How Did I Get Here? My Amazing Genealogy Journey

I couldn't quite place it until just the other day when I was looking at old photographs. At times, my daughter's smile has reminded me of the smile of her great grandmother, Ethel Murrell. Take a look and let me know what you think. 

Ada Ellison Bedford Wife of James E. Bedford March 6, 1895?--May 20, 1943 Gone, but not forgotten St Peter's Free Will Baptist Church Cemetery Snow Hill, Greene County, NC.  Image taken by Horace Wiggins courtesy of Find A Grave. Ada Ellison Bedford was my 1st cousin 4x removed Her father was Harvey Ellison and Irvin Ellison was her uncle.

Microsoft Office Downloaded Image If you missed any portion of this series, here are the links: Amanuensis Monday: Civil War Pension File of Irvin Ellison --Part one Civil War Pension File Of Irvin Ellison --Part two Amanuensis Monday: Civil War Pension File of Irvin Ellison --Part three Amanuensis Monday: Civil War Pension File of Irvin Ellison --Part four Civil War Pension File of Irvin Ellison --Part five Civil War Pension File of Irvin Ellison --Part six Not So Wordless Wednesday On Thursday: More From the Civil War Pension File of Irvin Ellison--Part seven When I first received my 3rd great grand uncle's file, I found that the paperwork was in a general reverse chronological order from the point he died, back to when the file was first created. The order in which things were in however, was not precise. I still haven't set things straight because I am enjoying a bit of the randomness of how I come across things.  When I was review...

I would like to send a huge thank you out to a couple of individuals I have connected with on Facebook recently, who have ties to the city of New Bern. These individuals have been able to provide me with additional information about my great grandfather John T. Harrison Sr. In case you missed it, you may want to check out this prior post about my great grandfather: Tombstone Tuesday: John Thomas Harrison Sr. Revisited .  Well, last evening I figured out something pretty interesting, due to the help I had recently received. I'll explain. These kind folks had access to old pictures of the city of New Bern and in particular of the place my great grandfather worked at Hills Clothiers. John Harrison worked as a tailor at what began as Hills Tailoring Co. The original location of the shop was at 79 Middle Street, but at some point later it moved to another spot a little further north on same street.  The following images are of that later location.  This image is of Mi...

Mary Horton and Ethel Murrell. My maternal and paternal grandmothers visiting my parent's house in Lake Ronkonkoma, NY.  I think this was Thanksgiving 1991. When I look at this picture, I just miss them so much. Blowing kisses to you both up in heaven.

Microsoft Office Downloaded Image Okay, if you haven't been aware of this, here's your notice that ProQuest.com has been allowing free access  to their Historical Black Newspaper's Collection, as well as, several other collections, in celebration of Black History Month. This free access is for the entire month of February. So if you haven't gotten over to their website yet to look for your ancestors....Get Going! :) ProQuest, right now is my best friend. I have been able to find quite a few lovely nuggets on different ancestors in my family tree. This obituary which I found the other day, gave me the names of several female relatives. Laura Ellison, my 3rd great grand aunt, I knew of prior to this. She was born Laura Harper and married my 3rd great grandmother's brother Harvey Ellison. Harvey and his wife were buried at St. Peter Free Will Baptist Church Cemetery in Snow Hill, NC.  For pictures of their graves, you can find them shown in my blog post,  ...

In case you missed any part of this series, here are the links: Amanuensis Monday: Civil War Pension File of Irvin Ellison --Part one Civil War Pension File of Irvin Ellison --Part two Amanuensis Monday: Civil War Pension File of Irvin Ellison --Part three Amanuensis Monday: Civil War Pension File of Irvin Ellison --Part four Civil War Pension File of Irvin Ellison --Part five Civil War Pension File of Irvin Ellison --Part six I had all good intentions of getting this post completed yesterday but my eyes were about to fall out of my head last night and my hubby needed some attention. So it is, what it is. :) On part six of this series, I left off with the question, Who were G. Rumley Jr. and O. Rumley? They both gave testimony in defense of my 3rd great grand uncle, Irvin Ellison's character. So who were they? It turns out that the G in G. Rumley stood for Gilbert. Gilbert Rumley (Sept. 19, 1855--Jul. 15, 1930) was the son of William Rumley and Henrietta Blount Rum...

