Happy New Year to Everyone.

My genealogy goal for 2011 is to pour through the Tennessee Death Certificate Images- just as soon as they are posted at ancestry.

Other goals will be to continue photographing grave markers in my area as time and weather permit.  A family member has asked me to do some research for them and I look forward to the initial interview and getting started on this project.

My personal life will be busy with a big project at work. I'll have to make time to visit art galleries, museums, and gardens along the way too! 

Looking forward to 2011! 

The Woods Family about 1925 probably Blytheville, Mississippi County, Arkansas

This is the only picture I have of James William Woods. Back left to right: Grandma Woods (Alberta Virginia Neff) holding baby, Laura M. James; Catharine Woods, James William Woods, Mary Ada Woods James, Lena Woods Nichols.

Front row left to right: Marye K. Nicholds, Virgil Neff Woods, Jack Nichols, and Virginia Nichols.

I joined the ARKANSAS forum tonight. I search almost the entire state of Arkansas. Both of my parents were raised in Arkansas, with their families living in the Northeast corner for years. Then, if that wasn't enough, I married a man from Arkansas and his family still has roots in Arkansas.

Other collateral lines lived in Arkansas from time to time- some on their way West and some came back to good ole Tennessee. I would like to take an AR road trip going straight down I-40 with a stop at every courthouse along the way to Little Rock and then keep on going to the Texas line with a stop at every court house. Next I'd like to visit every county in the north East Section. I could fill in some dates and maybe find some interesting stories too. The Jonesboro Library has an excellent Newspaper collection which I'm sure would help my research. They have been kind to mail me obits from time to time.

I've visited the Arkansas History Commission several times and would enjoy spending more time there. I've even thought about taking a job in Little Rock so I could spend my days off at the History Commission.

The counties I'm most interested in: Poinsett, Mississippi, Cross, Woodruff, Greene, Clay, Randolph, Lawrence, Prairie, White, Faulkner, Conway, Lonoke, Pulaski, Yell, Nevada, Hempstead, Desha, Chicot and Arkansas, Hot Springs, Monroe, and Garland.

Okay, that's enough, but really not all of them.

My number one brick wall in Arkansas:

My great-grandfather, James William Woods, was born in December either 1870 or 1872- depending on the record. Apparently, he was orphaned young. By the 1880 census he is living in Cadron, Faulkner County, Arkansas with Andrew Brown family. His known sister, Fannie or Sarah Frances Woods is living with an Oliver family in another part of Faulkner County.

I found a paper either written by James Woods or his wife, stating he was born in Cabot, Arkansas. This paper states father's birthplace is unknown and mother is also born in Cabot, Arkansas. Unfortunately it doesn't have his parents' names listed.

James Woods moves to Jackson, TN between 1880 and 1894 when he marries July 1894. By 1900 the Woods family is living in Paducah, Kentucky. By 1910 they have moved to Metropolis, Illinois and finally they move to Blytheville, Arkansas. Grandpa Woods was a house painter so he followed the building trade. My grandmother told me they also lived near Little Rock, AR for awhile with his sister, Fannie Woods Merritt and also in Yarbrough and Jonesboro, Arkansas. She said they moved often and life was hard as Grandpa Woods was out of work a good bit.

He died 5 April 1930, three days before the 1930 census taker arrived. As he was living on 1st of April, he was listed on the census though. He is buried at Maple Grove Cemetery. I have a copy of his death certificate and it lists parents as unknown. The informant was my great-grandmother.

Both Lonoke and Faulkner counties were created in 1873, so I have to check several counties for 1870 records. James Woods would have been born at the earliest Dec 1870;  therefore wouldn't have been on the 1870 census. Woods is such a common name I haven't been able to locate his family in 1870.

The BROWN family James was living with in 1880 are from Tennessee and I haven't been able to find a connection. I haven't found a connection with the Oliver family either.

I would appreciate any suggestions on moving through this wall.

Surnames referenced: Woods.Neff.James.Oliver.Brown.Nichols.Merritt

My South Carolina lines have really fanned out in the past year with South Carolina Death Records going online. I have discovered many maiden names which has assisted me go back to the next generation.

