How are you guys today? I am pleased to write that I am tolerably well and I hope you are well, too. (Sorry, I can’t help it. After getting buried in all of these old West family letters I want to talk like the writers do!) This letter is from my 3rd Great Aunt Edith
Remember how I was complaining that I haven’t been doing any genealogy or genealogy blogging for the past 6 weeks because I had a big contract? Well, I’ve turned in the last work on that contract and – save any edits they ask for – I’m finished. I now feel safe to spend a little
I’m so very excited to be posting the first in a series of four transcribed letters from the family of my 4th great-grandfather, George W. West (b. abt. 1819 in Spartanburg, SC – d. 1895 in Forsyth County, Georgia.) I received these letters from Ron West, a distant cousin I recently reconnected with. He’s of
Thanks to my long lost Arkansas cousin, Ron West, whom I located through FamilyTreenDNA.com, I have just read 5 letters written from relatives in the family of my 4th great-grandfather, George W. West (abt. 1819-1895). One letter was even penned by my 4th great-grandmother, Jennet Cowen West, herself. If I can stop bawling my eyes
Story #1: From page of the Friday, March 28, 1928 edition of the Cherokee Advance TORNADO TAKES HEAVY TOLL OF LIFE AND PROPERTY IN THIS COUNTY LAST MONDAY NIGHT NEAR LATHEMTOWN Five Killed and a Score Injured. Many Houses and Barns Blown Away CATTLE, HOGS, CHICKENS DISAPPEAR IN TORNADO Most Appalling Disaster Ever Visited Upon
I just had to share this little gem I came across while indexing Georgia Convict registers. (Click it to make it larger.) John Rambo was a cabinet maker in Georgia wanted for… escape. I suppose I should have guessed that one. By the way, I’m working on indexing 900 old historical records through the World
Lately I’ve made a goal to get in shape. This means various fitness classes, circuit training and spending lots of time on my treadmill desk instead of being a Sedentary Sam. Of course, I’ve been doing less original research and blog reading and podcast listening. I plan on remedying that soon with a big trip
Last Thursday night, this happened less than a mile from my house: That’s the EF1 tornado that hit Canton, Georgia on June 13, 2013. There’s even a very unsettling video on Facebook of the tornado FORMING OVER MY HOUSE AAAHHHHHHH! (In other news, don’t you love how just about every tornado video includes some form
My ancestor George W. West and his wife Jennet Cowen often had people outside their nuclear family living with them in census years. I’ve already written about Isaac Suthard, the 14-year-old black farmhand. And there was also their grandson, Lightner West (who left his biological mom and step-father to live with his grandfather) and their
This blog post was inspired by a conversation on Facebook with my cousin Leisa Wilkie (another awesome family & local historian!) and some of her friends. Leisa is the authority on ghosts and scary tales in Canton, Georgia. Be sure to like her Facebook page Canton Ghosts or take the Canton Ghost Tour. When I