Prepping for IGHR

In a little over a week I'll be leaving for Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. Every year during the second week of June the Institute of Genealogy & Historical Research (IGHR) is held there. I'm very excited. This year the course I am taking is Course 8: Understanding Land Records.

I've been prepping for months. Whenever I take a class I try to read as much on the topic as I can. This way I absorb the basic and intermediate material before I arrive in class. I do this so I can grasp more of the advanced concepts, or at least I hope to.

Another area of preparation I've been working on is looking at the holdings of Samford University Library. They have some interesting collections that could be useful for my research. I have ancestors that lived along the Tennessee-Alabama border. One ancestor had an obituary published in a Huntsville newspaper. I've already gotten a copy of an obituary for this person from a Tennessee paper, but I want to see if there is any additional information from the Alabama paper.

Then I have the mysterious Kirby line. This is a line that seems to have travelled from Tennessee to Alabama, to Illinois, back to Alabama, and finally to Arkansas. Once in Arkansas, it seems the parents die leaving the oldest brother to look after and raise his siblings. This line is also rumored to have an Indian princess (classic). So far I haven't seen any evidence to support American Indian ancestry.

Today I started to gather my supplies for the week. I'll keep doing this next week as well. After my first year at IGHR I made a list that I store on my computer of items I will need. Each year the list gets a little longer, as I think of a couple other things that could be useful. Since I'm close enough to drive down I don't have to worry about airline charges for luggage, which is a nice perk. During my time at IGHR I'll be blogging about my experiences. I'm looking forward to catching up with friends, making new ones, and learning.

A Plunge Into DNA

Well, I've done it. Ancestry.com sent me an offer for their new DNA test and I decided to do it. It came in the mail on Tuesday. The requirements were to fill a vial to the line with spit (something I can't recall ever being asked to do before), register the kit online, and send it back. So Wednesday it was back in the mail. Now I wait.

What are my expectations? I'm not really sure. However, the question I would like an answer to is about any Native American ancestry. This is a story that has been floated around in the family and its various branches for some time. These various branches (some of us have never met or only vaguely know of each other's existence) all connect back to my four times great grandmother, Delila Caroline Kirby.

Delila's parents died around 1847 in Arkansas. Before that, they were in Alabama where Delila was born. Then it gets a little... strange. A few of the children before her were born in Illinois, but the oldest claims to have been born in Alabama. Delila's father was from Tennessee. What was going on with these people?

I've barely begun my research into this line. It will require digging through records of many family members through multiple states. For now that will have to wait as the next couple of months are just too busy. Meanwhile, I'll wait for one clue and see what the DNA results say.

Huxter?

Have you ever searched for your ancestors, found them, saw what was listed for their occupation, and wondered what that was? That's what happened to me. My four times great grandmother Delila Caroline (Kirby) Risenhoover Cox Pope was married three times. Her first husband Asa Risenhoover died within a year of their first/only daughter's birth. Delila's second husband, [?] Cox died in the Civil War, and her third husband James Henry Pope was supposedly a gambler. They ended up getting a divorce.

I discovered Delila and James had divorced by the 1880 Pierce City, Lawrence County, Missouri census. The census also lists James Pope's occupation as huxter [sic]. I've never heard of this before. However, just looking at the word and saying it didn't sound very good. So I grabbed my copy of A To Zax: A Comprehensive Dictionary for Genealogists & Historians by Barbara Jean Evans. According to the book a huckster is defined as, "a traveling street peddler who was not very popular with the established town merchants." Not only did the word sound shady, but the description doesn't sound very good either. I think Delila probably made a wise choice getting out of a marriage with this one.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun-List Your Matrilineal Line

Every Saturday night Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings posts a fun activity to do. Tonight's mission, should you chose to accept it (sorry, couldn't help myself) is to list all the women as far back as you can go on your mother's side. Also, if you've done a mtDNA test then list that too, which I haven't

So here's to the ladies....

a) Cinamon
b) Mom (still living) married Stephen Whitsett
c) Mary Lou Brumbaugh (b. 21 April 1931 OH  d. 21 Nov. 2005 TX) married LIVING
d) Anna May Fry (b. 2 May 1896 CO  d. 22 Oct. 1976 WA) married Albert Miles Brumbaugh
e) Louilla "Lula" Alderson (b. 8 Oct 1872 MO   d. 21 Feb 1927 CO) married Tiery Curtis Fry
f) Mary Caroline Risenhoover (b. 17 Sept. 1855 AR  d. 7 Nov 1933 CO) married Samuel Alexander          
                                                                                                                                     Alderson
g) Delila Caroline Kirby (b. 6 Aug. 1838 AL  d. 1 Dec. 1891 CO) married Asahel J. Risenhoover

I'd like to do a mtDNA test at some point. Until then I have plenty of research to keep me busy with the people listed above.