Mam-ma's Southern Family

This is my third year 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 have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.   My grandparents, Tom J. Johnston and Pansy Louise (Lancaster) Johnston, purchased a house in Pleasant Hill, California, in a housing tract called “Gregory Gardens.” I am not sure, but this may have been their first property purchased in California. 307 Nancy Lane, my grandfather & his jeep A copy of the deed and title insurance papers were stuffed in a 1950’s County Recorder envelope with a 3 cent stamp. The deed was from the Contra Costa County Title Company with filing stamps and original signatures on it. They purchased the house from the Hergan, Inc. as joint tenants and the property was described as: Lot 22, as designated on the map entitled, “Gregory Gardens, Unit No. 1, Contra Costa...

This is my third year 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 have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways. Land Grants I found that Daniel Coor of Sampson County, North Carolina, obtained a land grant on 10 July 1788. [1] He had entered on the 10 May 1787 and it was surveyed on 20 May 1787. This piece of land was located on the east side of Little Cohara. The land description of the fifty-seven acres is as follows: “Beginning at his own corner, a Maple and runs along his line S75E 124 poles to his other corner, a pine, thence his other line S15W 127 poles to his corner a white oak, thence S75E 26 poles to a white oake, thence N15E 167 poles to a pine, thence N 75 W 153 poles to a pine, thence to the beginning.” To learn more about the land grant process, see “North Carolina land grant procedure 1777...

On this day, February 29, I found four leap year births in my family tree. Family Events 1828 - Birth: Ann Jemima Coor-877, Copiah Co, Mississippi, USA 1868 - Birth: Eunice Belle Sabin-3861, Cedar Falls, Black Hawk Co, Iowa, USA 1868 - Birth: Linnie Sarah Gorrell-205, Cooper Co, Missouri, USA 1884 - Birth: Frank W. Hork-342, Muskegon, Muskegon Co, Michigan, USA First One Has Conflicts The first one listed above was on my mother’s side, a third great-aunt, Ann Jemima Coor . According to my genealogy database, she was born 29 February 1828 in Copiah County, Mississippi to John Coor and Ann Kethley as the fifth known child and the sister of my third great-grandfather, James Madison Coor. James and Ann married brothers and sisters Dempsey P. and Melissa Ann Welch. I wrote about Ann and Dempsey’s marriage here . The problem with the above date, the source is a cemetery index book that only lists the birth and death years for both Dempsey P and Ann J Welch. [1] Wh...

This is my third year 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 have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways. Before the Civil War, several of my mother’s southern families showed prosperity. In 1850, Dempsey Welch, of Copiah County, Mississippi, had a real estate value of $2400. [1] This number was only his real estate, however he also had the ownership of thirty-seven enslaved persons ranging in age from age 43 to one month old. [2] The value of his personal property was not included in the 1850 census. Ten years later, his real estate value was listed as $15,000 while the personal value was left blank. [3] This total value probably included personal property as well.  The number of slaves he owned in 1860 totaled fifty-two. [4] The next page: Dempsey died in December 1864...

This is my third year 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 have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways. There were two Ellis Lancaster men who married in 1831 in Kentucky, one in Shelby County and the other in Fayette County. Both were born about 1808. Which one was my 4x-great-grandfather? Here is what I know about my Ellis Lancaster. Ellis died about Sept 1866. [1] He stated he was born in Virginia, according to the 1850 census. [2] The family later moved to Kaufman County, Texas, where they were in 1860. [3] His household was made up of these people  in 1860 in Kaufman County, Texas: [4] Lancaster, E.W., 50, born in VA, a farmer, land worth $3000, personal property $830.        Elizabeth S., 58, female, white, b. KY       Wm T, 22,...