Working On My Personal Genealogy

While I have been trying to keep up to date on my genealogy writing at BellaOnline, I have gotten very behind here on my personal blog, Gtownma’s Genealogy. I have set a 2013 New Year’s goal to try to write more often. Today I will write my goal of brick wall’s I’d like to solve this next year, should I be so lucky.

I am first hopeful to do more personal research on my direct lines. There are a few lines that I was stuck on. But, with FamilySearch uploading so many new things since my last search on these lines, I might just be able to solve the puzzle next go round. Some of the people I would love to discover more on are:

• Green W. Smith (my step mom’s grandfather) and his wife Willie Brookins, both from the Montgomery County, Georgia area. Also MS, Fl and GA states may have information I need. (See picture below)
• Pleasant G. Alfred Cox from Alabama who may have died in Arkansas right after the Civil War. Would like to know more about this Civil War veteran, one of my direct line ancestors. 
• Elizabeth Garris who married Adam Fralick, then Jacob Ruppenthall around 1850 when Adam died. I want to know Elizabeth’s ancestry. She resided in Autuaga County and Montgomery County, Alabama.
• William & Mary Ann Roten from McNairy County, Tennessee. Anything on these two would be exciting, especially Mary’s maiden name!  
• I would love to get back to researching my husband’s Sicilian lines in Termini-Imerese, Sicily. (Did I put the FHL microfilm numbers down years ago, when doing his lines in the early stages?  NO!  So, need to go back and add those citiations!)

One thing I have been reading alot about lately is the importance of putting our ancestor’s in historical context. I would like to go back to some of the families I have documented and add more historical facts for them. “Meat on the bones” I have heard it often referred to. 

And, of course, let’s not forget to cite our sources. Seems like most of us learn the beginning steps of genealogy on our own personal families. It is not til we are deep into our families or doing it for someone else that we realize, the “lightbulb” goes off, that we need to be citing our sources. I desperately need to revisit my families that I started genealogy with and add those missing citations and hope I can refind them. 

I also have many friends I have done family histories on that I would love to revisit, especially now, as I stated earlier, so much has been added to help us in our research. I also hope to be able to do more non-internet research this next year — court houses, library, cemeteries, archives, etc. That is where the excitement truly lies!

So, join me in 2013 in working more on our personal genealogical lines. Set a goal to do it weekly or monthly. I am hopeful to spend at least one weekend a month on my personal genealogy. 

Green W. Smith & Willie Brookins

 

Saturday Night Fun February 11, 2012

 

Randy Seaver over at GeneaMusings has come up with another great Saturday Night Fun challenge. 

It’s Saturday Night, time for more Genealogy Fun!!

The genealogy world was reminded (again) of how time flies, relatively speaking, by the news that there are two living grandchildren of President John Tyler (1790-1862).  This past week there was theRobert Krulwich blog post about persons knowing people who knew famous people long ago.

For this week’s mission (should you decide to accept it), I want you to:

1)  Using your ancestral lines, how far back in time can you go with two degrees of separation?  That means “you knew an ancestor, who knew another ancestor.”  When was that second ancestor born?

2)  Tell us in a blog post of your own, in a comment to this blog post, in a status line on Facebook or a stream post on Google Plus.

 

Here is my contribution:  

 

I was born in 1961 and I remember (and I have a picture) of spending an afternoon with my great grandparents, Joe Lee Coleman (1901-1968) and Amie Mae Sulephen (1903-1995). Amie knew her grandparents that died in the same county as she lived. They were George W. Casteel born 1854 in Tennessee and died about 1933 and Nancy Ann Seaton born 1857 in Hardin, TN or Waterloo, AL and died 1948 in Alcorn County, MS. 

 

 

Heritage Pie Chart for Saturday Night Fun

Saturday Night Fun Challenge using the Heritage Pie Chart.

Saturday Night Fun – Genea-Wishes

This week’s Saturday Night Fun’s Challenge is to list your Genealogy Wish List. I had a great time with mine. Here is my submission.

Guess The Relatives: New UK Show YOU can Apply For

Does your family have British Roots? A British TV company is making an exciting new TV show featuring British families and their long lost relatives. Dragonfly TV is currently looking for families from outside the UK who would like to travel to Great Britain to discover long lost relatives they never knew existed. Come read more…

Beautiful Pins for Hair and/or Blouse

Marcy, my daughter, has some beautiful Pins she is selling. They are for the hair and/or blouse. She is running a Holiday Special, so check it out.

Assessing your Volunteering Potential

52 Weeks To Better Genealogy posted their Challenge #46 on Volunteering. Here is their challenge!

Casefile Clues on Google Books

I was waiting on my husband this morning during his dental visit. Knowing he would be there a while, I grabbed some issues of Casefile Clues I had not read yet. The issue that caught my attention this morning was Volume 1, Number 26 of January 24, 2010 titled, “A few Searches on Google Books”.

Genealogy Websites I Have Bookmarked

There are several genealogy websites that are worth bookmarking. There is nothing so frustrating as to need information from a website and you cannot remember its web address. Using your internet program, you can bookmark websites or save it in your favorites. If you are not sure how to do this, ask a friend or someone at your local genealogical society to teach you. It is not hard and will save you a lot of time locating links you use often.

Gtownma’s Follow Friday 1/8/2010

I have never participated in a “Follow Friday” before. It was hard to choose between all the great Genealogy Blogs out there, but here are my picks for today!