Chasing Dead Ancestors

I put this week's prompt off until the very last day, because I just couldn't think of anything to write about. (Every other week I've immediately had an idea or many ideas, but this week -- nada.) Then suddenly it was nine weeks later (!) and I still hadn't finished this prompt... Granny's wedding ring If they were diamonds, they were teeny tiny, but that didn't matter to me. I thought that ring was beautiful. My parents had promised that I could have the ring when I turned 18, but guess what? Our house was robbed when I was 16 and the ring was stolen along with some other valuables. All the other things that were stolen were replaceable, but that ring wasn't. I remember it looking something like this... That theft was almost 40 years ago, and it still makes me sad to think that some stranger is wearing Granny's wedding ring or, worse, that it was discarded because it wasn't beautiful to someone else.

My parents -- native Texans both -- were married in Oklahoma. Marietta, Oklahoma. Marietta, LOVE COUNTY, Oklahoma, to be exact. Love County? Seriously? When I saw the "Valentine" prompt for this week, I called my mom and asked her to tell me the story of how she and dad ended up being married in Love County, Oklahoma. Me: "Did you pick Marietta because it was in Love County?" Mom: "Oh, no, we had no idea. We didn't know it was in Love County until we received the marriage license back in the mail. And boy, were we ever in love!" Me: "So why did you decide to get married in Oklahoma in the first place?" Mom: "Well, I remember it was the end of plowing season and I was helping your dad plow some neighbors' fields to earn some extra money. I remember we plowed about 200 acres for $200, and we decided to take that money and go get married. "We had decided we didn't want a church wedding, and we'd already talk

I can't pick just one favorite name, so here are but a few I enjoy... Abednego Biddy As far as I know, Abednego Biddy is the first of my direct ancestors to settle in Texas. He came to Texas in 1826 and by December 1830 was living in Stephen F. Austin's Colony with his family. [1] He is listed on the muster roll of Capt. Hill's Company of Rangers [2] from July-October 1836. [3] And if you can't quite place his first name, think back to your Vacation Bible School days. Remember the Biblical story of the three boys cast into the fire by Nebuchadnezzar when they refuse to bow down to the king's golden image? Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. I've recently found a military service record for a "Mashack Biddy" who is possibly a brother to Abednego. If/when I find "Shadrach Biddy"...trifecta! Zebulon Brevard Another Biblical name, this Zebulon [4] is my Revolutionary War ancestor and DAR patriot. He was a member of the Mecklenburg Co., Nort

You've heard the modern expression, "Don't believe everything you read on the Internet?" Well, don't believe everything you read in the census, either. One of my ongoing genealogy projects is researching my husband's Seago family, who are just full of mysteries. Seeing discrepancies in census data makes me wonder about the root cause: Was the family distrustful of giving out information to the government? Did they really not remember birthdates of children, or how old they were? What role did illiteracy play in the information given, or in the census worker's ability to accurately capture information?   "I nicked the census man." Regardless of the cause, I have enjoyed seeing how the basic facts of people's lives change in census data compared to other documents. Let's take my husband's great-grandmother, Theodocia Catherine Seago, as an example. Information from a family Bible says that Theodocia was born 25 Nov 1867.