As usual I throw myself with absolute abandon and passion into a project that has piqued me.
For some reason I've become obessed with genealogy. This has lasted so far - for two weeks. I joined ancestry.com with a 14-day free trial with the intention of keeping it for at least a few months. My 14 day free trial hasn't ended yet - but I'm sure will soon.
I began by creating a pedigree of my immediate family. I left out my brother & closest cousins for now as I wanted to get to the "history" stuff.
I can find quite a bit of information on my mother's side - she was a Clifton - her mother was a Hicks her mother's mother was a Carter. My grandfather Clifton's parents were Clifton and Gregg. There are many people researching those family lines. The Greggs go back to Scotland the Traillours can be traced back to France....there is seveal lines of American Indian....I have so much diluted blood in me you wouldn't be able to pick apart my dna with an atom separator.I have the high cheek bones of the Indians - the nose of the Welsh the mouth of the Scotts....just kidding on the last...
However - my fathers ancestry has been more difficult to pursue. His father was orphaned along with a younger brother when their parents died of Typhoid within months of each other. According to oral records, they were raised by their maternal uncle William at their maternal grtandfather's house. I can verify with a 1900 census that they were indeed living with John Wiley Cunningham in 1900. However, of the ill-fated parents - nothing. No death records. No cemetery markers. No marriage records. The 1890 census burned - so none is available. I am still trying to find an 1880 or 1870 census. My grandfather was born in 1891. I am frustrated by the fact that no onw has his boirth certificate that may give me additional information of my great-'s names. All I have is "Henry Evans" and "Elsie Cunningham." There is a rumor that Henry's mother was a full-blooded indian from Oklahoma. Henry became a Baptist circuit preacher in the Indian Territory in the 1890's as Harvey my great-unlce was born in 1894 in Indian Territiory OK.
There is a cousin on my father's side who has some history of my grandmother's family and I need to call and see if she will send me a GEDCOM file to add at least that information.
The maternal father was a circuit preacher as well - so the fmaily moved around a lot. I really want to know more about this elusive great-grandfather. He is calling to me.
Last night I purchased "Tracing Your Family History - The Complete GHuide to Locating Your Ancestors and Finding Out Where You Came From" by Lise Hull (published by Reader's Digest) ($26.25)
I am trying to find out if there is a way to go to the courthouse and find my grandfather's birth records. He was born in Loma Vista TX which is no longer a town - in Zavala County Texas. My father always believed he was born in Sonora Texas - but I located a military draft card that said "Loma Vista."
I also ordered a dna test kit that will cost me - eventually - $300 - to test into the "Evans" family to see if I can connect to any known evans'. (http://www.worldfamilies.net/)
So in the future I am planning a trip to the Zavala County Courthouse to see if I can find a birth record. I also want to review approximately where my great-grandparents were in about 1890 to see if I can find marriage records. I may try to go back to the Clayton Genalogy library this weekend to look up one marriage reord I discovered of an "S" Evans and Elsie Cunningham.
The hue & cry of most genealogists "Why didn't I ask before the information was lost to heaven?
