A New Year

It's hard to believe that it's been over 2 years since I have posted anything on any of my blogs.

It's a new year and although I'm entering the new year on a sad note (my mother died on Christmas day), perhaps my mother's death will have the opposite effect on me than my dad's death in 2011.

Based on my dad's death, I know the one thing that helps me in the grieving process is to stay busy. With dad, unfortunately, the genealogy fell by the wayside as I got back into my crafts. And yes readers, as you know, I've been struggling to get back to the genealogy ever since.

It will be still be a struggle. For many years, mom was my sidekick, my trusted assistant, when it came to my research. She was also the one that inspired me to start this journey of searching for my ancestors as see inspired me with stories from her side of the family and in later years somehow was able to tell me more about dad's side. Things that even dad didn't know.

You see momma treasured family and was always up for getting to know more of dad's family as well as her own.

So, bear with me as I continue to struggle but hopefully finally get back to my research. And

Happy New Year everyone!

MAAGI 2018

This has been a crazy year but with tiny steps I seem to finally, although ever so slowly, be returning to my research.

And to help me get back into the grove and keep pushing forward, this year, I will be attending the Midwest African American Genealogy Institute better known as MAAGI.

I'm looking forward to reconnecting, again, with my on-line genealogy buds that I've know for years and have have meet many in person. And as the old Girl Scout song states, I  also hope to make some new friends.

Most importantly, I'm looking forward to learning and acquiring new skills as I fully return to my research. The ancestors are once again stirring and telling me that I need to get back at it that I need to move beyond this stuck place that I've been at ever since my dad died in 2011.

And as I get back to the research, I also hope to get back to blogging.

Wordless Wednesday

Frank Everett

Abt 1860 - 20 Sep 1938

This is one of the many Frank Everetts among the ancestors on the paternal side of my family. This particular Frank is my Great Grand Uncle and was my Great Grandfather, Peter T. Everett's, older brother.

The picture was obtained from cousin Cornell Slade, my 2nd cousin 1X removed, who is the grandson of Frank. Cornell had emailed me this picture several years ago but it got buried down in my emails. I didn't discover it until recently when I was trying to clean out some of my emails.

#A - Z Challenge 2017 - T

T is for Thomas Langston Jones, my uncle.

This post was originally done September 23, 2009 for Wordless Wednesday although it really was a Wordy Wednesday.

Wordless Wednesday - The Uncle I Never Met

I never met my uncle T. Langston , as everyone in the family called him. In my adult life, I determined that the T stood for Thomas and so now when I talk about him, I always call him Thomas Langston. Uncle Thomas' grad school student ID is one of only two pictures that I have of him and I just recently discovered the student ID (it was tucked behind his Masters diploma). Uncle Thomas drowned, along with his girlfriend, while attending grad school at the University of Michigan. Dad and my aunts and uncles always relayed that Uncle Thomas, who couldn't swim, and his girlfriend were on an outing on the Huron river when their boat capsized ,and both Uncle Thomas and his girlfriend drowned. Now his youngest niece, that would be me, always thought there was foul play but I've been able to finally put that thought to rest. You see along with the student ID was a clipping of his girlfriend's memorial / funeral service, which stated she drowned trying to save him after their canoe overturned.

Another Great-Grandmother Mystery

M is for Martha Jones, one of my paternal great grandmothers. 

I've not done much research on my great grandmother of late. This was the very first post I did on my great grandmother back in 2009. 

Another Great-Grandmother Mystery

Just like my great-grandmother Fannie on my maternal side, one of my great grandmother’s on my paternal side has haunted me for years.

She’s the one that seems to push me the most amongst my North Carolina ancestors and yet she’s the one I know the least about. She’s the one that I always felt like was denied her rightful place amongst the ancestors, and that’s it always been up to me to tell the world about her.

Unlike like my maternal side, very few stories or information about the ancestors were handed down on my paternal side. So it’s been dogged determination with the few snippets I did get that have allowed me to even get a small glimpse of her.

And so here is what I knew when I begin this search

1. My aunt, Martha Edith Jones, was named after both of her grandmothers.
2. My dad always said that Mary Williams, who he and my aunts and uncles called grandmother wasn’t really my granddad’s Mom. Dad always suspected that Mary Williams was my granddad’s aunt.
3. On occasion, dad mentions that he thinks granddad had some siblings.

