How Did I Get Here? My Amazing Genealogy Journey

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...

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 ...

Did you hear about the Genealogy Blog Party going on over at Elizabeth O'Neal's  Little Bytes of Life  blog. If you haven't, click here for more information.  Theme: What was your Genealogy "Duh Moment," and how did you solve it? For this month's Genealogy Blog Party, tell us about a mistake you've made in your genealogy research, how you discovered it, and ultimately, how you solved it.  I have to be honest with you. I have had so many "Duh" moments that I would be probably writing for days if I were to provide all the details. For this post, I am going to focus on just one.  This "Duh" moment involves an ancestor that I recently identified as a maternal 2nd great grand uncle. His name was Carolina Hauckins. I have been sharing how I discovered him and what I know so far of his life in theses posts: His name was Carolina Hauckins -- Part One His Name Was Carolina Hauckins --Part Two His Name Was Carolina Hauckins --...

If you missed Parts One and Two, please click on the following links:   His name was Carolina Hauckins -- Part One His Name Was Carolina Hauckins --Part Two So you know how you read something and then all of a sudden a whole new world is potentially opened up for you. Well, that's what happened when I read these words. "My father was a slave and I took the name of my master --name Hauckins."  These words I found in my 2nd great grand uncle Carolina Hauckins's Civil War Pension file. Pension files are such wonderful records to find. They can provide details sometimes that you just can't find anywhere else. Finding out that Carolina Hauckins's master was someone with the surname Hauckins gives me an avenue to continue my research. I may have unlocked a door to finding out the names of other kin who were owned by the same man. Before I came to the page that had the words I highlighted at the beginning of this post, I came across this. Now ...

If you missed Part One, here's the link:   His name was Carolina Hauckins -- Part One Well, as I continued to review through Carolina Hauckins's Civil War pension file it became evident that this man was indeed my 2nd great grand uncle. I mentioned in my last post that the pension information for Carolina's widow was mixed up with his own pension paperwork. I was too eager to find out if this was my dude so I decided to organize the paperwork at a later time. These affidavits were part of Agnes Hauckins's paperwork for her pension. Affidavit provided by Wm H Jones and Oliver Jones Affidavit provided by Elizabeth Jones The Jones siblings provided testimony that Carolina Hauckins was their brother and that Agnes Hauckins was his wife. In addition to that I now had marriage date for the couple, May 5, 1881! But why did Carolina go by the surname Hauckins when the rest of the family went by the surname Jones?  To be continued...

My last post was one that I had started a few weeks ago, but just got around to finishing last week. In it I mentioned how I came across a man named Carline Hauckins when I did a review on what I knew about my 3rd great grandfather Cesar Jones. If you missed that post click here .   I ordered Carline's Civil War Pension file to see if in fact we were related.  I wasn't going to rely on just what was on Carline's  death certificate. Yes, it did list a Cesar Jones and Mary Jones of Morehead City, NC as his parents. Were these my Cesar and Mary? Well, Christmas came early this year because guess what came in the mail. You guessed it, the pension file. Did I get answers? Yes. Will I share them? Yes. First, I have to clear one thing up in particular. His name was Carolina Hauckins. Previously, I referred to him as Carline and that was incorrect. So from this point on, Carolina is how I will refer to him. Here's a look at how Carolina's potentially connected to ...

Carline, are you mine? That's a questions I've been toying around with lately. Wait. Hold on a minute? Who is Carline?  Carline Hawkins may just happen to be another son of my maternal 3rd great grandparents Cesar Jones and Mary H Mitchel of Morehead City, NC. If you missed my posts about Cesar and Mary, here are the links so that you can get acquainted with them.  52 Ancestors: Week #6 --Cesar Jones 52 Ancestors: Week #7 --Mary H Mitchel Jones Amanuensis Monday: The Will Of Mary Mitchel Jones A couple a years ago, I came across an entry in Ancestry.com's North Carolina, Marriages 1741-2011 database that I thought might have been for my 3rd great grandparents.  Source Information  Ancestry.com. North Carolina, Marriage Records, 1741-2011 [database on-line].  Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Original data: North Carolina County Registers of Deeds. Microfilm. Record Group 048. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC. ...