Am I ready to do a genealogy do-over? You betcha!

So, this was in my mail last week. Caught my attention because I am at an impasse on many of the relationships on my family tree. So and so says I have the wrong Yeakley...I have documentation that may not be correct. I have been working on this for years and I am ready to chuck the whole thing. Am I ready to start over? 

Along comes Thomas MacEntee from GeneaBloggers. He is starting over and is taking us along for the ride. Check out his link and see if it appeals to you too. There are lots of us who want a fresh start for many reasons. 

I can't wait until January 2 to begin again. I think it will be my best trip of the year!

1934 - Merry Christmas from my grandparents and me

Ernest Marvin Yeakley (1886-1943) and Nancy Ellen Jones (1887-1938) were my grandparents. I never met them (they were gone before I was born) but they were and still are a part of my life because they lived on through my mom. I thought I had found all the really interesting stuff my mom left until I started back through it again. That's when I discovered this Christmas greeting my grandparents sent in 1934. What a treasure and what a treat. 

Merry Christmas from Marvin and Ellen Yeakley!

Clarence Eugene Yeakley - Uncle Gene

Found in my email on October 2, 2014, this was an unexpected blessing. It has been more than 50 years and yet Wayne felt that it was important to reach out and share this memory. I am so glad he did. 

Hello Ann;  I wrote the following note to you last night and then couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to post it. I’m kind of long winded and tried to shorten my story to you and still make sense. I liked your Uncle, and though didn’t know him all that well, found him a man easy to be around. Not all of the NCO’s treated the lower grades all that well he did. Anyway, here it is:

.Hello; My name Is Wayne Lee Derrick, age 73, retired here in Spokane, Washington. I served in the USAF from August 1959 to August 63.

I was stationed at Mather AFB from July 60 until discharge and in the same squadron as your Uncle Clarence.

In early July my wife and son left California early to return home and find us a place after my discharge. For reasons I don’t remember (probably getting the car repaired) I was riding back and forth to work with Clarence for a couple days. Another friend stopped by my office and asked if I wanted to stop at the NCO club for a beer and told me he could drop me at home. I agreed and after telling Clarence we went on our way. It was the day of his accident. On the way home we drove by the scene and saw the two vehicles. By all that is logical I should have been with him and would have been killed also.

If you would like more information about that day and for that matter about the work and position he held please contact me. I will be more than happy to talk to you. I hope you receive this email as that day has never left me.

I had an experience today while driving outside the city which startled me and it brought back the memory.

Regards

Wayne

Didn't make through the 52 ancestors in 52 weeks

On May 1, 2014, my son, Niles, broke his leg warming up for a baseball game. This is where I share a very important note. If more than one child is running to catch a fly ball, make sure they call it. Unfortunately, the two boys were not clear on who was going for the ball and the resulting collision took my son out of baseball for the rest of the season. The good news is the other child was OK and only bruised.

Just home from the hospital. 

After 9 weeks in a cast, it was removed on July 1, 2014, and he is now learning to walk on it again. 

He is still supporting his team and although he can't play, attended all the remaining games. Here he is standing without his crutches.

What does this have to do with 52 ancestors in 52 weeks? He is a Yeakley descendant and so someday, will be an ancestor. The bigger pictures is before the story of the broken leg is lost, why not write it down and share the pictures. 

Taking care of him took much more time that I expected so blogging was one of those things that got left behind. Now that he is mobile, it is so much easier for him and me and I can resume a regular blogging schedule. 

52 Ancestors - Week 24 - Mary B "Polly" Morris 1798-1876

Mary B "Polly" Morris is my questionable link. Her parents are given as Charlotte "Lottie" Warner and William F "Billy" Morris. That seems to be correct as there is documentation. However, there is no documentation she married William B. Fussell. This is where those with private trees come in and accuse me of blindly copying incorrect trees right after they "borrow" a few photos from my very public trees. Nevertheless, I am am sticking with Mary B "Polly" Morris until proved wrong.

