December is so very busy in my house. I hope everyone else is enjoying the holiday season as much as my family is!
I’m writing today because I was honored by Cheri Daniels of Journeys Past. She’s awarded me the Ancestor Approved award!
There are two rules of the award.
I’ve been busy getting our house all decorated. Who knew it took this long to get things just so? I have entries coming. The first being my Ancestor Approved award!
If you’ve read even a smidge on this blog, you know that I don’t get out much. I won’t call myself a shut in or a hermit, but I’m not far from it! I really hate to leave, but when the going gets rough I can do it. That’s not necessarily what is happening here. We’re visiting Miami for the holiday. My brother is hosting it for the first time in 10 years and this time he’s doing it from his very own house. The last time he hosted, he was living in a studio apartment with his then fiance. I was still in high school and the biggest thing I got to take on the trip with me was a new CD walkman and some new drawing supplies.
This time is a little different. In 10 years, my road trip experience has changed dramatically. I don’t spend the week before I leave going to the store for batteries and CDs/cassettes. I don’t take 5 books with me for the long road. I read fast!
The San Souci Shopping Cemetery is listed on Find a Grave. It is known as Hammett Cemetery there, though I like my name better.
I’m going to be doing a little genealogy today and I can’t wait! I think I’m getting somewhere with all those Mays ancestors. Or at least, I’m getting somewhere with the group I’m working on now. I don’t have much time today though because we’re in a dash to finish setting up our Christmas Village. That’s right we’re setting up our Christmas Village this week. The original plan was to start November 1st but we’re even running late on getting started early. The village is our biggest project at Christmas, and it’s also the one that we enjoy the most. After barely getting it up in time last year, we decided to start November 1st this year. Unfortunately, we didn’t know then that this would be our busiest year in a long time! We’ve been traveling fools for family events. Just when we get settled from one, we’re dashing to another. So now that we’re finally back in our grove from our trip to New Jersey, we’re about to jet off to Miami for Thanksgiving!
That’s right, I said Thanksgiving in Miami! How fun is that going to be? My brother has purchased his first house and he’s decided to host Thanksgiving this year. It’s been a long time since we’ve all been together for the holidays so we’re jumping on the chance!
This is a panorama view of last years village. It’s technically in 3 parts.
Continue reading “An Early Start”I am literally surrounded by history where I live. It’s one of the things that goes along with living in an area that was founded in 1634. One of the things I’m pledging to do is get more of St. Mary’s County history online and available. I’m not connected in any way with societies or organizations, so really it’s just me researching the things that interest me. Though, I’m hoping this commitment leads me to the library and historical society more often.
One of the most memorable pieces of history in my area is the cemetery in the middle of a shopping center. That’s right, we have a cemetery in the middle of a shopping center. 30 years ago, this county was a whole lot of farmland. Today it’s the land of strip malls.
One day, I hope to write a memoir. Not to publish or distribute. Just a way to maybe connect with future generations of my family. Llewellyn’s journal has made me feel connected to her and I want to recreate that in some small way.
If I were to write my memoir, I’d include all those funny child anecdotes, and not to mention all those teenage years where I was unruly and needed a good talking to. I’d be sure to include how I dealt with the fact that I was bullied mercilessly in middle school. All that drama and deep thinking wouldn’t be a very accurate portrayal of my life. To be perfectly honest, we’re pretty funny in this family. Our family is not only filled with drama, loss, and tears. We’ve had a whole lot of laughter too. The latest adventure I’m definitely putting in my memoir. It would be titled “The Comedic Chapter”.
Continue reading “The Comedic Chapter”I don’t know how it happened, but it did. In my family when there is some kind of havoc, I’m in charge of what I call the “Command Center”. I’m usually the one who is home at the time of whatever havoc is occurring. There is a certain responsibility in this position. The main responsibility is to REMAIN CALM. This is the first time I’ve been mobilized and it certainly isn’t going to be the last.
Randy Seaver puts up a fun genealogy mission every Saturday night at his blog, Genea-Musings. Here is this week’s challenge!
1) Pick one of your ancestral lines – any one – patrilineal, matrilineal, zigzag, from a famous ancestor, etc. Pick a long one if you can.
2) Tell us which position in the birth order that your ancestor was in each generation. For example “third child, first son.” Also list how many children were born to these parents.
3) Share your Birth Order work with us on your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post, in a comment on Facebook, etc.
I chose my Taylor line because it’s the one that goes back the farthest. These are coming straight from the tree my Grandma gave me in eighth grade so I haven’t gotten solid proof on the farther back generations yet.
1. Kathleen Moore (1983- ) third child, second daughter of William and Georgia (Mays) Moore (1 son, 2 daughters)
2. Georgia Mays (1959- ) sixth child, fourth daughter of Stanley and Emogene (Taylor) Mays (5 daughters, 2 sons)
3. Emogene Taylor (1929-2005) sixth child, second daughter of Marshall and Lula (Applegate) Taylor (5 sons, 3 daughters)
4. Marshall Taylor (1892-1958) second child, first son of George and Mollie (Webb) Taylor (4 daughters, 7 sons)
5. George Taylor (1862-1913) fourth child, second son of Marshall and Cecilia (Heaverin) Taylor (6 sons, 5 daughters)
6. Marshall Taylor (1823-1899) first child, first son of William and Nancy (Matthews) Taylor (3 sons, 2 daughters)
7. William Taylor (1797-1849) fourth child, fourth son of Bartholomew and Leah (Staton) Taylor (5 sons)
8. Bartholomew Taylor (1756-1847) first child, first son of Abraham and Mary (Walker) Taylor (4 sons, 5 daughters)
9. Abraham Taylor (1726-1792) second child, second son of William and Sarah (Cooper) Taylor (3 sons, 3 daughters)
10. William Taylor (?-1773?) (4 sons, 2 daughters)
11. John Taylor (?-1748?)
Bartholomew is really the farthest I’ve researched back. He’s the Revolutionary War veteran. What I’ve been trying to do is get the birth, marriage, and death records for these main ancestors before I move on. That hasn’t exactly happened the way I wanted. I had the best of intentions, really I did! William and John, numbers 10 and 11 respectively, didn’t get birth order numbers so I guess they don’t count. I found their siblings names in wills of the parents so I don’t have birthdates for the siblings, therefore I can’t determine where everyone is in the birth order yet.
Thanks Randy for yet another fun little challenge!
My internet took a vacation yesterday. I guess everyone needs a vacation every once and awhile even my internet. So because of my internet’s decision to take the day off, I didn’t get a chance to post my take on the Open Thread Thursday at GeneaBloggers yesterday. I was really interested in what people said about this since I’m neck deep into a website redesign! I took notes and tested a few things with the itty bitty internet connection that I had. So here’s my take on what’s necessary!
Continue reading “Open Thread Thursday on Friday?”