My Trails into the Past

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:  It's  Saturday Night  again -  Time for some more  Genealogy Fun!! Our mission tonight from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings is to:   1) Have you been down a genealogy rabbit hole lately?  What was it, and what did you find?  [If not, go find a rabbit hole! Try your FamilySearch Notifications or Ancestry.com Photos or Stories.] Here's mine: I am going down a rabbit hole right now. I have been working on my Selman line, those who came from Alabama to Cherokee County early during Texas statehood. I began by making sure I had all the census records of the families in Texas from 1850 through 1900 and beyond, if they were still living. I added children to the families based on census records. I also added cemetery tombstone information from Find a Grave to their profiles. Once I had the information found on Ancestry , I used FamilySearch 's full-text search to locate documents I hadn’t yet seen. Be...

Calling All Genea-Musings Fans: It's Saturday Night Again -  Time For Some More Genealogy Fun!! Our assignment tonight from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing s is to:  1)   Today's challenge is to answer the question "Who Is the Earliest Ancestor in Your Maternal Family Tree?"   [thank you to Linda Stufflebean for suggesting this topic!]  Here's mine: Last week we tackled the paternal line and I do not go back very far on my father's side. However, on my mother’s side, I have in my RootsMagic database a John Sellman (1645-1707). He would be my 8x-great-grandfather. I have him in my database from copying the lineage from the book John Sellman of Maryland and Descendants by W. Marshall Sellman, who self-published in 1975. I viewed the book many years ago at the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City.  The passage I copied said “Buried in All Hallows Church, Anne Arundel, Maryland. He came to Calvert County, Maryland in 1658 from England at twelve or thi...

It's Saturday Night - time for more Genealogy Fun! Your mission this weekend from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings is to: 1) What was your mother's father's full name? 2) What is your mother's father's matrilineal line? That is, his mother's mother's mother's ... back to the most distant female ancestor in that line.  Provide her ahnentafel number (relative to you), and her birth and death years and places. 3)  Tell us about it in your own blog post, or in a Comment on this post, or in a Facebook post.  Please put a link to your post in Comments here. Here's mine: 1. My maternal grandfather (#6) was Tom J Johnston (1912-1973). 2. Tom’s mother was (#13) Nell Hutson (1888-1919), who married (#12) Thomas Newton Johnston (1885-1951). Nell was born in Texas, perhaps in Comanche County, and died of the young age of 31 in Comanche County, Texas. Nell’s mother was (#27) Sarah Helena “Sallie” Selman (1858-1916). Sal...

Newspapers sometimes gives clues to events that one would otherwise not know about. Such was the case when last week I was searching Comanche, Texas and Stephenville, Texas newspapers for articles about my great-aunt, Beryl Johnston for my weekly Saturday Night Genealogy Fun blog post. One of the articles I found was about a court hearing to appoint Thomas N. Johnston temporary guardian for the children Beryl Johnston, Mildred Johnston, Tom Johnston Jr, Hal W Johnston, and Luther Johnston, minors. [1] The notice stated that on the 12th day of December, he was duly appointed Temporary Guardian and the appointment would be made permanent unless “the same shall be successfully contested at the next term of said Court, commencing on … 6th day of April 1924 [should be 1925] at the Court House…” So my first thought was, what had the children inherited? Usually under-aged children need a guardian to handle an estate given to them. Since their father was still alive, it must ...

My three times great-grandparents, Greenlee Bean Selman and Amanda Deborah Oldham were married on 23 Jun 1851 in Cherokee County, Texas. Actually, Greenlee Selman married another Selman, Mrs. Deborah A Selman. Here is a copy of the license for the marriage: [1] “To any Judge Justice of the Peace or Regularly Ordained Minister of the Gospel, you are hereby authorized to solemnize the rites of matrimony between Mr. Green Lee R Selman and Mrs. Deborah Amanda Selman and due return make to within Sixty days after solemnization at my office in the town of Rusk. Given under my hand and seal of ?? In the Town of Rusk this 23rd September AD 1851.    W.P. Brittain Clerk Co Court, by his Deputy O.G. Woods.” 1851 Marriage License for Green Lee Selman & Mrs. Deborah A. Selman, Cherokee Co, Texas Now there is no return recorded in the marriage book. When did they marry? Probably not in the same office on that day. Had the minister forgotten to return the marriage? O...