What I know and have discovered through the years

1. On my grandparents’ marriage license, granddad lists his mother as Martha and she was still living when my grandparents were married (Dec. 27 1914).
2. On the 1900 census, Hamilton, Martin, North Carolina, there are three families listed for dwelling, 110.

• Family 121, General Williams and his wife, Mary E.


• Family 122, Je* Williams (female), age 70, is listed as head. With her is Joseph Williams, age 16, listed as her son and Clansy Jones, boarder, and Leter Jones, boarder.


• Family 123, Martha Jones, head

3. I’m fairly confident in stating that (1) this is the Mary E Williams that reared my granddad (granddad’s death certificate list General Williams as his father and Mary Elizabeth Jones as his mother. My grandmother was the informant on granddad’s death certificate), (2) Clansy is my granddad, Claudius, and (3) the Martha listed is my great-grandmother.

And now, the headaches, frustrations and questions

1. Where were Mary and Martha between 1880 and 1900? Based on the 1900 census, Mary was been born abt. 1872 and Martha was born abt. 1877. To date, I’ve not been able to locate either of them on the 1880 census. I've also never been able to locate them or granddad on the 1910 census.
2. What happened to my great-grandmother after 1914? I’ve not located her on the 1920 or 1930 census. Did she marry?
3. Who is Leter Jones? Is it possible that my grandfather had a twin? On the 1900 census both are listed as being born in 1892 with granddad being born in July and Leter being born in August.

#A - Z Challenge 2017 - I

Thanks to my friend Renate, Into the Light, I'm trying to participate in the 2017 A-Z Challenge, which can be found at http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/.

The Letter I is for Iola Everett Jones, my paternal grandmother. This post was originally posted in 2010 as part of the 2nd edition of the Carnival of African American Genealogy - Grandma's Hand.

Grandmomma Jones

Iola Luvenia Everett Jones

Late 1960s

From the personal collection of the owner of this blog

This is my second post for the second edition of the Carnival of African-American Genealogy. As mentioned in my post about my maternal grandmother, this carnival has been a tough one for me. As previously noted, it’s not that I never knew my grandmothers but that I really didn’t get an opportunity to know them.

I was a bit older, 8 to be exact, when my paternal grandmother died. While I had her a bit longer, as fate would have it, father time had mentally taken her away from me a few years before. Even so, while no single moment sticks out for me the way the last visit with my maternal grandmother does, I know that my paternal grandmother and I had our special moments.

For the first few years of my life, Grandmomma Jones stayed in Winston-Salem, NC, where she and granddaddy settled after leaving their home county in the eastern part of the state. While I always seemed to get sick off the fumes that seeped through the floor of daddy’s old Ford, I always enjoyed and looked forward to the trips to my grandmother’s house. However, I must admit that the house itself always seem to terrify me. I always had a problem with basements, so the cellar of the Big House was especially terrifying.

From what I know about my grandmother, she was a resourceful and strong woman who like Jesus fed the masses with very little. Unlike my maternal grandparents who farmed, my paternal grandparents were more city folks. However, that doesn’t mean they struggled any less. In fact, it seems like they may have struggled more. Grandmomma’s small garden provided just enough for her to feed her family. Grandmomma Jones could make practically anything from greens and squash and that’s how she and her family survived.

Grandmomma Jones endured the death of her first born who drowned while away at grad school and her youngest who only lived a few short months. She also survived having cancer in not one but both breast, which was totally unheard of at that time, the survival that is.

Grandmom was definitely proud to be a grandmother and was proud of her grandkids. My mother tells the story of one summer, when most of Grandmomma Jones’ grandkids had descended on her. My cousin Valerie and I were still babies and I think my cousin Lafrieda was there and maybe even cousins Jay and Claudius. We were all outside, and grandmom was holding me. One of her neighbors came by asking where all these babies came from and Grandmom proudly proclaimed these are my grandbabies.

