As part of Women’s History Month, Lisa Alzo has created 31 blogging prompts which you can find on her blog, The Accidental Genealogist. If you’re participating in the Fearless Females blogging challenge this month, let me know & I’ll hop over & read your posts! March 3rd prompt: Do you share a first name with one of your female ancestors? Perhaps you were named for your great-grandmother, or your name follows a particular naming pattern. If not, then list the most unique or unusual female first name you’ve come across in your family tree. My Big Sister & Me Origins...
As part of Women’s History Month, Lisa Alzo has created 31 blogging prompts which you can find on her blog, The Accidental Genealogist. If you’re participating in the Fearless Females blogging challenge this month, let me know & I’ll hop over & read your posts! The prompt for March 2nd is: Post a photo of one of your female ancestors. Who is in the photo? When was it taken? Why did you select this photo? Post a photo of one of your female ancestors: Five Holthoefer Siblings,circa 1900, Detroit, Michigan (back row left to right) Franceska (Holthoefer) Adam, Caspar J. Holthoefer,...
As part of Women’s History Month, Lisa Alzo has created 31 blogging prompts which you can find on her blog, The Accidental Genealogist. If you’re participating in the Fearless Females blogging challenge this month, let me know & I’ll hop over & read your posts! March 1st prompt: Do you have a favorite female ancestor? One you are drawn to or want to learn more about? Write down some key fact you have already learned or what you would like to learn and outline your goals and potential sources you plan to check. Sallie (~ age 58) is in the middle...
My Vincent ancestors moved from Essex County, New Jersey to Northumberland County, Pennsylvania in the mid to late 1700s. During the Revolutionary War, they were at Fort Freeland when it was attacked by the British and their Indian allies in 1779. The women, children, and elderly men were set free, but the able-bodied men were marched to Canada as prisoners. In 1876, The Columbian published a series of articles titled “History of Columbia County.” The fourth part of this series was published on January 28th and told about the capture of Fort Freeland. Part of the article tells about Bethuel Vincent:...
August Heuszel, my great, great grandmother’s brother-in-law, served time in the Texas State Penitentiary for “manufacturing” and “selling intoxicating liquor.” The year was 1922. This was near the start of prohibition which lasted from 1920 to 1933. Texas Convict and Conduct Registers, 1875-1945, Huntsville, B 047021-052020 (accessed at Ancestry.com) The photos above show August’s record in the “Texas Convict and Conduct Register.” The columns tell us more about August Heuszel: Registered #: 18037 Name: A. Heuszel Age: 65 Height: 5-3 5/8 Weight: 128 Complexion: W [white] M-Fair Eyes: W Maroon [maroon eyes? but there are others listed as maroon] Hair:...
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...
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...
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...
