Welcome. You’ve made it to my blog.
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Here you’ll find my musings on things I enjoy including history and genealogy. Some of these posts are fresh. Others have been dusted off, sharpened up, fact checked, copy edited and given a second life. Of course, if you have more information about any of those mentioned in these posts, or especially photos, email me at [email protected].
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Checking Out Robert E. Lee’s View of Washington, D.C.
Earlier this year, I picked up a copy of “Robert E. Lee: A Life” by humorist Roy Blount Jr. (1941-present). It looks like a great book, but so far I have only had time for a quick scan. Reading it has moved to the top of my to-do list, especially now. Yesterday, my family and…
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An Outlaw Family Bible
I was recently given the opportunity to examine a family Bible that once belonged to my fourth great-grandparents, George Washington Outlaw (1803-1861) and Luday Perry Outlaw (1800-1840). If you are researching Outlaw family genealogy and landed on this page from a Google search, I hope these names and dates help you fill in some blanks…
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Auntie Mame, Memphis Style
In June, I posted some family photos and new information I received from Peggy Anderson, a distant relative I connected with online. Peggy’s great-grandmother, Nora Castellaw Hilburn (1878-1941), shown at top left in the photo, was the sister of my great-grandfather, Robert Edward “Bob” Castellaw (1868-1954). Peggy later emailed another family photo, taken in Baton…
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Visiting Old Salem Cemetery and Battlefield in Jackson
A few months ago, I ran across a website about Old Salem Cemetery and Battlefield in Jackson, Tennessee. So, when my family and I were headed east on Interstate 40, we stopped to check it out. According to the historical signage at the site, the land was originally associated with the Woolfork family and was…
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The Bettis Family Cemetery
Sunday morning, I was up early, researching the Patterson branch of my family tree, when one little leaf led me to a cemetery I had driven past for years yet never seen. The Bettis Family Cemetery sits off Angelus Street between Madison and Poplar avenues, tucked into a busy retail strip between Home Depot and…
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Blues, Barbecue and Memorial Day in Haywood County
Yesterday, we took a road trip to Haywood County, Tennessee, to check out the 2012 Exit 56 Blues Fest and celebrate Memorial Day a little early. We needed some mood music for the drive from Memphis, so we pulled out an old CD that came from a past music issue of The Oxford American. I…
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Agness Booth Clardy and Early Methodism.
Photo: Agness Booth Clardy / While working on my Haywood County Booth family line, I ran across an interesting obituary that deserved a closer look. The subject was Agness Booth Clardy (1755-1847), my fifth great-aunt. Clardy is interesting because she was born when Virginia was still a British colony. She joined the Methodist church the…
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Jones Station and the Booth Family
I finally got all my Booth family research added to my site after working on it for more than six months. It was an interesting family line to research, but it took a lot of time to work through census records and track the migration of the family from Virginia to South Carolina, then to…
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Aunt Jo
I love the way social networks allow those interested in gathering accurate records and stories of the past to share information and photographs. A distant relative I did not know previously, Joe Reid, emailed me last week, and we have been exchanging stories and information ever since. His grandmother, Jo Stella Williamson Reid (1896-1993) and…
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Bob and Zula Castellaw Siblings
You assume the families of your siblings will stay connected for at least a few generations, but genealogy research prooves that is usually not the case. Thanks to social networks like Facebook and genealogy sites like Ancestry.com, at least we can now reconnect with distant cousins who drifted away long ago. In this photo, the…
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