Most family historians read a lot of blogs, and this genealogist is no exception. Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter (EOGN) is one of the oldest, and the best for keeping up with news and resources in the genealogy field. Another favorite is Amy Johnson Crow’s newsletter/blog, as she posts on a variety of topics, including very useful tips for specific websites, types of genealogical searches, and even DNA. There are so many good genealogy blogs to follow- sometimes it is hard to stop reading them and get back to researching and writing!

My current first-read, however, is the blog of Roberta Estes: DNAeXplained. I started reading her blog as we are just so confused about the heritage of Wiley Anderson Murrell (1806-1885).  He was deposited by aliens (had to be) at age 28 in Botetourt County, Virginia when he married Mary Magdalene Honts in 1834- we cannot find a mention of him in anything before that marriage bond date, even after a trip to the Botetourt County Courthouse. So we have had a lot of DNA (both autosomal and Y-DNA) analyzed to try to find his parents, but now things are even more confusing as we have a whole lot of connections that really don’t connect. Roberta’s blog has helped me to better understand the types of DNA and the caveats for different tests and results, as well as their strengths, though we still don’t understand the DNA results we have been getting. Roberta is able to translate the complex science of genetics to something understandable, however our Wiley remains, well, ‘wily’ in his elusiveness to his descendants.

So why would I write my first blog about a blog I love to follow if it hasn’t answered my questions?? It is because Roberta’s posts can be so informative, but also absolutely beautiful. As a writer who truly appreciates traditional good writing techniques, Roberta’s discourses please my ears/my mind/my heart. (Do you ‘read’ with your ears too?)

Roberta’s blogs provide carefully chosen words to convey information, whether it be the intricacies of DNA or the biography of an ancestor. But Roberta also blogs from her heart when sharing her personal family history journey. Her recent post, “Mom’s Joyous Springtime “Mistake” – 52 Ancestors #189” had to be read twice, then again, just to savour. (And yes, that is spelled the British-English way, because it seems that ‘savor’ is the US fast-food way to enjoy something, whereas the British ‘savour’ seems to mean more time to relish each word, each thought, each emotion…)

In this post, Roberta begins her travels with the angst of the day- ‘Will spring EVER come this year??’ Then she journeys along a road that becomes a reverie of the past. Her loving family and the generations of women with their rituals of looking back at their history resonated with me and touched my heart. I ‘savoured’ those moments along with her. At the same time I was transported from my own distress with this never-ending crazy cold and wet weather to earlier years in my own family, and the trips to the attic and closets to look at the treasures of the past. An old box from the back of the closet or a big trunk in the hot summer attic gave up the ghosts of the past, and my dear family gave them flesh and character as they told the stories. Those stories became a part of me, and have helped me through dark times, challenging times, and the times when one just does not know what to do next. “You come from strong pioneer stock- you can do anything you set your mind to” and “She was so full of love- she gave to anyone who needed it, even when they did not have enough themselves” will always stay with me. The feeling of connectedness that Roberta describes in her post stays with me, too, and reflects my ties to my own ancestors.

Those ties push me to do family history research and tell the stories of our ancestors, so they are not forgotten. I am glad that you read these tales, my dear family!

And thank you, Roberta.

(Can I please be President of your fan club??)

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. Photo from family treasure chest. Thank you to the wonderful photographer who took it so long ago and shared it more recently.
2. Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter (EOGN)– https://blog.eogn.com
3. Amy Johnson Crow’s newsletter/blog– amyjohnsoncrow.com
4. DNAeXplained– dna-explained.com

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Original content copyright 2013-2017 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

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Roberts Family, Murrell Family (Click for Family Tree)

Reading through “Commonwealth’s land grants or Patents, Botetourt Co VA 1770-1802” that is on FamilySearch, there were quite a few interesting entries indexed. We are looking for early family of each of these surnames, so these may be people who should be researched further.

