Last night was a bit rough in the land of parenting. It was one of those nights when your child struggles with a cold. They call out in the middle of the night, numerous times for the comfort of mommy. So mommy and my ladybug were not feeling our best this morning. She was not too keen on the idea of going to school today but off she went because it really was just a case of the sniffles and nothing else. On the days my kids have struggles I like to find a little goody from the Dollar Store that will make their day. Today it was googly eye glasses that I presented to her after she got off the bus.  LOL!

Lemuel Harrison --my maternal grandfather pictured center I was looking through one of my mother's old picture albums today and came across this one. I love how handsome and young he looks. Also, I love how you just catch my brother's eyes in the bottom right corner of the shot.  I think this picture was taken in 1971. My uncle Ricky is the one with glasses and I think that is my mother's step-brother Harry in the background. Looks like the basement at grandpa's house.

Microsoft Office Downloaded Image Thanks to a lead that another blogger pointed out on a post of mine, I got inspired to do some more digging on my Ellison family branch. Here's what has been uncovered so far. My 4th great grandparents were a Benjamin and Rosetta Ellison. They were the parents to the following children:              Irvin Ellison              Allen Ellison              George Ellison              James Ellison              John Ellison              Harvey Ellison              Ada Ellison              Sarah Ellison              Mosella Ellison              Patience Ellison Blount              Caroline Ellison Bryant --my 3rd great grandmother According to Irvin Ellison's Freedman's Bank record entry from November 24, 1869, Benjamin Ellison was residing in Snow Hill, Greene County, NC after the Civil War. Recently, I did a simple Google search using the following search criteria: "Snow Hill, Greene County, NC"+"Ellison.&q

I have to say I have been amazingly blessed to have had a wealth of information provided to me by mom regarding my family history. The stories she has shared, the names, places and tiniest little facts has allowed me to travel back in time and visit faraway places from the comfort of my home. One of the stories my mother shared with me I talked about on an earlier blog post called  Thankful Thursday: Thank Goodness For The Kindness of Strangers --Part One.  Here's a portion of it: A couple of years ago, my mother told me a story of one time when she was a teenager she made a trip to Morehead City with her mother and while there, they took a ride in the country. Now I know my mother and we have a similar sense of humor. I know when she was riding in that car she was probably thinking to herself, "Um, How much more country are we talking about here?" My mother was visiting from New York so Morehead City was looking country enough for her. Ha. Anyway, she recalled the

Microsoft Office Downloaded Image Here's a recap on where we are with the Ellisons: We learned from my last blog post, Benjamin and Rosetta Ellison were my 4th great grandparents. Rosetta died in 1864, according to her son Irvin's Freedman Bank record entry. From the same record entry, we learned that Benjamin was residing at Snow Hill, Greene County, NC as of 1869.  Benjamin was still living in Greene County in 1870 as evidenced by the census of that year. Source Citation: Year: 1870; Census Place: Olds, Greene, North Carolina; Roll: M593_1140; Page: 457A; Image: 74; Family History Library Film: 552639. Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA:  Listed in the household, in addition to Benjamin were Nelly, Benjamin's 2nd wife and children Ada, Allen, Bob (Robert), and Henry (Harvey). The 1880 census shows only one minor change. Allen's no longer residing in the household. He may have moved away o

Microsoft Office Downloaded Image If you missed my post called  Don't Forget Those Alternate Spellings! More From My Ellisons and Bryants , you may want to read that one first, including the comments. I have to send a special thank you out to fellow blogger, Patrick Jones of  "Frequent Traveler Ancestry" for his random act of genealogical kindness he shared with me in a comment on the above mentioned blog post. Here's what he said : Do you have access to Fold3.com? Irwin Ellerson appears in Company H, 36th Colored Infantry (filed as Irvin Ellerson). Enlisted on 5 June 1863. Brother James Ellison was also in the 36th Colored Infantry as a drummer (he was 16). There is also a Joshua Ellison (age 19) in the 36th. All three of them mustered out of service in Texas in 1866. Joshua's file contains his enlistment papers.  There is a Civil War pension on file for Joshua Ellison and one for Irwin Ellerson, both from same company. My experience from other pensio

