I have been a little scatter brained lately when it comes to my research. I should have a plan but...blah blah blah you know how it is. Sometimes, I just can't stop myself from searching for something shiny and new on one of my ancestors. This is how I came across this particular clue for my 3rd great grandfather, Jacob Kerr of Sampson County, NC. You can read more about Jacob in these posts:   52 Ancestors 2015 Edition: #11 My Paternal 3rd Great Grandfather Jacob Kerr Where There's A Will, There Is A Way: Jacob's Kerr's Will Information found in Slave Deeds of New Hanover County - Series Two, Volume One Doc # 3043   Grantor:  Herring, John Amount:  $500.00 Grantee:  Kerr, James Div:  2 Enslaved Person(s):  Bur, Jacob I gasped when I saw this the other night. If you are into family history, you know what I'm talking about. It's that feeling of oh my goodness. What have I discovered here. Is it? Could this really be?

I am absolutely exhausted! Why? I fenced foil and epee today at Binghamton University, my alma mater. Can I tell you, I'm paying for it now. After a shower, dinner, and a bunch of Ibuprofen I am now relaxing in front of the TV just like princess Tiana. No tiara or fancy gown for me. Just a cozy bathrobe and slippers :) Pure heaven! I didn't win anything but I sure did get some good exercise and got to hang out with some really cool people. Hope everyone's having a good weekend so far. 

If you missed Part One and Part Two, please take a look at the following links: Some Things I've Learned Along The Way --Part One: Some Things I've Learned Along The Way --Part Two: 4) Listen To What The Stories Are Trying To Tell You. What is this story trying to tell me? Well first, there's always more to any story. In Part Two, I left off with sharing a message that my cousin Lee Moss sent me. If you are late to this storyline, I'll fill you in that Lee is the son of Rudi Moss who is my mother's first cousin. Rudi's father was Rudolph Henry Harrison who was one my maternal grandfather's brothers.  My Harrison family line came from New Bern, NC. Here's how we are all connected:  Rudolph Henry Harrison, Lee's grandfather, enlisted with the Airforce when he was a young man. He was an engineer surveyor stationed at Fairford Airbase in Fairford, England.   Rudolph married Gloria Thacker in 1952 and they welcomed a son to the world,

If you happened to miss part one, here's the link:   Some Things I've Learned Along The Way --Part One 3) Don't Make Assumptions When I initially connected with my cousin Rudi back in 2011, he told me that he had two children. According to Rudi, the relationship between he and his children was a bit estranged. Even with that being the case I thought for certain he would share with his kids that he made contact with an American cousin . At last, he had a picture of his father, their grandfather Rudulph Henry Harrison. There was a picture of Rudolph's parents Carrie Whitney Harrison and John Thomas Harrison. They all could know a little bit more about their roots. Imagine how surprised I was when I received this message on Facebook from Rudi's son last July. Hello, My name is Lee Moss. For many years I have been trying to find my grandfather who was based in England in the 1950's. His name was Rudolph Henry Harrison. My ex wife found your blog with

I went into blogging blind. I started off just wanting to document and share the things I learned about my ancestors. The words and stories I hoped would find those who needed them. My hope was and still is that this information will help fortify the spirits of my children and that they may be able to pass it forward. So I went forward and put words to paper or shall I say cyber-paper and started this journey. 1) Start blogging!  One of my husbands favorite sayings is, "Do nothing...nothing happens. Do something...something happens." Blogging is that something that you should do if you are into family history. It will take you places. It will take your words ...those things you know about your family and will electronically deliver them to the people who are seeking it.  It may take some time. Be patient. They will find you. Find me they did. It started with the support of a wonderful online community of fellow family historians and bloggers. From the beginning, pe

As I mentioned in my last post, our little lady recently competed in the I Love NY Cup a big gymnastics competition hosted by the Southern Tier Gymnastics Academy. I have to admit I was a bit worried that the large venue and the number of girls competing might be a little overwhelming for her. She was fine. Better than fine in fact. She was cool under pressure. She had a solid performance.   Here are her results:  Level 2  (8 year olds)  Bars:        7th place                                                                         Beam:      6th place                                                                        Vault:       6th place                                                                        Floor:       4th place                                                                        Overall:    7th place Here are some pictures from the day:

There's been a lot going on around here lately so please forgive my absence. I feel like finally today I can catch my breath and share a couple of pictures of what's been going on.  My oldest turned 11. He had two wonderful parties the weekend before last, one at Chuck E. Cheese with his friends and another party back home with his family. I have so enjoyed watching this little man grow up. He's getting so big that I anticipate by next summer he will be looking me right in the eye.  Here are a few pictures from all the festivities. The other thing that's kept me busy is my daughter had another gymnastics competition this past weekend. This was a big one. It was the I Love NY Cup  which was hosted by her gymnastics academy. So of course leading up to her competition, I was cab driver mom shuttling her back and forth to practices. All of the parents of gymnasts volunteered over the course of the weekend t