How Did I Get Here? My Amazing Genealogy Journey

You could say I have fallen behind a bit on the 52 Ancestors Challenge. Well, life happens sometimes so I've decided to do the best I can with posting. If you aren't familiar with the challenge put forth by Amy Johnson Crow of the blog No Story Too Small, click here . No matter how you say it, Bristow, Bristoe, Brister, or Bristol Harris, he still was my 3rd great grandfather. I believe he was a man with ambition which is a trait he passed on to a number of his descendants, a couple of which I will be mentioning in upcoming posts. In any event, I wonder if the barrels he spoke of in this deposition dated September 30, 1872 for a William Merrick, looked something like the ones pictured above. I with others, was employed by Wm Merrick to make the tar. I cannot now say how much tar there was, I am of the opinion there was over a hundred barrels. The provost martial paid me for my work in making the tar, what he did with it I know not and further this deponent saith not....

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net   The Daily Journal , April 6, 1889, Page 4 If anything, I know that my maternal 3rd great grandmother, Amy Brown Harris, paid her taxes. The newspaper article highlighted above has her name misspelled, but nonetheless it is her. She paid them again in 1891. New Berne Weekly Journal , April 9, 1891, Page 2 Amy/Amey Brown was born around 1830 in Jones County, NC based on information found on the U. S. Census and her daughter, Sarah Jane Harris Whitney 's death certificate.  I wish I could say I knew more about the circumstances of her birth, but sadly I do not. She died before 1900, so there's no death certificate I can refer to to determine who her parents were. I was hoping that I might be able to find an obituary for her in one of the New Bern newspapers of the time, but so far no such luck. Besides these newspaper clippings, I have found her noted on the 1870 and 1880 census. Source Informa...