documenting my very southern genealogy from the plantation to the frontier
Sarah/Sally Bembry I recently spent a bit of time perusing indexes of The Southside Virginian at our local library, and came up with one useful piece of information. Sally “Bembra” is listed as an insolvent on the 1783 tax list in Nansemond County, Virginia, very near Elisha Darden. This proves two things: 1.) The Sarah … Continue reading A Couple More Bembry Discoveries
Learning that Miles did not, in fact, sprout up all by himself under a North Carolina cabbage leaf, but had a relative of likely the same generation gave me a new perspective on the problem of his mysterious origins. I have a new working theory. In fact, a theory may be all that I ever … Continue reading A New Working Theory for Miles Bembry’s Origins
Recently, Family Search threw me a curveball. While doing my periodic search for any new references to Miles Bembry, an entirely new early Bembry popped up! Henry Bembry appears twice in estate records for a Whitmell Wilkins in Bertie county, NC. In 1828 he is mentioned as a debtor, owing the deceased $5.00. And in … Continue reading Wait, what? Who is this Henry Bembry?
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
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
I think I have exhausted available resources on my favorite brickwall ancestor for the moment. I also find it's a good idea to step back once in a while, work on something else, and see what comes up in the meantime. However, I've discovered a few more details over the last few weeks that I … Continue reading Bits and Pieces on Miles Bembry
In researching my brickwall ancestor and 5th great-grandfather, Miles Bembry (1766-1838), I have been researching his FAN (Friend Associate Neighbor) club in depth for some time. However, recently, I consulted with a professional genealogist, and this caused me to realize that I needed to be more systematic in my research and develop more visual aids … Continue reading Miles Bembry as Plantation Overseer
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’
For the last few weeks, I have been working on Miles Bembry's FAN club in an attempt to finally topple that Bembry brickwall. I've gathered a ton of information! But I am starting to confuse myself by now, and so I think I need to take a step back to properly organize and summarize it … Continue reading Nansemond Connections
A couple of weeks ago I started on another pandemic-inspired genealogy project. While it didn't lead to a fully conclusive result, I did learn some interesting things along the way. I have always wondered whether the black Bembrys who come out of eastern North Carolina are connected to "my" Bembrys. As Bembry is such a … Continue reading Looking into North Carolina Bembrys
A Long Way to Tennessee 