documenting my very southern genealogy from the plantation to the frontier
Miles Bembry is the first Bembry in America that I have been able to identify. For years, off and on, I've been trying to figure out where he came from. I've researched online and in libraries. I've tried cluster genealogy, researching his neighbors, business associates and probable former slaves. His origins remain a complete mystery. … Continue reading When Your Ancestor Was Found Under a Cabbage Leaf
I recently visited the Local History room at the Arlington County public library just to see what might be available there. The area of North Carolina in which Miles Bembry lived was originally the Albemarle District of Virginia. Many of the residents came from what now call Virginia to North Carolina. So, I checked the … Continue reading An Earlier Bembry?
If you are an amateur genealogist, you've probably heard of the Genealogy Do-Over challenge that is going around. The idea is: scrap everything and start all over again, improving your research and sourcing in the process. It's a good idea, I think, and in fact, I have been sort of doing that for the last … Continue reading Targeting Miles Bembry
Last week I visited the Daughters of the American Revolution genealogy library here in Washington, DC, and hit the motherlode. My focus for the afternoon was to find all the Bembry references I could locate in the North Carolina counties that I knew were associated with the family. So, I went through all the indexes for … Continue reading Bembry Blitz Pays Off: Thomas Bembry’s Wife Now Has a Name!
Thomas Bembry almost certainly had two wives. The second wife was Mary, last name probably Savage. He married her before 1850, probably in Pulaski County, GA, and her presumed father (or another relative), Charles Savage, is living with the couple on the 1850 census. Many online trees list Martha "Patsy" Dickens as Thomas Bembry's first … Continue reading The Mystery Wives of Thomas Bembry
My family's oral tradition has always been that my great grandparents were cousins, both descending from Butlers. Lately, I've been trying to figure out just how they connect. And have succeeded only in narrowing things down a bit! Here are some notes, for my own reference and to share. My great-grandfather, Carzy Clifford Cole, was … Continue reading Those Dang Butlers
A Long Way to Tennessee 