Could Sally = Sarah (or even Susan)?

Last night, I once again tried to do some research on finding Sophia's father. I tried to do a process of elimination, using census records and sophia's age at the time plus # of females in the household in that year, and i was able to rule out some individuals. But still no luck. I think this may be something I'm going to have to go to the library to research.

But as it always happens, everytime I search for Sophia's father, I end up searching for her mother as well. I know the name of her mother (at least i think I do!) but the search has not been made any easier b/c i have not found any marriage records.

Here's what i know:

When first searching for Sophia, i found a family tree on rootsweb that listed Sophia and Wille Daughtridge (but I think they spell it Doughterage or something like that) but i know it's them. Sophia's mother and father are listed as "Susan Land" and "Isaac Braswell".

I figure this must be true because Sophia's first born daughter was named Susan, and maybe she named her daughter after her mother?

So I go to prove this relationship, but all i find on ancestry.com is a record of Sophia's mother listed as "the daughter of Charles Land, Sr." So all that tells me is who her maternal grandpa is. No proof of her father yet except i know he's a Braswell.

Then I go search for Charles Land. All i find on ancestry.com of him is a list of his children plus "another daughter". Well as it often goes, this "another daughter" is who i need!

Then I find Charles Land's will on the genweb site. He lists his daughter as "Sally Braswell".

So is it Sally or Susan? Well, for now, I assume Sally.

And then, last night as I was researching, I found out something. Back then, Sally was often just a nickname for Sarah. As Polly often was a nickname for Mary. (I have no idea who made up these rules, must be the same person that said Bill was a nickname for William!)

So anyway, now I wonder...is my gggg grandmother "Sarah Braswell"?? And is Isaac Braswell really Sophia's father? I want to believe that but I don't want to get myself in trouble by just assuming everything I read. I've learned from mistakes and realize when you assume and don't check sources, you start climbing up the wrong tree. I just want to make sure i'm researching the correct branch.

my research notebook

I took my genealogy notebook over to mom's this weekend and showed my work to her. She was very impressed. She just couldn't believe I was able to find so much information, and where in the world did I find it out from?

I've put more than just the pedigree charts and family record sheets in there. I've also got any pages I printed out from online, copies of wills, message board posts, etc. I went through and highlighted what's important. It's like a history project only FUNNER! :)

Oh, found out a little info on my grandparents' marriage that I will have to change. I had them listed as being married in Nash County, but mom says this isn't correct. They actually got married in Virginia, I think Emporia or some city like that. I asked her why and I guess it was an age thing, like maybe my grandmother was a little too young to get married then? I'm not sure. She was 19, but this was 1930 so who knows what the laws were like then. Anyway, I've got to change that. She did say that her brother was the one who drove them up there to get married. They eloped. How romantic! <3

Looking over my research, I've realized how far I've come along. I've got 6 generations of Parker families, 7 if you count me i suppose. I've also come quite far in my Pridgen line but I have not made up records of all of those families yet. There's still more research to do and I want to be able to list all of the Pridgen families, who they married, their kids, etc. It will take a while. Plus for all of the other families too! I'm trying to go backwards though, just working on the ones closest to me, like Parker, Pridgen, Daughtridge, and Bone. Then work my way to the other lines, like the Lands, Batchelors, and Winsteads.

I also had an idea this morning of a section I could add to my notebook. I have several ancestors that fought in the civil and revolutionary wars. I was thinking of adding a military section since you can find a lot of info through military records.

I plan to work on it some today so I can't wait to get started :)

Starting my notebook =)

Well I've started my genealogy notebook. I bought some of those sticky label tabs from cvs yesterday and I've labeled the pages by surname. I also bought some dividers to separate the different sections, like charts, surnames, locations, etc.

I've also started on family record sheets. I tried to find some kind of chart on the internet that I could use to list the children, but I couldn't find any that I liked so i made my own. I made up a form in microsoft word that I think is perfect.

At the top of the sheet, i have the name of the married couple. Below it I made a little table box that lists their marriage date and place of marriage. Then below that, I have two table boxes, one for husband, one for wife. There, I list their name, date of birth and death, place of birth and death, a space for notes where I write a little something about them (like names of parents, interesting details, burial info, etc), then at the bottom of that table, i have a space for names of additional wives or husbands if applicable.

Below these two tables, I made a table for the children. This just lists the names of the children, birth and death date, and I numbered it so it's easy to see how many children the couple have and the order in which they were born.

I've also made sure to list at the bottom my sources and the current date for future reference, and that the information was compiled by me. I can just imagine years and years from now, someone in the family will look at my research and be like, "Wow, great aunt Melody really did a lot to help us!" I'm such a geek lol :)

The best part is that I can type in it, unlike the pdf forms. I don't know if there's a way to type into a pdf form or not, but I like the microsoft word forms. That way I don't have to write everything. Also, it's easier to make changes b/c i saved them.