MATTHEWS:

Sampson MATTHEWS (1737-1807) and George MATTHEWS (1739-1812) were brothers, and sons of Anne ARCHER and John MATTHEWS. According to a DAR application, George served as a Colonel in a Virginia regiment during the Revolutionary War; he was taken prisoner at Germantown and was a POW for four years until exchanged by the British. Sampson provided duck (a heavy fabric) for sails to the Navy in 1776, and then served in the militia. They were brothers to Jane MATTHEWS PAUL (1740-1800), one of our ancestors in the Daniel-Roberts line.

Richard Matthews has not yet been researched.

STEWART:

[This entry for Alexander Stewart is interesting as his land was on Craig’s Creek, near the Honts family. Rose STEWART married Edward ROBERTS in 1800 in Kentucky- related? Probably not as Stewart is a common Scots-Irish name, but thought I would include these just in case there is a connection.]

ROBERTS:

[Again, Roberts is a common name, but John Roberts married the daughter of Mary M. (HONTS) Murrell; Mary grew up along Back Creek.]

DANIEL:

[Our DANIEL(S) family lived in Rockbridge County, which was formed in 1777 from Botetourt and Augusta Counties.]

Please let us know if you know more about these patent owners, and/or how they might connect to our ancestors!

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1.  “Commonwealth’s (land) grants or patents, Botetourt County, Va., 1770-1802” abstracted and typewritten by Nell M. Nugent, 1944, on FamilySearch– https://dcms.lds.org/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE7165304
2. Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Lineage Book Vol. 005, Page 46, application for Mrs. Margaret M. Hanger Ratcliffe, DAR # 4118.

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McMurray Family (Click for Family Tree)

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. 1930s Kilgore “Invincible” 6.5″ Repeater Cap Gun, painted cast iron with holster, owned by Edward A. McMurray, Jr. who was born in 1924 to Edith (Roberts) [McMurray] Luck and Dr. Edward A. McMurray, Sr. It is unknown as to whether or not the holster was a part of a set with the cap gun, but we have not found another similar holster in our research. Currently, the value of the cap gun itself is approximately $50.
2. Kilgore was, at one time, the largest producer of cap guns and the caps they used. The company was started in 1912 and was still in business in the 1960s- it is likely that Ed’s children played with caps and toy guns made by Kilgore! See http://www.smallarmsreview.com/display.article.cfm?idarticles=1317 for a history of the Kilgore company, which also was involved with making real military pyrotechniques (including signal flares)- and they almost built Thompson machine guns.
3. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Kilgore-Invincible-6-5-Painted-Cast-Iron-Repeater-Cap-Gun-c-1930-H/292380643055?hash=item44133e8eef:g:0qAAAOSwUYNaIbbi
   eBay item number:

   292380643055

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, Cooper Family (Click for Family Tree)

Three years ago today I posted some images along with lyrics from Brad Paisley’s song, “Two People Fell in Love.” Seemed like that was just not enough pictures of our ancestors who fell in love, so we decided to provide Part 2 and make it a series, as wonderful pictures become available.

Of course, the secret to a good marriage is making every day a day to celebrate your love, not just a day in the midst of February. Our ancestors probably struggled with this concept like we sometimes do, especially when the mundane gotta-dos of life get in the way. Many of them had long, loving marriages though, and they were good role models for their descendants of today.

Please enjoy these lovely people on this Valentine’s Day of 2018 !

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. “All because two people fell in love” HeritageRamblings.net post, 14 Feb 2015– http://heritageramblings.net/2015/02/14/all-because-two-people-fell-in-love/
2. “Two People Fell in Love,” song by Brad Paisley- see above article for more information.

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Murrell Family, Roberts Family (Click for Family Tree)

Tuesday’s Tip: Research organizations to which your ancestor belonged, whether religious, fraternal, military veteran, club, or ?? They may provide answers to questions that will help flesh out your family history.

Finding out that the funeral service of Matthew Johns took place at the Friends Church in Wilkinson, Indiana, was quite a surprise- we had no idea he belonged to the Religious Society of Friends, also known as Quakers. The fact that he had a second wife was a surprise as well. We do have other Quaker ancestors, such as Lewis Walker of Chester, Pennsylvania, so learning a bit more about Quakerism seemed in order, and might help us to learn more details about this family’s life.

