The Day My Father Cried

To most people who knew my dad, they knew him as quiet, slow to anger, an incredibly hard worker, a family man, father, Deacon of the local Baptist Church….  My dad was about 5’ 6” tall and weighed around 105 soaking wet.  He was a man of very few words, and spoke softly, expecting you…

2020 Genealogical Resolutions

Every year, I write out my resolutions for my research for the coming year. Most years I make pretty good progress. Many goals are ongoing, some are finished, and through out the year, new ideas pop up to be explored.  I am not one to beat myself up over resolutions, but rather see them as…

Second Summer Disease

  My grandmother lived in fear of what she referred to as Second Summer Disease. I am shocked at the number of genealogists who have never hear of this disease.  Recently on a genealogy Facebook page I follow someone asked about the death of a 18 month old from “failure to be fed properly.”  Others…

William and Jane Blaylock-The rest of the story

In March 2015, I wrote about William Blaylock in this blog https://generationsgoneby.wordpress.com/2015/03/04/will-the-real-william-blaylock-please-stand-up/  As more documents are coming online, the rest of the story as Paul Harvey used to say can be told.  :  This is part of that story.My 2nd great grandmother was Virginia Caledonia Markham, daughter of Susan Markham and Unknown.  Her sister, Lockie…

Wagon Master-Thomas Dixon Morgan

During the Civil War, my ancestor served as a Wagon Master under Vernon K. Stevenson in Bowling Green, KY. His job was to move supplies to the Confederate Troops around Nashville. When the war was over, Thomas Dixon Morgan applied for a pension, citing his service as a Wagon Master and claimed he had been…

2018 Genealogy Resolutions

It’s that time of year again for Genealogy Resolutions.  I don’t make resolutions like lose 20 pounds, or exercise more.  But I do make ones for my genealogy, and for the most part, I tend to stick to them.  2017 was a rough year.  My Father-in-law became sick in late March and passed away in…

Of Pardons, Poisons and Plaintiffs: Stephen Bennett (Part 3 of 3)

Our road system was very different in 1898 than it is today in Tennessee. Roads have to be paid for and so toll booths were set up on different parts of the road and when you came to that person’s toll booth, you paid a small amount to travel on the road.  The tolls paid…

Dog Days of Summer

As a kid I remember visiting various relatives in the summer time. You'd pull up into a dirt driveway, where the grass had been beaten down by tire tracks and the summer heat. You didn’t have to worry about getting stuck, because the clay mud had formed well worn tracks and hardened there into perfectly…

Do You Ever Wonder?

As Hubby and I research our family lines, we often stop to ponder things. Most recently he has been researching the murder of his great grandfather, Flavious Elliott.  Flavious and John Dick, as one telling of the story go, were walking down the street, and heard a commotion in a house and went to see…

Using Evernote as a Genealogical Research Log

In discussions with fellow genealogists on Facebook, I have been asked several times to share how I use Evernote as a Research Log and since I just had a major research trip in which I used Evernote as my Research Log and made tremendous research progress, I thought sharing via my blog would be easier…