My research took an upexpected turn yesterday!  A couple of weeks ago, I went to a lineage workshop my local genealogical society was putting on at the library.  After the workshop, many of us were scouring the books and I happened to find one on one of my particular lines, Whisenants Through the Ages. I have emailed the author of the book before and have looked at his website, but didn't realize my library had a copy of his book!  I didn't have much time to really look through it until yesterday.  I got off work early, so decided I would go to the library and do some research before picking up the kids.  I found some useful information on my Whisenants and wrote it all down to try to look up later on Ancestry. 

When I got home, I looked online and found new census records for my great great great grandfather, John B. Whisnant.  He was living in 1930 with his daughter, Ella, and son-in-law, Joseph T. Chambers!  Chambers?!  That's my husband's last name!  After all the jokes from my sister-in-law that I married my cousin (no Chambers in my direct line though!), I did begin to wonder if Joseph Chambers was related to my husband's line of Chambers!  So far, I have not found any indication as no one on Ancestry had even located his parents' names and I found his death certificate to be the son of "Chambers" and "Rebecca" with no maiden name listed.  His tombstone states he fought in the Civil War for the Confederacy in Company C, 1st Regiment North Carolina Infantry.  So, I googled it and found a diary from a Private in his same Regiment.  It was very interesting to read, somewhat sad and shocking as well.  I did not know deserters were whipped and even shot to death. 

I also found out this regiment fought at Gettysburg.  The NC soldier wrote of capturing Union soldiers as prisoners of war and that some of them were German and could only speak in German.  Another ancestor of mine, my great great great grandfather, Charles Pabst, fought at Gettysburg for the Union.  He was of German descent and even came to the US in 1862 and that's when he entered the Army in New York in an all German Battallion.  So to read about this battle from this viewpoint made it totally real for me.  I am not sure if my German ancestor was one of the NC soldier's regiment's POW as I am not able to locate his service records yet.  It was a very real and surreal moment from reading about the battle at Gettysburg though. 

Anyone ever been to a Genealogy Lock-In at their local library or genealogy society?  I haven't, but there is one coming up in a couple of weeks that I am thinking about going to.  I'm trying to think of all the things I can look up, or need to look up, while I am there.  I figure obituaries will be the first thing I look up.  Can anyone think of anything else?  Like I said, I've never been to one and really haven't ever done any research at the library, so I really don't know what to expect or know what types of records are available.  I'm sooo excited though!  I think it will be a lot of fun!

I have been a real stickler about citing all my information in my family tree.  Yesterday, I took my camera and went to the (local) cemetary to take pictures of my husband's family's tombstones.  Well, my batteries were dead (no pun intended) so I couldn't take any pictures, so I wrote down the information of the ancestors that I hadn't yet incorporated in the family tree.  One of them was a brother to my husband's maternal great grandmother, Irby W. Reed.  After inputting his birth and death dates, I waited for Ancestry.com to give me hints.  I was hoping I'd get a hint from the SSDI or Texas Death Index, but no such luck.  Instead, I got a hit for the 1920 census for the next county over.  I know that Irby's mother's name was Susie McCain, but all Ancestry.com kept giving me hints on were family trees and I'd rather get my information from actual source documents that I can cite, such as census records and death indexes.  In the 1920 census, Irby was living with his brother-in-law, Norman Dolive, Norman's wife, Lillie Dolive, Norman's mother-in-law Susie Reneau, and Norman's niece, Anna M. Holtam.  I knew that Anna Holtam was DH's great aunt (one of his grandmother's sisters).  I also realized that Norman's MIL would be Irby's mother, which was the correct first name, but a different last name than I had ever seen.  It also listed her as Widowed.  And I had no idea that DH's great grandmother had a sister named Lillie.  (One of DH's aunts is named Lillie, so maybe she was named after her?)  I also had no idea that DH's great great grandmother Susie had remarried.  So with Susie being the correct mother's name and the birth years being correct and knowing DH's Great Aunt Ann was living with them (which we did not know or know why), I have added new ancestors....his great great Aunt Lillie and her husband, Norman and I think it's interesting to know that DH's great aunt lived with her aunt and uncles and grandmother, yet I wonder where her mother or siblings were......

 Also, I was able to track Great Grandmother Susie Mc Cain.  Her dad is John W. Mc Cain, which makes me wonder if DH is related to Republican Presidential Nominee John Mc Cain.  Hmmmm......  More genealogy research to do ...so little time to do it!

Heather 

I wanted to share a tip.  When you attach census records to your family tree, don't forget to look at everyone who lived in the household.  In some instances, other relatives lived with them who won't get attached to the family tree automatically, like brothers-in-law, a mother-in-law, or even nieces and nephews.  Also, some "boarders" are actually relatives, but are not listed as such. 

The other day, I thought about going back through all the census records that were attached to my family tree to see who the neighbors were (maybe they are in-laws or other relatives) and to see if I could find any other clues into my ancestors lives and felt like I hit the jackpot.  I could not find a whole family of siblings  in the 1920 census.  I had thought maybe they were off fighting in World War I.  I ended up finding the four missing siblings living with one of their sisters and her husband and  family!  I am definately going to go back and look through all the census records to see if I can find any other ancestors that are hiding.  LOL

Heather

I have hit a brick wall....hopefully someone can help!  :)  I can not seem to find any information on my great grandmother's parents.  My great grandmother is Lenora Mae Gilley Pabst.  She was born 12/6/1904 in Texas to Nora/Nola Thomas and Tom Gilley. 

Nora/Nola Thomas was born to Charles Dawson Thomas and Laura Emily Ferguson in 1886 in Texas.  During the 1900 census, she lived with her parents and brothers and sisters in Wilson Co., TX.  She was 14 years old and listed as Nora.  By 1910, she was still living with her parents, this time in Burnet Co., TX.  She is listed as widowed with her husband's last name of Gilley.  She was listed as Nola A. Thomas and her daughter Lenora was listed as Nora M. 

As for Nora/Nola's husband, he was Tom Gilley, born about 1883 in Mississippi to David and Mary Ellen Dement Gilley.  The story goes that Nora/Nola was pregnant with my great grandmother Lenora when he passed away, so his death date would be 1904.  The Gilley's lived close the Thomas family  during the 1900 and 1910 censuses, in the same counties as the Thomas family.  I have checked the Texas Death Index for Tom Gilley's death record, but haven't been able to locate it.  I have also checked the Family Search pilot website for a death certificate for Tom Gilley and can't find it.  I heard he is buried in or around Uvalde,Texas, but haven't been able to locate his grave either.

Nora/Nola has also gone by Iona and Nonna according to family members.  She passed away about 1914 after remarrying to a Mr. Jim Bain and having more children: Hubert, Carl, Robert, Myrtle and Alma Bain.  I had heard also that she had asked her second husband to bury her by her first husband.  I have not been able to locate her death certificate or death record either. 

As a sidenote, Tom's brother, John and Nora/Nola's sister, Eula, married each other, so the Thomas/Gilley family is connected in this way as well.

I feel like I am missing something about all of this.  Can anyone help shed some light?

Thanks in advance,

Heather