The only thing I can find is a census report from 1850. It lists her husband as William Fussell but the list of children does not completely match. Some of the names are the same but there are several that don't appear on my records. That makes it suspect. For example, their daughter, Martha Mary Fussell is my 2nd great grandmother. Although I have yet to find a death date, there is plenty of documentation confirming she is related. The documentation was discovered by my mom a long time ago. Still, on the census, the name and date don't match. 

There is a book called Trinity County Beginnings, published in 1986, that mentions William B Fussell and Mary B "Polly" Morris. It does state they had ten children but it doesn't share their names. Since family written books are suspect and I don't know if there are sources attached, I am going to say that it is true and continue to research the missing pieces. 

52 Ancestors - Week 23 - Wettenhall Warner 1736 - 1819

This is not a proven relative. Wettenhall Warner might be my 5th great grandfather but he is on the other side of the 4th great grandparents that I am having trouble proving. He was the husband of Elizabeth Sarah Cargill, one of the relatives on the way back to the Mayflower.

Wettenhall has a stellar history. He was an Irish immigrant. Although there is no military history, he was the Justice of the Peace in Orangeburgh, South Carolina during the Revolutionary War. And there's a tasty tidbit about him possibly related to Pocahontas. This is how family rumors are started but this can never be proved. My cousin has a much more interesting family that I have and I would love to tell her that I am related to Pocahontas. I need a feather in my cap (pun intended).

His father-in-law left him land in his will and it appears the family was well-to-do. They were also deeply religious and were the founding members of the oldest Baptist Church in South Carolina.

52 Ancestors - Week 22 - Melendez Morgan Yeakley 1868-1946

I hate to say this but we have a family member who is less than perfect and therefore interesting. Melendez Morgan Yeakley was the brother of my grandfather. My grandfather, Ernest Marvin Yeakley, was perfect. Not that he wasn't interesting but he was just a very good man, father, and husband. M. M. Yeakley apparently did not get all the Quaker genes.

 

I think he was a very good looking young man. It's an interesting picture as I see the same expression on my oldest son. 

M M (as he was called) was born in Collin, Texas on March 17, 1868. He was the oldest son of George O. Yeakley and Lydia Grubbs. He was 18-yrs-old when my grandfather (the youngest child) was born. 

In 1887, he married Millie Elvina Robison. He was 19, she only 15. However, it was a marriage made to last as they celebrated their 50th anniversary on December 4, 1937. 

 

In 1904, M M was the postmaster for Mountain View in Cooke County, Texas. In the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, there was a blub about Mr. Yeakley. It reads, "M M Yeakley, postmaster at Mountain View Cooke County, who is under a charge of violating the postal laws, had a hearing before the commissioner at Sherman and has been released on $500 bond." Unfortunately, I don't find any other remarks concerning this case so don't know the whole story or the outcome. However, the Quaker genes must have kicked-in because the rest of his life seems to be ideal. He does look sort of angelic in the photo below.  

M M died in Gainesville, Texas on April 14, 1946 at the age of 78. Millie followed him two years later on July 9, 1948. Her obituary says she was well respected for her exemplary citizenship. She must have had a very good effect on her husband. 

52 Ancestors - Week 21 - George O. Yeakley - 1809 - 1883

At last, an ancestor where there is information. How correct it is has yet to be determined but at least it gives me dates and places and a little bit of color. 

The source of the information is from, A 20th-Century History and Biographical Record of North and West Texas, by Capt. B. B. Paddock, published 1906, volume II, page 50. Right off the bat, the information on the arrival of the family is in question after finding out Benedict Yuchli  is not correct. Still, by the time George O. Yeakley came along, there is verified documentation. I want to make a trip to the Fort Worth Public Library to see this book. 

George O. Yeakley was born on February 23, 1809 in Greene County, Tennessee. He was the 8th of 13 children. His parents were Henry Yeakley and Susannah McNees. Susannah has her own history that is also documented. One thing said about her was mentioned in the Pictorial and genealogical record of Greene County, Missouri, was she was a “most excellent woman and deeply religious, a Quaker”. The family was affiliated with the New Hope Monthly Meetings in Missouri. 

