How Did I Get Here? My Amazing Genealogy Journey

Happy Halloween Everyone!

James A. Green (October 30, 1911--January 22, 1986) Stone reads:  October 31, 1911 for DOB St. Stephen's MB Church Cemetery 1156 Janiero Road Oriental Pamlico , Pamlico County, NC My 2nd cousin 2x removed Image courtesy of Find A Grave Picture uploaded by Tilena Aldridge James A. Green is connected to me through my Whitney family line. Samuel Whitney was my maternal 2nd great grandfather. His brother Augustus Whitney had a daughter named Margaret Whitney who married a Tully Green. Margaret and Tully were James's parents.

I am so behind on this challenge, it's not even funny. I'm not giving up though. If you are not familiar with this project created by Amy Johnson Crow of the blog No Story Too Small, click here . My 2nd great grand uncle, Thomas Harris of Larchmont, NY couldn't seem to stay out of the papers. If you missed my other posts about him, here are the links:   Thomas Harris's Ambition Takes Him To Larchmont, NY --Part one Thomas Harris's Ambition Takes Him To Larchmont, NY --Part two After his attempt at becoming the Reciever of Taxes in Larchmont, he continued to run his successful livery business. Based on the following article, it appears to me he ran an honest operation.    The New York Times , July 20, 1905,  Page 1 I get the impression that Thomas's wealth was exaggerated a wee bit. Don't get me wrong, I do believe that for a while he was able to do quite well for himself and his family.  I just don't know think he was the "mil...

  Image courtesy of taoty image ID: 10045442 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net If you missed part one, here's the link:   Thomas Harris's Ambition Takes Him To Larchmont, NY --Part one As a recap, I left off with Thomas Harris, my 2nd great grand uncle, trying to get elected for the position of receiver of taxes for the village of Larchmont, NY. He knew it was going to be an uphill battle for him to win. I like how he summarized his feelings about this from one of the article's I featured yesterday on this blog. They can't prevent my nomination unless they dig up the dead ones in the cemetery. I don't need the votes of the rich people. The boys that are with me are good enough for me. As for my personal ability, they all know me around here. I am as straight as a die. There is nothing shady about me. Larchmont is a swell place and I like all the people around here, and because I have lived here for a score of years I think I am entitled to hold a political o...

If you are not familiar with this wonderful project that was created by Julie Goucher of the Angler's Rest blog, please refer to this link:  http://www.anglers-rest.net/book-of-me-written-by-you.html . This week's prompt is - Godparents Did / Do your Godparents feature a great deal in your life Do you know your Godparents? How do they link in to your family? Other stories or influences from your Godparents Are you Godparents to anyone? When I was younger, I would see my Godparents usually over the Summer or during Christmas. That's when they would usually be in town visiting my aunt, Rosa Bryant Sanders , one of my maternal grandmother's sisters. My Godmother was the daughter of another of my grandmother's sisters, Loris Bryant Gwyn Helton . Her name was Melba Gwyn McCarther and she was married to my Godfather Trevathan McCarther until her death on March 22, 2011. Melba Lee Gwyn  My Godmother when she was a baby. So cute! Melba's high sch...

1904 Hughes and Bailey Map Image courtesy of the Library of Congress Larchmont, NY huh?! Okay Thomas Harris, how did you get there and why? Hmm. If you missed my last post,  Sometimes When We Search For One Thing, We Discover Something Else , here's a bit of a recap. Thomas Harris was my 2nd great grand uncle.  I had been researching newspaper articles on Thomas's sister, Hester Harris Pierce and her husband William T. Pierce, when I made the discovery that Thomas was living in Larchmont, NY. I knew that Thomas Harris's resided in Wilmington, NC in 1880 based on information found on the Federal Census. Source Information:  Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1880 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. Source Citation: Year: 1880; Census Place: Wilmington, New Hanover, North Carolina; Roll: 974; Family History Film: 1254974; Page: 168C; Enumeration District:...

As I mentioned at the end of my post,  52 Ancestors: Hester Harris Pierce --My 2nd Great Grand Aunt , I was able to find leads on what became of couple of her siblings while I was looking researching newspaper articles on Hester and her husband. Just as a refresher I'll mention that Hester Harris Pierce was the daughter of my 3rd great grandfather Bristow Harris from Wilmington and New Bern, NC. I am a descendant of Bristow's second family who lived in New Bern, NC through his daughter Sarah Harris Whitney . Bristow Harris's second family consisted of Lemuel T Harris , Sarah's brother and Amy Brown Harris , Sarah and Lemuel's mother. Hester Harris Pierce was their 1/2 sister who was born in Wilmington. Lemuel Harris became a waiter who settled in Boston, MA. Whatever became of Bristow Harris's other children that were from Wilmington? Here's a clue on one of them. The New York Age,  July 4, 1907. And just like that I had found the key to...

My ladybug turned 7 today. S-E-V-E-N! How is this even possible? My husband and I had a blast bringing up cupcakes to her school. Cupcakes have a magical effect on people. We passed by several kids and grownups in the halls on the way up to her classroom. Most stopped whatever conversation they were having for a minute just to say...Mmmmmh Cupcakes. We had a little party for her over the weekend. It was just family which was lovely. It was nice to see her today though in her world with her classmates around her wishing her well.  © 2014, copyright Andrea Kelleher. All rights reserved.

John W. Weeks Footbridge, Cambridge MA Image courtesy of Wikipedia:  John W. Weeks Footbridge, shot 2006-03-31 by User:Scs I found myself looking up the meaning of my 3rd great grandfather's first name the other night. His name was Bristow Harris and he was the father of Hester Harris Pierce, my 2nd great grand aunt. I think the meaning of his name has some significance considering some recent finds I've made in my research. Here's a definition of the name Bristow, I found on a website called ThinkBabyNames.com . Bristow \b-ris-tow, br(i)-stow\ as a boy's name has the meaning "meeting place by the bridge" and is a variant of Bristol (Old English), place name: an ancient and important city in England, with one of the most important ports on the west coast. Now why might I bring this up as I start to talk about Hester Harris?  Bristow Harris I consider to be the bridge linking me to kin who settled in Massachussetts. Hester Harris was the daughter of...