John Bones lost his wife, Maria, to tuberculosis. In a letter to his mother dated 4 June 1833, he writes, "I thought when in health that I appreciated her...but I now find that much as I love her I was never fully aware...of the treasure I possess in her, until the prospect of her removal, … Continue reading Something to Change My Plans
I found him! My 5th great-grandfather, the presumed John Holden, has been an enigma for many years. I've had lots of questions and doubts, but very little information, and a lot of dead ends*. But one simple detail in one short paragraph of a letter was the key to solving the mystery. In a previous … Continue reading Glad to Get Him Away From Chester
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
My grandma loved the beach. She could spend hours looking for seashells. According to my aunt, grandma was really good at finding whole shells of all sizes. She kept some of these in glass containers around her house. I also remember a seashell wreath as well as prints of beach dunes and the battery in … Continue reading Seashells and Sunshine
When Julia Anne DeVore King was 15 years old, she married her Aunt Ellen's widower, Dr. William Edward Prescott, who was 35 years older than her. Julia became stepmother to her three cousins, Julia Annie and Wallace Thomas, who were older than her, and Eustace, who was 6 years old at the time. Julia and … Continue reading The Second Wife
My maternal grandparents married each other twice. Rayford Haney Wilson, or Ray, was born to Lafayette Russell Wilson and Ida Lou Verna Wakefield on 15 October 1915 in Nauvoo, Walker County, Alabama. Ray was the fourth of six children and the second boy. Lafayette worked at different times as a reverend, farmer, teacher, and government … Continue reading Re-Union
Family names as middle names has been a tradition in my family for at least three generations: both my parents have their mother's maiden names as middle names, my sister and I share middle names with our grandmothers, and my children's middle names reflect names from our family trees. While not unique to our family, … Continue reading The Name Game
Heart Genealogy 