Faith runs deep in this family. George married Lydia Grubbs on February 23, 1832 at the New Hope Monthly Meeting in Rheatown, Tennessee, on his 23rd birthday. She also came from a Quaker family and the four older children are documented in the Quaker records.  

They lived in Tennessee a long time but in 1870, we find him at 61-yrs-old living in Denton, Texas. There is some speculation that he moved about the time President Lincoln was assassinated which would have been in 1865. The records indicate that he was a teacher, farmer, and blacksmith but went on to become a doctor and the only one in Mountain Springs, Texas. 

He and Lydia raised six children, one of them my great grandfather, James Madison Yeakley.    

George died on April 13, 1883 at the age of 74 in Chico, Texas, and is buried in the cemetery there. Lydia passed away on November 18, 1881 at the age of 65. She is buried at the New Hope Cemetery in Gainesville, Texas. 

52 Ancestors - Week 20 - Benedict Yuchli and the Ephrata Cloister

Yeakle, Jackle. Juchli, and Yeakely: These are the names in the history books. Then there are the names used by census takers and other outsiders with more creative natures like Youghli, Yuchli, and Yuckley. What does this have to do with Benedict Yuchli and the Ephrata Cloister?

Benedict Yuchli was born in 1710 in Switzerland and arrived in Pennsylvania in 1736 at the age of 26. My mom's research indicates that he didn't live at the Cloister but had a farm nearby. There is documentation stating he provided lumber for the Cloister to build one of the larger buildings.

There is no mention of his wife's name but it believed her last name was Wenger and they had three children.

Benedict Yuchli died in November of 1741 at the age of 31. He was a very young man when he died and we don't have any indications of the cause of his death. However, he left two boys to carry on his name, regardless of how it's spelled.

Sounds good right?

Not so fast...My mother, the ultimate genealogist, tracked the family back to the Ephrata Cloister. She did it with actual footwork since the Internet was not available when she started. She actually gathered more documentation that can be found online so when I started on the Yeakley side, I had documents to scan and add to Ancestry.com. It is a shame that she never had the opportunity to use Ancestry.com. She would have loved it. At 80 years old, she was more computer savvy than most of the kids today. She has been gone 15 years and I am still wading through the documents, pictures, and notes she left for me.

While I have the documentation my mother gathered, I was having difficulty matching it with the information online. Just recently I ran across a conversation on Genealogy.com. In essence, it said that the book that everyone had used for research called "Counting Kindred" is wrong and George Yeakley married Anna Laucks, not Anna Deppen. Furthermore, the conversation went on to say that not only was the spouse of George Yeakley wrong, Benedict Yuchli was not the correct father and the Yeakley's we come from were not the ones that were at the Ephrata Cloister.

I contacted the Historical Society in Cocalico, Pennsylvania. They did a little research for me and found Benedict Yuchli was not the correct father for our side. They did confirm that our George Yeakley was correct and he did marry Anna Deppen. "Counting Kindred" was never documented and there are no sources to back it up. It has been discounted as a credible source. Written by Elmer Elsworth Deppen in 1867, at least we know the family migrated from Switzerland.

It seems that I am back to square one and completely frustrated at this turn of events. Still, we can count George Yeakley and Anna Deppen so we have a new starting point.

BTW, we have visited the Ephrata Cloister and I recommend a visit for anyone wanting to get a taste of how they lived. It is truly a magnificent place. 

A to Z blogging challenge reflection

This is my second year doing the A to Z blogging challenge. I did California destinations last year but this year it was a way to get a start on the other side of my family history. 

I am not really a blogger. Last year was my first attempt at maintaining some sort of schedule. I am also a lazy blogger but I did sign up to receive posts from the blogs I enjoyed so I can continue to read those. 

