Week 13 – #52Ancestors Having gone from knowing virtually nothing about my ancestors, to having researched numerous generations, I find that I feel a deep connection to these grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. When I come across an accidental death, or someone who died young, I really do feel a sense of grief and loss.… Read more

Week 11 – #52Ancestors My second great-grandfather, Thomas Duvall, served in the Civil War – for just a few days. He enlisted in the 26th NC Regiment, Company A in June 1862. T.M. Duvall filed two Soldier’s Applications for Pension, for pension benefits applicable to “indigent and disabled soldiers of the late war between the… Read more

Week 10 – #52Ancestors The dictionary definition of translation is the “act, process or instance of translating: such as. . .rendering from one language into another”.[1] My research, to date, is in the United States. While I do not need to translate into another language, sometimes we need to translate the meaning of records. And… Read more

Week 9 of #52Ancestors Some of the most interesting, and sometimes the saddest, stories are discovered when researching ancillary ancestors. For this week’s theme of “Gone Too Soon” I immediately thought of my half great uncle, Pleasant Chappell, and his wife, Mollie. Pleasant was my great grandfather’s second child, his first son, and the first… Read more

Week 8 – #52Ancestors One of my ongoing research projects is to identify my maternal great grandfather. We have always known that my grandfather’s father was not the man who raised him, despite his using the last name of his stepfather. In the course of my research, I identified my great grandmother’s first husband and… Read more