I’m concentrating on many long-overdue tasks related to the family of my Maternal Grandmother. Deadlines have a way of focusing one’s attention! My Mother’s Mother was Zura Gooch Todd, raised in the North Georgia mountains in a place that came to be known as “Lost Hollow.” Just up the creek from that farm is Mt. …
On Mount Kenya Road, south of Nanyuki, Kenya, there are two cemeteries, one is about 100 yards north of the equator, the other about 100 yards south of the equator. They are very different cemeteries. South of the equator is the Nanuyuki Commonwealth War Cemetery. It is pristine, well-maintained and orderly. North of the equator …
We can often connect family members via newspaper articles. Here’s a recent example. A Death Notice and a “Visit” item Here is a Death Notice and a “Visit” item from Dahlonega, Georgia from 1884. It was in The Daily Signal 8 June 1884 Vol 1 No 1 page 2. This is before family-placed obituaries were …
There are many companies who offer DNA analysis for purposes of discovering family members. Deciding on getting tested is a complex decision. Let me help you decide. As you might infer from the image above, I feel DNA testing is over-rated for genealogical research. There is a place for it, as long as you do …
When I was an undergrad at GSU, I wrote for the student newspaper, The Signal. While I mostly wrote news bits and a few features on some minor controversies. I was taken aback about a story told to me when I was making my routine stop by the Campus Police Station. I had already heard …
The Family Bible Preservation Project does great work in getting non-standard genealogical sources indexed and connected to the records of the people recorded. They also issue interesting and fun genealogical challenges – usually finding someone in an obscure reference, such as people mentioned in an embroidered sampler. I took on a challenge, from the attached …
Jean Byrd Lee Bowen Rollins 1913-2020 While it is best to gather oral histories and document during life, the event of a person’s death is a poignant time to gather the story of a person’s life. Not only is this a way to honor the person, it can be a part of the grieving process. …
I received a phone call on my cell phone recently…. with so many spam calls, I was expecting it to be annoying, but instead it was a kind voice, apologetic, letting me know she might have a wrong number… She was looking for a friend, Janet Profitt, and all she had to go on was …
Genealogy is everywhere we look… on our first of many “pandemic walks” with family, we encountered a large plaque attached to an even larger rock in a newly opened public green space. The plaque reads: The Seven Branches area got its name from the branch that crossed Holcomb Bridge Road seven times. Before the road …
