Writing Family History – BACKTRACKING THE COMMON

February 8, 2017

Become the Expert – Then, Collaborate

If anyone knows more about Burton Lee Roberts than me, it would be my mother – and I’ve told her things over the past five years she didn’t know about him. He was my father for thirty-three years before his death in 1988. While free with his opinions, he held his secrets close. I peppered him with questions all my life about his family, growing up, military service and the medical profession. He and I cleared land together, did electrical trim work over one summer and fished on a few occasions. I got to know him better (understand) through my psychology and pastoral counseling studies. He and I spoke of spiritual things on only a couple of occasions. We later had our goodbye conversation when it became clear he would not live much longer. I believed we were ready. I was wrong.

My 2012 budding interest in genealogy, and Dad’s family in particular, brought multiple new facts and affirmations about his life to light. And with those discoveries many more new questions I wish I could ask. I peppered Mom and one surviving aunt with some of those questions. I so wish I had become interested in genealogy earlier. My dad’s sister would have been a gold mine of information. She died in 2010. Missed opportunity.

Now what? I still know a great deal about him and continue to pursue missing information and historical tidbits. I will tell his story – and stories. As I’ve explained, I’m in the best position of perhaps anyone to do so.

What about you? Whose life or family line do you know better than just about anyone else? This makes you the closest thing to an “expert” on that line. (Tread lightly here. One definition of an expert is “a has been under pressure”.) You have something significant you should consider giving it to the greater genealogical community. How do you share it?

Collaborate

I use online trees and DNA to find new cousins. My online tree is bigger, more expansive and less documented than the one I’m building offline. It’s only a tool to find those new cousins. These cousins know more about a particular part of a family line than I do. They have access to documents and therefore documentation I do not have. They often have photos and family lore. This is when I let them “straighten me out”. I’m ready to consider their facts and hear their arguments. Trust, but verify. When I find a researcher (cousin) who will not turn and run the first time we disagree, I find a jewel. I treasure these people in my genealogical research and my life. I could not know what I know today without them. May their tribe increase.

My appeal to you

Do diligent research. Follow genealogical proof standards.
Write and post stories to your online trees.
Find other researchers interested in your family line through online trees and DNA results.
Be ready to collaborate. Be generous with your research. Be open to having your work questioned. If you’re right, best genealogical research practices will confirm it. If you’re wrong, you’ve found what you’ve wanted all along – a more accurate representative tree of your family lines.

TIP: When you’re contacted by another researcher and told you may be wrong (or often just told you’re flat-out wrong!), receive it and let them know you welcome their input. Consider them a research partner in this branch of your research. Check out their documentation. If they’re right, admit it. Tell them how right they are and how much you appreciate their work. Right or wrong, let them know you appreciate their effort to assist you.

A cousin once contacted me and told me I might need to check a part of my tree. They believed I was wrong about who and how I had a branch configured. They shared with me their understanding of that branch. Here’s the first thing I thought. It’s unlikely I would know more or be more accurate than this cousin about this part of our shared tree. I listened. I considered. Of course, she was right – and of course I wish I always thought this way!

A “new cousin” recently contacted me and said I might want to reconsider some children I had attributed to a couple in my tree. He sent me transcriptions of two legal documents with source citations. He was right. I did want to reconsider it. His information introduced me to a new person in my tree previously unknown and resolved some conflict in my research. Collaboration.

Become the expert in your branches of the family tree and then freely, willing, joyfully collaborate with others.

January 10, 2017

Keep Your Eyes on the Prize

big-prize Need some help with your genealogy? Need direction? Need encouragement? Keep your eyes on the prize.

Alice Wine of Johns Island, South Carolina is credited with these words from the early days of the civil rights movement. Various versions were sung in the battle for equal rights. Inspired by an earlier spiritual song entitled Gospel Plow, the words remind us that no matter how difficult things become, we must keep our eyes on the prize. Remember where you’re going, what you’re trying to accomplish. Refuse to allow problems to keep you from obtaining the prize.

I’m hesitant to use this phrase in the discussion of genealogy because of its origin. I don’t wish to lessen the struggle for civil rights in any way but I view the principle as almost universal in accomplishing anything with or without significance. If you want to get something done, obtain a goal, you must keep your eyes on the prize.

