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Showing posts from January, 2018

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – Week 5: Census

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I am working on this year-long prompt, hosted by  Amy Johnson Crow . I will write each week in one of my two blogs, either   Mam-ma’s Southern Family  or at  My Trails Into the Past . I’m looking forward to writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways. In 1840, Ellis W. Lancaster was heading his own household in Lewis County, Missouri. [1] He had three young sons under five years old, one daughter over five but under ten, and his wife, Elizabeth who was between twenty and thirty. 1840 Lewis Co, Missouri, p. 186 These children would have been: Sarah A. Lancaster , born 11 Apr 1832, so she was about 8. James R. Lancaster , born Sep 1835, so he was about 5. William T. Lancaster , born 1 Sep 1837, so he was about 3. George Wilson Lancaster , born 3 Apr 1839, so he was about 1. This census also shows neighbors. Above Ellis, we can see Joseph Bourne . His son, Reuben Bourne would marry Ellis’ daughter, Sarah sometime before 1850. He was

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – Week 4: Invite to Dinner

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I am working on this year-long prompt, hosted by  Amy Johnson Crow . I will write each week in one of my two blogs, either  Mam-ma’s Southern Family  or at  My Trails Into the Past . I’m looking forward to writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways. This week I’m writing about an ancestor I’d like to invite to dinner. I actually have quite a few ideas. I would love to have dinner with my grandmother, Anna Hork and her sister, Loretta Patterson, and recreate the meals we had together back in 1969 when we visited. They told such fantastic stories about their childhood. Of course, I wasn’t a genealogist then. We didn’t have access to recording devices either. I don’t remember much about their stories except they made me laugh every evening! But to invite one person to dinner! That would be my 3X-great-grandfather, Samuel Johnston. I would love to know about his life in South Carolina where he was born, his life in Alabama where most of his children were

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, Week 3: Longevity

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What did my grandmother, Pansy Louise (Lancaster) Johnston have in common with her uncle, William Hutson “Hutts” Loveless? Living long lives. Hutts lived 104 years. [1] Pansy lived to just one month short of 100 years. [2] A party was hosted by Hutts’ daughter, Dorothy on his 100th birthday in Seminole, Texas. [3] Shortly before his death, the Seminole Sentinel had another article about Hutts. From the interview, we learned he drove until a year before, read the bible daily, loved writing poems and songs, and eating pizza and Mexican food. [4] My Mam-ma, Pansy, tried really hard to live to 100. We were planning a 100th Birthday Party and [5]  even had a congratulatory letter from the President. But just a month and a half short of her birthday, her kidneys started failing and she went on hospice, passing away a couple of weeks later. At the home where she lived, Pansy enjoyed playing bingo, handing out candy to fellow resi

Happy 7th Blogiversary!

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It has been seven years since I started this blog on January, 2011. I had just retired and was looking for an outlet for my free time. I have not written many posts on this blog. It's because this blog is very focused on only the ancestors of my grandmother, Pansy Louise Lancaster Johnston: Lancaster, Loveless, Coor, Kethley, Welch, Rodgers, Polly, Neel, Young, Hughes, Nixon, & Medlock, to name the known surnames of my 4X-great-grandparents. However, this year I am participating in the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. I plan to write some of the posts on this blog as well as my other blog, My Trails Into The Past. Copyright © 2018 by Lisa Suzanne Gorrell, Mam-ma's Southern Family

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun -- How Many Degrees of Separation

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Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible! music) is to: 1)  Find an ancestral line that stretches back to the time of the US Revolutionary War (1775-1783), about 240 years. Define your person-to-person connection (the person actually met the next person on the list) back to a historical figure from that time (doesn't have to be famous). 2) Tell us about it on your blog, in a note or comment on Facebook, or in a comment on this post. My mother’s side of the family are the only ones who were here at the time of the American Revolution. Let’s follow up the Lancaster line from my grandmother, Pansy Louise Lancaster Johnston (Mam-ma). She was born in 1913, and so would have known her great-grandfather, George Wilson Lancaster , who lived died in the same community in which she lived in 1919.  Pansy > George Warren > William Carl > George Wilson . George Wilson Lancaster was born in 1839 in Missouri, so would have only