How Did I Get Here? My Amazing Genealogy Journey

If you are new to the 52 Ancestors In 52 Weeks Challenge, be sure to check out Amy Johnson Crow's website for more information. Here's the link: https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks/ Week 9: At the Courthouse What neat discoveries have you made at the courthouse? Or, do you have an ancestor who spent a lot of time at the courthouse, either as an official or as someone who ran afoul of the law? I didn't actually have to go to the courthouse to find this map. Luckily, I was able to pull it up after doing a search on FamilySearch.org. Specifically, I was reviewing through a court case regarding a property boundary dispute between Charles E. Mallett and Clifford Simpson of Craven County, NC  when I came across it. Simpson and Mallett resided in Riverdale, NC, the hometown of my 3rd great grandfather Mortimer Mitchell. Now I have an even clearer understanding of what Mortimer's neighborhood was like.  Mortimer Mitchell's land was locate...

Harold and Ethel Murrell If you are new to the 52 Ancestors In 52 Weeks Challenge, be sure to check out Amy Johnson Crow's website for more information. Here's the link:  https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks/ I was sorting through more photographs that I inherited from my dad today. This one's really special because it's another view from my paternal grandparents' wedding day. If you missed their other portrait, here's the link:  Wordless Wednesday: My Paternal Grandparents Wedding Photo . Harold and Ethel's marriage license revealed a very cool surprise. You can read about that here .

Pictured from left to right:  Rosa Jones, Ophelia Bryant, Mary Horton, Brenda Murrell, Andrea Kelleher and my kids Noah and Alyssa. I am still playing catch up on the 52 Ancestors In 52 Weeks Challenge. If you are new to it, be sure to check out Amy Johnson Crow's website for more information. Here's the link:   https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks/  Week 7: Love Valentine's Day is this week, but that doesn't mean you have to focus on romantic love. Besides the ancestral love stories, you could share an ancestor who you love to research. Are there any "love" names in the family tree, like Lovie or Valentine? (Come to think of it, "Amy" is based in Latin meaning "beloved"... )  I decided to take this week's prompt and put my own spin on it. I created a piece of art using family photos and an image I found online at Pixabay and I absolutely love the result. I used the online photo editor PicMonkey to make t...

I am a little bit behind on these prompts so I am going to bust out two posts today and maybe another two tomorrow. We'll see what happens.  If you are new to the 52 Ancestors In 52 Weeks Challenge,  be sure to check out Amy Johnson Crow's website  for more information. Here's the link:   https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks/  Week 5: At the Library Some ways you could interpret this theme include: an ancestor that you discovered while researching at the library; an ancestor who was a librarian or an author; an ancestor who had a large book collection; an ancestor who you picture being in a library; or maybe a relative who took you to the library.  Years ago, I took advantage of a great online source for tracking down ancestors in Craven County, NC. If you are not familiar with the resources available at the New Bern-Craven County Public library's Kellenberger room, check out for yourself what they have available here . I ...

If you are new to the 52 Ancestors In 52 Weeks Challenge, be sure to check out Amy Johnson Crow's website for more information. Here's the link:   https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks/ Week 4: I'd Like to Meet Which ancestor would you most like to meet?  I'd like to meet Frederica Augusta Inniss Murrell.  Who was she and why would I like to meet her? Well she was my paternal great grandmother. She was born in St Philip Parish, Barbados probably sometime around 1870. She was the mother of my grandfather Harold Osmond Fitzherbert Murrell . My grandfather was a very sweet gentle spirit and I am truly blessed to have known him. I imagine that some of that sweetness he must have inherited from his mother. I would love to ask her questions about her own childhood but of greater interest to me would be to learn more about her connection to her son.  Lastly, I could then figure out for certain if this portrait that I inherited last year is ...

If you are new to the 52 Ancestors In 52 Weeks Challenge, be sure to check out Amy Johnson Crow's website for more information. Here's the link:   https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks/ Week 2: Challenge What is genealogy without a little challenge? Two ways that you might interpret this prompt is to share an ancestor who was a challenge to find or an ancestor who faced his or her own challenges.  I can't believe it's almost been a year since my dad died. The first part of 2018 was a bit of blur as a result. I put on hold researching my ancestors for a good chunk of the year. I needed time to process things. I needed time to just be.  I still have a bunch of memorabilia from him I have to process. I created albums and filed a lot of paperwork. I enjoyed reading letters my dad wrote when he went through basic training. As far as I know, this was the first time my dad had spent a significant amount of time away from home and his family. His t...

Okay, this year I'm going to do my darnedest to keep up with this challenge. First, if you are new to the 52 Ancestors In 52 Weeks Challenge, be sure to check out Amy Johnson Crow's website for more information. Here's the link:   https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks/ Week 1: First Who was the first ancestor you found who you didn't personally know? Who was the first ancestor to arrive in the country? Who was the first child in one of your ancestral families? First to go to college? First husband out of a string of many? Topics are vague for 52 Ancestors Challenge to allow for creativity and individual interpretation. I decided to write about the first ancestor that popped up in my mind for 2019. He's my maternal 3rd great grandfather Mortimer Mitchell.  If you've been a reader of my blog, then you have probably read some of the posts that I've written about him. If you are new here then you can get acquainted with him by reading...