The family historian knows this struggle.

The Prize

What’s the prize in your genealogy research? You tell me. Why did you first get into genealogy? What are you trying to accomplish now? Are your eyes fixed resolutely on your prize?

I was late to hunt. But I wanted to know about my father’s family because I knew so little. I needed to, as TV’s NCIS New Orleans character Dwayne Pride says, “learn things”. I now have a partial timeline for my Roberts family covering over 200 years. I have hundreds of pages of documents related to my direct line and have written several blogs about this family. I also have an equal amount of information, if not more, on my mother’s Byrd family. So, why has my research slowed to a crawl?

Life. Like you, I’m busy, perhaps as busy as I’ve ever been. I’m near the end of my life’s journey and there are things I want to do, including but not limited to family research. There are, believe it or not, some things more important than genealogy.
Loss of focus. The reality is my family history research suffers more from a loss of focus than my busyness. I may not do as much when I’m busy with other things, but I can do some. If I don’t, it’s probably a loss of focus. I’ll explain more.
Laziness. I’m not typically a lazy person. Most of my life, however, I’ve worked more with my mind than with my hands. Watching others work so well and diligently with their hands often makes me feel lazy. In my research, I can see laziness creep in when I lose focus or things become difficult. Laziness may also show itself in the constant clicking of internet links, chasing the “shiny objects” of genealogy, or building our family trees on the research of others without gaining the genealogical proof.

When I began

When I began, I wanted to know about my dad’s family. That was my prize. Having learned so many wonderful and at times fascinating things, I wanted to share these facts with my family and preserve their legacy for my children and grandchildren. This became my prize. It fueled the energy to begin this blog. It inspired me to take my grandchildren on family history trips. It’s the reason I may pause but can’t quit this “hobby” of family research.

Backtracking my family and leaving their stories for my children and grandchildren is still the prize on which I must keep my eyes in my genealogical research.

In my research, I discovered many stories to tell. It’s important to document these stories. What are the sources for the facts behind the story? Can others read my research and come to the same conclusions? What good is a legacy without proof? A tale? A myth?

Little Prizes

This brings me to the little prizes I must pursue to obtain my big prize. Think of it this way. If my big prize is well documented and written stories about my family left for my children and grandchildren, I need to pursue a series of smaller prizes along the way to obtain my big prize. Big prizes cannot be gained without taking many smaller steps. As I write these words, I’m reminded how many times I’ve read and heard versions of this same advice. Experienced genealogists and longtime family historians have written and shared these thoughts long before I began my sporadic research in 2012. I should apply their experience and pursue the little prizes which help me reach my big prize and document it all as I go. Think about your own research.

Have a goal. Have a goal before you boot up your computer or get in your car to go to a library or research facility. Discover and document ____________. What do you want to do? What are you trying to learn that will help you accomplish the “big prize”? the Familysearch Wiki page has an excellent article entitled “Principle of Family History Research”. Click the title and give it a careful read. Learn more here and here.
Develop a research plan to reach the goal you desire. Amy Johnson Crow recently blogged on this subject. Other resources may be found here, here and here.
Follow the Genealogical Proof Standards. If you don’t know what this is, please take time to click and read. This is the best way to create certainty about the stories we wish to pass to future generations.
Write it all down. Every fact I find will not make it into this blog but I need it recorded, documented, saved and backed up in at least two places for future generations to use

I may not always have something to say to the genealogical community at large but I’ll always have something to say to my grandchildren. I need to keep my eyes on this prize. One goal after another (small prizes) to reach one big prize. Perhaps as I do and write some of it down here, you’ll find something useful or entertaining in your own research.

Keep your eyes on your prize.

October 15, 2016October 19, 2016

Family Research + Found Cousins = Fun!

Research and Cousins

I love “new” cousins! I especially love new cousins pursuing their family’s genealogy/history. They’re like gold to me – and should be to you as well.

Last week my friend Bill Wright and I were in middle Tennessee attending a non-genealogical conference. This small detail didn’t keep me from sneaking into Williamson County after the conference and spending last Saturday doing family research. I planned half a day in the archives and half a day with cousins. Don’t you love it when a plan comes together?

