Geneaology

[PK]

I had no idea this would be so difficult.
Someone did however give me a head start. The men on my greatgrandmothers side have been traced (if the information is correct), but it's just a straight line...there are no siblings or anything listed.

If this line is correct, then it is traced back to 1601 Scotland, and some of the others are from England...which does make sense...I think most of us did originate from those areas.

I was disappointed to find that most Indian names these days...are normal names. You rarely find anything like Three Toes Flying and stuff. What I do find odd was that my family believed that a certain surname is where our Indian heritage came from. Well it wasn't the male side because it goes back to Scotland, so it would have to be a female. The great-great-great-grandfather doesn't have a mother listed--so I don't know who she was.

One of my ancestors was married to Rhoda. That's a big help..lol...Obviously, whoever was tracing the lineage didn't do a complete job...but hey, it's better than starting from scratch.

[Ang]

You know what REALLY sucks? Once you have the line traced out, all the dates verified, and ducks in a row - you still don't know squat. LOL I mean, yes I now know when everyone was born, married, bought land, sold land, had kids, got into criminal or legal trouble, or appeared in a newspaper, recieved an award, etc., fought in a war, and the date they died - and this is all interesting info. I know where, geographically, we started and ended up. Who had who, where and when. But I want to know the HOW'S and WHY'S.

All these names and dates are nice, yeah, great. But this tells me NOTHING about the people, their way of life, their dreams, their sorrows, their joys, nothing personal. Nothing about what made their lifetime worth living. I want to know HOW my people came to America in the first place, and WHY. I want to know why they married the people they did, what their children were like. I want to know what the land was like back then, what kind of home did they live in, what did they have for supper. Why did someone steal a chicken, and who turned them in. LOL THAT'S life, all these dates are - dates. They don't tell me anything.

~Ang

[Ang]

Update: By contacting other living descendants of the line, I have managed to gather up a little personal information, stories passed down thru the generations.

I do know we settled in Grayson county, Virginia, actually pioneered the county along with Flower Swift (who later married one of our girls). We fought Confederate, Virginia 47th Cavalry. We owned considerable land in Grayson county, were slave holders, and were listed as "Farmers" in several census reports. I'm guessing that was cotton?

One boy was a decorated Civil War soldier, and one (my gg grandfather) came home with a slug in his neck that he carried till the day he died at 87. My gg Grandfather came to Arkansas to work on the Iron Mountain Rail Road, he was a widow, with a small girl, and quickly re-married. I'm unsure of what happened or why, but this Little girl from his previous marriage was taken to - and left in - Indian territory in Oklahoma when she was 10 years old. By this time, my gg Grandfather and his new wife had 2 other children, a sister and a brother. The brother was my Great Grandfather. The two girls (step-sisters) did find each other again before they passed away - 69 years later - and had a reunion in Muskogee, Oklahoma. But my Great Grandfather died without ever having been able to find the lost step-sister.

Apparently, my Great Grandfather on this side was quite disreputable. Not well liked and often feared around Yell county, Arkansas. A heavy drinker, "shine" maker, gambler, criminal, and met his end over a card game in a tavern. He was accused of cheating by another man, they fought, and my Great Grandfather was cut "side to side" across his stomach. He came home holding his insides - inside, and collapsed on the front porch. My Grandfather remembered this clearly. His Mother was FURIOUS!

She laid him up there on the front porch, telling him he wasn't going to "bleed out" in her feather tick bed, if he was gonna die, he could do it out here. LOL She cleaned him up, sewed him up with black thread, and left him there. The boys (my Grandfather and his brothers) cared for him. You'd have thought an experience like this woulda killed him, but it didn't... well, not right away anyway. He lived for almost a year afterward, and finally died from an infection in his intestines.

The only photograph we have of him was taken in a tavern by a traveling photographer. He's standing by the bar, gun on his hip, leather bracelets on both arms, cowboy hat sitting crooked on his head, and a bottle of whiskey in one hand. Behind him you can see people playing cards, and dance hall girls sitting on some of their laps. If he ever had a "regular" job - there's no public record of it, and my Grandfather never remembered him going to work. LOL

~Ang

[PK]

Well you know a whole lot more about your family than I do mine.

