How Did I Get Here? My Amazing Genealogy Journey

If you are not familiar with the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Blog Prompt Series hosted by fellow blogger Amy Johnson Crow, please take a moment and check out the link here:  https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks/ Week 4 Prompt: This week is "Invite to Dinner." Which ancestor would you most want to invite to dinner? Do you have a story of a memorable dinner with an ancestor? Is there a special recipe that's been handed down?  I wish I could have met Annie and Effie Sampson, my maternal 1st cousins 3x removed. They were two self-sufficient ladies who lived their entire lives in the small community of Riverdale, NC. Their mother Mary Jane Mitchell Sampson was my 2nd great grandmother's Rosa Mitchell Jones' sister.  The land that they lived on was a portion of land once owned by my 3rd great grandfather Mortimer Mitchell.   Image courtesy of Google Maps. The land that the Sampsons lived on is marked in red. If I could have...

If you are not familiar with the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Blog Prompt Series hosted by fellow blogger Amy Johnson Crow, please take a moment and check out the link here:  https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks/ I am a bit behind on these prompts so I am going to make this post brief.   Week 3 Prompt:   This week is "Longevity." You might write something about the oldest person in your family tree. You could explore the person that took you the longest to find. Maybe it's longevity in a job or career.  I've decided to highlight the longevity of a marriage for this post. My paternal grandparents Harold and Ethel Murrell were married February 18, 1932 in Manhattan.  Their marriage lasted for 64 years until they both passed away in 1996.  I've learned from being married myself for just shy of 13 years, that marriage is something that you have to nurture for it to be successful. 64 years is wonderful accomplishment. ...

Where did all the time go? This only seems like yesterday. This little guy has grown into being a fine young man. Happy 13th Birthday Noah!

I've been bad about posting pictures in a timely manner. So this post is a recap of some of the things that happened during the holiday season. The first weekend of December my daughter attended the Syracuse Gymnastics Sports Fest, her second meet of the season. This year she moved up to become a level 3 gymnast. This was only her second time out competing at this level. No medals this go around but she walked away with more competition experience which is always a good thing.  Then the kids had their Winter Concerts. Ladybug is a member of the 5th grade chorus. While our big guy did a wonderful playing viola in the middle school orchestra. Then Christmas came along. I didn't take much in pictures believe or not. I think I was trying to focus on living in the moment. Plus from year to year, many of the pictures wind up looking the same.  My favorite gift was this lovely plaque my husb...

If you are not familiar with the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Blog Prompt series created by Amy Johnson Crow, check out her website. Here's the link:   https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks/ The prompt this week is "Favorite Photo." Tell the story of the people, place, and event in a favorite photo. Where did the photo come from? Who has the original now? How did you get a copy of it? I have many family photos that I treasure. Who can pick just one? Well for this post I had to do just that. To tie this in with my post from week #1, I chose a picture of my maternal grandmother and her siblings. Years ago, I scanned a ton of pictures from my mother's collection. This was one of them.  Pictured from left to right:  Eloise, Loris, Ray, Mary, and Rosa If you missed Week #1's prompt, click here .  Ophelia Jones Bryant of Morehead City NC was my maternal great grandmother. She married my great grandfather Frank Bryant in 1911 and together th...

For more information about The Book Of Me, Written By You project created by Julie Goucher of the Anglers Rest blog, please click here So as I write this first paragraph here, I want to let you guys know that it is 9:16 pm. I was going to take a selfie and then I thought better of myself and decided to hold off until morning. Let's face it. I'm 45 and I know that means that I need lighting. Good natural lighting that is. I also, need a face that has had a good night's rest and a bit of make up. Definitely make up. Am I vain. No. Well maybe just a little. What I do know is that I am middle aged.  Nowadays, I need some help to make things look like how I think I look in in my head. So I'm going to put this post on pause, until morning... Okay this is me with good lighting, a full night's sleep, and a little make-up. Oh yeah, maybe a little soft focus on the camera and some minor retouch. You also have to know what's your best camera angle.  You can c...

Prompt for Week 1 "Start." Some ideas include starting with yourself or whoever the "home person" is on one of your family trees. Maybe you focus on the person who got you started in genealogy or the ancestor you wanted to find first. You could talk about a relative who started a business.  I know I've already written about her many times on this blog. It just seemed fitting to start this year's 52 Ancestor Challenge with my maternal great grandmother Ophelia Jones Bryant. After all, she's who my genealogy journey began with. You can learn about Ophelia in these posts 52 Ancestors --2015 Edition: #7 My Inspiration--Ophelia Jones Bryant  Great Grandma Ophelia Went To Summer School  This Came Monday And Of Course Now I Have More Questions  Fearless Females Blog Post: Genealogy Trading Card For Ophelia Jones Bryant  I didn't want to just rewrite statistics about Ophelia for this post. I wanted to include something new t...

For more information about The Book Of Me, Written By You project created by Julie Goucher of the Anglers Rest blog, please click here . Who Am I? ... a mother ... a wife ... a lover ... hopeful about the future ... a realist ... a woman who is adjusting to her middle aged body. ... someone who loves to laugh. ... someone who lives with anxiety ... an introvert ... family historian ... a storyteller ... a cheerleader ... a daughter  ... a sister ... a Netflix junkie ... a music lover ... someone who is amazed and thankful for the wonderful people her children are becoming. ...a detective I am enjoying the journey :)