Here, on May 14, 1832, the first engagement of the Black Hawk War took place. When 275 Illinois militiamen under Maj. Isaiah Stillman were put to flight by Black Hawk and his warriers. So thoroughly demoralized were the volunteers that a new army had to be called into the field. – Historical marker at the site of Stillman’s Defeat in Stillman Valley, Illinois List of volunteers including Geo. Copperberger [should be Coppenbarger] as 3rd corporal, Elisha Butler & Obediah Hooper as privatesMy great, great, great grandfather, Peter Coppenbarger, was 14 years old in the spring of 1832. He was too...
My great aunt, Beulah (Peters) Brewer, got me interested in genealogy about 18 years ago. One of our ancestral lines are the Randolphs of Virginia. Here’s the story she emailed me of what got her interested in learning more about her family: Myrtle Mae (Coppenbarger) Peters painting (Probably the photo taken for the newspaper) James Madison Randolph is the reason that I started doing genealogy. Mother had a copy of the paper that had his obituary in it, and his part took up about four pages. It was one of the smaller papers. Mother started doing oil paintings when she...
Sarah E. McCage (~1812-1860), who married William Kennedy Dickson (1811-probably 1860s), was born in Tennessee and lived in Perry County, Tennessee by 1840 (if not before). I’d seen her maiden name, McCage, on other researchers’ trees, but last year is the first time I found it on a document. One of her children, Jacob Tipton Dickson, had written his mother’s name as Sarah McCage on a Civil War Questionnaire in 1920. Jacob Tipton’s Civil War Questionnaire (Question #8 lists “Maiden name in full of your mother: Salley McCage.) She was the daughter of “dont know” and his wife “dont know.”...
William Kennedy Dickson (~1811-1860s), my 3rd great grandfather, signed a petition in 1845. At the time, he was living in Perry County, Tennessee. The petition? Some citizens of Perry County are asking that their county be divided. So, why do they want the county divided? Detail from map of the United States of America by H. S. Tanner, 1834 (found on various sites) Above is an 1834 map of Perry County, Tennessee. Running almost down the center is the Tennessee River. Perryville, the county seat, is on the west side of the river. That was the issue. The people on...
For the past few months, I’ve tried to figure out how to set a “primary photo” for an individual. It was easy on the “old” Ancestry! I finally called Ancestry and they quickly sent me an email with a link that explained the steps I needed to take. I don’t think it is intuitive (or I would have figured it out!), so I’m sharing the steps. STEP 1: Go to the profile page for the person on your tree and click “Gallery” to see all the images. STEP 2: Click on the image you want to use as the primary...
As you probably know, the War of 1812 Pension Files are free on Fold3 and they continue to add more names each month. I’m “patiently” waiting for the Ws for my direct ancestor, Thomas B. Whitwell. But, in the meantime, I was scrolling through the names in Tennessee where my grandmother’s maternal family lived. Under the letter D, I came across the fairly common surname, Dickson, which was my grandmother’s maiden name. As I clicked on each of these men, one name stood out to me: Joseph Dickson. I have four Joseph Dickson’s on my tree. Two were born after...
Growing up, the house we lived in had been built in the late 1800’s. Though it was two stories and had four bedrooms, it only had 1 1/2 bathrooms: a half bath under the staircase and a full bathroom upstairs. The full bath didn’t have a shower; it only had an antique, claw-footed tub. The tub was painted white, inside and out, but the outside paint had peeled off in places. Surprisingly I have many memories centered on that old tub. Me (age 2) & my baby brother in the antique tub My sister, brother, and I were 3 “stair...
This is a photo I scanned while at my mom’s a few weeks ago. I know which part of my family it came from, but I’m having trouble identifying which war this young man served in. If I can figure that out, hopefully I can identify him. Can anyone tell me which war this young man fought in. Thanks in advance!
After writing about my Grandmother, Evelyn (Dickson) Kaechle, this past weekend, I decided to share some of her old family photos. The photos were probably all taken in Perry County, Tennessee where my grandmother grew up. This is a photo of Sallie (Dickson) Ward, my grandmother’s grandmother. My grandmother was raised by Sallie since her own mother, Nora (Ward) Dickson, died when she was only 8 months old. Sallie lived to be 99 years old and lived her entire life in Perry County, Tennessee. This photo was labeled “Sallie & Mary.” Sallie is Sallie (Dickson) Ward who is also pictured...
My grandmother, Evelyn (Dickson) Kaechle, was born 100 years ago today. Though she died in 2004 at the age of 88, I’m paying tribute to her by sharing part of her life’s story in words and photos. Evelyn was the fifth child born to James Bedford & Nora (Ward) Dickson. Both the Ward and Dickson families had lived in Perry County, Tennessee for generations. But, for some reason, Evelyn was born about 100 miles away in Newbern, Dyer County, Tennessee on October 10th, 1915. Sadly, when Evelyn was only 8 1/2 months old, her mother died. I remember Grandma telling...