I was one of MJ's minions. It made me read blogs I would have otherwise overlooked. I do have a suggestion for next year though. I think all the blogs should have some sort of identification. Mine is clearly family history but there were many I didn't find until later that were topics I was really interested in. 

I scheduled most of my posts. That made it so much easier and I was free to spend more time reading others. If I do it again next year, I will follow the same schedule. 

I am glad the challenge is over because at the end of the month, our lives got dramatically busy. At least I was able to finish the month although I wan't able to read or comment on the last few days. I will go back and catch up when I have some breathing room.  

Thanks to the people who read my posts and left comments. They were appreciated. A big thanks to the other bloggers who enriched my life with their posts. I laughed and learned. 

52 Ancestors - Week 19 - Isaiah McNees

Isaiah McNees was born in Copte Hill, County of Cavan, Ireland in 1752. I looked it up and Copte Hill is a real place. That made me happy. This is one of those things I am unsure of because I haven't really looked at Ireland to know if places are right or wrong.

He arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1736 at the age of 16. This is where it all goes wrong. I was going to delete the whole post but decided to leave it in all it's misinformation so I know to go back and do the real research needed.

The source document on Ancestry.com is the "Pennsylvania, Quaker arrivals at Philadelphia (Meeting), 1862-1750". I consider this a valid source as the Quakers kept detailed records of who was a part of their meetings but it does muddy the waters. If Isaiah arrived in 1736, based on his birth year, he would have been 16. However, the meeting notes dated 21 Feb 1736 says:

"who hath lived within the compass of our meeting these Twenty years." He is about to "remove from hence with some of his Children (he being a Widower) to Pensylvania."

I have him married to Elizabeth with four children who were born after he arrived in America. So either the meeting note is incorrect or this piece of record belongs to another Isaiah McNees.

Rats, back to the drawing board.

Family history in the making

Some events in our ancestor's lives are missed because they are not documented. My grandson's goal is to play on a major league baseball team, specifically the Dodgers. He has been working towards this goal since he was five. 

He is a great ball player and has been taking lessons for pitching and was just starting catching until last Thursday's game. While warming up, he and his friend went for the same fly ball. In one of those freak moments, they collided and Niles broke his tibia in three places. 

Fortunately for him, baseball season is almost over. He is bummed out but he did play and pitch not only for his recreational league but his travel team as well. He was the catcher when he wasn't pitching. Is this going to get in the way of his goal? "No way", he announces. 

The doctors have said the cast time is six to eight weeks. After that, there is therapy. According to his pitching coach, the therapy will help him actually become stronger. 

I put this out there today so all the folks who watch him play for the Dodger's in the future will have this information. While this is a current event, it will become a piece of our family history. My grandson's children will know that he broke his leg doing what he loved and it did not stop him. It will tell them a little bit about him and his personality. And we are putting the Dodger's on notice, Niles is on his way. 

Z is for Zebra

These are zebras. One day someone will find this picture in a stash left by me. Maybe a grandchild will find it but more likely a great grandchild. It will not be a yellowed copy but one that is found online. I don't know how it will work then but I assume anything that is out on the Internet will be retrievable.

If you are like me, there are tons of pictures you have saved that are not identified. Just like all the old photos I have, some will never be named. The same could happen with the zebra picture.

What does this picture tell you? The zebra's are enclosed in a large paddock. Some are under the tree so we assume it's cooler there. There are trees in the background and it looks like a savanna. It looks like it might have been on a safari somewhere. Without knowing where this is, assumptions can be wrong.

The picture is full color and has been changed to make it look older. The zebra's are in Riverside County, California. They are owned by one of our neighbors who has a horse ranch where he raises thoroughbreds. I don't know why he has the zebras but when we first saw them, we were surprised. We pass them twice a day on the way to baseball practice and games and we can't afford to leave town much less go on a safari.

I am guilty of not identifying my photos. Thinking about it, I don't want to leave a mess behind for someone else. Today's genealogists and family historians are making inroads into the past left for us to find. We can make it easier for future historians so when they find my zebra picture, they will know it was taken in Riverside County, California in 2014.