Yesterday, while waiting on the rain to descend,  I thought to myself, I'll see if I can find out anything about Mary Wardlaw. There are lots of Wardlaw's in the Anderson area, so I really wasn't expecting just a lot, but I started with the 1850 census as she was born about 1804. I already had her record as she was living with her husband and family, but armed with a maiden name, I decided to see who are near neighbors and if there are any Wardlaw's in the bunch.

Paydirt immediately, I mean Immediately!  Her next door neighbor was a fellow named Hudson Wardlaw. Now Hudson is a great name for genealogy. I thought to self I may not be able to find Mary Wardlaw, but Hudson increases my chances significantly so..... I did a quick search to see if anyone else had done any research on Hudson. I quickly found a Hugh Hutson Wardlaw the correct age. I surfed ancestry.com family trees and did a google search and low and behold he had a sister named Polly in some places and Mary in some places....

On it goes;  Hutson  has a very documented history with several generations of Wardlaws. I copied these down in my notebook and decided to see if I can prove that his sister, Mary, is my Mary Wardlaw. I try not to put anyone in my tree unless I've got some proof- more than living next door in the census.

Because I found dates, places and names, I went back to the South Carolina Archives and decided to check for a will for the name listed as Hutson's father. Well, I immediately had a genealogy happy dance as I located a will for James Wardlaw and he lists his daughter, Polly Balentine. Yes! That's my woman!!!

I was able to go at least two more generations quickly thanks to those wills and more thanks to these Wardlaws for owning lots of land and property and leaving wills in the first place. They also spelled out their children's names pretty well in the wills. The only snag has been Wardlaw marrying Wardlaw and keeping it all straight. My children now have two Wardlaw lines since first cousins married. I will spend some time in the next few days doing the data entry for these families and verifiying dates and places- trying to keep it straight b/c as soon as I found Hutson it went straight to James and John and Hugh and William with those names repeated often.

When I started my genealogy adventure in 1983 this would have taken years as I would have had to order lots of death certificates and by the way most of the death certificates came from siblings of direct ancestors, so this would have been a lot of time and money trying to figure out when and where someone died and what name they went by. There are so many varations with names.  Actually without the great search function at Familysearch.org I don't even know if this would be possible b/c I did a lot of searches by father's last name and/or mother's last name which helped me find married daughters.  Next I would have needed to make a long trip to the South Carolina archives. 

Genealogy research has definitely improved since I got my first computer about 1995. I still want to make that long trip to the South Carolina Archives. I bet there are lots of Happy Dances just waiting for me.

Labor Day Weekend is almost here. Let's take the opportunity to make great family memories and to ask a few questions too. We never know who might have family information. Ask the in-laws, outlaws, the neighbors-whoever you are with this weekend, ask those genealogy questions. Come home and document the information for future generations.

I have the opportunity to attend an Old Community School Reunion and a ninety something birthday party for a former neighbor. I may not learn about my direct family, but I will have the opportunity to learn some history about a now non-existant community and school as well as learn more about my neighbor and her family.

Make the weekend count.

Wishing everyone a Happy Genealogy Friday!!!

I experienced another great genealogy day. I wouldn't call it a happy dance day, but nevertheless, I was able to read some chancery court records that list a third great-grandmother as the daughter of.... I love it when I find a record that specifies the actual relationships.

I just wish more of my ancestors had court cases on file. Those difficult to read court cases have been some of the most valuable in breaking down those brick walls. Yes, I spent the morning in the basement of the local courthose rather than in front of my computer and yes, my head hurt, my eyes hurt and I thought I would throw up, but it is sooooo much fun to find the one record needed to absolutely prove relationship. Now, if the history room could afford a copier which would copy an 11 X 14 piece of paper.

All in all, I'd say I had a fantasic genealogy day!

Who doesn't love a genealogy happy dance? Well, I had a wonderful one last weekend thanks to a nice researcher in the Greenville, South Carolina area.

