Article about Amali Runyon-Perkins family research
Jan 5, 2007 19:34:23 GMT -5
Post by Ira A. Runyan on Jan 5, 2007 19:34:23 GMT -5
The following story about Amali Runyon-Perkins research on the family appeared in the January 3, 2007 edition of the Brownsville Herald Newspaper. www.brownsvilleherald.com/community_comments.php?id=74580_0_3_0_C
And by all means, don't forget to visit Amali's web site "Lots of Runyon Tidbits" at home.satx.rr.com/runyontidbits/
Digging Deep
Runyon daughter spends life researching family tree
By Victoria Manning
The Brownsville Herald
January 3, 2007 — It’s been a lifetime since Amali Runyon-Perkins has called Brownsville home.
She settled in San Antonio while still a teenager. Now 91 years old, Runyon-Perkins has kept a close connection to this city, researching the genealogy of the Runyon Family that stretches its branches to New York and France, via the Rio Grande Valley and her father, Robert Runyon.
Runyon is renowned for his photo documentary of the border and Brownsville, where he once served as mayor.
Runyon-Perkins has lived in San Antonio since 1937 where she worked as a curriculum specialist for the San Antonio Independent School District. She and her late husband, Douglas, raised seven children and have 14 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren.
Her research began in the 1930s, as a college student in Austin. From there, she aided her family’s genealogy project of mapping the family tree.
“My father and his cousin, Amos, who still lived in Kentucky, collaborated on research and then wrote a genealogical book entitled “Runyon Genealogy” published in 1957 in Brownsville,” she wrote in an e-mail to The Brownsville Herald.
“Their sources were courthouses, archives, family interviews, census lists, the Library of Congress and other libraries in various communities,” she continued, using correspondence to communicate after losing the ability to speak.
“My father asked me for help in research at the State Library and the University of Texas libraries when I was living in Austin in the 1930s. I also helped proofread his copy. All of this got me very interested in genealogy, especially the Runyon and Lawson families, which are my father’s lines, and the Medrano, Longoria and Montalvo families, are the lines of my mother.”
Runyon-Perkins has traveled extensively in her search for the families’ roots, most recently a trip to France in 2001, where she hired a professional genealogist.
“The Runyons, so far, appear to go back to one immigrant, Vincent Rongnion from Poitiers, France,” she wrote.
“However, my father and I have only been able to trace ourselves back to Isaac Runyon, who was born in 1738 and died sometime after Jan. 21, 1821. So we have been unable to connect ourselves to Vincent because we cannot verify who Isaac’s father was.”
Recently, she has been sending information about her family to the Brownsville Historical Association.
Her work with BHA uncovered more leaves on the family tree, including a tidbit about her grandfather, Jose Medrano, who attended Seton Hall University in New Jersey in the school’s early years.
“While he (Medrano) was en route to Seton Hall, he was in New York City when President Lincoln was assassinated,” Runyon-Perkins revealed.
She has also provided information about the Incarnate Word Convent, the school founded there, and the nuns’ teaching methods in the 1860s.
Runyon-Perkins was a student at Incarnate Word and offers thoughtful insight on the historic campus that closed in the mid-60s.
She began an interest in researching local history because of her father, whom she credits as the person that “chronicled with his camera the history of the Rio Grande Valley and northern Mexico in the early part of the 20th century.”
Through her family’s deep roots in the Brownsville-Matamoros area, Runyon-Perkins’ research has become a valuable resource for area historians.
“Although I am 91 now and have lost my voice,” she wrote, “I am still doing research on my families.”
Runyon-Perkins plans to complete the genealogy on the Lawson family and prepare a manuscript for publication. She’s also considering reprinting her father’s book, “Runyon Genealogy.”
“I have always had an interest in the history of the region,” she wrote. “I have my father’s photos of President (Warren G.) Harding when he came to Brownsville. And I have his photos showing how the Fort Brown soldiers spent their days. I also have photos of how early Brownsville residents traveled to Padre Island and the history of the Rabb Palm Grove.
