documenting my very southern genealogy from the plantation to the frontier
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
It's been a very cold winter in these parts, and I'm back to playing around with Family Search's full text search. I needed a break from Smiths after sorting out the two Daniels, you see! With this last round of digging, I learned that my 3rd great-grandfather, Daniel Smith (1816-1868) was relatively well off. In … Continue reading A Little Story About Smiths
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
My newly discovered 6th great-grandfather, James Hall, made his will in Orange County, North Carolina in 1796. James was most likely the son of a Samuel Hall from Chester County, Pennsylvania. Many online sources and genealogy publications seem quite confident of this connection. I'm still not 100 percent sure because there was more than one … Continue reading Will of James Hall, 22 May 1796, Orange County, North Carolina
My 5th great-grandmother, generally known as Thamer Halle, is presumed by many online sources to have come from either Germany or France, specifically Alsace-Lorraine. This appears to be based entirely on family oral history, and I have never been able to find any evidence for it. She's been a brick wall for some time. Recently, … Continue reading Tamer Hall Sarver
I recently completed an epic, year-long "do-ver" of my family tree, and am now back to researching and transcribing. Robert Lowry is my newly discovered 7th great-grandfather. He named my 6th great-grandmother, Ann Lowry Dicken, wife of Benjamin Dicken, in his will, below. Lowry and Dicken were likely neighbors, as Dicken witnessed the one deed … Continue reading Will of Robert Lowry, 4 July 1768, Edgecombe County, North Carolina
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
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’
I have been scanning more photos found at my grandmother's house. This photo, she confirms, is a Sunday School class from Mount Nebo Baptist church in Buena Vista, Tennessee. Judging from the cars and clothes, I think it must have been taken in the early 1930s. My grandmother, who grew up attending Mount Nebo, identifies … Continue reading Carroll County, Tennessee Sunday School class
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 Long Way to Tennessee 