This kind woman obtained twenty two (22) obits from the Greenville News for me. I requested them on Saturday and she emailed them to me on Sunday. Now, how quick is that? The obits  were dated from 1919 to 1996. I'm still reeling from the excitement and trying to get them entered into my database as well as posted on my ancestry tree. These weren't just little simple obits like I find in my local papers for earlier years. You know the ones I'm talking about: Westside Community, "We're sad to report Mrs. Jane Smith died, leaving a large family." No, these were all detailed with several listing parents and a couple giving great detail about the person's life. One obit for a step 3rd  great grandmother gave details of her trip to American, all the places she lived, where she married her first husband as well as his name, her father's name and the name of a book she wrote- just dancing all around the house on this one.

Obits provide so many details and clues to the next research project.  I suspect these 22 obits will lead to more obit requests too.  South Carolina has been a difficult state for me to research from afar, but recently Family search and ancestry placed SC death certificates or transcriptions of death certificates on-line. I have used both extensively tracking down maiden names for my ancestors.

In addition to the South Carolina Death Certificates the South Carolina Archives has a great website with lots of actual records. I have found Confederate Pension applications as well as wills, etc.

Another great site, which helped me determine my list of obits was the Greenville News Index of obits on-line at the Greenville Public Library. Based on Death dates from the Death Certificates I was able to locate the obits I needed. Some of my names were very common for that area of South Carolina and having death dates helped me determine the correct John Scott.

I would be remiss not to mention the wonderful confederate records online at Footnote.com. These contributed to death dates for several ancestors, military history as well as unit history and also added depth to the military records when it would mention someone was on extra hospital duty, guard duty and sadly, at times POW records. I also found several accounts of my ancestors writing letters to commanding officers with the letter including with their service papers and soldiers requesting payment for various things. One of my 2nd great grandfathers had his horse shot out from under him at the Battle of Murfreesboro and he wrote a letter requesting payment for his horse.

I'm grateful to all the above websites and especially grateful to the wonderful researcher in South Carolina who have all helped me crack a few brick walls as well as add some flesh to my ancestors bones.

I've had some good South Carolina Happy Dances the past few months and look forward to even more.

I've included one of these nice obits here. I found Maggie by searching the South Carolina Death Certificates at ancestry for any Maggie born about 1895. I didn't know her married name. I truly had a happy dance when I found her death certificate and now I have her obit too. She was a sister to my children's great-great grandmother. Now if only I could find an obit for their other sister, Eliza, born about 1887. I have gone over to the Family Search beta site and searched for any person dying in South Carolina with father last name of Spence and mother of LEE. So far, I haven't been able to find her. I know she died before 1939. Of course, obits aren't perfect. It's important to check out every detail for accuracy. This obit indicates her father is deceased, when in fact he doesn't die until 1948.

   A

Obit from Greenville News (South Carolina), 28 Sept 1939, page 15

The other day I posted my Tennessee Roll Call, so today, I thought I would post my South Carolina Roll Call. Believe it or not it will be as long or longer than my Tennessee Roll Call.

Without further ado:

1. Scott- Abbeville, Greenwood, and  Greenville South Carolina + Elbert County, Georgia

2. Spence- Anderson, Greenwood Counties in South Carolina

3. Giles- Abbeville County, South Carolina

4. Motes (Moats)- Abbeville County, South Carolina

5. Martha (Patsy) Taylor, born about 1813 Georgia. Married !. Lawson Scott; living in Abbeville County, Georgia 1850. Married or Relationship # 2 Savage HALL.

6. LEE- Anderson, Greenwood, and Greenville Counties,  and Pendleton District South Carolina.

7. Dunlap- Pendleton District and Anderson County, South Carolina

8. Greer- Country of  Ireland> Pendleton District and Anderson County, South Carolina.

9. Ballentine.Vallentine.Balentine.Valentine- Anderson County, South Carolina.

10. Wardlow- Anderson County, South Carolina

11. Matilda MOORE- born 1827 South Carolina; died 1907 Anderson County, South Carolina. Allegedly the daughter of William Moore & Phoebe Osborne- looking for documentation.