You're right, it's all just dates and names, but no real history. I guess that's where the imagination comes in handy...lol

[Angie]

Hey PK, I got Adobe Photoshop, and a couple other smaller image editors... but I need one with like layering capabilities. Any suggestions? I went to Dad's last night and scanned a bunch of our ancient family photographs... most are in horriffically bad shape and need repaired to even be viewable. I'm talking pics from like the mid-1800s. Any idea what image editor might work for this?
I also located a photograph of what well may be Floyd Sr. It's dated 1867, North Carolina.

~Ang

[PK]

I use Paint Shop Pro (v7 I think) it has layering. Don't know if that will help or not.

I'm gonna be a really bad Post'It' and answer all your new posts here...instead of post jumping..LOL..

Studies indicate that eating two eggs a day does not raise cholesterol..I think that studies are also showing that cholesterol is not the cause of heart trouble..supposedly--the brain has a lot of cholesterol--so you need it for your brain. If I could figure out how to zip my faves and the links remain--I'd do that so you could go read up on all the stuff I have found. In fact I will try to put them in a folder, zip it and email it to you..if it works it works and if it don't it don't.

I have tons of paper stuff too, that I need to get typed up and all that shit--yeah doing some procrastinating--but it's a lot of content.

I would suggest putting JT on some liquid multi-vitamins too--hell it can't hurt. I found this stuff at Puritans Pride that has your vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, amino acids, and super green plant foods--all in one. I think it's regular like 50 bucks--but they ALWAYS have a sale going on--usually either 50-60% off or buy one and get one free and sometimes two free.
Plus they have the liquid calcium with magnesium which is supposed to be really good for the heart. Look at the heart problems chris has--by all accounts he should be disabled--but he's not--and do you think he watches his diet--other than the sugar for his diabetes? No.

I jump from one topic to the other--but I should just sit and type you out an email on things I have heard or learned--maybe spend a few days on it--and email it to you. I have definitely got to get some more content up on my site about the vitamins and stuff too--and my resource page, which will list a lot of the sites I have found. Wasn't all that great yesterday, woke up with gunk in my eye and it was blood shot all day--figure it was an allergy from dust or fighting pet problems--so I didn't even hardly look at the puter screen. It's better today though.

Had a sore in my nose for two freaking weeks too..and it hurt like a mother and I don't see how any one pierces their nose cuz I can't stand anything in mine--so I have picked this sore for two weeks--even though it brought me to tears each time. Anyway--the damn thing just wouldn't go away. We got our collodial silver in Wednesday--and I had read where ppl would put it in their nose for infections--snort it I guess..LOL..so i put a little in my nose a few times since Wed.--the sore is almost gone and it barely even hurts.

Go to www.puritan.com and order their free catalog and I will get a list together of the stuff i have gotten (with the product # too) and get it to you...you can order online too, if you don't want to wait on the catalog. May just put it in a PM here instead of email. Will try to get that done tonight. Obviously won't have my hubby this weekend.

Also--with the procrastination--I have been playing video games the last two days. Needed a break from everything else. I'll play it a few days and then be bored with it--although I am pretty far on the quest..LOL..so....I have it paused right now..btw...but will try to get some of this stuff done that I mentioned.

Better run try to work on it.

[Angie]

For Dad's birthday I painted something pretty special for him. He had a circa 1867 portrait of his Grandfather Floyd, and it was in such horrible shape it's amlost impossible to make out any details at all. I spent about a week sketching and asking Grams - does this look right? Finally I had something she said looked like Floyd as she could remember him. Then I spent another week painting it.

When I gave it to Dad, I honestly thought he might get tears. LOL It was so sweet, he didn't even say anything, he just gave me a big hug. ;D Then later on he said the painting looked right to him too, as he'd imagined the details of Floyd's face to be. Ahhhhh.

I'm corresponding with a relative in California and waiting on a lithotype of an even further up the tree relative.

How's your search coming?
~Ang