Family history has many facets. Not only are we on the hunt for facts, we are totally delighted when we find pictures. One of the most amazing moments are when we find unexpected treasure in the way of photographs. 

My grandfather was a photographer and took lots of pictures. My mother was never without a camera. In fact, her Master Degree was in Audio/Visual and it was an exciting time in 1967 when technology was blooming. 

My cousin in Tennessee found a treasure trove of photos he didn't know he had. It was an exciting week as he sent the scanned photos to me and when I went to Tennessee, he handed me a CD with them as well. 

Cousins I find online also share photos and yesterday another one found me. We are now sharing photos of my Aunt Ruth, her grandmother. 

One of the problems with all these photos is the way they are organized. I read a post by James Tanner who had a useful suggestion. Here is the link to his article "Let the computer do its work of organizing your genealogy". Taking his advise, I started organizing my pictures. It is AMAZING. They don't appear to be in order but all of them are searchable. It is going to take a long time to go back and rename my photos and documents but in the end, what a time saver!

His way of handling documents is simple. Create one searchable file with documents named so they can be found by person, place, date or event. The computer does the work, why reinvent the wheel?  

The A to Z challenge ends today. It has been fun and a challenge but now, I'm looking at tomorrow. Tomorrow is the day that I start of the real challenge of cleaning up and identifying my own photos so when my grandson does the A to Z challenge years from now and adds pictures, he won't have to wonder who these people are or where they were taken.

Thanks you for reading and commenting on my posts. It has made the challenge a joy and I have had a very good time reading and learning about others. Big Smile!

Y is for Anneliese Yuenger (Pulvermann)

Big Anneliese is what she was called even after I surpassed her in height and weight. As I mentioned in my first post on the A to Z, my name is Ann Eliese. My mom named me after Anneliese Pulvermann, her best friend. They met in college and the friendship continued until their deaths. Everyone should have a Big Anneliese in their lives. I was blessed to have her and I loved her so much.

Anneliese was born in Hamburg, Germany on July 12, 1915. Her parents were Paul and Anna Pulvermann. I heard stories of the reasons she left Germany and her arrival in America but I don't know how true they are. I do know she applied for Naturalization on June 14, 1948. She entered the United States in 1943, coming from Canada to Vermont and was living in Colorado when she applied for the Naturalization. That is where she met my mother.  

Big Anneliese was a brilliant woman who raised three remarkable children. She did it without the help of her husband (Warren Yuenger) who may have been present physically but had no time for his family and often didn't even acknowledge their presence. My brother and I always thought he was a spy. In Santa Ana, he lived in the lowest level of the split level house and only came up to eat. I don't think that he ever spoke to me and only remember him talking to my dad once. He was a very strange man and a bit scary. 

Our families spent a lot of time together. Big Anneliese was a teacher and even our playtime was also a time for learning. I can say that much of my curiosity about things came from her. 

Her mother, Anna Pulvermann, (always called Mrs. Pulvermann), gave me a little blue plastic covered notebook when I was about six. It was my first diary and I still have it. Mrs. Pulvermann traveled between East Germany and America. It seemed to me that she spent more time in Germany but that may not be correct based on a notarized document she wrote in 1960. She was also an interesting woman and independent as well. 

Big Anneliese passed away on April 22, 1999 at the age of 82. She outlived my mom by 11 months. I think that in life, we are only given a few people who remain a part of our lives forever. Those relationships are precious. 

Anneliese's younger son named his first daughter Anneliese. He named his second daughter Ruby, my mom's name. How very sweet to know that Anneliese and Ruby are still together. 

52 Ancestors - Week 18 - Lydia Grubbs 1816 - 1881

Lydia Grubbs is the mother of James Madison Yeakley. I don't know much about her yet but two people have contacted me. One of them is a 2nd cousin on my Dad's side of the family. She wrote to me to share some letters and then informed me that we are related on my mom's side, specifically Lydia Grubbs. I am trying to figure out the relationship. Another person just contacted me and said we had Lydia Grubbs in common and is in the process of sending some info that she has.

