Category Archives: Genealogy Research

Lost Relatives – Found

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In 2011 I started scanning old photos that my mom had saved. One person seemed to show up a lot and it was a friend of Mom’s that she knew growing up.  When she shows up in my mom’s photos from her wedding I decide that she must have been someone special and I needed to get these photos back to her family.  

Photo taken at Mom’s wedding February 27, 1953 at her brothers home in Eastaboga, Alabama. Mom is on the left and her best friend Mary Elizabeth Hicks in on the right.

I posted those photos online in 2011 in hopes that someone would find them. After no such luck I started digging again in May 2017. First up was some research on Ancestry.com. I located an obituary from 1959, just 6 years from the last photo I have of Mary Elizabeth.  I started searching harder on Ancestry.com and located someone mentioned in the newspaper article I’d found earlier.   During my search I was lucky enough to trace the same person down on Ancestry.com via a family tree listing for Mary Elizabeth.  And then I sent the email.  I really didn’t expect an answer, but later that day I did receive a response..   After exchanging several email I determined this was in fact the grand-daughter of the woman in the photos with my mom. I shared the photos she’d never seen with her and she said I had made her day.  Given a little time, even lost photos can find their way back home to their family.  That day I stepped away from my computer smiling.

 

The full set of photos can be seen here:  Lost Photos Find Their Home


Genealogy Research – Calhoun County Alabama

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When doing genealogy research on my own family tree I sometimes come across information I feel like others may need to see also. Maybe there is another family out there doing research that hasn’t found these little details that I have stumbled across. This week I found an article in the Jacksonville Republican, a newspaper that was published during the 1800’s in Jacksonville, Alabama.
WH_Jeffers_Obit_Jacksonville_Republican_1890 Jacksonville Republican Newspaper – Jacksonville, Alabama
12 April 1890 – Page 2
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DEATH OF MR. W. H. JEFFERS.
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A Valuable Citizen Has Breathed His Last.

Mr. William Henry Jeffers died at his home on Mulberry street, last night at 7:30 o’clock. He was stricken with paralysis while at work in his office a couple of weeks since and never rallied.
He as born in Hamburg, S. C., on the 8th of September, 1837, and died on the 8th day of April, 1890. During the Confederate war Mr. Jeffers, assisted by Capt. Trenholm, organized the Rutledge Mounted Riflemen and joined Hamptons Legion. He surrendered at the head of the squadron at Appomattox, and witnessed the greeting of Generals Grant and Lee. He was always noted for his coolness and bravery. He was one of South Carolina’s most gallant soldiers and leaders during the war. He was a Southern gentleman of the old school and since 1867 a consistent christian and member of the Baptist church. He came to Anniston in 1874 and at first did business for the Woodstock Iron Company. He as elected clerk and treasurer of the city in 1883 and was holding that responsible position at the time of his death.
He married a daughter of Dr. Jenkins, in Newberry, S. C., in 1868, and was the father of ten children, six of them living.–Anniston Hot Blast

Genealogy Research – Calhoun County Alabama

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When doing genealogy research on my own family tree I sometimes come across information I feel like others may need to see also. Maybe there is another family out there doing research that hasn’t found these little details that I have stumbled across. This week I found an article in the Jacksonville Republican, a newspaper that was published during the 1800’s in Jacksonville, Alabama.

The following is a transcript from a letter written by H.L. Whiteside to the editors of the Jacksonville Republican Newspaper.  He is writing to send news back to Calhoun County Alabama on their situation in arriving in Texas with his family of eleven and only $94.  Mr. Whiteside was a tenant farmer and lived in the Holland Texas area for a very long time.

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Letter from Harvey Lafayette Whiteside (born Nov. 24, 1848 – Alabama) to the Editors of the Jacksonville Republican Newspaper – Jacksonville Alabama Continue reading →

Genealogy Research – Samuel K. Borders

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When doing genealogy research on my own family tree I sometimes come across information I feel like others may need to see also.  Maybe there is another family out there doing research that hasn’t found these little details that I have stumbled across.  This week I found an article in the Jacksonville Republican, a newspaper that was published during the 1800’s in Jacksonville, Alabama. This article covers the life span of one Samuel K. Borders who was born in Jackson county Georgia in 1822.  He went to the University of Georgia and graduated with honors at the age of 21.  He married Miss S. M. Williams of South Carolina and had six daughters and one son. The full transcript can be read here:  Jacksonville History – Samuel K Borders 1822-1881

Ireland – La Fheile Padraig Sona Duit

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Happy St. Patty’s Day, In spring of 1703, a student of Trinity College in Dublin Ireland, Daniel, joined with his two older brothers sailed from Ireland on a merchant ship, under protection of the British crown. These merchant ships were headed to trade with the colonies. (Rumor has it that the boys’ father remarried, and money became an issue within the family. More than likely the new wife, Sarah, held onto the purse strings a bit tighter than the father did previously. She probably thought Daniel should pay for his own education.) In late April of that same year the fleet of ships finally arrived at the Colony of Maryland. These three brothers were bound by ‘Articles of Redemption’ to the captain of the ship for the cost of their passage to the colony. Upon arrival the captain could sell their ‘Articles’ at his own discretion, or they could make arrangements with local planters or merchants to pay for their passages. Then they would work for the purchaser as indentured servants until their debt was repaid in full. All three brothers were able to make arrangements for repaying their debts… one served as an apprentice in a doctors office, one helped with a local school, and the youngest brother, Daniel, (my GGGGG Grandfather) became an apprentice with a colonial lawyer in the colony at Port Tobacco. The rest is history. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!