Peter Hayden Hutson was my great-great maternal grandfather. He was born 22 Dec 1853 in Georgia. [1] His family was found in Salacoa, Cherokee Co, Georgia in the 1860 census. [2]   His father was Robert Hutson and his mother Amanda Davis. The next time Peter was found was in the marriage record of Peter and Sarah Helena Selman on 11 Sep 1879 in Cherokee Co, Texas. [3]  At first I wasn’t sure this was the correct marriage record, because of the name for R.H. Hudson, but looking at the image, the "R" really looked like a "P."  So P.H. could easily be Peter Hayden. And Hudson and Hutson can be easily interchanged. Plus Miss S.H.S. Selman most likely is Sarah Helena “Sallie” Selman. Marriage record of Peter H. Hutson & Sarah H. Selman, Hood County, Texas Marriages, Bk B, p 42. They were married by R.S. Proffett, Minister of the Gospel, on 11 Sep 1879. Researching R.S. Proffitt, I found he was a minister in the area and also the postmaster. Peter...

West End Cemetery Section 6 Stephenville, Erath Co, Texas Photo taken by the author Thomas N. Johnston is my great-grandfather.  He was born July 25, 1885 in Texas to Reuben M. Johnston and Olivia Jane Jones.  He married Nell Hutson, daughter of Peter H. Hutson and Helena H. Selman June 6, 1907 in Comanche Co.  They had five children live to adulthood.  He worked for many years as a manager at Higgenbotham's Lumber Yard.  He died Feb 20, 1951 and is buried at the West End Cemetery. Copyright © 2011 by Lisa Suzanne Gorrell, My Trails into the Past

Thomas MacEntee asked bloggers to list their surnames and ancestor they most wanted to find. So I decided to write about my mother's side of the family. I have several roadblocks that I'd love to get past and maybe someone will find my blog post and help me. How The Meme Works To participate, do the following at your own blog and post a link back here in the comments: 1. List your surnames in alphabetical order as follows: [SURNAME]: State/Province (county/subdivision), date range 2. At the end, list your Most Wanted Ancestor with details! 1. My Entries COOR; Texas (Erath Co) 1880-present, Mississippi (Lawrence Co, Copiah Co) 1820-1880, North Carolina (Wayne Co, Sampson Co) pre-1800  HALEY; Mississippi (Rankin Co), 1820-1870, North Carolina 1770’s-1820.  HUTSON; Texas (Comanche Co, Hood Co) 1880 to present, Georgia (Cherokee Co, Chattooga Co) 1800-1880, Virginia prior to 1800.  JOHNSTON; Texas (Titus Co, Comanche Co), 1870-present; Mississippi (Yalob...

Ah, Genea-folks, it's   Saturday Night   again - are you ready for more   Genealogy Fun? Your mission tonight, should you decide to accept it, is to: 1)  List your 16 great-great-grandparents with their birth, death and marriage data (dates and places).  [Hint - you might use an Ancestral Name List from your software for this.] 2)  Determine the countries (or states) that these ancestors lived in at their birth and at their death. 3)  For extra credit, go make a "Heritage Pie" chart for the country of origin (birth place) for these 16 ancestors. [Hint: you could use the    chart generator   from   Kid Zone  for this.] [Note: Thank you to Sheri Fenley for the   "Heritage Pie" chart idea.] 4.  Tell us about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a post on Facebook or google+. Here's mine: My 16 Great-great grandparents are: 16.    Joseph Heinrich Horoch , born 2 Feb ...