“His numerous pictures tell so many stories.”
Robert Runyon’s photo collection is archived at the University of Texas and the Library of Congress.
vmanning@brownsvilleherald.com
Runyon daughter spends life researching family tree
By Victoria Manning
The Brownsville Herald
January 3, 2007 — It’s been a lifetime since Amali Runyon-Perkins has called Brownsville home.
She settled in San Antonio while still a teenager. Now 91 years old, Runyon-Perkins has kept a close connection to this city, researching the genealogy of the Runyon Family that stretches its branches to New York and France, via the Rio Grande Valley and her father, Robert Runyon.
Runyon is renowned for his photo documentary of the border and Brownsville, where he once served as mayor.
Runyon-Perkins has lived in San Antonio since 1937 where she worked as a curriculum specialist for the San Antonio Independent School District. She and her late husband, Douglas, raised seven children and have 14 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren.
Her research began in the 1930s, as a college student in Austin. From there, she aided her family’s genealogy project of mapping the family tree.
“My father and his cousin, Amos, who still lived in Kentucky, collaborated on research and then wrote a genealogical book entitled “Runyon Genealogy” published in 1957 in Brownsville,” she wrote in an e-mail to The Brownsville Herald.
“Their sources were courthouses, archives, family interviews, census lists, the Library of Congress and other libraries in various communities,” she continued, using correspondence to communicate after losing the ability to speak.
“My father asked me for help in research at the State Library and the University of Texas libraries when I was living in Austin in the 1930s. I also helped proofread his copy. All of this got me very interested in genealogy, especially the Runyon and Lawson families, which are my father’s lines, and the Medrano, Longoria and Montalvo families, are the lines of my mother.”
Runyon-Perkins has traveled extensively in her search for the families’ roots, most recently a trip to France in 2001, where she hired a professional genealogist.
“The Runyons, so far, appear to go back to one immigrant, Vincent Rongnion from Poitiers, France,” she wrote.
“However, my father and I have only been able to trace ourselves back to Isaac Runyon, who was born in 1738 and died sometime after Jan. 21, 1821. So we have been unable to connect ourselves to Vincent because we cannot verify who Isaac’s father was.”
Recently, she has been sending information about her family to the Brownsville Historical Association.
Her work with BHA uncovered more leaves on the family tree, including a tidbit about her grandfather, Jose Medrano, who attended Seton Hall University in New Jersey in the school’s early years.
“While he (Medrano) was en route to Seton Hall, he was in New York City when President Lincoln was assassinated,” Runyon-Perkins revealed.
She has also provided information about the Incarnate Word Convent, the school founded there, and the nuns’ teaching methods in the 1860s.
Runyon-Perkins was a student at Incarnate Word and offers thoughtful insight on the historic campus that closed in the mid-60s.
She began an interest in researching local history because of her father, whom she credits as the person that “chronicled with his camera the history of the Rio Grande Valley and northern Mexico in the early part of the 20th century.”
Through her family’s deep roots in the Brownsville-Matamoros area, Runyon-Perkins’ research has become a valuable resource for area historians.
“Although I am 91 now and have lost my voice,” she wrote, “I am still doing research on my families.”
Runyon-Perkins plans to complete the genealogy on the Lawson family and prepare a manuscript for publication. She’s also considering reprinting her father’s book, “Runyon Genealogy.”
“I have always had an interest in the history of the region,” she wrote. “I have my father’s photos of President (Warren G.) Harding when he came to Brownsville. And I have his photos showing how the Fort Brown soldiers spent their days. I also have photos of how early Brownsville residents traveled to Padre Island and the history of the Rabb Palm Grove.
“His numerous pictures tell so many stories.”
Robert Runyon’s photo collection is archived at the University of Texas and the Library of Congress.
vmanning@brownsvilleherald.com
And by all means, don't forget to visit Amali's web site "Lots of Runyon Tidbits" at home.satx.rr.com/runyontidbits/