Week 3

The theme for Week 3 is "Out of Place." Have you ever found an ancestor in an unexpected location? What about finding a record someplace that surprised you? Or what about that one great-great-uncle who moved out West when everyone else in the family stayed put? This is a good week to write about them.

"Out of Place" has to be my intro to genealogy story. My husband and I had just moved from Cincinnati to the small town of Port Huron, Michigan. I was not working at the time and decided that those Ancestry.com ads were too tempting. What I knew about my family at the time was we were from down south - Florida, Georgia and Alabama. I knew my Great Great Grandpa on my dad's side was Percy Archibald and his parents were Walter Scott and Olivia Archibald. So that is the information I put into the ancestry search. The first result that appeared was the 1870 census showing that Percy Archibald, then 3 years old was living in a house with his parents and siblings - the kicker was that he was Out of Place - He wasn't in Georgia, he was in Port Huron, Michigan where I had just moved to!

The Archibald family came to Port Huron in 1869-1870 and was only here for 3 years before they relocated to Alpena, then followed shortly thereafter to Essex, Ontario, and finally down south to Georgia and Florida.

Port Huron's population in 1870 was less than 6000 and today its less than 29000. This coincidence is too eerie. I knew I found my calling.

 #52 Ancestors Week 2

The theme for Week 2 is "Favorite Photo." I've had this theme in almost every version of 52 Ancestors because, let's face it, who can choose just one?! Plus, we should be telling the stories of those photos so they don't get lost in time. 

As I scrolled through all the photos that I have added to my family tree the one that jumps out at me most is of my husband's great-grandmother Hazel Lamb King. I love this photo because even though its a posed picture it shows so much personality out there on the ice having a good time.

 #52 Ancestors Challenge - Week 1

This week's theme is "I'd Like to Meet." Most of us have an ancestor who we'd like to meet (even if it's to ask, "What are your parents' names?") This week, write about that ancestor or why you'd want to meet him or her. Feel free to be creative!

So many to choose from but I keep coming back to William Fain Rountree. William was born in 1865 in Georgia and was a railroad engineer for GS&F. He has been a brick wall of mine since I started on my genealogy journey in 2005. I am pretty confident I have his mother figured out but can not prove their relationship. As unoriginal as it is to say I'd ask him who his parents were I'd also get the chance to tell him my son is named after him! What we do know is that William had a brother Cornelius who stay in Effingham County and that in Cornelius will he references "land that belonged to my mother". There were no death certificates in Georgia at the time Cornelius died, but there was one for William. On it, it lists William Rountree as father and mother unknown. It has been a challenge because in Georgia there are many burned courthouses and other record losses.

Here is my theory: There was a William Rountree that married a Belison Bevill in Chatham County in 1848. I believe Belison's middle name is Catherine. In 1849 they had a son named William and these 3 were together on the 1850 census. in 1851 the Rountree's added a daughter Mary Ann. The next year the toddler William died in Screven County followed a year later by his toddler sister. There are old grave markers at the Old North Newington Cemetery. This must have broken the older Rountree hearts but in 1854 they had another daughter Louisana followed by Cornelius in 1856, another daughter in 1858, and a son Francis M born in 1861, and finally William F in 1865.

By 1870 Father William is not with the family in the census. During this time period, there is a Belison Bevill listed in the church minutes for Newington Baptist - the church where the two littles are buried. She is listed in the church minutes as deceased by 1874. What is interesting is she is listed as Belison Bevill, not Rountree.