Plan Your Work

What do you need to further your research? Are any of these records available?
What records are housed in the county and where? Are they available on the day(s) you will be there?
What time will the records be available to view?
Does the repository have an online index? Search capabilities?
Are you allowed to take photos? Make copies? What’s the cost?
Once you’ve decided to go, ask yourself IF you want to spend time with “new” cousins. If yes, contact them to check their availability and arrange times and places.
Pack your “research bag” with all your tools and don’t forget to take it!

The Williamson County, Tennessee Archives are a tremendous resource for families researching middle Tennessee ancestors. It’s located in Franklin. This was my second visit. When my wife and I visited in 2013 I was only aware of my Roberts and Giles lines in the county. I’ve since discovered my Neelly (Neely), Nichols, Sammons, Smithsons, Tatum, and possibly Rivers lines in the county. Using the Archives online search capabilities, I was able to locate around ninety documents available on microfilm of interest to me. There’s no way I would be able to view or collect them all in half a day. I prioritized them, printed out a list and put it in my bag.

I contacted two of my cousins from two different family lines and asked about their availability to meet Saturday afternoon and evening. These are two very busy women and of course they both had plans for the day. But due to circumstances and their sheer determination, they graciously made a way for us to meet for the first time and share some family research. The bonus? I also met some of their wonderful family members and visited three family history sites!

Work Your Plan

Bill and I were at the Archives in Franklin when it opened at 8 am Saturday morning. He began to enjoy the museum housed in the building and I headed for the microfilm files. Bill would later slip away to visit the many Civil War sites in the city while I would stay focused on my list and pulling the microfilmed documents I wanted.

I was able to collect just over one-third of the documents on my list. This would include over 150 printed pages and three pages of hand written notes primarily from tax documents. I specifically targeted wills and specific deeds first. Then moved on to tax records. I didn’t spend time viewing and trying to analyze them. I only viewed them long enough to know I had the right one – hit print – and kept moving. Like long-lost friends, we’d spend time together in the days to come.

Family

I packed up my bag as the noon hour approached and made a restroom stop. As I came back into the main hall of the building I was approached by a soft-spoken southern lady and asked if I was Gary. My cousin Pam Fisher and I were meeting in person for the first time in person. She’s lived in Williamson County all her life. I joke that she’s related to most of the families in the county. If you have family from Williamson County, you may be kin to Pam. We share 3^rd great-grandparents William Cleaton and Lucy Standley Giles and met online through a DNA match in November of 2015. She’s also related to my 2^nd great-grandfather Roberts by his first wife who died as a young mother. Pam introduced me to her husband Gary and over lunch we discovered that he and I also share a family surname. Small world.

I can’t tell you how fortunate I feel to have family in the county of my ancestors. I look forward to collaborating with them for the rest of our lives! Imagine how fun it was to share a meal with Gary and Pam and a waitress they’ve known for over twenty years! Now that’s what I call service – and great food. Thanks guys for including me in your lives.

Gary and Pam lead tours to Israel. If you’re interested in booking a tour, let me know and I’ll connect you with them.

The Fishers dropped me back at the Archives just in time to meet – again for the first time – my cousin Janice Mills. She and some of her family had just wrapped up a yard/garage sale to clear out space for a classic car. We met the rest of them at a wonderful New York style Italian eatery. I really enjoyed meeting husband Denny, daughter Kelly and Kelly’s friend David. Janice soon had me back in the car and headed south to see the house of our 5^th great-grandfather John Ian Neely and his wife Suzanne Griffith Evans. They built the Federal style home in 1813 on the Columbia Pike between Franklin and Columbia, TN. I’ve blogged about it in the past. It’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Janice took a picture back then and sent it to me before I wrote about it, but this would be our first time to walk the property. We were particularly interested in the rumor of a cemetery surrounded by a rock wall that no longer stood. The owners were welcoming and informative. They’d lived on property for forty-four years! They were not aware of any cemetery surrounded by a rock wall but told us about a cemetery on the original property less than a mile from the house. We found the cemetery (A funny story for another day). We found grave stones with the family surnames of others who had lived in the Neely house but no stones with the name Neely clearly etched on them. Janice plans to do further research to confirm if this is the original Neely cemetery.