Eventually Grandmomma Jones’ health started to fail. Around this time, her daughter, Aunt Martha, who lived in my hometown, decided to build a house and have grandmom move in with her. So, the last years of her life were spent in my hometown. Given the fact Aunt Martha’s house was < 2 miles from our house, for awhile I had the double pleasure of having both of my grandmother’s near. Even though at this point in time there was little interaction due to her health, I still enjoyed spending time with grandmom and always went bounding into Aunt Martha’s house with a hey grandma and plopping down beside her for a awhile.

Grandmomma Jones departed this world on April 5, 1969. It occurred over Easter break while Cousin Valerie and Aunt Emmanuline were visiting. Grandmom stumbled, lost her balance, and struck her head. Eerily, Aunt Martha’s death, which occurred almost exactly 31 years later, happened in the same manner.

As with my maternal grandmother, I wish we had had more time but I will always be grateful for the time that we did have together. I still feel the pride that she exuded in having me / us as her grandkids and would like to think that if she were here that she would be proud of the work that I’ve done on her ancestral line.

#A-Z Challenge 2017 - G

My friend Renate, from Into the Light, turned me onto this blogging challenge a little over a week ago. I immediately decided that I would participate as it would help me get back to blogging but as you can see, here I am a little over a week later and haven't posted a thing.

So, my goal is to start today and then, hopefully go back and get caught up on the days I missed. Now I admit, some of these may be previous posts from years gone by but at least it will hopefully, finally be a start in getting me going, again.

G was the letter of the day for this past Friday, April 7, 2017. I've decided to use G for the surname Gaynor and to highlight a post that I did in 2011.

Wordy Wednesday - A Name But Still No Clue

What do you do when you have a name but still have no clue who the person is?

Per the inherited photo album from my Aunt Martha, the man pictured above is William Gaynor and he's one of our cousins.

During my research I've never come across any Gaynors, so I have no clue how he fits in. I'm not even sure where he was born and raised, and I definitely have no clue who his parents were.

Aunt Martha also had pictures of some of Mr. Gaynor's descendants and per conversations with and letters from Aunt Martha during her lifetime, some of the Gaynors settled somewhere in Texas. Yes, when I was a beginning genealogist, I made the cardinal mistake of not being interested in the collateral lines and it's always coming back to haunt me.

Aunt Martha always wanted to know how and where the Gaynors fit it. Perhaps one of these days I can unearth the answer to that question.

Since this was originally posted, I have tried to do a bit more research on the Gaynors. I followed the trails of his son, Hollis Burke Gaynor, whom my Aunt Martha used to also keep in contact with. Unfortunately, Hollis passed in 1999, 9 years before I would finally get back to my research and nearly 20 years before I would really start trying to research the Gaynors. I hope that perhaps, I may one day be able to get in touch with some of William Gaynors other descendants and be able to solve this mystery. 

February 25th - Genealogy Showcase.

Wow, another year has come and gone and still no real research going on. Life has definitely taken over, again, no mater how hard I try to not make it so.

Even so, I'm trying to stay active in genealogy in some form or fashion.

Because I'm too lazy to even copy and paste the entire write up of my most recent activities to Conversations With My Ancestors. You can go to my other blog, Georgia Black Crackers and read up on what I've been up to so far this year.

In case you can't figure out the hyperlink above, here is the link. http://georgiablackcrackers.blogspot.com/2017/03/february-25th-genealogy-showcase.html.

Year to Date - 2016

It's hard to believe we are already well into the second month of 2016. I had meant to start out the year with some fresh goals and ideas for what I planned to do this year with regard to my research but I've been busy so far this year. Although, I've not been working on my research, per say, Ihave been busy with the activities of the African-American Heritage Ministry at the church that I attend.

Last weekend, we sponsored an event to kick off our Black History Month activities. Although there weren't many young people in attendance, one of the goals of our ministry is to help the younger generation know of the sacrifices of earlier generations. While everyone knows of the noted historical African-American firsts, etc., the goal of the event was to make the congregation aware of those notable firsts within our own congregation. We started out by having people fill out a survey. From there there were some members of the ministry  that called the respondents to get some answers to follow-up questions.

One of the people that I got to interview was Don Hudson, who now resides here in Charlotte, NC. In 1971, Mr. Hudson became the first African-American football coach at a predominately white university when he became the coach at Macalester College in St. Paul, MN. You can read more about Mr. Hudson here.