Okay, I lied on my last post when I said that my next post was going to be a continuation of my series on my 3rd great grand uncle's Civil War Pension file. But this is a good lie, because it is Valentine's Day.  My husband and I shortly after we began dating. Picture was probably taken in August or September 1995. I met my sweet husband during the second week of May 1995. I had finished college and had just begun my first "grown-up job." I was selling advertising time for a local radio station and I decided to walk into my husband's store to see if he would be interested in purchasing air time. Well, he didn't buy any advertising but, I guess you already know how things worked out :) Happy Valentine's Day Sweetie!

Microsoft Office Dowloaded Image If you missed the other parts to this series, here are the links: Amanuensis Monday: Civil War Pension File of Irvin Ellison --Part one Civil War Pension File of Irvin Ellison --Part two Amanuensis Monday: Civil War Pension File of Irvin Ellison --Part three Amanuensis Monday: Civil War Pension File of Irvin Ellison --Part four Civil War Pension File of Irvin Ellison --Part five To review, Irvin Ellison was my 3rd great grand uncle on my maternal line. He was the brother of my 3rd great grandmother Caroline Ellison Bryant.  He served in Co. H of the 36th regiment of the U. S. Colored Troops during the Civil War.  This post's focus is a neighbor's affidavit dated April 10, 1894.  Neighbor's Affidavit For the testimony of EMPLOYERS or NEAR NEIGHBORS of soldier (other than relatives), showing his present physical disability, as required under the provisions of the Act of June 27, 1890. State of No...

I wonder what Carrie Whitney Harrison would have thought of her great granddaughters.

Earlier in the week, I mentioned that something truly special occurred this past Saturday. I had wonderful time over the weekend visiting New York City with my husband and two kids. Well, they are not the only people I had a wonderful time with. Those of you who have been following my journey for sometime now, may recall a series of posts I did last year that revolved around discovering long lost family members that were connected to my maternal grandfather Lemuel Harrison's brother, William Arthur Harrison. If you missed those posts, here are the links: A Comment Goes Unnoticed --Part one A Comment Goes Unnoticed --Part two Thankfull Thursday: A Comment Goes Unnoticed...No Longer! On Saturday February 2, 2013, I finally met with my cousin Bill's wife, Erika and their lovely daughter Kiira for lunch in New York City. Bill is the son of William Arthur Harrison Sr. Unfortunately, Bill was not able to attend...but at last it was so good to see and hug family in person.  W...

John Thomas Harrison Sr. --my maternal great grandfather's grave Greenwood Cemetery, New Bern, NC. Broader view of the gravesite Picture of my great grandparents John and Carrie Harrison A very special gathering took place this past Saturday afternoon that I was blessed to have had the chance to attend. In light of this, I thought it would be good to re-post some of the things that I know about my great grandfather grandfather John Thomas Harrison Sr. I will share details about this special happening in an upcoming blog post.  New Bern Sun Journal June 25, 1974  My great grand father John Thomas Harrison Sr., was a tailor until he passed away in 1974. He had worked most of his life for Hill Tailoring Co. in New Bern. I was able to pull up an article online regarding the place he worked at. It is from "The Illustrated City of New Bern, North Carolina, 1914." HILL TAILORING COMPANY.—Makers of clothes that gentlemen wear. Among t...

This past weekend was absolutely wonderful! Took time out to visit New York City with the kids. It was their first time seeing the Museum of Natural History and the wonderful dinosaur exhibits they have there. Here are a few of the pictures. No my husband and daughter are not space aliens although, their eyes might say otherwise. LOL! Dad says, "Hey check this out." "This is pretty cool!" How something could have been this big boggles my mind. "Today, we are here to talk about dinosaurs. Let's begin." "Ahh! Did somebody say dinosaurs?!" "Okay, seriously on the subject of dinosaurs..." "We love dinosaurs! Hey, where's dad?"