Edward Baucom

1/11/17

Mrs. Murphy

KDR

My name is Lawrence Edward Twohy Baucom, and I was born on August 9th,

1998. My mother is Elizabeth Williams Twohy and my father is Christopher Lee

Baucom. I lived in Cincinnati until the age of 10 and went to school at CCDS (Cincinnati

Country Day School). When I was a child I loved Star Wars, Army men, and Baseball.

Since the age of 10 I have lived in Vero Beach, Florida and gone to Saint Edwards

school. In my teenage years I have grown to appreciate and love the field of history, I

love researching it, watching it, and reading it. When I grow up I want to be a lawyer. On

August 9th, 1998 my father Christopher Baucom rushed my mother Elizabeth Baucom

to Christ Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio as she was going into labor.1 I popped out head

first on a Sunday and was given the name Lawrence Edward Twohy Baucom. 2 During

the 1980s the United States and the Soviet Union reached the height of the cold war,

one man had become president who would challenge the USSR, that man was Ronald

Reagan, he singlehandedly made the USSR collapse and brought the U.S. out of

1 Interview with mother 4/16/17

2 "Mark Thomas Lockwood Birth Announcement." Newspapers.com. Web. 25 Jan. 2017.

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4899247/mark_thomas_lockwood_birth_announcement/
almost a half century of fear.3 During the 80s Iraq had become a major power in the

middle east, and after the failed invasion of Iran looked towards a different country, in

1990 Iraq invaded Kuwait and following condemnation from the United Nations the U.S.

and allies launched operation Desert Storm liberating Kuwait and sparking instability in

the Middle East, instability that has led to terrorism that has continued to the present

day.

My mothers name is Elizabeth Williams Twohy and she was born on August 19th, 1966

in Richmond, Virginia.4 She was born to Edward Merrick Twohy, and Patricia Ann

Williams. She had one sister, Patricia Williams Twohy who was a few years older than

her. As a child she was very interested in space and dreamed of growing up to be an

astronaut.5 She went to the prestigious collegiate school until 9th grade when she

attended Douglas Freeman high school. When she was born the American Civil Rights

Movement was in full swing. This led to the desegregation of America, and the decline

of public racism.6 I remember one of the things my mother telling me was that she had a

friend named Crystal who was black and went to Collegiate with her, my mother was not

allowed to invite Crystal to her house unless it was with a group of friends. This struck

3 http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/cold-war-history

4 "Elizabeth Williams Twohy (born 08/19/1966) 1-513-543-2830 1011 ROYAL PALM Blvd." Elizabeth
Williams Twohy (born 08/19/1966) 1-513-543-2830 1011 ROYAL PALM Blvd. Accessed January 13, 2017.
http://flvoters.com/by_number/1165/76723_elizabeth_williams_twohy.html.

5 Interview with mother 4/18/17

6
Carson, Clayborne. "American Civil Rights Movement." Encyclopdia Britannica. December 08, 2016.
Accessed January 19, 2017. https://www.britannica.com/event/American-civil-rights-movement.
me as less than ten years before, Crystal would not be attending school with my mother.

In my mothers teenage years a new movie would be released that would change the

entertainment industry forever, Star Wars, Star Wars became an instant hit and stayed

in theaters longer than any other movie. My mother told me how good looking she

thought Mark Hamill was and how she went to see the movie multiple times. She met

my Father, Christopher Lee Baucom in college and married him on November 30th,

1991.7 My mother went to North Carolina State university and majored in public

speaking. My mother gave birth to Lawrence Edward Twohy Baucom on August 9th,

1998.8

My grandfather Edward Merrick Twohy was born on October 20th, 1934 in Norfolk,

Virginia. He was born to John and Grace Twohy who were in their 30s. 9 He lived in the

famous Twohy house in Mowbray Arch, Norfolk, Virginia.10 He told me how his room

was in the turret and how he would look at the river. He had rheumatic fever for a large

part of his life so he was confined to his bed a lot of the time which meant he could not

play sports or interact with other kids. One story he told me was that he was digging at a

7 Ancestry - Sign In." Ancestry - Sign In. Accessed January 20, 2017.
http://person.ancestry.com/tree/5506087/person/24117605348/story.

8 "Ancestry - Sign In." Ancestry - Sign In. Accessed January 20, 2017.
http://person.ancestry.com/tree/5506087/person/24117608501/story.

9 "Ancestry - Sign In." Ancestry - Sign In. Web. 24 Jan. 2017.

http://person.ancestry.com/tree/5506087/person/-1444907739/story

10 Guagenti, Toni. "Norfolk History on the Market." Virginian-Pilot. 26 May 2013. Web. 24 Jan. 2017.
quarry when he was young, when he hit this good sized metal ball, it ended up being a

cannonball and it has sat near the fireplace ever since.