Today, our ministry gave a Beginning Genealogy presentation.I was one of the presenters and this marked the first time I did a presentation to someone other than family. While I was up to the 11th hour working on my portion of the presentation, I had fun preparing and giving the presentation. I'm thinking perhaps this may have marked the beginning of my next chapter in my genealogy journey.

The ministry has more events planned for the remainder of the month such as a visit to The International Civil Rights Museum in Greensboro, NC. However, I'm not involved in any more activities until the end of the month where I'll be leading a viewing and discussion of the movie Selma.

So, as you can see, while I've not been busy with my own research and history, I have been busy with other genealogical and historical activities so far this year.

Hopefully, after I get through this some what hectic month, I can get back to working on my research.

So, until next time.

AAHGS 2015

This week the 36^th National Conference of the Afro American Historical and Genealogical Society (AAHGS) will convene in Richmond, VA.

This will be my second time attending the National Conference and I’m looking forward to reconnecting with some of my genealogy buds.

While in Richmond, I also hope to get some research done as well as hopefully meet some newly discovered relatives, descendants of my great grand Aunt, who live in Richmond.

As usual, I will be bringing my trusty side-kick, that would be mom, with me. Mom’s been having some issues of late, but I think it would do her a world of good to get away for a few days. Plus, she seems to enjoy these activities as much as I do, especially when she becomes engaged in a conversation with someone and can reminisce about her childhood days.

While at the Conference, I hope to do a bit of blogging and post some pictures, so be on the lookout for those.

Hopefully, by the end of the convention, provided life settles down, I’ll get re-energized to return to the hunt for the ancestors.

Wordless Wednesday

This beautiful mushroom was in the cemetery in Everetts, NC in which many of my paternal ancestors are interred.

Walking Among the Ancestors - My 2014 Research Trip

Yes, it's almost been a year since I took the long overdue trip to the ancestral home county and with this post, I'm finally talking about it to someone else besides my family.

You would think that as long as I've been researching and as long as I've lived in North Carolina (most of my life) that I would have made a trip to the ancestral home county eons ago. But through the years I've learned that the ancestors call you back to the research and where you need to be on their time frame, not necessarily yours. And I'm glad I was finally able to heed the call to head to Eastern North Carolina.

In reflecting back on my trip, it was probably best that I waited all these years, because while I didn't really learn a lot of new details on the paternal side of my family, I probably wouldn't have gotten to visit the ancestral cemetery, see land that my great grandfather owned and that still remains in the hands of my Grand Aunt Goldie's descendants. I owe those discoveries to my second cousin Clifford Curtis, Grand Aunt Goldie Everett Johnson Hyman Benton's grandson, who accompanied me on this trip. In turn, I was able to enlighten him about some of our ancestors.

So, let's begin. After work, on Thursday, Sept. 11th, I made the trek to my cousin's house in Raleigh. We would get up early the next morning to begin our journey to Martin County, NC.

We first ventured to the county seat, Williamston, where we went by the courthouse and the Martin County Library.

I didn't find any new information at either place. Most of the records that I was looking for had been sent to the state archives and there were no copies on site. I spent the majority of my time trying to educate cousin Clifford about our heritage and also trying to obtaining clearer copies of documents I had downloaded online.

After leaving Williamston, we stopped in Everetts, the ancestral town.

For me, this was the highlight of the entire trip.

First cousin Clifford took me by the family property, which was owned by our great grandfather and which Cousin Clifford's line of the family still owns.

Clifford said that our old family home was just on the other side of those trees to the left in the second picture. None of the direct descendants of my great grandfather, Peter T. Everett, have lived here in over 40 years, so Clifford and his brothers rent the land out. It is currently planted in soybeans.

It was kind of surreal standing in that grove between the fields of soybeans and feeling the presence of the ancestors all around me.

Clifford then took me a little further down Goldie Road, named after his Grandmother, where we decided to get out and do an up close and personal inspection of the cotton. Note: this land is not our family's land.

After we finished our off road adventure viewing the family land, we stopped by this little cemetery, where Clifford said is grandmother, grandfather, and uncle were buried. Little did I know I was about to discover the final resting place of a few other ancestors, too.

