather.

My sister was born on Grandma Franklin's birthday which pleased her daughter, our Grandmother Martha Jane Whitfield so very much since she was the first female child to be born into the family in over 30 years. Grandma Whitfield was so very happy with this blonde blue-eyed baby girl, and that she was born on her Mother's birthday.

Grandma Whitfield still lived in her home on the Whitfield/Yankie place at that time in the small community of Erath, just outside of China Spring. The neighbors there were either family or like family. Since my Grandmother Zola Whitfield married Grover Yankie, and the two places were side by side, it was all now one big place. She died at the home in Erath of her daughter, Martha Jane Franklin Whitfield.

We are the children of Hugh A. "Boots" Yankie and Opal Anderson Yankie, and our grandparents are Grover Leo and Zola Whitfield Yankie who is the daughter of Cebren William Whitfield and Martha Jane Franklin Whitfield. Hugh Samuel Frankln and Anna Elizabeth Blankenship Franklin, our GG Grandparents, are the parents of Martha Jane Franklin Whitfield, our Great Grandmother. (Information from Great Great Grandaughter Nancy Yankie, China Spring Native.)

Funeral arrangements were directed by family friend, Dillard Harwell, through Wilkirson-Hatch Funeral Home, Waco, Texas.