I always enjoy walking the land of an ancestor. Our footsteps meet for a moment in time with the hope we’ll spend eternity together someday. Thank you Janice for taking time to carry me to this special place in Williamson County.

Gary between the headstones of Thomas and Elizabeth Gibson Blackwell in Franklin, TN

Like a flash Janice whisked me away to a subdivision near where she lives. I had heard about this place and seen pictures of it online but this was my first visit. Here among ranch-style houses on nice sized lots we parked in a driveway. We weren’t here to visit the owner or his neighbors. We were here to visit the cemetery in their back yards! Tucked up under a tree in the back right corner was the final resting place of our 4^th great-grandparents Thomas and Elizabeth Gibson Blackwell. The Blackwell’s son William, said to be one of the first physicians in Williamson County, is also buried here along with a few other family members and according to the property owner/caretaker about five beloved pets. This land also once felt the fall of ancestors’ footsteps. What a privilege for me to walk it as well.

Dennis Mills classic car and trophy from previous weekend. — Dennis Mills classic car and trophy from the previous weekend.

Janice and I actually met online this past March through Find a Grave. She wasn’t raised in the county and isn’t kin to as many people as Pam, but I think she knows most of the people. She met many of them serving for years as a school board member. We share a rich heritage in the county through our Neely, Blackwell and Gibson families. Now that Janice is retired, she has more time for genealogy. She’s full of life and lives it to the fullest. She and her family were fun and funny. I enjoyed their hospitality. I can’t wait to go back.

Genealogy Trip Tip

When my wife Dee and I visited the Williamson County Archives in 2013, I found a deed abstract for some land on McCrory Creek between my 3rd great-grandfather John Roberts and Jesse Weathers in the year 1811. Names were mentioned but like many genealogical abstracts, specific points and measurements were not given. When I searched for a copy of the original I was disappointed to find it missing from the records. I learned through others that this land was part of a land grant given to James Moore. He was a Major General in the Revolutionary War and granted for his service 12,000 acres of land in today’s Williamson County. That’s a lot of land in which to find my ancestors small parcel. Why was it so important to me? I believe this is the most likely burial site for my 3 x great-grandparents John and Rebecca Sammons Roberts.

While in the Archives last week I located and obtained a copy of an original deed which until then I had only had an abstract. This was one of my top “targets” for this most recent trip to the Archives. It was a deed gift from John Roberts Sr. to his son John Roberts Jr. in 1823. It was made not long before Senior died. He also gave a deed gift to his daughter Frances “Fanny” Roberts who would marry Alfred G. Tatum in 1824 within three months following her father’s death. Based on later records, I believe these two children would assume the principle care of their mother and the original property. These two deeds together described the property owned by John and Rebecca Roberts on the “headwaters of McCrory Creek”. I found more records of James Moore, while living in Washington County, TN, assigning land to many people in Williamson County. One of those men was Samuel Jackson, a distant cousin of General Andrew Jackson. The cousins would later have a dispute over land and Andrew would run Samuel through with a cane sword. (Another story for another time) I was then able to find a copy of an original deed between Samuel Jackson and Jesse Weathers from 1806. Does that name sound familiar? Based on the physical description of the land from the two gift deeds to the Roberts children and the description of the 1806 deed between Jackson and Weathers, I believe these two properties are the same property. I do love it when a plan comes together.

I’m prepared now to work my way forward through the deed records with the hopes of finding the exact location of this parcel of land in today’s records.

A Small Sample

These few deeds represent a small sampling of the documents I collected from my half day in the Archives. I left feeling thoroughly blessed. Plan your work. Work your plan.

This post represents a very small expression of my appreciation for “new” cousins and the fun I had with the Fishers and Mills. I’ve told you only a small part of it. Some because of time and space and some because my cousin Janice said, “Remember Gary, what happens in Franklin stays in Franklin!” I can’t wait to get back.

Janice Mills and Denny's other ride. — Janice Mills with Denny’s other classic.

September 26, 2016

We Were Mentioned on Geneabloggers!

The wonderful people at Geneabloggers.com mentioned us in an article. Special thanks to Michelle Ganus Taggart. You may check out the interview at Geneabloggers.

September 12, 2016September 12, 2016

What Is Backtracking?