Sadly, I still have no clue as to the name of this cemetery. I thought it was named Everetts but when ever I made a request on Find-a-Grave for photos, I was always told that there wasn't a marker and yet, I found all but one of the requests I've made through the years.

First there is Grand Aunt Goldie, my grandmother's big sister, and Cousin Clifford's grandmother.

Cousin Clifford's grandfather and Aunt Goldie's first husband, Rev J. Henry Johnson.

Right next to Rev. Johnson, was my Great Grandmother. The discovery of my Great Grandmother's grave brought me great joy as I didn't even have a clue where she might be interred as that part of her death certificate wasn't completed. The other weird thing about Grandmomma Edith's death certificate is that the state has a copy of it (I got my copy through Ancestry) but the county doesn't have a copy of it.

And right beside Great Grandmother was Great Granddad's second wife Della, who died 7 years after Great Grandmother. I imagine that had to be hard on Great Granddad, losing not one but 2 wives in less than 10 years, all while raising your grandchildren and working your own business. Great Granddad was a merchant (he owned a store) at this point in his life.

Other relatives buried in this cemetery were Cousin James Henry "Buddy" Johnson, who was cousin Clifford's uncle.

Rev. William Alonzo Everett, Clifford's and my 1st cousin 2x removed.

But there was one grave missing that would have made this journey complete, that of my Great Grandfather. Cousin Clifford and I scoured every inch of that cemetery looking for him and we had these stickies all over our clothes to prove it.

But Peter T. Everett is either not interred in this cemetery or if he is there he doesn't have a stone. There is one other possibility, too, the grave might be damaged.

There was this grave, beside Aunt Goldie's that for some reason my gut tells me it's my great grandfathers but it's cracked and caving in and there's very little left of the inscription on it to be able to make out anything.

All in all though, it was a wonderful trip, and I thank Cousin Clifford for going along with me and being my guide.

----------

All of the pictures in this post are a part of the personal collection of the owner of this blog.

Wordless Wednesday

Wow, it's almost been a year since I went to the ancestral home county (Martin County, NC) and I've still not posted about my research trip. So, today begins the discussion of the trip.

Goldie Road is named aver my Grand Aunt, Goldie Everett Johnson Hyman Benton. The small NC Town in which Goldie Rd is located is Everetts, NC. The name Everett is also my paternal grandmother's maiden name.

------

This picture is part of the personal collection of the owner of this blog.

Mystery Monday and Motivation Monday - July 20, 2015

Hey folks, still struggling on the blog posting front, but things are progressing. Still working on the office decluttering but I'm almost done with what I'm calling Phase 1. Since I'm writing this post ahead of time, I may have even finished Phase 1 by the time this post to the blog.

The end of Phase 1 means two things, 1) I get to move on to garage decluttering for awhile but more importantly, 2) I  hope to be able to really focus on getting back on the genealogy and getting my genealogy files organized. You know I keep telling myself that if I didn't have to work, I would have the office totally back into organizational shape by now.

In the meantime, although I'm waiting for a reply, I actually did some real genealogical stuff this month. (This is the Mystery part of the Post).

As you know, from time to time when I'm bored, I google various ancestors names, hoping that something pops up. Usually even if something does, it's really nothing that benefits me but this time I'm may have come across something when I googled my grandfather's name, Harry Claudius Jones, for the umpteenth time.

Most everything that came up was either from my blog or information I had entered on Find-a-Grave. But there, at the bottom of the page, was something I hadn't seen before from Google Books. There appeared to be a hit in the Annual Catalogue of Virginia Union University. So, I clicked on the link. I still was not expecting much. This had to be some other Harry Claudius, right? But to my surprise, this Harry Claudius Jones, was from Everetts, NC, my grandmother's hometown and where my grandparents lived during the early years of their marriage.



Source: https://books.google.com/books?id=brJGAQAAMAAJ&lpg=PA63-IA79&ots=XlK1yQcW6a&dq=%22Harry%20Claudius%20Jones%22&pg=PA63-IA79#v=onepage&q=%22Harry%20Claudius%20Jones%22&f=false

He was in his second year in 1913. In 1913, my grandfather would have been 21 and about a year away from marrying my grandmother.