Living in Norfolk during World War II was rough as it was the United States

biggest naval base on the east coast, everything was rationed and there was a

mandatory blackout. World war II began when my grandfather was 4 and ended when

he was 10, Hitler had made large territorial advances in Europe and sparked World War

II when he invaded Poland. On the other side of the world Japan had also been taking

territory in Asia and the Pacific. After turning the tide in late 1942 and destroying the

Nazi war machine in Europe, 2 atomic bombs were dropped on Japan bringing an end

to the bloodiest conflict in human history.11

Due to World War II my grandfather was sent off to Camp Greenbriar an all boys

camp where his father had gone and every generation since has gone. Due to his

illness he could only participate in some activities such as crafts. He told me that while

he was there, there were things that he could never get in Norfolk such a chocolate. He

went there for many years, after he kicked the fever he was able to do other activities,

he told me once that he almost blew his hand off with some fireworks someone had

smuggled in. My grandmother went to the girls camp at the same time he went to the

boys camp, they probably saw each other not knowing that one day they would be

married, however my grandfather was too busy shooting spitballs to talk to girls. Around

the time my grandfather was a teenager another war had begun, the Korean war, a part

of the larger, global Cold War. As Korea had been a colony of Japan and the Empire of

Japan had been dismantled, the victorious allies decided to split korea between north
11 Royde-Smith, John Graham. "World War II." Encyclopdia Britannica. Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc.,
12 June 2015. Web. 24 Jan. 2017.
and south. In 1950 the North Koreans, supported by China and the USSR crossed the

38th parallel to take all of Korea. In a matter of months the Americans and South

Koreans had been pushed to the incheon peninsula. Soon after a U.N.

counteroffensive, the North Koreans had been pushed back almost to the Chinese

border when, the Chinese invaded causing a stalemate at the 38th parallel in 1953. 12

My Great Grandfather, John Twohy II was born on June 11, 1900. His father John

Twohy was 58 and his mother Catharine Dugan was 49. 13 He lived in Norfolk, Virginia

for most of his life. He started the tradition in my family of going to Camp Greenbrier as

his father would send him there. On September 10th, 1924 in Cuyahoga, Ohio, John

Twohy II married Grace Elizabeth Merrick.14 During World War I my great grandfather

signed up for the draft and sometime after the war, served in the navy.15 John Twohy

12 "Korean War." Encyclopdia Britannica. Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc. Web. 24 Jan. 2017.

13 "Join Ancestry." Join Ancestry. Accessed January 31, 2017. http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?

_phsrc=dQI179&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&ssrc=pt_t5506087_p-
1444907742&srchb=r&gss=angs-g&rank=1&tid=5506087&pid=-
1444907742&gpid=&gsfn=John&gsln=Twohy
II&msbdy=1900&msddy=1972&msbpn=24283&msbpn_PInfo=8-|0|0|0|2|0|49|0|24255|24283|0|
&msbpn__ftp=Norfolk, Virginia&msdpn=24283&msdpn_PInfo=8-|0|0|0|2|0|49|0|24255|24283|0|
&msdpn__ftp=Norfolk, Virginia&cp=0&cpxt=0&msrpn=24283&msrpn_PInfo=8-|0|0|0|2|0|49|0|24255|
24283|0|&msrpn__ftp=Norfolk, Norfolk (Independent City),
Virginia&msgdy=1924&msgpn__ftp=Cuyahoga, Ohio : 2234 Overlook Road, Cleaveland Ohio; Marriage:
Marriage was atr 4:00 in the home of Mrs. Arthur S. Gilman&msfng=Captain
John&msfns=Twohy&msmng=Catharine&msmns=Dugan&msbng0=George
Joseph&msbns0=Twohy&msbng1=Annie Lucinda&msbns1=Twohy&mssng0=Grace&mssns0=Merrick
Twohy&mscng0=John&mscns0=Twohy, IV&mscng1=Patricia Ann&mscns1=Twohy&mscng2=Edward
Merrick&mscns2=Twohy&_83004003-n_xcl=f&MSAV=1&pcat=ROOT_CATEGORY&h=8255591&recoff=7
8 26 27 38 39&dbid=9277&indiv=1&ml_rpos=3.

14 "Ohio, County Marriages, 1774-1993." Ohio, County Marriages, 1774-1993. Accessed January 31,
2017. http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=61378.

15 http://mv.ancestry.com/viewer/2bedd2fe-6f37-426f-a02e-78272187cc1e/5506087/-1444907742
had 3 children, John Twohy IV16, Patricia Ann Twohy17, and Edward Merrick Twohy18. My

Great Grandfather was in the navy during the 20s.

Another event that was happening during the 1920s was the roaring 20s an

economic boom, after World War I the United States had an explosion in wealth and

everyone was living the high life. However during the 30s an economic decline

happened, my grandfather and his father lived in Norfolk a sea based city and with that

a lot of people lost their jobs however my great grandfather pulled through and gave his

family a good life despite the circumstances.

16 http://mv.ancestry.com/viewer/3d08eebc-3035-4295-8db7-a39fe7d16724/5506087/-1444907740

17 Ancestry.com. Virginia, Birth Records, 1912-2014, Delayed Birth Records, 1854-1911 [database
on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.

18 Year: 1940; Census Place: Norfolk, Norfolk City, Virginia; Roll: T627_4312; Page: 9A;
Enumeration District: 114-54