How Did I Get Here? My Amazing Genealogy Journey

Image courtesy of  Freshwater and Marine Image Bank at the University of Washington. Menhaden fishermen lifting a purse-seine net. Amy Johnson Crow, the author of the blog No Story Too Small, is the host of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Blog Prompt series. If you are not familiar with the project please click on the following link:   Announcing 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: 2015 Edition. Willis Harvey Jones Sr. was a menhaden fisherman. He was also my 1st cousin 3x removed on my maternal line. Here's how he's connected to me.  Willis was born on February 6, 1890 in Morehead City, NC. He was one of 9 children born to William Henry Jones and Emma Shepard Jones. Three of his siblings worked in the medical field. Willis and his brother George were the fishermen. You can learn about how important the menhaden fishing industry was to Carteret County, NC in this article that was published in Our State magazine. Here's the link:   The Fish That B...

The other night, I stumbled upon a little boy's story. Now that I think about it, it really is a story about how a family dealt with a terrible tragedy. I think it also is a story of how this little boy did not wish to be forgotten. He snuck up on me late at night. I wasn't looking for him but he found me. Well, I had found his name on the census before and a death certificate, but he was really wasn't a person yet to me. He was just a name with some vague bits of information attached to it. He was a Hester. Specifically, his name was Cecil Ruth Hester. He was the son of Mott Hester Sr. and my 2nd great grand aunt, Sidney Bryant Hester of Morehead City, NC. Sidney Bryant Hester was one of my 2nd great grandmother Jonas Bryant's sisters. Source Information:  Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census [database on-line].  Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.  **Note on the 1910 census my Jonas Bryant was noted as Joanna and Jonas and ...

Postcard of the Atlantic Hotel in Morehead City, N.C., sitting right on the water. Date 1909. Image courtesy of the Digital Collections, Eastern North Carolina Postcard Collection "Atlantic Hotel, Morehead City, NC." Photograph taken by Bayard Wooten, ca. 1905-1915 Image courtesy of  Durwood Barbour Collection of North Carolina Postcards (P077), North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, Wilson Library, UNC-Chapel Hil The building of the Atlantic Hotel in Morehead City in 1880 had an incredible impact on the city's economy.  The area became known as the "The Summer Capital by the Sea." and created many jobs and opportunities for those who lived nearby. One of my Jones ancestors may have worked at the Atlantic Hotel. For certain, I know that the husband of my 2nd great grand aunt was affiliated with the establishment.  Here are my Jones ancestors listed in the 1880 census for Morehead City.  Image courtesy of Ancestry.com: Source Infor...

If you missed my last post, here's the link: Tombstone Tuesday: Caroline Ellison Bryant --My 3rd Great Grandmother's Grave . I know that I am extremely blessed to know where two of my 3rd great grandmothers are buried and that they have actual stones still on their graves. The song from the movie The Sound of Music, "Something Good" comes to mind. Nothing comes from nothing Nothing ever could So somewhere in my youth or childhood I must have done something good After featuring the picture of Caroline's grave here on this blog, it seemed to me to be the right time to share something more about my Ellison and Bryant family lines.  Here's a recap of how I am connected to Caroline Ellison Bryant . Me My mom Grandma -- Mary Horton Great grandfather --Frank Bryant 2x great grandmother, Jonas Bryant 3rd great grandmother Caroline Ellison Bryant (August 4, 1844--August 1, 1920) When I began my research three years ago, all I knew of Caro...

Thomas Henry Hester Sr. Another child of Mott Hester Sr. and Sidney Bryant Hester My 1st cousin 3x removed

Microsoft Office Downloaded Image Earlier this year, I was able to print up copies of different newspaper articles from the ProQuest Website from their Historical Newspapers Collection. Some of these articles only had a line or two about a particlular family member, but I have found them so interesting to review because they seem to "flesh out" my ancestors a little more. These folks are not just names and dates of birth and death. They were real people and I truly have enjoyed learning more about their lives. I have to say I am most impressed with the Morehead City neighborhood that sustained many of my ancestors. There was a true sense of community and it appears that people really valued the importance of education. My great grandmother Ophelia was a school teacher, as well as her oldest daughter Loris. My grandmother Mary Bryant Horton, attended Elizabeth City State Teacher's College along with my newly found cousin Amy's mother, Delphine Hester Johnson. He...

