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
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
Sometimes when I’m really, really into researching a certain family or line I’ll realize that I am holding a grudge against a family member. Not sure what I mean? Here are two examples: My 3rd Great-Grandfather Lightner West was killed in the Civil War. He left behind a widow, Sarah Elizabeth Moore West, and an
Once again I have let my feed reader get dangerously behind as I had a busy week of “real life.” I joined the YMCA and began taking exercise classes (my whole body protests) and had the new-homeowner pleasure of my very first appliance dying on me. And it was my refrigerator. In other words, this week I’ve been hurting
I’m planning a genealogy trip to upper South Carolina this summer and when I go, I have to admit that I will Couchsurf if I possibly can. When you first tell people about Couchsurfing they generally have one of two reactions: 1.) They’re intrigued 2.) They think it’s insane and dangerous (I’m looking at you,
Apparently I haven’t ventured out into the town square of Canton, GA on Memorial Day before, because I was very proud and surprised to see a field of crosses commemorating the area’s war dead. (Excuse the terrible iPhone pics. I couldn’t see for the bright sun and I’m a terrible photographer as it is.) Flanking
So this little known footage from c. 1969 actually stars some very special child stars – my mother, Luanne West, her brothers, Jeff, Jason and Joby West and their cousins, Danny and Ray West. There’s even a very special guest appearance by my every-day-very-much-missed Granna, Ellabel Duncan West. If there were DVD extras on this,
This has nothing to do with my own family history, but this old drinking song was supposedly played by the Tombstone Brass Band at the funeral of Frank and Tom McLaury, and Billy Clanton after the shootout at the O.K. Corral. Listen here (Note the warning about old-timey language.) Catchy, right? I vote we make it