Mam-ma's Southern Family

I am working on a project to learn more about the neighborhood where Robert Lancaster lived in Shelby County, Kentucky.[1]  On 5 December 1821, he purchased 231 plus acres of land from Thomas Hanna and his wife, Mary. This land was located on the waters of Floyd’s Fork and Luteses Run, being a branch of the Bullskin Creek.[2]  The land description named other neighbors: Joseph Williams’s land was on one stretch of the property and he had purchased the land also from Hanna. Samuel Ellis was a neighbor Charles Ellis was a neighbor A Neal was a neighbor (first name not listed) The land platted out looks like this. This plat doesn’t help me locate it on a map. There are too many straight corners but the names of the neighbors will be helpful. I plan to use the full-text search at FamilySearch Labs to locate any deed that names Robert Lancaster as a neighbor. I will also look for the deeds of the neighbors listed in his deed. I have the program DeedMapper that allows me to place mu...

This week, I’m attended a virtual course with the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy called “Advanced Practices in Social History” coordinated by Gena Philibert-Ortega, MA, MAR. So far, it has been a wonderful experience learning about all of the sources one should consider when adding social context to our family history stories. Social history can be a broad topic. It involves economics, sociology, women’s history, microhistory, and material culture. We want to go beyond the vital record dates. We want to fill in the details the lives of our ancestors and understand their lives within their community. They did not live in a vacuum. They interacted with family, friends, coworkers, neighbors, business people, teachers, law enforcement, court system, and others. Besides working, they played, went to church, shop for food, clothing, and other necessities, and socialized with friends and family. There is so much we can learn about our families by studying the community they were a part of...

Today’s lesson about railroads in the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy in the “Sea to Shining Sea: Researching Our Ancestors’ Migrations in America” course got me thinking how my Loveless ancestors traveled from Conway, Arkansas to Stephenville, Texas. Ebenezer Loveless came to Texas sometime between 31 Dec 1904 when he sold land outside of Conway, Arkansas to his son, Thomas M. Loveless [1] and 12 Sep 1908, when he married Melissa M. Blount (nee Settle) in Erath County, Texas. [2] Route to Texas By this time, railroads crossed many parts of the United States. One could travel to almost any town by rail. Using a railroad map of the Louisiana and Arkansas Railroad, I can find the lines between Conway and Stephenville. I used the map of the Louisiana and Arkansas Railway Company found on Wikipedia. [3] Conway is not on the map but is located just north of Little Rock on the line along the Arkansas River. From Conway, he would have ridden to Little Rock. Changing trains at Little...

This week I am taking the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy’s course “From Sea to Shining Sea: Researching Our Ancestor’s Migrations in America,” lead by Annette Burke Lyttle. [1] I wanted to take this course to learn more about how my wandering ancestors got from one place to another, and perhaps try to figure out why they left or why they went where they went. Because most of them arrived to the new world on the east coast and I have ended up on the west coast, I’d say that all of my ancestors were migrators at some time in their history, though I have quite a few who were in Texas a few generations. Migration Trails We learned about trails the first day, so let’s start with what I learned about my Coor line. Daniel Coor died in 1807 in Sampson County, North Carolina. His wife, and son, John, entered his estate into probate in November of that year. [2] John must have explored moving to Mississippi because he was there in 1810. [3] He and his family were in Lawrence County from...