Connecting with Descendants of the People in Your Ancestors' Neighborhood

 The folks on Sesame Street have been teaching the importance of the people in your neighborhood for years. There is even a meme circulating on many of the social media platforms that reminds us that we can "never forget the neighborhood kids or the great times we had."  Where am I going with this?  I want to offer a bit of advice that has helped me in my research and enriched my knowledge of my family.  If you are not in contact with the descendants of folks who were the neighbors of your parents & grandparents, you should be.  You both have stories and in many cases pictures of each other's family.  Have old family pictures of people you don't know?  They may be able to help you figure out the identity of those folks.

About 6 years back I contacted the descendant of one of my grandparents neighbors.  It's been great to share stories that were handed down about the people in the neighborhood and their interactions.  Earlier this week she brought me old photos that she'd inherited--some pictures of my folks and others within that neighborhood.  I've spent  the better part of this week scanning and adding them to my Old Hickory, TN--Dupont tree at Ancestry.  Thankfully the majority of the people in the pictures are identified.  This was a true blessing for me and my family and I hope that once I get the pictures uploaded others with family there can experience that same joy.

Family history research is more than just names, dates and begets, It's pictures and documents which, when analyzed and pieced together weave the stories of the lives of our ancestors. 

Chapel Hill Tornado Tuesday 10th May 1921 4pm

Chapel Hill Tennessee Hard Hit by Terrible Tornado
About Twenty Buildings Either Damaged, Wrecked or Blown Away

Tuesday 10th May 1921 4pm

Third Storm to go thru Chapel Hill in 40 days

No Fatalities

Mrs Martha Marshall(age 65) Slightly hurt when son Gilbert Marshall's home was blown down

• Houston & Ligett Inc, Pencil Mill--damaged
• Lawrence Bros. Grocery Store--Wrecked
• Elgin Cooper's Store--Wrecked
• Chapel Hill Creamery--Wrecked
• Methodist Church--Wrecked
• Chapel Hill High School Gymnasium--Wrecked
• Cumberland Presbyterian Church--Damaged
• Cumberland Telephone Co.--considerable loss

Residential Damages
Blown Down:

• T. H. Lawrence
• Mrs. T. M. Lawrence
• R. N. Shofner
• Elgin Cooper
• Gilbert Marshall
• George Crofton
• Robert Elder's Tenant House & 2 barns

Residences on Creamery Street badly damaged.

Source:  

The Marshall Gazette Friday May 13th 1921 imaged by TN State Library & Archives

Vol. 44, no. 40 (3 Oct. 1917[9?])-v. 47, no. 35 (1 Sept. 1922)  Image 602 of 1068

digitized by FamilySearch at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-13RM-JXK9?i=601&cat=215743

Bone Cave, Tennessee about 1951--Granny Minnie is shot

The David E Luna Family
Wm R Luna(son of D E Luna by 1st wife) is standing
first from right.  Minnie Acuff Luna is seated holding her son
Bert on her lap in this picture from about 1920 Huntsville AL

 A Facebook thread about a near miss from a bullet brought to mind a story my Mom had told me about my Grandmother, Minnie Acuff Luna.  I'd heard the story many times but called Mom for an interview of sorts.  Mom's parents(Wm Richard Luna & wife Minnie) were living in Bone Cave, TN on C.P Moore's place about 1951 where they were sharecropping.  The house they lived in had a rail fencing around the yard.  My grandmother was in the yard and my mother and her younger brother, Wayne were playing nearby chasing each other around a chair.  Mom's older brother, Ernest Luna and Douglas Deaton(Mom called him "Douger") were down the road talking near a tree that had fallen.  They heard the shot and then Granny told Grandpa she thought she'd been shot.  As far as Mom could remember they thought it was someone hunting on C P Moore property without his knowledge that was responsible for the stray bullet.  Grandpa went to get Florence(C.P. Moore's wife) so that they could get Granny Minnie to the hospital in McMinnville.  The bullet had went in her right leg missing the bone but hadn't exited.  Granny Minnie recovered but passed about 6 years later.  

Source:  This story is from the information I gathered from my Mom when I asked her about what she remembered from the incident.  If anyone else had ever heard about this I'd love to hear from them with any corrections if they have any.  My Mom would have been around 11 years old at the time this took place.  

17 of my favorite Databases, Tools, Websites, and Approaches

Picture of Blog during it's 12th year.

In keeping with my purpose of the blog, I am celebrating the 17th blogiversary of this blog with a favorites listing(in no particular order).  I've compiled a list of 17 of my favorite Databases, Tools, Websites, or Approaches that are helpful in furthering my family history research .  I've written a description of how each can be used but check out the link for more information on each resource. Please remember to check with and support your local libraries, county archives, and area genealogy & historical societies.  They have many items you won't find online and they need your help to thrive now more than ever.

1.  Genetic Affairs--This site contains tools developed by Evert-Jan Blom to help with analysis of your DNA match lists using clustering.  You can register for free and purchase credits which allows you to run a wide selection of reports.

