Mingling of Families and Murder

A wealthy man and a postmaster
An argument over a ditch
A revolver came out and several shots fired
Some of them never hit
A shed to hide
A suicide
The story of the attempted murder of John James Johnson by Coleman Hawkins in a nutshell.  Just who were these men?  Were they more than just neighbors?
John James Johnson
John J. Johnson, [...]

Read Full Post »

This Day in Family History

Born on March 5th:

Mercy WEBSTER - 1781 – Connecticut. Daughter of John Webster and Elizabeth House.  3rd Cousin 5 times removed.
Susannah ROUDEBUSH – 1793 – York, Pennsylvania.  Daughter of Jacob Roudebush and Anna Rickstacker.  4th Gr-Grandmother.
Peter B. BUSHONG – 1836 – Logan County, Ohio.  Son of John Bushong Jr. and Rachel Van Vooris.  3rd Cousin 5 [...]

Read Full Post »

Cousin to James Madison

Yes – THAT James Madison. Fourth President of the United States. He would be my 2nd cousin, 7 times removed. Alright, so that’s a bit of a stretch!

And no, I haven’t been holding out waiting to spring that on everyone. I didn’t know! Just found out yesterday. As I’ve mentioned before, when I bump (or [...]

Read Full Post »

Happy Birthday, Illinois!

Today is the 190th birthday of the state of Illinois.  The “Land of Lincoln” entered the Union on December 3, 1818 and in ten years will celebrate it’s Bicentennial!  The state took its name from an Algonquin word meaning “tribe of superior men”. (Source: Library of Congress)
From Illinois came our 16th President – Abraham Lincoln [...]

Read Full Post »

Today In History – Rosa, Stravinsky and Ballanchine

According to the Library of Congress site, today (Dec. 1st) marks the 53rd anniversary of the Arrest of Rosa Parks because she refused to relinquish her seat on the bus to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama. Granted, I have never had to deal with the “back of the bus” issue because of my race, but [...]

Read Full Post »

Books for Genealogy

This is my submission for the 56th Carnival of Genealogy being hosted by Lori Thornton at Smoky Mountain Family Historian. The topic is 10 essential books in my genealogy library.
Unfortunately I haven’t been able to buy a lot of the books I really should.  Some I’ve checked (& re-checked) out of the local library.  Others [...]

Read Full Post »

Today in History

I was on Cyndi’s List earlier this evening and clicked on Library of Congress. It lists several Library Highlights so I went to Today in History basically because it had a picture of Abraham Lincoln next to it! The link took me to “A League of His Own” referencing one of the “father’s” of bowling [...]

Read Full Post »

Help Needed

I am in need of what books or articles to read that detail life in small Indiana towns in the early 1900s – specifically 1916-1921.  I have TONS of letters that my grandparents wrote each other while they were courting (Easter 1916 – December 1916) and then letters my grandfather wrote to my grandmother while [...]

Read Full Post »

SHOUT OUT!

I told you I’d give you tips on finding little known websites offering genealogy information!  Harold at http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com offers Midwestern Genealogy tips and sources.  Today his post is about Digitized Newspapers in Champaign County, Illinois.  If you are researching in that area, please go take a look at Harold’s post.
Once again, I thank all of [...]

Read Full Post »

Journaling for History

If I haven’t mentioned it here before, then I will now. I’m an avid scrapbooker!  I even have my own custom designed scrapbook business (Nana’s Novelties).  I’d give your the url link but my site looks pretty pitiful & I really need to revamp it (which means finding the time!)  Anyway – one reason I [...]

Read Full Post »