My Weird Life

This morning after running a few errands, I decided to quickly run into the Genealogy Room at the Williamson County Library here in Franklin, Tennessee. I just needed to do a quick look up in an index for a reference to a marriage record. Then I noticed a couple books on Marshall and Lincoln counties. These two counties are adjacent to each other in Tennessee.

I have a Whitsett and Bigger/Biggar connection I've been trying to figure out. They created records in both counties, as most of my other ancestors in this area did. This is due to county boundary changes, families marrying into each other, business transactions, and just plain county line hopping.

Anyway, James Whitsett married Mary Bigger. Joseph Bigger is Mary's father. James dies and leaves behind a wife and minor children. Then Alexander Bigger becomes the guardian for said minor children. Makes sense right? Keep it all in the family. However, what I really want to know is, who are the parents of Joseph Bigger? So I'm perusing the book with court record abstracts. I'm finding all sorts of references to Joseph, his brothers, and Alexander. Then I find the will of Sarah Bigger.

Sarah Bigger's will was filed in Lincoln County or at least a copy of it was. The first line reads, "I, Sarah Bigger of Williamson County, Tennessee..." Wait. What?!? Williamson County? I live in Williamson County! I look up and around the room I'm sitting in. Is this a joke? Is there a hidden camera somewhere? I have to reread that line 3 times for it to sink in. Next I grab a marriage index book for Williamson County. Sure enough, Joseph and his brothers are listed. This is crazy. What are the odds of me living in the same county where I had ancestors living at one time?

Sometimes, even for me, my life is just too weird.

The Whitsett's

I've finally finished organizing the office. Yay! It's beautiful. I keep walking by the office door and looking in to admire the cleared gleaming desk. Of course it won't last, but I'm enjoying the moment. As a reward I've been digging into a new family line of research. It's my father's side. The Whitsett's.

Sometimes deciding to research a person or family can have emotional attachments to it. Maybe these emotional attachments are warm and fuzzy, sometimes not, or sometimes a mixed bag. I suppose mine are a mixed bag. I didn't know my dad, so researching this line is an interesting experience so far. Not too different than researching for a client. I didn't start out knowing much other than a few scraps of information. So far I've made great progress in very little time.

Ironically, the Whitsett line settled in Tennessee, the state I live in. Even more fortuitous they lived about 40 minutes south of where I presently live. Weird, right? On my way down to FGS a month ago I drove around that area looking for several cemeteries. It is country. No, really, it is. These people lived in the sticks!

The research up to this point has been pretty easy. I've gotten death certificates, looked up obituaries in newspapers, and found marriage records. The combination of these three items have confirmed relationships, produced other relationships, and have allowed me to go back three or four generations in a day. Most of the obituaries have stated the parents with the mother's maiden name, spouse, children, and some siblings. It is truly the honeymoon period of research and sadly it is about to end. I'm on the verge of getting into the early 1800's and late 1700's where these types of records are either nonexistent or few and far between. The ancestors and the paper trail will also start heading out of Tennessee, into the Carolinas and Virginia. A typical migration pattern.

However, while I chase these ancestors through time and across state lines, I'll be looking at other records. Land records, military records, court records and who know what else! Life, as you know, is more than birth/marriage/death dates. It's what you do in between that makes the story, and tells about your character.

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.

Tombstone Tuesday-Whitsett

Father's Day is always a strange time for me. My parents divorced when I was a year old and I never knew my father. Through genealogy research in December 1999, I discovered that he had died in 1983. The Social Security Death Index gave me that clue, but nothing else. Where should I start looking for a death certificate?

I ordered his Social Security application. It was issued in Virginia, stated he was born in Bronx, New York and gave his mother's maiden name (which turned out to be wrong). I tried to order his birth certificate, but was told I needed his death certificate to have access to it. I looked to Florida where I knew he had lived. Jackpot! I found his death certificate and discovered that he had remarried. The certificate gave his wife's maiden name (an unusual last name) and his mother's maiden name (different than that on the SS application). So I searched....for years. Finally, I discovered his marriage record. His wife's maiden name was on it of course, however this time it was spelled differently (making it more unusual) than it was on the death certificate.

I sat back for a moment after this new discovery. I wondered if she had remarried. Did she go back to her maiden name? To this day I cannot fully explain why I did the next action. I typed her maiden name, as it appeared on the marriage record, into Facebook to search. It came back with an exact match. I sent her an email and she sent one back. The final result... I met my grandmother, uncles, aunt, and cousins for the first time last year on Father's Day weekend, at a cousin's wedding. I also discovered I have two half-brothers whom I haven't met yet, but hope to some day.

Last August we went on a family vacation to Disney. While there we took a side trip to visit my father's grave. It was emotional of course. All of the things that could have been, but were not. My sons laid stones on his grave, then proceeded to climb the trees and mess around with everybody else's gravestone. I think they had the right idea. Life goes on. Finally, I took a photo and said good-bye.