How Did I Get Here? My Amazing Genealogy Journey

I get such a rush when a genealogy book arrives in the mail. My eyes brighten and my heart beats faster. I think to myself, "There's stuff I might learn about my ancestors in there!" I just might get a better understanding of what their lives were like. Here's the latest edition to my genealogy library,  The Heritage of Sampson County, North Carolina. Editor: Oscar M Bizzell, Sampson County Historical Society. Specifically, I am looking for more information regarding the family line of a Patrick Murphy of Sampson County. In my post,  Finding The Right Connection --Murphy Line: Part One , I shared that I have a DNA cousin who I believe our probable common ancestor is Patrick Murphy born about 1720 in Scotland who eventually settled in an area that eventually became part of Sampson County, NC.  The book looks like it will be a good read. At first glance, it appears to have quite a bit of information regarding the formation the Sampson County. In addition, ...

I have to start somewhere with this Murphy line, so here goes nothing. I wrote about wanting to break through the brick wall of figuring out who the parents of my 2nd great grandmother Tina Jane Murphy Kerr were in my post  Dear Genea Santa, What I'd Like Most For Christmas... . I have a couple of Murphy DNA cousins among my matches list on Ancestry.com, one in particular looks really interesting and has my crazy genealogy brain all jazzed up.  I began by looking at the 1880 census to see what white Murphy families resided near my 2nd great grandmother in Franklin Township, Sampson County, NC. If my 2nd great grandmother's chosen surname was Murphy then there's the strong possibility that name was taken from the family who owned her prior to emancipation. Source Information:  Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1880 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010.  Source ...

If you are not familiar with the Genealogy Blog Party, be sure to stop over to host Elizabeth O'Neal's blog Little Bytes of Life to learn more. For the December Genealogy Blog Party, the theme is to share your Christmas wish list. What will you ask Genea-Santa for this year? Dear Genea Santa, What I'd Like Most For Christmas would be able to break down a brick wall regarding one of my Sampson County, NC ancestors. Specifically, I'd like to figure out who were the parents of my paternal 2nd great grandmother Tina Jane Murphy Kerr? Do I have any theories, ideas or notions? Sure I do. What I'm working on now is ...Proof! I should however share with you a little bit of what I know thus far regarding Tina. In my post,  Great Grandma's Name Was Ella. After That It Gets Complicated , I shared that I finally had discovered the name of my 2nd great grandmother despite not having much information regarding the life of her daughter Ellen "Ella" K...

If you are not familiar with the Genealogy Blog Party, be sure to stop over to host Elizabeth O'Neal's blog   Little Bytes of Life for more information.  August theme: Elizabeth O'Neal is hosting a Genealogy Blog Potluck Picnic!  All are invited to bring a dish, and by dish she means a favorite genealogy resource. One of my favorite things to do is to check the register of deeds for whatever county I am currently researching. Many have online portals where you can look up deeds and sometimes vital records of your ancestors. I have to give a special shout out of appreciation to two offices in particular both of which are located in North Carolina. The Sampson County Register Deeds and New Hanover County Register of Deeds online portals each provided with me with the means to make some amazing discoveries about my ancestors.  In my post  52 Ancestors 2015 Edition: #17 Gabriel Kerr --Putting Together The Pieces Of His Story , I was able to extend o...

Well, you could say that this has turned into a project (smile.)  Hey, what can I say. I like to keep busy. First, if you missed Part One, here's the link to that post:   Chasing Jacobs --Part One . In Part One, I spoke of my theory that perhaps, my paternal 3rd great grandfather Jacob Kerr's father was named Jacob as well. I highlighted a Jacob Bronson who could possibly have been some sort of relation to my Jacob Kerr. Well, this kind of opened a can of worms.  After looking through the estate files of a few of the family's associated with this Jacob Bronson I noticed some naming trends. Then I thought perhaps the best way to get a handle on the situation would be to set up a work in progress family tree. This way I could start to see where these names and families all intersect. Pretty soon I was doing all sorts of lookups on death certificates and censuses. Yadayada and now I have created a new pile of paperwork. (Smile) Anywho, I feel better. You know why...