What does it mean to backtrack our kin?

Have you ever trailed an animal? Have you tried to find and follow an animal without the ground being covered with snow? When I was much younger, my older friend Larry Drewery put on a clinic. We and his brother Terry “struck” the trail of a wounded animal around 9:30 pm. In the darkness, with only a flashlight, Larry trailed him for over two hours through the briars and brambles of a dark creek bottom. His success that night is still the finest display of trailing I’ve ever personally observed.

Is Larry’s success an example of backtracking? No. Think of backtracking as striking the trail of the same wounded animal and working backward to find where he was wounded and then all the way back to where he woke up that morning! That’s backtracking and it, like your family history, can be very challenging.

I call my blog “Backtracking the Common”. I’m discovering most of the family in my past were common, salt-of-the-earth kind of people. They’re not just my kind of people — they’re my people.

Backtracking the common is much more difficult than backtracking the famous.

I grew up with absolutely no knowledge of my great-grandfather Roberts. I “cut his trail” (came across evidence of where he had been) in 2012 and backtracked him from Lamar County, Texas to Calloway County, Kentucky. I learned the name of his father. Like his, it was John. From there I backtracked them to Williamson County, Tennessee and learned my great-great-grandfather shared the same name with his father—yep, John again. I had to learn how to distinguish the “track” of my great-great-grandfather John R. Roberts from his cousin John D. Roberts who also lived in Williamson in the early 1800s. From Williamson County I backtracked my 3 x great-grandfather John Roberts (That’s right, same first and last name with an unknown middle name or initial) to Lunenburg County, Virginia. I’m presently comparing the “tracks, broken twigs, and overturned rocks” of THREE John Roberts in the area, near the same age, in the middle-to-late 1700s! Difficult and tedious are two words that come to mind. This may take some time.

Backtracking John Roberts sometimes feels like backtracking a John Smith.

Here are a few suggestions for backtracking your common kin folks.

Stay focused. Avoid of the “shiny objects”. Stay focused on the next “track”.
Set attainable and reachable goals. Make your plans to accomplish your goals and stick to the plan.
Understand you may need to learn about the lives of your kin’s family, associates and neighbors to follow the trail of your ancestor. I now know most of the family names in southern Williamson County, TN and northeastern Lunenburg County, VA.
Let others help you. Taking the time to read this post is an example of seeking help in your research process. There’s an abundance of excellent free help on today’s internet when it comes to researching family history. When you need it, take advantage of it.
Refuse to allow difficulty to overcome your desire to learn and tell your family’s story.
Take a break when you need it. Switch family lines or stop all together. Recharge your emotional and mental batteries and then pick up the trail!

Happy backtracking!

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What is your all-time favorite tip for “backtracking” your family’s history?

August 18, 2016

Family Traditions: Fact or Fiction?

The family historian and family storyteller are not always the same person. Family traditions are not always family fact. Traditions are not always historical and family stories are not always factual. Does it matter? Only if you’re claiming or implying yourself a historian, a reporter of historical facts. Then it matters.

If we claim to be writing or telling history, never be surprised nor offended when our statements are challenged. Most people will not care if we tell our tales as tales, but more than a few may object if we rewrite history.

The genealogical proof standards are exacting for a reason.

Consider this quote from a 1913 Roberts family genealogy book available from the Internet Archive website.[i]

“Three brothers by the name of Roberts came to America from Wales in the year 1700. One brother settled in New York. One went south. The third brother, Robert Roberts, bought considerable land in Gloucester County, New Jersey, two miles from Swedesboro, on Oldmans Creek and Coons Creek.

His wife was from Holland. He was an Episcopalian. He lived to be over eighty years old.”[ii]

Now, consider another quote from one of my prized possessions, another self-published Roberts family genealogy.

“Three brothers, John, James, (George?) came to this country, United States, from Wales about the year 1600 and settled in Virginia. Best I can gather one of the brothers went to the North and others stayed in the South. The Roberts family is of Welch Baptist Stock, Primitive faith. Great Great Grandfather John Roberts, moved from Virginia to Williamson County Tennessee when Great Grandfather John Rivers Roberts was three years old, 1803. They later moved to Calloway County Kentucky near Murray.”[iii]

The document credits these words to William Penn Roberts, my second cousin once removed. My cousin Deborah Outland assures me her aunt Verna played no small part in the research of this Calloway County, KY Roberts goldmine. We’ve since confirmed the document I have is only part of a collaborative work between Penn and Verna which was over twice the size of the work I possessed. Verna focused on the Owen family and Penn on the Roberts.