12. Mary Ann HALL, born cir 1807 South Carolina; married Robert SPENCE; died after 1870, but where? Did she die in Anderson County, South Carolina, or did she move with a child to Alabama, Georgia, Texas, or North Carolina? What happened to Mary Ann?

13.  Randolph- Greenville District, South Carolina about 1792; Moved to Limstone County, Alabama between 1810 and 1820 and from there to Lawrence and then Walker County, Alabama.

14. Dill- Greenville County, South Carolina (originally from Delaware, then to North Carolina prior to moving to Greenville, South Carolina).

15. I have other ancestors who came through South Carolina on their way to Tennessee and Alabama, but haven't been able to determine locations in South Carolina. Some of those names are:

 a. TULL - about 1814 in South Carolina; Dekalb and then Carroll County, Georgia by 1816; Walker County, Alabama by 1832 and on to Mississippi by 1841 and Hardeman County, Tennessee by 1850. They moved back and forth between Mississipi and Alabama for awhile before settling in Tennessee.

b. EDGE- moved to Itawamba County, Mississippi before 1850.

c. BELL (another easy name ): ). North Carolina>South Carolina> Itawamba County, Mississippi by 1850 with a detour somewhere in Georgia about 1814 and somewhere in Alabama from about 1824-1830.

South Carolina is difficult due to lack of marriage records. The South Carolina death records at ancestry.com and familysearch.com have helped me with maiden names. If I had access to the old Greenville Newspaper I could probably solve a few more mysteries as many of my ancestors have obits listed in the paper. I'm keeping a list and ordering a few at a time from the Greenville Library.

I have found many maiden names for my female ancestors in South Carolina by researching collateral relatives- especially death certificates. Maybe my ancestor didn't live into the 20th century, but a sibling did, so was able to locate  death certificates which have been very helpful.

If you've made it this far, thanks for reading and hope to hear from anyone with possible connections, leads, or suggestions.

Hi,

My name is Margaret Ann. I decided this would be a great time to post the locations and names of Tennessee I'm researching.

(Bear with me as it is a long list)

I generally search all of West Tennessee with special interest in McNairy, Hardeman, Chester, Madison, and Hardin Counties.

I also have ancestors- well really, just all of West Tennessee. I couldn't find a county somebody hasn't lived in for at least a little while since 1823.

My Tennessee names: JAMES- McNairy, Gibson, Dyer, Hardin (+Alcorn, Tippah, Tishomingo counties in Mississippi) and Giles county in Middle Tennessee.

McINTYRE.MCINTIRE.MCENTIRE.MCENTYRE.- McNairy County

COX- Hardeman, Chester, McNairy

JOHNSON (oh yeah, a fun one to be sure)- McNairy, Hardeman, Fayette and Shelby and Weakley Counties in Tennessee and Graves County, Kentucky

COOKSEY- McNairy & Hardeman Counties

ADCOCK- Dekalb County, McNairy County

VAUGHN- McNairy County, White County, Dekalb County

NEFF- Madison County in West Tennessee + Jefferson, Knox and Sullivan Counties in East Tennessee.

ROGERS- Hardeman and Chester County, Tennessee

TULL- McNairy, Hardeman, Chester Counties in Tennessee; Walker County, Alabama and Carroll county, Georgia + several Texas counties including Van Zandt and Red River Counties.

HORN- McNairy County, Tennessee + onslow County, NC

PATRIDGE.PARTRIDGE- McNairy County, Tennessee + somewhere, if I only knew where, in North Carolina

MORTON- McNairy, Chester, Hardeman Counties in West Tennessee. Blount County in East Tennessee- about 1819 for Blount County + Onslow County, North Carolina.

STILES.STYLES. McNairy County. Giles and Lincoln Counties + Onslow County, North Carolina

Well, these are just my direct lines. I will have to post my children's, nieces and nephews lines later.

If anyone is searching any of these names and places, leave me a comment or send me an email; would love to exchange information.

Happy Hunting,

Margaret Ann