My paternal grandparents Ethel and Harold Murrell Missing you. It always hits me near Thanksgiving.  I close my eyes grandma and I am back sitting at the table in your tiny kitchen. The smell of fresh baked roles floats in the air while you work feverishly to prepare the greatest gastronomical feast of all time, until the following year when that meal takes the title. Grandpa, I miss the smell of Old Spice and the scratchiness of your face when you hadn't shaved. I miss accompanying you as you would take Shane, your dog and my afternoon playmate out for a walk. Wish you were here. It's a little early but, Happy Thanksgiving in heaven. 

Microsoft Office Downloaded Image I have to start this post off by saying, I am not the most disciplined genealogist. I am an amateur. I don't always follow through with the one generation at a time approach with my research and yes this has led to some mistakes along the way. Sometimes I feel like some of my searches have been guided by a little help from the other side. A name will get stuck in my head one night and if it still is there in the morning that may become my starting point for following day's research. Well, on a day about two years ago, I decided to do some poking on Ancestry.com regarding my 3rd great grandmother, Caroline Ellison.  I had found her previously on each census between 1870--1920. I could not find a death record but at this point I figured she died sometime after 1920. Later, I would find out the exact date, August 1, 1920, when I found a picture of her grave on the Find A Grave website. Anyway, at this time I hadn't really looked into

Here are the links to parts one and two, if you missed the beginning of this series:  The Ellisons and Bryants --Part one  and  The Ellisons and Bryants --Part two What would make my 3rd great grand parents, Henry Bryant and Caroline Ellison Bryant, leave Beaufort County, NC to come to Carteret County, specifically Morehead City. I think the answer to this is tied to how the Civil War unfolded in eastern, North Carolina. From the evidence I have found from various death certificates of my ancestors, I have identified that they were residing in the city of Washington, NC prior to the Civil War. On another post I will go into who I believe may have owned Caroline and Henry. For now, let's look at my theory regarding why they eventually made Morehead City their home.  Beaufort County, Washington, N.C. "Hoisting the Union flag at Washington, North Carolina." Harper's Weekly, April 19, 1862, p.252. Courtesy of the North Carolina Civil War Image Portfolio, Prints a

If you missed out on part one, here's the link:  The Ellison's and Bryants --Part one . So was Caroline Ellison, my 3rd great grandmother, a slave or was she a free person of color? Ancestry.com's North Carolina Marriage Collections, 1741--2004, on line database gave me my first indication of what her status was. Now when I found this online, I wasn't satisfied with just this. I wanted to see if there was an original document somewhere that had information regarding their union. I wrote to the North Carolina State Archives and made a request of a photo copy of their marriage document.  This is what I received. The very last entry on page 128, shows my 3rd great grandparents listed as Henry Bryan and Caroline Bryan. The date of the commencement of their cohabitation was July 31, 1864. The date of acknowledgement was May 5, 1866.  Until I had made this request, I hadn't known that former slaves were allowed to register their marriages, to allow

If you missed my last post, here's the link: Tombstone Tuesday: Caroline Ellison Bryant --My 3rd Great Grandmother's Grave . I know that I am extremely blessed to know where two of my 3rd great grandmothers are buried and that they have actual stones still on their graves. The song from the movie The Sound of Music, "Something Good" comes to mind. Nothing comes from nothing Nothing ever could So somewhere in my youth or childhood I must have done something good After featuring the picture of Caroline's grave here on this blog, it seemed to me to be the right time to share something more about my Ellison and Bryant family lines.  Here's a recap of how I am connected to Caroline Ellison Bryant . Me My mom Grandma -- Mary Horton Great grandfather --Frank Bryant 2x great grandmother, Jonas Bryant 3rd great grandmother Caroline Ellison Bryant (August 4, 1844--August 1, 1920) When I began my research three years ago, all I knew of Caro