What do you observe in these two quotes? Do they contain facts? Yes. Are these facts historically demonstrated or documented? No. Do these quotes contain family traditions? Yes. Does this mean they’re not historical events? No. Our family traditions may contain historical facts. As family historians we take our family traditions and document the facts and distinguish for our readers between fact and fiction.

“Proof is a fundamental concept in genealogy. In order to merit confidence, each conclusion about an ancestor must have sufficient credibility to be accepted as “proved.” Acceptable conclusions, therefore, meet the Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS). The GPS consists of five elements:

reasonably exhaustive research;

complete, accurate citations to the source or sources of each information item;

tests—through processes of analysis and correlation—of all sources, information items, and evidence;

resolution of conflicts among evidence items;

anda soundly reasoned, coherently written conclusion.”[iv]

I’m related to John Rivers Roberts and his second wife Rebecca Ann Giles. Penn Roberts was related to John Rivers Roberts and his first wife Sarah B. Smithson. On a page with the heading “Facts of the Roberts Family” he repeats this tradition – or perhaps, begins it.

“The Smithsonian Institute of Washington D.C. was founded by one of our forebears according to best information we have.”

Well, we needed better information.

James Smithson portrait image from the Smithsonian Institute website. See it and others at https://www.si.edu/

According to the Smithsonian Institute’s website[v] James Lewis Smithson (c. 1765-1829) was “the illegitimate son of Hugh Smithson, the first Duke of Northumberland, and Elizabeth Hungerford Keate Macie, a wealthy widow who was a cousin of the Duchess of Northumberland.” He used the name James Lewis Macie until his parents’ deaths and in 1801 had it changed to Smithson. He never actually visited America. He never married. He never, to our knowledge, had children. He could not be one of ours or anyone’s “forbears”.

When Penn Roberts wrote his family tradition (perhaps the 1950s) he did not have the internet and its research capabilities. It’s truly amazing, a glut of information at the click of a mouse. This may be a good time to remind ourselves. Everything reported on the internet is not necessarily true or accurate. “I saw it on the internet” doesn’t make it so. Like the print media which preceded it, it may disseminate lies and misinformation or truth equally well. And as we also know, just because something is written in a book doesn’t make it so. Our information is only as good as the source of that information. It must all be weighed, tested and documented to be confirmed.

This is where I add to our family tradition and show you a portrait of James Smithson from the Smithsonian website.[vi] It’s reported to be a 1786 portrait done at Oxford upon his graduation by the English portrait artist James Roberts. We must be related! (I write with tongue firmly in cheek.)

Family traditions do not begin with a “reasonably exhaustive research”. This is, however, the beginning of the genealogical proof standard. We have much information at our fingertips today, but it’s common in genealogy or writing family history to do “reasonably exhaustive research” away from our computers. We may need to exhaust ourselves in courthouses, libraries and research centers to begin the process of writing a “a soundly reasoned, coherently written conclusion”.

Here’s another family story shared by Penn Roberts.

“One of my father’s sisters, Amanda Jane, married Dr. Felix Winters, a Dentist. She took up the practice of Dentistry and it is my understanding that she was the first woman Dentist in the whole Country. Medical Journals had write-ups concerning her as a first woman Dentist.”

In his “Facts of the Roberts Family” Penn reports Amanda Jane Roberts’ birth date as March 22, 1861. According to Elizabeth Neber King’s 1945 article entitled “Women in Dentistry”[vii] and printed in the Washington University Dental Journal, the first female to practice dentistry in America was born a Roberts. Her name was Emeline Roberts Jones. She assisted her husband prior to taking up the practice of dentistry in Connecticut in 1855, six years before Amanda Jane Roberts was born. Ms. King also reports the first female to actually graduate (You have to be accepted before you can graduate.) from a dental school in America was Lucy Hobbs Taylor in 1866.

