Family Story Matters

Image courtesy of Flickr We currently spend quite a bit of time in Nashville. My eldest went to college here where she met her husband. Our son moved here in 2007 and never left. He is now settled in a suburb of the city with his wife and two boys. Our youngest moved here in 2015 and remained in close proximity to other family members. And my one and only sibling moved here over two decades ago. At the time, no one knew our Coleman family roots originated less than an hour away. Cheatham County is a mere 50 miles from my ancestors' farmland. Coleman Family Tree With a fair degree of certainty, I have traced my paternal roots to the late 1700s. A probable list of my Coleman leniage looks something like this: Joseph (born 1770 - Amelia County, VA)   —-> Daniel (born 1794 - Amelia County, VA)  —-> —-> Joseph C (born 1824 - Rutherford County, TN)   —> —> —> James P (born 1853 - Rutherford County, TN)  —> —> —> —> William L (born 187...

First Quarter of 2022 we planned our first snowbird trip. We recently purchased a Class A motorhome and wanted to try out the RV lifestyle. We planned to stay six weeks on the Texas Gulf (in the small town of Sargent Beach) and then travel to northern Florida for a couple of weeks before returning home to Kansas. In planning this excursion, I noticed Sargent Beach was less than 200 miles from Franklin, TX - Mom's birthplace. I also noticed that we would pass through St. Elmo, AL on I-10 as we headed into Florida. Dad lived here when his mother was diagnosed with Tuberculosis/ This trip seemed the perfect opportunity to do some on-sight genealogy research.  Franklin, TX As luck would have it, I found a property just outside Franklin that allowed RV parking. I thought this would be a great opportunity to experience (to some degree) what life must have been like for Mom growing up on a farm.  We arrived around 3:00pm... set up camp... got a tour of the duck-and-rabbit farm ... an...

The only photo I have of my great-father: John Elias Bryan Sometimes genealogy research answers questions I never thought to ask. I started my research this weekend with the goal of learning more about my great-grandfather: Jack Bryan.  I knew he was a barber in his home state of Mississippi -- he registered for the WWI draft in Memphis, TN -- he moved to San Antonio, Texas circa 1921. However, he seemed to disappear after the 1922 San Antonio city directory was published. I have yet to find any record of his death or burial. He is not listed as living in the San Antonio area after that date. I suppose he could have returned to Mississippi (or Memphis) but I have yet to research that possibility. BUT... you can imagine my surprise when I discovered his wife, my great-grandmother, listed her marital status as "divorced" in the 1930 census! This little fact was NEVER discussed in the family.  After a bit more sleuthing, I reasoned Jack must have died sometime between 1941 and 1...

  The "M" name tradition goes back to the mid-1800s.  It wasn't necessarily planned. The mothers just happened to like girls' names that began with the letter M. Or at least that was true until 1993. At that point, the tradition had a life of its own. Genealogy research shows the first "M" name started with my great-great-grandmother, Mary "Mollie" Cole , who was born in 1848. She gave birth to Mary Faye Crane in 1879. And Mary Faye gave birth to my grandmother, Maida Lee Dowdy , in 1907. Maida Lee had three daughters: Billie Maxine in 1929, Maida Joan in 1946, and Marian in 1952. Maxine gave birth to Molly in 1959, and Marian gave birth to Meredith in 1982. (Maida Joan named her daughter Kari to coordinate with her son, Kevin). I named my firstborn Megan (1986) because I fell in love with the name in high school. When I was expecting my third child in 1993, however, I thought Emily would be a good name. It sounded like "M", right?...

  The Four Winds Author: Kristin Hannah Published by: St. Martin's Press Genre: Historical Fiction # pages: 464 My rating: 5 stars The four winds have blown us here, people from all across the country, to the very edge of this great land, and now, at last, we make our stand, fight for what we know to be right. We fight for our American dream, that it will be possible again. (page 426) Why am I reviewing a novel on a family history blog? Because non-fiction gives us facts, but fiction gives us the truth . And a large part of my genealogy study is researching Mom's childhood community. The Four Winds takes place in west Texas farmland in the 1930s. It focuses on the devastating impact of the Dust Bowl on one particular family. Mom lived on a farm in East Texas. While the Dust Bowl did not affect that part of the state, the Great Depression did.  I'm always looking for details to help give me a sense of place at this time. What was life like on the farm during this tough fina...

Here's another example of how I spend fifteen hours researching a seemingly simple question.  I reasoned most families in the 1800s did not migrate hundreds of miles away from home as a solo venture. They more than likely traveled in groups. And they more than likely knew someone already established at the new homeland. My question: With Whom did each of my four families travel and/or follow to Robertson County, Texas? To find the answer, I had to research extended family members. LOTS of them. Then I had to synthesize all the names and dates into a manageable framework. While the above graphic concisely summarizes the findings, the following gives more detail: The MILES family came to Texas in a circuitous fashion. James Cornelius Miles (my great-great-grandfather) and Nancy Catherine Duncan - along with their nine children (ages 5 to 26) - were living in Hamblen, TN in 1880.  Shortly after, James, Catherine, and the younger six children moved to Robertson County, TX. I sur...