2.  TN State Library & Archives website--They are great about answering questions via the Ask A Librarian chat and I've found a great deal of information about ancestors by ordering copies of articles(request form sent by USPS) and thru TN Supreme Court Case File orders.

3.  U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918

https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=6482

You will need to be subscribed to Ancestry's US Records or access from a library which has a subscription.  As a side note, some of the discharge papers for WWI and WWII can be found using the next site I mention.

4.  FamilySearch Catalog Place Search for Area of Interest  County Records available online

Make sure you are logged on to the FamilySearch website.  Select Catalog---Search by Place---Enter your Location(Country, State, County--for the US) in Place Search ---Select Online Availability option and then hit that Search Button.

As I mentioned in the previous listing, discharge papers that were filed within the county for WWI or WWII for your location of interest should be under the Military Records section you see when viewing the Search Results if available.  You'll need to click thru to expand the listings under each category. Be sure to check under each category.  I found my ancestors listed in School Census and Roadwork

5.  AncestryDNA--the largest autosomal DNA database.  Once you receive your results, you can download your raw data and upload to other sites such as MyHeritage, FTDNA, and GEDmatch to compare with others who have uploaded or tested there.  Be sure to read each site's User Policy/Terms of Service.  AncestryDNA is the site I recommend testing at especially if you are an adoptee or have unknown direct ancestors at the parent or grandparent level.   

6.  GEDmatch-Free to use site with an upload.  Is not a testing site but rather a site where results can be uploaded and compared to others who have tested at any of the major DNA testing sites and uploaded to GEDmatch. Tier 1 DNA analysis tools available at $10 a month but basic tools are free.

7. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995

https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=2469

You will need to be subscribed to Ancestry's US Records or access from a library which has a subscription.  Often overlooked by many, City Directories offer an insight into the lives of townspeople.  See my previous blog post--In Praise of City Directories.

8  Contacting libraries, records offices, museums, local history societies, historians etc--There are still plenty of things that you can learn without making a physical trip to the library or courthouse.  When I first began research I wrote LOTS of letters of inquiry.  Today it's much easier.  You can email or call. Don't expect them to do research for you but they can point you in the right direction and sometimes can give you public information from their database.  I learned more about records of the company for which my grandfather worked by sending an email inquiry.  This is just one example.  Google that company from which your ancestor retired.  Call or email that library in the area where your ancestors lived.  Email that Register of Deeds.

9.  DNA Painter & Interactive Shared cM Project with Relationship Probabilities--The DNA painter portion is Jonny Perl's tool for Chromosome Painting & so much more when it comes to visualizing your research.  The interactive Shared cM Project with Relationship Probabilities is a tool by Jonny Perl which uses Blaine Bettinger's Shared cM Project info and the probability chart by TheDNAGeek.  The WATO tool is invaluable.

10. Hathitrust.org---Free Online Digital Library

What's not to love about free books!  I've had luck finding city directories, county histories and Governor's papers collections.

11. U.S. Special Census on Deaf Family Marriages and Hearing Relatives, 1888-1895 https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=1582

You will need to be subscribed to Ancestry's US Records or access from a library which has a subscription.  I have found a wealth of information on collateral lines in this database which has led me to other records for my direct lines.

12.  MyHeritage DNA Tools--love the DNA Tools. If you upload your tests from other sites you can unlock the tools for a one time fee of $29(this is per kit instead of per acct unfortunately) Occasionally they will run a special where the tools are free with upload.  They have a chromosome browser and clustering tools as well as Theories of Family Relativity for DNA matches.  Other tools are photo editing tools to enhance, colorize and animate old photos.  Their site would be better were they to up their maximum amount of persons in their tree for free accounts.  250 is just too small. I'm sure they are reluctant because they began as a Tree hosting site but they could do so and restrict the number of photos to free accounts.  Their Theories of Relativity algorithm would reap the benefits from larger trees.

13. Legacy Family Tree Webinars--educational webinars covering a wide variety of research topics and techniques.  You can register to attend webinars which are free for a limited time after broadcast or you can subscribe to have access to the entire webinar library. This is an EXTREMELY valuable resource.

14.  Google Docs/Sheets/Slides--The Google office products which help me to organize share and make notes and charts of my research analysis.

15.  Newspapers.com--A newspaper database that is part of Ancestry.  This is pretty much an essential tool for me.  I do subscribe to the Publisher's Plus which contains much more than the basic plan but it's worth every bit of it.

16.  Thriftbooks--I order from them a good bit and like that I can earn points which I can use toward purchasing more books.  I used them when I was gathering books to research a number of subjects:  Civil War, Slavery/African-American research, War of 1812, American Revolution etc. 

17.  Facebook County History & Genealogy groups--these groups have been very helpful when needing advice from others researching the same topic or location.  Use the search box to search for topics and locations of interest within the group listings.  

Hope this listing is helpful and I hope to be blogging for many more years.--Marie

William C Cook Witnesses Deed Bedford Co. TN (Dec 1843)

My 2nd Great Grandfather William C Cook as a witness to a Deed. 

