Sharing case studies, methodologies, and resource materials. I’m working to add generations to my tree using full documentary evidence confirmed by DNA analysis.
Welcome!
I started this blog because I was frustrated with having to “reinvent the wheel” —- mothers and fathers are attached to trees in ancestry.com with no sources. The familysearch.org One-World Tree is riddled with folks attaching whole generations of people with no sources. Even my family lines within Wiki-Tree are filled with errors and sources that say, “Personal knowledge of Joe-Shmoe”.
And most of the time, once I put in the work and pay for the records, the random mothers and fathers listed end up being correct. So, listen, I’m not pretending that I’m up-ending long-held beliefs about family lines or anything. However, I am providing direct evidence of family relationships or strong circumstantial cases along with DNA correlation to confirm family lines. And yeah, sometimes I break down a brick wall and discover a new grandfather or grandmother and those are fun too. And I provide the documentary evidence for all to read and review.
Please browse around a bit. My posts tend to be quite Florida- and Georgia-heavy because, well, all the branches of my family have been in Florida since the early 1900s and most of them came from Georgia before that. But there are a few things sprinkled in there from Alabama, North Carolina, and South Carolina as well.
If I run across a really fun resource, I like to share that here as well. My case studies are presented informally and every detail presented is sourced by documentary evidence that I provide directly to you, the reader.
Please follow along to read stories of discovery and heartbreak, to learn tips and tricks, organization and research strategies, and (if you are a cousin) to learn more about the details of our shared family lines.
Recent Posts
Join me in my adventure in family discovery!
A 180-Year-Old Estate File Leads to Many Answers But Even More Research Questions
I knew that my 5th great grandfather, Jesse Davenport, showed up on the 1830 Montgomery, Alabama census as a white male between the ages of 20 – 29. He is listed with a white female under the age of 20 and a white male under the age of 5.
An Unusual Name Leads to the Discovery of Kissin’ Cousins
One of the first family lines that I was able to research and work my way through was my paternal grandfather's mother's line. My great-grandmother was named Irene Lucile Stephens (b. 1909 d. 1996). I have memories of visiting her at her house when I was little.