Tombstone Tuesday-Luttrell

In keeping with the Luttrell theme. William Luttrell and Elizabeth Witt Luttrell are my ggggg grandparents. They are buried at the Caledonia Presbyterian Church just outside of Knoxville, Tennessee.

Memorial Day Musings

My research on Saturday proved to be a success. For once my ancestors agreed to cooperate and be forthcoming with information. Hugh Lawson Luttrell is my ggg grandfather. He was born in 1834 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Sometime between 1853 and 1860 he moved to Polk County, Missouri, where he later joined the cavalry for the Union army. Most of his family remained in Knoxville, one of which being his younger brother, Gideon Luttrell. Gideon also joined the cavalry, but for the Confederate army in Tennessee. Two brothers supporting different sides of a country at war.

This gave me much to ponder on. Were they ever in skirmishes against each other? How did this effect their relationship? What did their mother think?

I have two boys and I can't imagine being in that position. What a mess! And that is just it--war is messy. War calls upon men and women to have the courage to go above and beyond the average. To stand up for what they believe to be true, and to serve and protect those they've never met.

Thank you to those that have served in the past and to those that do now. You are heroes of courage.

Research Day Preparation

I'll be leaving shortly for a wonderful day of research at the Tennessee State Library and Archives. I can't wait! The focus for today is my Luttrell line from Knoxville, Tennessee. So last night I gathered together my essentials; notebook, research plan, my research log for this family, and family group sheets. However, there was one item I spent 20 frustrated minutes looking for and still can't find. My pencil case. That's right, my pencil case. It's a shiny blue cloth case that zippers, and apparently my 6 year old thinks it's pretty cool too. He was eyeing it fondly the other day and has since made off with it.

A couple weeks ago at the NGS conference in Charleston, I attended a lecture called Organizing Your Research: The Overlooked Step by Ann Carter Fleming. She had a lot of great ideas and suggestions to make organization more simple. I like simple, however the bottom line is, everybody has their own systems that work for them. I've heard about some fairly elaborate ones that involve numbered codes that I would never be able to figure out, let alone remember. I mostly use binders with page dividers, which so far has worked nicely for me. I am starting to branch out into file folders though, since receiving a 120 page civil war pension file that is too bulky for the binder. It is cross referenced in the binder with a page that says, "See hanging file folder for pension file." Simple. It works for me.

So how does trying to find a pencil case and attending a lecture on organization tie together? I've learned that sometimes it doesn't matter how organized you are, there can be larger forces working against you. Like a 6 year old.

Well, I'm off to the archives with my research papers in hand, and my pencils swimming around freely in my bag. Overall, a good start to the day.

Why a blog?

I love genealogy! It is my 2nd biggest passion, the first being my family of course. So why blogging? Well, I can only talk so much genea-speak with my husband, family and non-genie friends. They vaguely understand the thrill of a find or frustrations of an elusive ancestor. They most certainly do not understand the lingo; primary/secondary sources, direct/indirect evidence, or citations. So here I am.

My current obsession are the Gunters. Richard William GUNTER who was born abt. 1828 in North Carolina, and died 1903 in Santa Barbara, California was my ggg grandfather. I have been after the identity of his parents for... well, a while. Some days I can think of little else. It's an obsession only a fellow genealogist can appreciate and perhaps sympathize with. We've all been there and maybe, like me, still are. I don't call it a brick wall. The information is out there, I just haven't stumbled upon it yet.