One reward for the family historian is discovering and walking the ground of their ancestors. I did this last week with my best friend. My wife is an incredible person. I’ve spent the last 40 plus years getting to know her. In the past three years she’s revealed her hidden talents as a research assistant and photographer. Dee’s my best help when chasing family “ghosts”.
Below is a recap of what we did and how we accomplished so much in a limited time, valuable tips for genealogists everywhere.
In five days we traversed five counties. (The other three days were spent visiting family, porch sitting with Debbie and Jim and antiquing with David and Cheryl. Family should be fun!) Here are some of our unearthed treasures:
- Located in Collin County and took my mother to visit the grave of her two x great grandfather. Before last week, she didn’t know his name. (William Brumley Price)
- Located in Wise County and visited the grove of trees where my great grandfather pastored a Methodist church for 16 years. (Pleasant Grove) In the adjacent cemetery we visited the graves of my great grand aunt and her family. (Narcissus Byrd Curtner)
- Located in Wise County and visited the graves of my two time great grandmother’s family. (Elizabeth Norman Ashlock Byrd)
- Took Dee to see the grave of my great grandparents Pleasant Wesley and Rachel Marinda Byrd, in Wise County.
- Located in Collin County and visited the graves of my great grand aunt Malissa Jane Byrd Spradley, her husband James Reed Spradley and her first husband Charles H. Gough.
- Narrowed the date of my great grandfather John Anderson Roberts’ arrival in Texas by the use of microfilmed tax records from Red River County.
- Located and visited the grave of my great grand uncle Samuel Zedock Byrd and his second wife Martha Josephine Vicars in Collin County.
- Located in Hunt County and visited the grave of Samuel Z. Byrd’s first wife my great grand aunt Sina Canzada Burke Byrd. (Does anyone know the origin of “Sina” and if it is short for something else? Her marker reads “S. C. Wife of Samuel Z. Byrd”. No help here.) This also gave me previously unknown birth and death dates!
- Located in Lamar County and visited the grave of my 3 x great grandfather Wiley Laningham. I only learned his name doing research last month! (We also enjoyed lunch with my cousin Glen Gambill and his precious wife Sarah! I’ll write more about Glen in a later post or two,)
- Documented my great grandfather John Charles Wesley Ingram’s first land purchases in Kerr County further confirming the errors on several historical markers and online historical accounts of Ingram, Texas.
- Further documented the correct arrival date of my 3 x great grandfather Jeremiah Horn to Texas and when he and others actually began the Swayback Methodist Church and school in western Collin County.
- Documented my 2 x great grand Uncle John Horn’s 1846 Collin County enlistment to fight in the Mexican – American War. (We had located and visited his grave in Stillwell, Oklahoma this past December. While looking for his grave we also met and visited with his g-great grandson!)
- Meeting Genealogy Librarian Cheryl Smith of the Haggard Library in Plano, Texas. (I’ll write more about this wonderful resource in a later post.)
- Finding the surprise resource of the genealogy room in the Walworth Harrison Library in Greenville, Texas.
While this is only part of what we learned, I think it’s the best part!
My post has run a little longer than I intended. Let’s finish it later. Come back for those tips on getting more genealogy done in a short amount of time.
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BACKTRACKING THE COMMON 