My grandparents' met sometime between 1938 and 1939. Grandpa was a sales rep with Swift & Company which sold meat to grocery stores. His routes took him to various places, including Abbeville, South Carolina, where my grandmother lived. By 1940, they were dating and grandpa sent grandma this note (hopefully with some flowers or chocolates): … Continue reading The Real McCoy
Isabella and William Campbell made the trip across the Atlantic ocean just weeks after they were married in August of 1838. According to Isabella's letters home, they sailed from Belfast to Liverpool and then on to Canada and down to Georgia, probably making stops along the way. By November they were in Augusta, Georgia, staying … Continue reading Unchilled by the Cold
My 4th great-grandmother, Mary Elizabeth (Eve) Carmichael, kept a diary from 1837 to 1850 that was passed down and is now kept at the library at University of North Carolina. As a teenager, on one of our semiannual drives from Washington, DC to Clemson, South Carolina, to visit my grandmother, we stopped at UNC so … Continue reading Peculiar Gratitude
Twice my 5th great aunt, Sarah (Eve) Adams intrigues me and I keep coming back to her. Maybe it’s the romantic account of her courtship with her husband. Perhaps it's the dramatic story of having to cross the Atlantic alone after the death of her husband and brother during the War of 1812. It could … Continue reading Mother Aunt Adams
John Holden is a brick wall and a stubborn one at that. There are no birth or death dates for him, no place of birth or death, no known grave, no census records. I'm not even sure his name was John. His wife and daughter were the only proof of his existence until recently. Last … Continue reading A Brick Wall Named Holden
When Johanna was small, she experiences two life changing events within four months. At the age of six, her mother died and her father emigrated to the United States, leaving her in Baden (now Germany). Previously overlooked in the family notes and found in newly indexed German church records, Johanna Barbara Friederika Eigenmann was the … Continue reading Just a Small Girl
Between two hills sits the town of Bandon dissected by the River Bandon. Founded in 1604 during the Plantation of Munster, the town was originally called Bandon Bridge, the translation of the Irish name, Droichead na Bandan, or Bridge of the Bandon. Arriving in Bandon from the north. © Julie Medlock Flake The earliest known … Continue reading The Bridge of the Bandon