Persons involved:

Thomas B Carlton--Bargainer (Bedford Co. TN)

James T Byler--Trustee for Meeting House (Williamson Co. TN)

Thomas Cole --Trustee for Meeting House (Williamson Co. TN)

Renwick Gault-- Trustee for Meeting House (Bedford Co TN)

William C Cook--Witness

Ivey Phillips--Witness

Robert Hurst--Clerk Bedford Co. 

Andrew Vannoy--Registrar Bedford Co.

Dates Mentioned:

Bargained--23 Dec 1843

Witnessed by Clerk 2 Dec 1844

Received, Noted & Registered 2 Feb 1845.

Land:  26 poles x 14 poles rectangular tract containing 2 acres more or less

Source:

Bedford County, Tennessee deed books and index, 1808-1966; imaged at FamilySearch on Deeds v. OO-QQ Jan 1845-May 1849 image 38 of 775(Original Record Deed Book "OO" pg 26) 

pg 26 

Thos B Carlton to Jas T Byler & Other Trustees to Meeting house

This indenture made the twenty third day of December in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty three, Between Thomas B Carlton of the County of Bedford and State of Tennessee of the one part and James T Byler of the County of Williamson and State aforesaid and Thomas Cole of the County of Williamson and state aforesaid, and Renwick Gault of the County of Bedford and state aforesaid of the other part as commissioners, witnesseth for and in the consideration sum of five dollars to me in hand paid, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, hath given, granted and bargained sold aliened conveyed and confirmed, unto the said Byler, Cole and Gault as commissioners of a Liberty Meeting house, and to their successors in office forever, a certain tract or parcel of land, the rail timber reserved for said Carlton lying and being in the county of Bedford and state aforesaid on the waters of Duck River Bounded as follows(viz) Beginning on a red bud running East twenty six poles to a pin oak, thence South fourteen poles to a red bud, thence West Twenty Six poles to a rock, thence North fourteen poles to the beginning.  Containing by estimation two acres be the same more or less.  To have and to hold all and singular the rights profits, endearments hereditaments and appetences of and unto the same belonging or in any wise incident or appertaining to the only proper use of a Liberty Meeting House and behoof of them the said commissioners and heir successors in office forever.  I the said Thomas B B Carlton for myself my heirs and assignees doth covenant and agree to and with the said commissioners and their successors in office forever that the before recited land and bargained premises he will warrant and forever defend unto the said commissioners and their successors in office forever against the right, title, interest or claim of every person or persons claiming the same or any part thereof.  In Witness where of the said Thomas B Carlton doth hereinto set his hand and fix his seal this day and year above written, for the  use of a Liberty meeting house for all Orthodox Christians to preach in and have churches in, the first church to have its days unmolested and so on in Succession 

---Thomas B Carlton

Attest 

William C Cook

Ivey Phillips

(For Certificate see next page)

pg 27 

State of Tennessee

Bedford County

Personally appeared before me Robert Hurst Clerk of the County Court of said County Thomas B Carlton the bargainor to the foregoing deed with whom I'm personally acquainted and who acknowledged that he executed the foregoing deed for the purposed therein contained.

Witness my hand at office this 2nd day of Dec 1844------Robt Hurst Clerk

Rec'd & noted Feby 1st 1845 at 11 o'clock A M

Registered Feby 1st 1845   Andrew Vannoy Register

Reading thru the Records: A few interesting finds

Montgomery Bell State Park(May 2016)

Chancery Court Cases  Williamson Co TN

Just a few interesting cases found while reading thru the records--

• Cases involving the settlement of the estate of Joel Childress(father of Sarah Childress Polk, wife of James K Polk). The Childress family lived in Murfreesboro.  
• Case involving Montgomery Bell who played a big part in Middle Tennessee industrial history especially here in Dickson County where I grew up and where there is a state park that bears his name.

Thoughts

The Childress case is one of several brought by Anderson Childress who is attempting to settle his father's estate.  The things that interested me were that one of them involved a John W Cooke who had bargained for a home for his sister-in-law to live.  This would be the wife of William W Cooke and it does mention his name within the records.  The sister-in-law declines to live there and it goes down hill from there.  You can read more about it here.(You'll need to log in to FamilySearch to view the link but registration and viewing is free)

The Rucker name also comes up in the Childress case. Since the Granville Co NC Cookes have Rucker ancestry and my Cook(e) line shares Y-DNA with descendants from that Cooke line, seeing the two surnames in the same place or document always peaks my curiosity.

Our ancestors did more traveling than we might imagine.  Too, if they lived near the county line or lines there may also be records in that surrounding county or counties just waiting to be discovered.  The Childress case mentioned, Davidson, Henry, Maury, Rutherford and of course Williamson(the county in which it was recorded)  This stresses the important of reading thru the records for the area and surrounding areas as well as time span in which your ancestor lived 

The Montgomery Bell case entry is here