My Dead Peeps

Welcome to my adventures in genealogy! These are stories about breakthroughs and cool stuff that’s happened during my ancestral quest. I wish I’d started putting these in writing long, long ago.

The Enigma named Oliver Edwards

The ongoing, seemingly impossible search for Oliver Edwards’s origins Oliver Edwards, who was born about 1813 in Virginia and who died before 24 Sep 1897 (when his death was announced) is an almost complete mystery…

Finding Lucy

How I found the maiden name of my 5x great-grandmother, Lucy, who married Rev William Thames about 1779 7 Oct 2022 – I’ve had this on my list for so long, thinking it would be…

James Flanagan’s 1752 will deserves a fresh look

In light of the fact that we now know James Flanagan had two sons named James, I believe his will warrants closer examination. This is my work in progress (isn’t all genealogy permanently “work in…

Grandad McLemore gets airtime 131 years after his death

Richard McLemore (1798-1881) of Meridian, Lauderdale County, Mississippi, married Nancy Perry Hill. Richard is credited for founding the town of Meridian. Richard and Nancy were my gggg-grandparents. Back in 2013, I was following the AMC…

Sorting out the Samuels

Got multiple ancestors with the same name in the same place? It can be a nightmare to sort out. It’s time to expand the arsenal of documents you use. What follows is a report I…

A Certain Serenity

My thoughts on genealogy as a calming pursuit Back in 1988, I started shaking my family tree to see what would fall out. I had no idea what I’d find, I was just curious to…

Serena’s Brick Wall, resolved!

Since very early on in my genealogy adventures when I first identified Serena, my 3x great-grandmother and wife of William M. J. Kelley, she’s been a genealogy brick wall. According to the 1850 census, she was…

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