Awkward Family Photo

rigg-5generations-nannie&others

Is this not the scariest picture of relatives you have ever seen? The mean woman who looks like she would eat you for lunch, the old woman whose hand is turned up in a secret “save me” signal. The man kidnapping the baby! And the mustachioed man calmly ignoring the madness around him. Continue reading “Awkward Family Photo”

Frank – Slave of Henry Montgomery

This post is part of the Slave Name Roll Project. The individual(s) identified as slaves below were the property of my ancestors. Documenting my findings is one small contribution towards helping others in their own research. Hat tip to Cathy Meder-Dempsey and her post on Frank (the individual I was also researching) and great description and commitment to this project.


Negro Boy Frank
Negro Boy Frank

Frank LNU (Last Name Unknown) appears as in an 1852 probate record as “1 Negro Boy (Frank)” and appraised at $300, but there is no record of sale. It was this record that inspired my search (not only for Frank, but all slaves of my ancestors).  Cathy Meder-Dempsey already has great documentation, and I have nothing to add, so I will merely point to that post (and give credit for her image above) and note that no information beyond 1860 can be confirmed. Continue reading “Frank – Slave of Henry Montgomery”

Cousin Barack

I was watching Barack Obama deliver his speech for re-election at the 2012 Democratic National Convention, and found myself randomly looking at various information about his family and genealogy. I noticed an article in a 2008 Duvall family newsletter that described President Obama’s ancestor Mareen Duvall; this caught my eye as I remember Mareen Duvall in my own family tree, fairly directly through the Farley line.

I then confirmed that we indeed share the same ancestor – Mareen Duvall (the Emigrant) is our 9th-great-grandfather, which makes us 10th cousins.

 dare-duvall  obama-duvall

 

Nancy Crawley – Slave of Hopkins Family

This post is part of the Slave Name Roll Project. The individual(s) identified as slaves below were the property of my ancestors. Documenting my findings is one small contribution towards helping others in their own research. Hat tip to Cathy Meder-Dempsey and her post on Frank (the individual I was also researching) and great description and commitment to this project.


Lora Morris - Grandmother CrawleyIn the course of a fairly general search of the Hopkins family in archived newspapers, I ran across a 1967 article in the Charleston (WV) Gazette about Lora Viola Morris. The article focuses on Lora’s longevity and a bit of her life story as she approached her 100th birthday. The paragraph that caught my eye was this:

Continue reading “Nancy Crawley – Slave of Hopkins Family”