Since there seemed to be more than one catalogue contained in this listing, I searched subsequent years and found other listings for Harry Claudius Jones from Everetts, NC. My gut tells me this has to be my grandfather. After all how many Harry Claudius Joneses can there me from the same little small town in North Carolina. But the gut needs supporting documentation, so after consulting with my genea-friend, Renate, from Into the Light, I decided to write to the Virginia Union Alumni Association to see if they could help me.

I'm hoping that if there are some records that they will perhaps shed some light on my granddad's biological family, specifically my great grandmother Martha,  but more than anything, if this is my granddad, I'm just thrilled to learn about this part of his life. While his tombstone indicates that he received a Bachelors in Philosophy, I never heard dad or any of the aunts and uncles mention anything about granddaddy going to college. And my first cousins (all older than me) hadn't heard anything either.

By the way, since my genea-friend Renate lives in VA and often passes through Richmond in her travels, she has offered to stop by Virginia Union and do look ups if need be. If I don't hear anything soon, I may have to take her up on that offer or better yet, go myself during the Afro American Historical and Genealogical Society (AAHGS) conference, which will be held in Richmond this year. For now, though, I will try to be patient and continue to work on the organizing, and other life happenings.

Until my next post!

Motivation Monday - June 29, 2015

It's hard to believe it's been nearly six months since I've posted  anything to Conversations and as I stated many times both here and on Georgia Black Crackers, I can't promise this time is going to be any different but I pray and hope that this is finally the turning point where I return to my research and blogging.

Since today and tomorrow are the final days of the month for June, I'll just go ahead and move into the goals for July 2015.

If you've been reading the few posts that I've done this year on Georgia Black Crackers, you know that this past month, I've been steadily working on getting my office back in order, so my first goal for the month of July is to finish this project (Goal Date: July 31, 2015). Believe it or not, I've made tremendous headway in getting the office organized but still feel like I have a long way to go. When you are finding papers dating back to 2004, you realize that this is going to take longer than expected. I've filled my recycling bin to the brim three times now (it only gets picked up every other week) and still have more to add.

Other goals for the month are as follows:

• Post about 2014 research trip to Everetts, NC. (Goal Date(s): Weeks of 06/29/15 and 07/06/15) 
• If I complete the overall office organization, began the organization of genealogy files plus spruce up the file cabinet that contains much of my research information (Goal Date: 07/31/15).
• A minimum of one blog post per week even if it's a meme.
• Contact Virginia Union Alumni Association to determine if my grandfather attended school there (Goal Date: July 4, 2015). Since I've not been blogging, you don't know about this potential find. Hopefully, one of my blog posts will bring you up to speed on it.
• As, with the maternal side of the family, determine exactly where I was in my research the last time I was seriously researching and develop a plan for the next research steps. (Goal Date: July 18, 2015).

Hope to see you later this week!

Goals for 2015

It's so hard to believe that another year has ended and new one has begun and I'm sure I'll be saying the same thing next year at this time. The older you get, the more time just seems to fly by.

Even though, I didn't get much blog posting or research done, 2014 was a some what productive year. So here are a few of the happenings from 2014 (both genealogical and non-genealogical)

• After living in my home state for the bulk of my life, I finally made the trek to eastern North Carolina to visit the ancestral home county. The ancestors had been calling me to do that for awhile and while I really didn't gain any new knowledge on this trip, there were a few exciting moments.

         I'm also reminded that I never did a post(s) about my research trip, so that is goal #1 for 2015.

• This leads me into one of the more exciting finds from 2014 and it happened right as I was getting ready to go on that research trip. I discovered quite a few newspaper articles that mentioned my Great Grandfather, Peter Everett, and my Great Grand Aunt, Goldia Everett Johnson Hyman Benton. Once again, no great genealogical gems but since, until then, I had never come across any of my ancestors in any newspaper articles, it was the thrill of a lifetime.

          So, goal #2 for 2015 will be to blog about those newly discovered newspaper articles.

• 2014 was also filled with sadness. Just as I was finally starting to come out of the genealogical funk that I had been in ever since my dad died in March 2011, I was once again back there as I lost my beloved companion of 14 years.