I also added pictures to the ones that I could, just a little picture at top and below the picture, a little description of who is in the photo and the approx. year the photo was taken.

When I get enough of these family records typed up (So far i have like 8 or so done), then I'm going to put them in my notebook with protected sleeves and then i'll have something nice to show off at thanksgiving :) We might even be going to a family reunion soon so if we do, i plan to bring my notebook with me and maybe get some more dates for people. I also better remember to bring my camera this time. I'm kicking myself for not bringing it the last time we went to the cemetery, but I just didn't know at the time that I'd be so into genealogy like I am now.

Organizing my research

I'm trying to figure out the best way to organize all of my genealogy research. For a while now, I've been using the hanging file folder system. It actually works pretty well because I know where to find something when i'm looking for it, and I know just where to put it whenever I get something new. I organize by surname.

Problem is that this method of organization isn't mobile. So I've started a notebook. I'd really like to take my research with me in case I go to the library or if i'm meeting with family. And I need a way to show off my research.

I just now need some kind of labels. I want to organize the same way i organize with the hanging file folders, by surname. I just need those colored tabs or something. I also put everything in plastic sleeves (I had a TON from old school projects laying around the apartment). I think it makes for better page turning if they are in something protected.

But now...how do i organize so that i can find all family members easily? I've got pedigree charts printed out, but what about the children? It's like there are so many people in my family tree that I don't have room for them all. I want a way to be able to identify all children/siblings easily. I might have to work on family charts, or write down names in the charts.

Well, i'll keep working on it!

Della Bone's tombstone

Last year, my mom took my sister and I to visit the family cemeteries in Nash County. When we came upon my great grandmother Della's gravestone, mom told us that the year of death on it was wrong. It says she died in 1901 but this is NOT true. She died in 1911, within a week of her father's death.

Mom expressed an interest in getting this error fixed, and I share this. I really would like Grandma Della to have a proper headstone. I mean...it's just out of respect, you know? And no one in the family has ever had it corrected. And now that it's gone for so many years with her year of death being 1901, I've even started to see it on the internet. People make their family trees and do their research, but they put down that she died in 1901 and this is just not right. If they would look into the issue a little bit, they would realize that Della had two children, john hardy jr in 1909 and my grandmother, mary elsie, in 1911. She couldn't have had them if she had died in 1901. So obviously its not right.

So anyway, the point is...we're planning on fixing it. But the problem is that we can't just get one number corrected. We have to get the whole thing replaced, and that's going to cost at least $265. A bit pricey. I think i'm starting to understand why it was never corrected before.

But we still want to do it. Next time we go to Nash we're going to take a picture of it and get some measurements. We owe it to grandma Della. I wouldn't want my tombstone to be incorrect either.

More info on Annice

So found out Annice is Phoebe's mother, and also, she's never been married.

The bastardy bonds state that Phoebe and a William Strickland had a child around 1824, which would be daughter Willy from the 1850 census. Still wondering if "Annica Eason" is really Annice Eason. She's listed on the bastardy bonds for Feb Court 1831 with Elizar Tryan. I can't find any information on this guy. I wonder if he's Phoebe's father.

Then I wonder...well who is Annice's father? I think his name is William Eason b/c I read somewhere on a board posting that Annice petitioned for his estate in like 1820. I've not been able to find this record anywhere online though.

still no luck on Sophia :(

I posted a message on the Braswell board about Sophia. And looks like I posted just in time b/c i think the boards are down now. (Which is too bad b/c i really wanted to post something about Annice too but I guess that will have to wait)

If there's one goal I'd really like to cross off my list, it's finding out for sure who Sophia's father is. I guess since I've started reseaching, this ggg grandmother of mine is who I've been most interested in. She was the first one that I really got some info about. I remember I went from knowing that Susan's mother was named "Sophia" and from that, I found out that she married Willie, but I still didn't know her maiden name until one day I stumbled on it. I just want to know more and it's killing me that I keep hitting this brick wall.

I think if I could meet one of my ancestors, I'd like to meet her. She must have been a strong lady. Had a ton of kids, lost her husband in the war, took over the farm...what a life.

I think I'd also like to meet my great grandmother Ada. She's one of the few ancestors that I actually have pictures of. I love being able to put a face to a name and I wish I could do that for all of them. Although I do in my mind, I have this picture in my mind of what I think they could look like. But yeah, I'd like to meet Grandma Ada too. She's the only grandparent that my mother ever knew. She lived quite a long life too.

Well anyway, I guess I'll just have to wait and see if I can find out this mystery. I'd really like to find out where this line of Braswells come from.