One of our research goals is to learn the name of Matthew’s second wife, and another is to learn the date of their marriage. We started with the hypothesis that the date was after Matthew’s first wife, Ellen (Maggard) Johns passed away in 1886. A search in Indiana marriage records, however, came up empty.

Our additional research into the Quakers in Indiana gave a clue as to a possible reason for us being unable to find a marriage record. The Indiana Historical Society has a wonderful website that includes an “Introduction to the Quaker Records Project.” This document should be required reading for anyone researching Quakers.

The Intro explains that Quakers (AKA “Friends”) did not believe in being married by a “hireling priest” or a civil servant- Friends married themselves. They also monitored themselves to ensure proper behavior. One of the Quaker church gatherings was called a “Monthly Meeting” (MM), and at that meeting, the couple would announce their intention to marry- similar to the marriage banns required by the Catholic church and other religions. After the intention was announced, the MM would appoint a committee to investigate and make sure the bride and groom were both “clear of engagements,” i.e., not married or promised to another. If the individuals were, indeed, free of others per the committee’s report at the next MM, the couple would be declared “at liberty to accomplish the marriage.” Of course, a committee would be appointed to attend the marriage to ensure that “good order was preserved.” Sometimes a special meeting was called to include the marriage, and in earliest Quaker marriages, the ceremony would take place at the next midweek worship meeting. After the mid-1800s, which was when Matthew would have married a second time, the marriage took place on First-day. (First-day was Sunday, and meetings occurred on this day. The Quakers used a “plain calendar” which used numbers for days of the week and the months- they did not want to use names derived from pagan deities, like Saturday, named after Saturn, an ancient Roman god of time, agriculture, plenty, or January, named after the Roman god Janus, the god of beginnings and endings, passages and duality, etc.)

Detailed records were kept of the business of the Monthly Meeting, so if they survive for the Wilkinson Church, we should be able to learn the name of Matthew’s second wife, when they married, and even her parent’s names and residences of all involved.

Understanding the process of marriage within a religion is always insightful, but why does this have importance in our research? The Indiana History website tells us:

“The laws of Indiana, until the 1920s, exempted Friends from the legal requirement to obtain a civil marriage license. Thus marriages performed under the care of a monthly meeting will not be found in courthouse records.”

Looking at the historical timeline of an organization and their rules/dogma may give us more clues to help our research:

“Disownment for marrying a non-Friend or for marrying by civil ceremony had been abandoned by the 1860s. The member concerned had only to indicate that he wished to retain his membership. By the 1880s the whole matter was ignored. Some Friends churches had paid preachers, and the marriage form was soon fashioned after other Protestant ceremonies.”

So yes, we will still look further for this marriage information within civil records, since they likely married in the mid-1880s. But we now know that we may only find the information within the records of a Monthly Meeting, especially if this more-rural church maintained a more traditional point of view.

Knowing this information, we have another clue into Matthew’s life: his second wife may have been Quaker, since we have not yet found a marriage record, but his first wife may not have been when they married, since we do have a record of their marriage. Of course, this is hypothesis, and more research into the Quaker records of this area may give us the answers we desire.

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. Introduction to the Quaker Records Project– http://www.indianahistory.org/our-services/books-publications/magazines/online-connections/quaker-records/introquakerrecords.pdf
2.  Image from Wikipedia, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SugarGroveFriendsDivision.jpg 
3. GFDL 1.2 for image– https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:GNU_Free_Documentation_License,_version_1.2
4. FamilySearch Wiki articles on Quakers– https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Society_of_Friends_(Quakers)_in_the_United_States   and https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/U.S._Quaker_Research_(Society_of_Friends)
5. Wilkinson Meetings are listed under the Knightstown meeting (formerly Raysville), located in Henry County, Indiana– https://quakermeetings.com/Plone/meeting_view?anID=514 and the Shirley meeting, located in Hancock County, Indiana– https://quakermeetings.com/Plone/meeting_view?anID=815. Unfortunately none of the links worked for websites with the records.

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