Delphine Elizabeth Hester Johnson My 2nd cousin 2x removed Delphine Elizabeth Hester Johnson, a loving daughter, wife, mother, sister and friend was born on August 24, 1923 and departed this life on February 22, 2006. Her father Lloyd Motty Moore Hester, Jr., mother Gertrude Reinhart Hester, Husband Louis R. Johnson, Jr. and son Louis R. Johnson III preceded her in death. She was a dedicated elementary and special education school teacher at Queen Street High School and Beaufort, North Carolina Elementary School for over 30 years until her retirement in 1977. she loved teaching so much that she recently started Delphine's Workshop, to teach other residents at White House Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Orange, N.J. where she resided since 2000 She received her Bachelors degree from Fayetteville State Teacher's College, now Fayetteville State University, Fayetteville, N.C. and a Masters from East Carolina University, Greenville, N.C. She held a special love for ...

I have to send a huge thank you out to my newly found cousin Amy again for being so gracious to share family stories and pictures with me recently. Just as a recap, our family connection takes us back to Morehead City, NC. Her great grandmother, Sidney Bryant Hester and my great great grandmother, Jonas Bryant were sisters.  You will find a picture of Sidney Bryant Hester, here  and Mott Hester Sr.,  here . Amy grew up in Morehead City, nearby her great grandmother and a host of other family members. Her grandfather, Mott Hester Jr., was a fisherman and unfortunately died before she was born so she did not get to know him, but she knew very well her grandmother Gertrude Rhinehardt Hester. Gertrude Rhinehardt's folks came from Catawba County, NC. According to my cousin, her grandmother was quite good at cooking German cuisine due to this family line being originally owned by people of German descent. Here are the pictures of her grandparents. Mott Hester Jr. (...

Mott Hester Sr. (b.1867--d.1947) This picture is from a book called "Tales of the Atlantic Hotel 1880--1933" by Virginia Pou Doughton Mott Hester Sr. was my 2nd great grand uncle and husband to Sidney Bryant Hester. A picture of Sidney you will find on my previous post. Here's the link if you missed it.  Another Piece Of The Puzzle If you have ties to Morehead City and the The Atlantic Hotel that once stood there, Virginia Pou Doughton's book is a wonderful resource. Here is an excerpt that talks a little bit about Mott Hester Sr. Captain W. L. Kennedy was such an ardent fisherman that he purchased a boat, the India, and hired a permanent captain, Mot Hester. The Hester family had come from Jamesville, North Carolina, to fish in Carteret County a number of years before.

Microsoft Office Downloaded Image As genealogists, we are all looking for the pieces of our family history puzzle. It is so nice when cousins have the opportunity to connect and share family history stories. In my last blog post, I mentioned I was doing the genealogy happy dance because I had connected with another cousin, I didn't even know I had. It turns out my cousin Amy is my 3rd cousin once removed. Our family ties take us back to Morehead City, NC. Here is how we are connected. My 3rd great grand parents were a Henry Bryant and Caroline Ellison Bryant and from what I have researched, they had five children --Sidney, Jonas, Rose, Henry, and John. Amy's great grandmother was Sidney Bryant Hester and my great great grandmother was Jonas Bryant. I don't have any pictures of Jonas unfortunately but I do have one of Sidney that another cousin so graciously shared with me last year. After I sent a copy of this image to Amy, she indeed confirmed that...

Image courtesy of Find A Grave.  Picture taken by Mojo Warren Rosa Lee Hester August 5, 1898--January 14, 1967 "Gone But Not Forgotten" Bayview Cemetery in  Morehead City, NC. My 1st cousin 3x removed. Her parents were Mott Hester and Sidney Bryant Hester. Sidney's sister Jonas Bryant was my 2nd great grandmother. All of them resided in Morehead City, NC. Her parent's grave is just to the right of hers. Picture I took on my January visit to Morehead City.

Sidney Bryant Hester (1865--1966) Mott Hester (1867--1947) 2nd great grand aunt and uncle Sidney Bryant Hester's sister, Jonas, was the mother of my great grandfather Frank L. Bryant Bayview Cemetery  Morehead City, NC