Well, all theories start somewhere. This one starts with the question, What if Jacob Kerr's father was also named Jacob? If you've been following my recent posts then you know I have found what I believe is the bill of sale for my 3rd great grandfather Jacob Kerr of Sampson County, NC. From the records, I've found associated with him, his date of birth would have been around 1820. I've noticed that within the Kerr family line the tradition of passing down names to the next generation was a common practice. Jacob Kerr Sr. named one of his own sons Jacob. My goal here is to hopefully be able to go back another generation and find out the names of my 3rd great grandfather's parents. Looking at this hypothetical situation seems like a good starting point.  I believe that Jacob Kerr was purchased from a John Herring in 1823. He was a child probably no more than 2 or 3 years old at the time.  I've noticed among the descendants of Jacob Kerr certain naming p...

If you missed my last post, here's the link:   What A Great Resource! Slave Deeds Index At The New Hanover County Register Of Deeds . Reading that post will help with understanding this one. As a parent, you spend so much time holding the hands of your children. I remember when my kids were babies I used to stare at their little hands and feet in amazement. Everything worked the same as mine, their parts were just smaller of course. I saw this picture of a child's hand and it made me think of the anguishing moments before my 3rd great grandfather Jacob Kerr's mother had her son taken from her to be sold off. Perhaps the other child documented on this bill of sale was hers as well. If she knew what was coming, she'd pore over every last detail of their faces and bodies. She would remember them. The memory of them is all she would be left with. She'd absorb all she could in those last moments and then they'd be taken.  Image courtesy of the New Hano...

I have been a little scatter brained lately when it comes to my research. I should have a plan but...blah blah blah you know how it is. Sometimes, I just can't stop myself from searching for something shiny and new on one of my ancestors. This is how I came across this particular clue for my 3rd great grandfather, Jacob Kerr of Sampson County, NC. You can read more about Jacob in these posts:   52 Ancestors 2015 Edition: #11 My Paternal 3rd Great Grandfather Jacob Kerr Where There's A Will, There Is A Way: Jacob's Kerr's Will Information found in Slave Deeds of New Hanover County - Series Two, Volume One Doc # 3043   Grantor:  Herring, John Amount:  $500.00 Grantee:  Kerr, James Div:  2 Enslaved Person(s):  Bur, Jacob I gasped when I saw this the other night. If you are into family history, you know what I'm talking about. It's that feeling of oh my goodness. What have I discovered here. Is it? Could this r...

Image courtesy of the Sampson County History Museum's book   Images of America:  Sampson County,  Kent Wrench, Editor Over the last week, I've been looking through the pages of a book from the Images of America series from Arcadia Publishing. The book is called Sampson County and was created by the Sampson County History Museum and edited by Kent Wrench. I keep coming back to this image of Tomahawk Depot. In my last post, I featured a map that showed where the descendants of my 3rd great grandfather, Jacob Kerr, lived. If you missed that post, click here . I wonder how close the depot was to where their land was. I f I could only ask the folks in the picture a few questions.

The town of Tomahawk, NC was one of those places that seemed to spring up out of the middle of nowhere thanks to the railroad. Long leaf pine trees covering the land made turpentine and lumber profitable lines of work during the late 1800's to the early 1900's.To learn a little bit more about Tomahawk, here's a link to an article that was originally published in The Huckleberry Historian, the Sampson County Historical Society newsletter. This shortened version of the original provides a good summary of how the town developed. Here's the link to the article on Clintonnc.com: http://www.clintonnc.com/news/history-localnews1-local_features-news/5023441/The-village-of-Tomahawk . This town is the place that many folks from my Kerr family line called home. My 3rd great grandfather, Jacob Kerr, purchased land here that was passed down to his children upon his death in 1895. You can read more about how Jacob's land was divided in my post,  Where There's A ...