Porch Swings, Fireflies, and Jelly Jars: Good-bye 2019, Hello 2020

Wednesday, January 1, 2020

Good-bye 2019, Hello 2020

Another Happy New Year to you.

A review of the year shows that my blog had 17,492 page views. Sixty-five posts were added this year. The last page of the year put the total page views at 94,435.

The most popular posts of the year in order:

Sarah Ann (Duncan) Knight - the return of a photograph of my great-grandfather's elder sister to one of her descendants after it languished in an antique store in Crescent City, California.

John W. Selph's Letter of Condolence, 1936 - a letter written by John W. Selph to Andrea (Selph) Vigil upon the deaths of her father Iley N. Selph and his brother Duncan H. Selph.

William Hogan and Lawrence Williams, Kershaw County, SC - a land deed from William Hogan to Lawrence Williams. Lawrence Williams is my most recently identified ancestor, and William Hogan might be his father-in-law.

Lewis H. Kelley Becomes Lonnie Cecil Clyburn - the life of my great-grandmother's brother, who reinvented himself because he dreamed of being more than a poor dirt farmer's son. It's not was not as romantic as it sounds.

The following posts are my favorites because they concerned the brick walls that I was finally able to breakthrough. Some of them I did not even know I had before I found them:

Nelson Kavanaugh, A Slave in the Family - Nelson Kavanaugh, a "new" son of Capt. William Kavanaugh's and a "new" sibling for my 4x great-grandmother Susannah (Kavanaugh) Duncan.

Eliza (Thompson) Kelley's Tribal Application - I grew up hearing that my great-great-grandmother was part Indian and that the Kelley's gone west to claim her Indian land. The story was not quite accurate. Eliza could not prove that her grandmother was a Cherokee, so her application was rejected. What is more thrilling about this application is that Eliza clarified her mother's name: Asenith Williams. Even better, she named her maternal grandparents: Lawrence Williams and Rachel Hogan. I'm stuck again, of course.

Capt. Solomon Reese's Obituary - as obituaries go, this one for my 4x great-grandfather is brief. Still, it was thrilling to find it. Even better, it gave me an estimated birth year for Solomon Reese.

I wish you success in your searches this year.

2 comments:

Miss MerryJanuary 1, 2020 at 2:37 PM
I really enjoy reading your posts
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About Me:

My favorite memories from childhood include visits to my grandparents in East Texas. At dusk we'd run around my grandparent's yard, catching fireflies and putting them in jelly jars. When darkness descended, we'd return to the porch. It was a special treat to sit in the porch swing. Inevitably, the adults would launch into family stories of Pink Kelley's brush with Sherman's troops, of Great Uncle Hood Brown's tragic death, and of the Kelley family's wagon trip to Texas, among many others. The stars on those nights were magical.

I began my genealogy research in the summer of 1975, less than a month after my high school graduation. When I married in 1983, I started researching my husband's family as well. I was fortunate to start this hobby as a youngster because it gave me an opportunity to correspond with researchers who are long gone; to ask questions of family members -although not enough, never enough; and travel a bit. The result is a lot of information. I've come to the realization that I will probably never be able to afford to publish, so this is my publication.

This blog contains a mixture of information on my husband's family and mine. I've expanded into a second blog called Flimsies and Frippery with the intention of focusing on quilts and dolls, but I have several historical research entries there with more planned, which is why I don't get more quilting done.

Ultimately, genealogy is my passion. This is where I plan to record family stories, research adventures and misadventures, and those serendipitous moments that happen out of the blue. You should be warned that I have a bad habit of going back and adding information and links to individual entries, so it is beneficial to check back often if there is a family of particular interest to you. If you wander in and discover that you are a cousin, please contact me.

Since many younger family members who are new to genealogy are starting to contact me about their ancestors, I've started adding family trees to help them see how everyone is connected. The trees are divided between my family and my husband's. You will find them below under the label's Family Trees - My Husband's Side and Family Trees - My Family's Side.

For better or worse, this blog reflects the research, thinking, and writing of a human.