enough to make your brain explode. something that brought a smile to my face just now was discovering that, way back in 19th century austin, texas, there was a mark thomas. it's possible it's just a coincidence. but maybe it's just possible that every generation of mine has had a mark thomas somewhere, following us like some guardian angel. or maybe a devil. |
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Did you see "African American Lives 2" on PBS a few weeks back? Fascinating look at what genealogy can uncover. |
i don't i want to end up like that: obsessively documenting every single distant bloodline to the tiniest capillary. i think i'd just rather concentrate on my family line. i have seen those "african-american lives" documetaries. they were at least one inspiration for my project. it also made me consider the fact that, since my family has always lived in southern states (virginia and kentucky) since before 1865, it's quite possible that they were slave owners. i started all this because one of my cousins is starting a family website. we still own the land outside of austin my family settled on in 1871. with each generation, that land is under the threat of being lost - slowly sold off. every time i go down there more of the surrounding area - the hill country that i personally find beautiful - is more built up. we're trying to start a sort of "preservation society". i'll be down austin this weekend to visit the old farmhouse, and i'll be seeing with new eyes having read some of the stories i've come across lately. |
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I do have confederate soldiers in my lineage, though, as well as a Jamestown resident from 1620. All through my paternal grandmother. Her side of the family has all the excitement. |
Our family tree discussions virtually always focus for an extra moment on the one bazillionaire in our tree. The guy who founded Outback Steakhouse is my second cousin. My dad's sudden interest in the family tree seemed ludicrous to me. He suddenly waxed reminiscent about living and dead family members he'd never met, never seen, and in some cases never even heard of. Yet he rather sanctimoniously became the keeper of the family tree, mailing me drunken type-written ramblings of his findings. He sent me a copy of the family tree, and it now sits in my safe. I've never looked at it, never even opened the envelope. For a year or so I worked as a cemetery photographer. Forensic genealogists, treetracers, historians, and other types hired me to get photos of tombstones. The hope was that the marker held information not recorded anywhere else, and this turned out to be the case a surprising number of times. Almost as common was finding mistakes and omissions on tombstones. And that's when I found tombstones at all. In the big Catholic cemeteries around here I'd guess as many as two-thirds of the burials are unmarked, and many of the older markers are either unreadable or deteriorated into dirt. For a while I walked through graveyards and photographed hundreds of tombs, posting the photos (with transcriptions) to web sites, hoping to randomly connect with people doing research into their forebears. I still do this once in a while. I probably posted 300-400 photos in various places. As recently as last week I heard from someone who randomly found my photo of the burial site of her great-great-great grandfather. Other connections made have been pretty cool. A woman who thought her g-g-g-grandfather was a man of modest means was amazed to do a web search on his name and find that he was interred in a rather handsome mausoleum. Another treetracer whose g-g-grandfather's magnificent mausoleum was the stuff of family legend was amazed to find my photo of it. Information about the location of that mausoleum never got passed down, so no one in the family had ever seen it or even knew where to look for it until then. Our family tree does not go back too far, and I wouldn't much care if we had paperwork going back to Adam. I am East Tennessee hillbilly on my dad's side and Czech immigrants on my mom's side, with purported (and somewhat doubtful) connections to Henry Hudson and president Taft. |
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member of the national cheerio circle an undenominational christian fellowship to provide good cheer, comfort and inspiration for handicapped, shut-in and lonely folks. the card certifies that the undersigned is a member as of the period of: may 31, 1944. she signed her name: (miss) nina v. morgan a club foot cripple it was a letter writing circle where misfits from around the country wrote letters to each other. so not only did they have a mark thomas, they had a sorabji. |
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maybe about nina, the club foot cripple |
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that would rule. |
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i was reading this ebook on 829 indicators that your man is cheating on you. it is written by a woman with 8 cats and a "new" husband named manley. it makes me remember this one girl i lived with so long ago. every day i'd come home from work and catch hell for whatever oprah had talked about. manley the 9th cat. |
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That being said, though, SUP dawgs? |
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ref VPB 29:90 dat 15 Dec 1749 to Mason Bishop [to Jeremiah Morgan?] con 30Sh. re 275a Lunenburg/ on both sides of Kittlestick Creek loc 50161 -58532 F127 L0 P255 pt A) at Macklin's corner Spanish oak on the same ln S75E; 82P; Macklin pt B) ro ln N30E; 96P; pt C) ro in the Head of a Meadow ln N10W; 116P; from the Head of a Meadow pt D) p ln N30W; 150P; pt E) p ln S65W; 108P; pt F) p ln S; 174P; pt G) wo in Edloe's Line ln S45E; 100P; Edloe pt H) small Ash on the Creek lm ; 6p; down Kittlestick Creek 6 Poles end typ deed ref LUDB 5 p525-526 dat 10 Oct 1759 frm Charles Gee Senr. of Sussex to son Neavel Gee of Lun con love & affection re 266a Lunenburg/ brs of Crooked Cr, !adj. Booker & Cock, [Ragsdales/Riddles?], Edloe, Booker; Wit John Ragsdale, Joseph Ragsdale, Henry Gee ![to Jeremiah Morgan?] end typ grant ref CGB E:p628 dat 1 Sep 1780 to Jones Jones who is heir at law to !John Armsted Vollintine alias Jones Con A.C. 10 Shillings Sterling !68a by Survey bearing date the Second day of March 1775 ref 68a Lunenburg County on the Branches of Kettlestick Creek loc 51489 -59908 F127 L0 P255 pt A) at Jeremiah Morgans and Edward Ragsdales corner pine on a Br. ln N17W; 56P; Morgan pt B) two pine ln N5E; 140P; pt C) pointers ln S29E; 186P; Edward Ragsdale pt D) a Red Oak ln S70W; 96P; end ! |
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