How Did I Get Here? My Amazing Genealogy Journey

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons  Author  Jbolden030170 If you are not familiar with the Genealogy Blog Party, be sure to stop over to host Elizabeth O'Neal's blog Little Bytes of Life for more information.  For the June Genealogy Blog Party, tell us about your strongest ancestor.  What situation did s/he endure?  How did s/he survive? What sort of strength did s/he display? BONUS for GoT Fans: How does this experience qualify him/her to sit on the Iron Throne? Not a Game of Thrones fan? No worries. Just tell us about your strongest ancestor.  Game of Thrones is one of those series I've been meaning to get to but there seems to be so many good shows on TV and simply not enough leisure time to catch them all. One day soon though I'll get to it hopefully. I take it that whoever is deserving of the Iron Throne must be someone who is is extremely strong both physically and mentally. Well, I would say that honor I would bestow upon my...

Image courtesy of Find A Grave:  Created by: Robert Holland Record added: Feb 19, 2012   Find A Grave Memorial# 85208945 Grave of Jonathan Hawkins I see you Jonathan Hawkins. What I have right now is just circumstantial, but I believe there is a link between this man and my Jones family line who originated from Onslow County, NC. If you missed Part One to this series, click here . According to the stone at his grave, Jonathan Hawkins was born on January 25, 1786 in Onslow County, NC. He was a wealthy farmer who also owned and ran a salt works. He had at least 3 children, 2 sons John D Hawkins and William H Hawkins who also resided in Onslow County, and a daughter, Julia Ann Hawkins Eason. I reviewed through the Federal Censuses for 1820--1860 and was able to learn a little bit about the man. He owned 3 slaves as early as 1820, one female who's age was listed as 45 and over and 2 girls under the age of 14. By 1830, he had 0 slaves but there were 2 free women of c...

We visited Robert H Treman State Park in Ithaca, NY today. The weather was absolutely perfect, not too hot but hot enough where you didn't feel chilled getting out of the water. What a great start to the Summer! Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there!

Digging in the dirt, stay with me, I need support I'm digging in the dirt to find the places I got hurt Open up the places I got hurt Lyrics from "Digging in The Dirt" by Peter Gabriel I decided to take a break from Carolina Hauckins my 2nd great grand uncle, just for a little bit. I have more to share about him but I will come back to that at a later time.  As a result of researching Carolina, my interest in his parents Cesar Jones and Mary Hawkins Mitchel Jones has become reignited. I want to know more about their lives when they were enslaved. So you know what that means. Yes, I've been doing some digging.  While doing this digging, I also had the opportunity to watch the Roots reboot on The History Channel. If you missed the initial airing, find the time at some point to watch it. Seeing it reminded me that with every generation of my family that I research, there's a layer of mental and physical suffering just waiting to be uncovered. I ...

Sometimes I like to play around with Fotor's free online photo editor. You can edit photographs, make collages and so much more. If you aren't familiar with Fotor, click here  to learn more. Anyway, I thought it would be neat to do a side by side comparison of some baby pictures. From left to right, you have my grandmother Mary Bryant Harrison Horton , my mother, me, and my daughter.