It is probably not a stretch to see how we might be related on both sides. The Yeakley family was from Rheatown, Greene County, Tennessee. They migrated to Oklahoma and then to Texas. My dad's side of the family is Rhea and the story (still questionable) is that John Rhea founded the town. The problem is that almost all of the men were named John. None of my dad's family lived in Rheatown but it wasn't that far from Hancock County. Tennessee not only had a Rheatown in Greene County but a Rhea County. Rhea County was made famous by the Scopes Trial.

Lydia was born in Rheatown, Tennessee on May 31, 1816. She married George O Yeakley in 1832 and had six children. She died on November 18, 1881 in Gainesville, Texas at the age of 65. Find a Grave has a write-up on her life and death. Her grave wasn't found until 2010 and then they discovered her daughter-in-law, Margaret Shearer is buried next to her.

X is for Xerox - Hat's off to the early genealogists!

Xerox might be a strange topic for family history but my mom left me xerox'd copies of records and it does figure into genealogy.

From the "About" website, I have copied the first paragraph.

"In 1937, the process called Xerography was invented by American law student Chester Carlson. Carlson had invented a copying process based on electrostatic energy. Xerography became commercially available in 1950 by the Xerox Corporation. Xerography comes for the Greed for "dry writing"."

My mother loved the Xerox copier and as a true Renaissance Woman, embraced the technology with open arms. It made it easier for her to make copies when she traveled collecting family history. In fact, the first copy of my birth certificate is xeroxed.

Family historians and genealogists who have put the time in tracking our families have worked with all kinds of media. They tramped graveyards, hauled books off shelves and spent hours looking at reels of microfilm.

Hat's off to these people who did all the work so I can sit comfortably at my desk and find all the records they discovered. While I tramp graveyards, pull books off shelves and study microfilm, these people set us all on the right track so we know what graveyards to tramp, which books to pull and the roll numbers on the microfilm to ask for.

Technology changes and we adapt to new things. The early folks took notes, gathered information on giant computer printouts and xeroxed copies. Today, I just hit print and the information is at my fingertips. We are blessed to have the Internet but a big thank you goes to all of those who have come before. They not only did most of the work, they shared what they learned and made it available for us.

W is for Ruth Linda Wadley - my best friend

Not an ancestor but my best friend who died at age 15. I have written about her before so I will not cover it again other than to say she died much too young and I still miss her. If you want to read the story you can find it at Death of a Friend. 

We met in 1953 when we moved into the new neighborhood in La Puente, California. We were three and my brother was a year old. From the moment we met, we were best friends. We were never apart except for sleeping. Ruth was the adventurous one and if we got in trouble, it was probably something she instigated. We went to grade school together and Junior High. Her family moved to South Gate when we started high school. Our parents used to take us back and forth so we still spent time together. 

The houses were really new in this picture. There are no fences or grass. 

I suppose by this time her parents are gone but she had two sisters, Patty and Dorothy and two younger brothers. I don't know what happened to them after her death but I wanted to share these pictures in case they are out there to find them. 

Ruth Linda Wadley was born on February 3, 1949 in Los Angeles, California and died on April 24, 1965. She was buried at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier, CA. 

V is for Viola Ruth Yeakley - Aunt Ruth

When I was 2 years old, Aunt Ruth came to visit. Of all my Texas relatives, she was the only one with a strong Texas accent. By the time she left, I could sing, "Jesus Loves Me" but I always sung "yay-yes, Jesus Loves Me". 

Viola Ruth Yeakley was born on May 28, 1911 in Archer City, Texas. She was the oldest daughter of Marvin and Ellen Yeakley and was seven years old when my mom (Ruby) was born. 

Aunt Ruth, photo taken by her father. Wasn't she adorable? 

Ruth and Ruby, taken by their father in 1921. My mom was three and Aunt Ruth was ten. 