I celebrate the accomplishments of these women in dentistry, especially my relative Amanda Jane. In spite of the difficulty of getting into universities and professions in the past, I suspect women have been finding ways to soothe men’s toothaches and other ailments long before the 1850s.

Family traditions become a problem for family historians when they’re stated as proven facts when in fact, they are not. I never easily dismiss family traditions. They often contain a germ of truth which must be explored and confirmed or disproven. I never want to dismiss a family member’s claims without an examination. I encourage this behavior for all family historians. I thought several stories my Dad told me were “just stories”. I’ve been able to confirm the factualness of some of them. You may discover the same in your research.

Enjoy your family traditions. Explore your family traditions. Before your write them up as history, examine them. Use the genealogical proof standard to separate your family’s facts from fiction.

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[i] https://ia902606.us.archive.org/14/items/genealogyofrober00cowa/genealogyofrober00cowa.pdf

[ii] This genealogy of the Roberts family appears to be a self-published work dated 1913 in Chicago. “Genealogy of the Robert Roberts Family in America”, compiled by Maude Roberts Cowan and printed by Joseph Samuel Roberts.

[iii] This quote is taken from a copy of a document entitled “The Roberts Family History”. The top of the third page includes these words, “Compiled by Wm. Penn Roberts”. I received my copy from Rudy Roberts Holland in 2013 while visiting him in Murray, KY. He is my 3^rd cousin once removed. I suspect he received his copy from Nancy Roberts Thurman whom he referred to as the “expert” on our Roberts family. There are copious corrections in this work and I suspect they were done by Nancy or perhaps Penn’s wife Virginia “Verna” Roberts.

[iv] http://www.bcgcertification.org/resources/standard.html

[v] https://www.si.edu/About/History

[vi] http://siarchives.si.edu/history/james-smithson

[vii] http://beckerexhibits.wustl.edu/mowihsp/health/womenindentistry.htm

August 17, 2016August 17, 2016

For a Limited Time: A Free Seminar to Get Unstuck in Your Research

I’ve got some good news for you but you’ll need to respond in the next few days to get it FREE.

Are you stuck in your family research? Do you want some guidance on good practices for researching your family? Do you understand genealogical proof standards?

Legacy Family Tree Seminars brings us Shellee Morehead. It’s an excellent online seminar and for a few days, it’s free. Click here and then click “Watch” to view the video. View it before the August 23, 2016.

Enjoy!

August 3, 2016August 3, 2016

Did you see this great tip from Amy Johnson Crow?

Backtracking the Common’s goal is to encourage and assist you in backtracking and telling your family’s story. Losing your ancestor’s trail or constantly getting sidetracked by the “shiny objects” of genealogy can be discouraging. How do we avoid being overwhelmed by this discouragement?

Professional Genealogist Amy Johnson Crow addresses this question in her August 2 post. I can highly recommend you read it and be encouraged as well as instructed. Thanks Amy!

Click on Amy’s title below and enjoy a good read.

How to Avoid Genealogy Overwhelm

May 30, 2016July 10, 2016

Remembering…

We pause today to remember those men and women who paid the final price that we may continue to enjoy the richness of our liberty. We remember those as well, who though they did not die in service, put themselves in harm’s way with a willingness to be made an offering to the future of our nation. We remember them. We honor them. Continue reading “Remembering…”

May 26, 2016July 10, 2016

My Grandfather Gus

The death of my great-grandfather John Anderson Roberts in 1901 would deprive my grandfather Gus of the guidance of a father, the nurture of a mother and the knowledge of a heritage. The seeds of disaster were in the ground. Our family needed a crop failure!

The sudden and violent death of three-year-old Gus Roberts’ father would prevent him from working beside his father in the field, riding with him in the wagon, hunting with him in the woods and sitting with him at the table. He would miss the stories of his father’s youth in Williamson County, Tennessee and his family’s migration to Calloway County, Kentucky. He would never know of the Roberts of Virginia or be able to claim their heritage – his heritage. The later decision of a jury to convict his mother of murder for her part in his father’s death would deprive Gus of the comfort and encouragement of a mother, the steady hand of someone who believes in you. What would happen to this little boy “orphaned” by the death of his father and the conviction of his mother? Continue reading “My Grandfather Gus”

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