documenting my very southern genealogy from the plantation to the frontier
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
I recently starting playing around with Family Search's experimental full-text search. It's pretty amazing and incredibly useful. Especially for an unusual surname, such as Bembry. Of course, many of the hits that come up are documents that I have already seen via old-fashioned scrolling through deed indexes and so on. But even in that case, … Continue reading Fun with Family Search Labs
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
Five wives, nine lives, and an understated obituary.
The story of the only Bembry to wear Union blue.
Please note that since this post was published, I have discovered that these Robert Shaw is not, in fact, my ancestor. However, I have left the post online for anyone else who may find it to be useful to their research. I've recently taken a deep dive into the Revolutionary War pension file of Robert … Continue reading Chunky Bob Shaw and the Old Lady
On 14 February 1862, Thomas N. Bembry and his younger brother, Henry L. Bembry, signed on as Privates with the 5th Confederate Florida Infantry, Company F ("Frink's Guards.") Two of Sarah's brothers, Elijah Moses and Aaron signed up for the same unit on the same day. Another brother, Henry F. Simpson, signed up just a few … Continue reading Thomas N. Bembry Part II: The War Years
For my entire life, I had always heard that my grandmother's people were with the Union in the Civil War. There was good reason to believe it, as Benton and Carroll counties were settled primarily by people from the hills of East Tennessee and western North Carolina. In fact, Union sympathy ran high in both … Continue reading Calvin Cole: Reluctant Rebel
I received this information which sorts out the military records of the two William Bembrys from Pulaski County, GA from a distant cousin, Jason Bembry. I am sharing it here with his permission. Thanks, Jason! William Bembry, born December 9, 1834, was one of the sons of William Miles Bembry (August 23,1795-April 22, 1839) and grandson … Continue reading Some Pulaski County Confederates
A Long Way to Tennessee 