She married Marcus Edward Edmonds on June 2, 1929 at the age of 18. They had four children, three girls and a boy. Marcus passed away on August 7, 1955 leaving Aunt Ruth a widow at the age 44. She never remarried but spent the rest of her life getting an education as a RN and traveling with her children and grandchildren. 

Not the best picture of Uncle Marcus but the only one I seem to have. Marcus is on the left, my dad is next to him and Dubbie (my cousin) is on the right. The adorable child (obviously not happy about something is me at about age 5). It would have been shortly after this that Marcus passed away. I am almost certain this picture was taken at Fern Dell Park at Griffith Park in Los Angeles. 

Aunt Ruth loved to travel and we made two trips with her to Washington State to visit my Aunt Lola but most of the time, she came and stayed with us. Sometimes she would bring her grandchildren and I just reconnected with one of them. We are sharing pictures and stories. 

Aunt Ruth could be really silly and so she makes it as a favorite all-time aunt. She would also sometimes side with me instead of my mother which was even better. None of my other aunts would buck my mother. 

Ernie (my dad), Ruby (my mom), Uncle Don, Aunt Vivian, Aunt Marie, Uncle Jay Dee, and Aunt Lola in the back row.
Aunt Ruth and Uncle Johnnie seated in front. 

This photo was taken in May 1991. Aunt Ruth wasn't feeling so well and was sometimes depressed. It is the last picture taken of the five remaining siblings. Aunt Ruth passed away on October 39, 1991, at the age of 80. She was a major presence in my life and her passing left an empty spot that only she could fill. 

U is for Unknown, Abigail

Unknown is a problem. Unknown is a challenge. Genealogists deal with unknown. What's interesting is that they are not really unknown. They do have family attached so generally it's the name that's missing.

Unknown, Abigail      1600 - Warwickshire, England     1627  - Jamestown, James City, Virginia, USA

She was born in 1600 in Warwickshire, England and died in 1627 in Jamestown. She is my 10th great grandmother and was married to Daniel Lucye. It says they both died in 1627. That's a clue.

Unlike those who came before me, I do have access to the Internet so it's the first place I went. Daniel Lucey, Lucy, Lucye comes up in a search. He immigrated to Jamestown, Virginia on the "Susan" in 1624. It is assumed that Abigail was with him since he married Abigail, "the tanner's daughter about 1617. He was the youngest son of Timothy Lucy. He died owing Richard Kingsmill 500 pounds of tobacco. The website I found has other details of the family in England. Today, I am not going to worry about the accuracy of the data, only that Abigail Unknown was a wife and mother and lived a tragically short life.

There are other unknown's in my tree. Unknown's are a challenge that can't be left alone. We may never know their last names but that doesn't stop any of us from trying to find the answers.

T is for Territory

Territory is an interesting concept. It can mean many things but in this post it means where my family settled.

The Yeakley's came from Pennsylvania and settled in Tennessee. Eventually, some of them migrated to Texas where they put down roots.

The Rhea's settled in Tennessee and put down roots.

The Yeakley's lived in Rheatown, Greene County, Tennessee and in Rhea County.

The Rhea's never lived in Rheatown or Greene County or Rhea County but settled in Hancock County.

So how is it my portion of the Rhea family never lived in area apparently settled by John Rhea, who might or might not have been the first Rhea in Tennessee and credited with the founding of Rhea County and Rheatown? We still can't prove our connection to John Rhea either but I know my family just didn't spring out of the soil in Hancock County. 

So now we look at Missouri. My grandmother on the Rhea side, Mellie (Farris) Rhea, was born in Eldon, MO, in Miller County. She married my grandfather in Carthage, MO, in Jasper County and they lived there until they moved to Montana.


http://geology.com/county-map/missouri.shtml

A portion of the Yeakley's landed in Greene County, Missouri, in the Springfield area.

The Rhea's and Yeakley's lived in Tennessee and Missouri. In 1900, there were 45 states. So how is it that the two very separate and distinct families all ended up in the same territory? There were 43 other states to choose from.