documenting my very southern genealogy from the plantation to the frontier
My 4th great grandfather, William "Honest Billy" Shaw, by his own account, grew up in Wythe County in southwest Virginia, "on the waters of the New River." Virginia origins I am virtually certain that William's father was another William Shaw who is found in local records from that time. By digging into that William Shaw's … Continue reading William Shaw from Virginia to Tennessee
In my first post profiling William Shaw, I annotated his testimony from his Revolutionary pension application. Now I'll move on to the second part of his application, which contains testimonials from witnesses as to his character and the veracity of his claims to service. William's friend Robert Weakley offered the first of several testimonials. On … Continue reading “Honest Billy” Shaw
I've recently rolled back around to researching my 4th great-grandfather, William Shaw. He applied for a Revolutionary War pension in 1832. and testified in court to the details of his service. Transcribing his testimony has revealed a wealth of information! In this first of two posts, I will focus primarily on his military career. After … Continue reading Unpacking William Shaw’s Military Service
Turning to my 4th great-grandfather, James Simpson (abt 1794-1850), I wasn't expecting to find anything especially interesting. I thought this would be yet another profile of a hardscrabble southern farmer. But then this popped up: From Houston County, Georgia court records at Family Search. It appearing to the court that Doctor Thomas W. Bale did … Continue reading James Simpson’s Surprising Life and Strange Death
In a break from doomscrolling lately, I've been picking ancestors at random and searching for them on Family Search's new full text search feature just to see what pops up. Most (nearly all) of my ancestors were subsistence farmers who didn't leave much of an impression on the historical record even with a "deep search." … Continue reading The Trials of Daniel T Sumner
A couple of days ago, I heard about a website called Archive Grid on a podcast. As usual when I find a new archive, I ran a quick search for "Bembry," because I can be pretty sure whatever comes up will relate to my family in some way. To my surprise, a letter from personal … Continue reading Maybe He Just Needed Killin’
A few months ago, I learned that Thomas Taylor was my 5th great grandfather. I recently returned to researching that line. It was a bit of a brick wall at first, because I could not find primary sources for multiple online claims that he was the "Colonel Thomas Taylor" who was a Revolutionary soldier in … Continue reading The Curious Case of Colonel Thomas Taylor
After researching Lydia Collings Uptigrove to the extent that was possible, I turned to Elijah Uptigrove, her husband. In the process of researching him, I unearthed some interesting history! First, the working theory As I outlined earlier, it seems clear that the Collings and Uptigroves were acquainted with each other in Albemarle County, Virginia, prior … Continue reading Do Unto Others: the Op den Graeff Connection
David Dickinson, father of John Dickerson, was born in North Carolina, some time before 1753. After really a LOT of sorting out of Wayne County, NC Dickinsons, I have concluded that he was most likely the son of Daniel Dickinson and grandson of John Dickinson, "Gentleman Planter" of Northampton County, NC. David Dickinson died, without … Continue reading David Dickinson’s Very Unpleasant Demise
Slaveholding families held much of their wealth in human capital. And so, they often argued about slaves. When they did, they left court records which provide a lot of information about both themselves and the enslaved people that they were arguing about. David Neal's family is a case in point. In his will, dated 4 … Continue reading Reconstructing an Enslaved Family from Court and Probate Records
A Long Way to Tennessee 