Porch Swings, Fireflies, and Jelly Jars: So Long 2020, It's Been Real

Friday, January 1, 2021

So Long 2020, It's Been Real

The end of the year brings with it time to reflect on my progress this past year.

The year ended with a total of 112,923 page views, 18,488 for the year.

The most popular post for the year was Jack Pope Murdered Lewis Dorer, which recounts how Jack Pope had murdered another Red River County, Texas, resident over 25 years before he murdered his wife and her family in Oklahoma.

The second most popular post for the year was Lodowick Thompson of Lancaster and Kershaw Counties, SC, which reviewed the records of my 4th great-grandfather in both counties as well as Southampton County, Virginia.

The third most popular post for the year was The House That Compassion Built, which of the three was my personal favorite. It recounts the story of a little house that a community built for my great-grandmother and her children as well as their later move from Titus County, Texas to Red River County, Texas.

The most thrilling post for me was Iley N Selph From the Harding/Dabb Collection, which I was only able to write because I was contacted by Shelley Ledbetter who had located a large collection of photographs and documents from my husband's extended family in an antique shop in Missouri. Among the many items were two photographs of my husband's grandfather and one of his great-grandfather. I was able to acquire the collection and will be posting about it for a long time into the future.

The post that represented my best breakthrough was Granderson D. Nevill Takes a Wife, which recounts how I located yet another wife for Granderson D. Nevill. She was Kitty Ann, and for now, she is considered his fourth wife out of five. There is, of course, plenty of room for him to have had more wives who are as yet unknown.

Here's hoping that 2021 is much better than 2020. At this point, it's hard to see how it couldn't be. The best to you in the New Year, and I hope you break through your own research brick walls in the coming year.

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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.