The week 2 theme for 52 Ancestors is “King”. Gosh … my mind goes directly to royalty! Imagine that! It’s wild to imagine that a family that landed in America before it even was, then migrated from the Carolinas through Tennessee and up to Illinois would be descendant from any King, let alone Robert the…
Yikes! I just noticed the new 52 Ancestors challenge that Amy Johnson Crow gave us on her blog No Story Too Small … and I’m behind already! I love how she has added weekly themes. Week 1 was a fresh start … and that’s where I’m starting even though I’m a teeny bit late. I have…
It always seems odd to refer to grandparents as ancestors. I suppose that’s because I’ve been raised around them or grown to know them well in my adulthood. They’re people who have helped me become who I am in ways that “dead people” ancestors haven’t. Alas, grandparents are ancestors, so this week I’m writing about…
As I continue to answer the “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” challenge set forth by Amy Johnson Crow over at “No Story Too Small”, I find myself doing more and more research on ancestors I know very little about. I’m determined to make it to number 52, but I think it’s going to take longer…
Joab was a very popular name in my dad’s family. My grandfather’s name was Joab. His grandfather’s name was Joab, and so on back to my 4th great grandfather, Joab Moore. This is as far back as I can reach in the Moore line. Joab #1 was born in 1785 in either North Carolina (1850…
Sophia Fredericka Arnold was barely 6 months old when she arrived in New York on June 19, 1843 from Hamburg, Germany. She came to America with her parents, Leonard and Christine; two sisters Katharine and Barbara; and a brother, George. Sophia is my maternal 3rd great grandmother. While the Arnold family is found on…
I am forever amazed at how the life of someone long passed has impacted my own … how the life and death of a man who lived 150 years ago had such an impact on my very existence, and that of my entire family. The Facts Philip Wolf was the first husband of my 2nd…
Grandpa Douglas is a bit of a household name, even though Winfield Scott Douglas is my maternal 2nd great grandfather and died 5 years before my own grandpa was born. Grandpa Douglas is a man attached to stories told by his daughter, Phoebe, and her son, and his sons … stories that have been told…
I am utterly amazed at how much information is available on the Internet, especially if you know how to dig around and find it! I have compiled stories, photos, and documents on several ancestors. Reuben Bramlett is no exception. In fact, I ran across his name on the Illinois Gen Web page for Saline County,…
Was Nellie Davis born on January 26, 1886? Or, was Nellie Davis born on February 25, 1886? The short answer is … both. The Davis Family I haven’t done a lot of research on Chili’s side of the family. I have my own family mysteries to solve and adding his family mysteries just makes my head…
Last week, I wrote about Lucy Jane Land and her long-lived life. While researching Lucy and her husband, Joseph, I found Joseph Dunn. Joseph is Lucy’s father-in-law and my 3rd great grandfather. Joseph Dunn was born around 1812 in Ohio, although various documents from census records to military records put his birth anywhere from 1809…
Lucy Jane Land was the daughter of the farmer. She lived to the ripe old age of 92 and was spry until the very last year of her life. She was third of 14 children, born on February 17, 1857 to Overton and Mary Ellen (Prather) Land. Lucy is my paternal 2nd great grandmother. Raised…
I don’t remember my Grandma Moore. She died when I was 2 years old. The only thing I have that connects me directly to her is a book titled “The Real Mother Goose” that she gave to me for Christmas in 1976. On the inside front cover, she wrote “To: Nicole, From: Grandma Moore, Christmas…
It’s hard to know where to begin my family history story about Adaline Isabell LeMaitre. Belle is my paternal 2nd great grandmother. Her portrait has hung on the wall of my parents’ home my entire life. I used to stand in front of it in awe of her beauty. She reminds me of a pioneer…
Imagining what my ancestors looked like is akin to devising physical attributes of characters in novels. I put together descriptions, stories, history, and even old movies … anything that helps me create an image in my mind. I usually end up with a cross between family features and movie characters. I don’t conjure nonexistent photos…
Writers suffer from writer’s block and I’m convinced that genealogists suffer from something called ancestry block … that moment when you think the branches and leaves on your family tree are so many that you can’t decide which branch to research next! Okay, I just made that up … but I suffer from this pretty…
When I was a little girl, my bedroom door was right across from the “family portrait” section of the hallway. Portraits of my dad’s grandparents, great grandparents and an as of yet unnamed female (presumably a 2nd great grandmother) hung there. My bed was, unfortunately for me, positioned so I could stare back at the…
Piecing together family history from 18th and 19th century published genealogies is like putting together a puzzle with frayed pieces … nothing fits quite as perfectly as you’d like. It seems, at least, that the Lindsay Clan was established well enough in Scotland to merit some record keeping. There are variety of books and publications…
I have spent the better part of the evening deciphering my Lindsey heraldry. Okay, it was actually only one family, quite a distance from any royal line, but I had names and birth and death dates completely out of joint and it was driving me nutty. So, like any good family historian, I pulled the…
Last week, I quietly looked toward the sky and wished my Grandpa Raines a happy birthday. Yesterday, I looked the same direction and wished my grandparents a happy 74th wedding anniversary. I seemed only fitting that this week’s 52 Ancestors post be about my grandmother, Doris Louise Schuster. Grandma was born on July 23, 1923…
One of my favorite things about researching my family history is finding little nuggets of information somewhere unexpected. This afternoon, I found a few nuggets about my dad’s grandma, Agnes Moore. Until tonight, I didn’t know much about her. She wasn’t the topic of conversation in our house … I vaguely recall Daddy talking about…
Today is my grandpa’s birthday. Today is the anniversary of the 1925 Tri-State Tornado. One single event that happened on the 6th birthday of a little boy shaped the man we called JR. James L. Raines Grandpa was born on March 18, 1919 to Phoebe (Douglas, 1880-1932) and James Albert Raines (1877-1957) in Murphysboro, Illinois. He was…
Over 900,000 German men, women and children immigrated to the United States between 1845 and 1855. My 3rd great-grandfather, Philip Friederich Schuster was one of them. Philip was 13 years old when he arrived in New Orleans with his parents and younger sister. Philip Friederich Schuster was born on September 16, 1838 in Hassloch, Germany…
At the end of the hallway at my parent’s house hang portraits of my dad’s great-grandmother, Isabelle LeMaitre, and her 2nd husband, Walter Seaver. Notice I didn’t say my dad’s great-grandparents. Walter, although loved by Isabelle, wasn’t our blood relation. Of her three husbands, she loved him best. My dad’s great-grandfather, Charles Daniel Essler, was…