Shelby (2000 - Oct 28, 2014)

• I did manage to get through 2014 without any new crazy health issues. Just a lot of follow-up on the 2013 issues, which caused me to go through a lot of sick time. So, from a health perspective, I need 2015 to be a sane year.

So besides the 2 goals already mentioned, what are the remainder of my genealogical goals for 2015. The usual ones - 

• Get back to blogging and researching
• Get the nearly 30 years of research I've done organized. One of these days I hope to hand all this off to  someone and I would like for them to be able to figure out what I've done.
• Plan a trip to the NC State Archives, which is another one of those you would think that I would have done a trip there by now but I haven't.
• Plan a family reunion for the descendants of Peter and Eadie Everett (great grandparents).
• If time and funds allow, attend a genealogical conference, seminar, or class.
• And most importantly, because life is so fragile and so short, do a better job of staying in touch with my family. 

I'm really looking forward to 2015 and hope that you are, too.

Wordy Wednesday - Aunt Martha's House

Picture of Aunt Martha's house is from 

the personal collection of the owner of this blog.

This is my Aunt Martha's house. Until this summer,  I never really thought I had a sentimental attachment to this house. But  this summer, the memories have come flooding back and it's been tough.

My Aunt Martha died in 2001. In her will she left the house to her younger brother, my daddy, and her younger sister, Aunt Emmanuline. Dad bought out Aunt Emmanuline's share of the house, so, when daddy died, the house passed on to me.

It was never my intentions to sale Aunt Martha's house. Since, I always wanted to have my own business, I started out thinking that I could be a landlord and it would be the perfect setup since the house was paid off and I wouldn't have to worry about making a mortgage payment. But even while daddy was still living, I came to the conclusion that being a landlord was not for me. That being said, I still couldn't motivate to do anything about the house. Well, that is until this year.

One day, back in the spring, I woke up and decided that I was tired of dealing with the insurance company that covers the house, decided I was tired of people calling me about the house, and decided that I was just tired of dealing with it period. So, I've been spending the summer trying to get the house cleared out, so that I can put it on the market. When this started, I didn't think it would take as long as it has taken. After all, some of this was done  while daddy was still living. Little did I realize, how much was still in the house.

So, this summer, I've been spending many weekends over in the hometown trying to get the house cleared out. This has taken longer than I had expected, and no, as of this post, I've still not competed the task but I'm pretty close.

Most of the summer my mother had been helping me try to complete the task, so I guess I didn't have time to think about things that much. But Labor Day Weekend was a different story.

I had contacted the Hospice Store in my hometown to come pick up most of the larger items on the Friday before Labor Day. My mother wasn't with me that day, so after the Hospice crew left and with the bulk of the house now emptied, the memories came flooding back and would not ease up. As I went through each room to compile a list of what still needed to be done, the memories rolled. I pictured my Aunt Martha talking to clients of the now defunct Cleveland County Teacher's Credit Union, my grandmomma in what was her bedroom, and the biggest one of all, the summers when my aunts, uncles and cousins would come back to North Carolina and descend on my Aunt's house for a few weeks. I truly miss those summers from that bygone era.

As much as I miss those times and as much as I would like to hang on to the house, I also realize that time marches on. I really don't have time to deal with the house. So, I'll spend the last few weeks of this summer and first weeks of the fall, completing the task of clearing out the house and finally putting it up for sale. And yes, I find myself explaining to my Aunt Martha, who loved this house, why it must be this way. And I hope that the next person or family that buys the house will be able to build their own memories.

Madness Monday - Getting Ready for a Research Trip

This week, I'll be going on my second research trip, ever. And it looks like I will not be any better prepared for this research trip than I was for the first one I did a few years ago. But the ancestors are telling me that I need to go and who am I to argue with the ancestors.

So, before going, I'm trying to make a quick check list of things I want to do and hope to get accomplished. One thing that makes this trip different from my first research trip is my trusty side kick, mom, won't be going with me. Instead, my second cousin, Clifford, will be going with me on this trip. While I'm glad to have the company, part of me wants to go it alone since I feel like we will have different goals, which will ultimately hinder both of us.

So for me here are some things I hope to do during my one day trip to ancestral home county.

1. Pick up a clearer copy of the Probate Proceedings for my Great Grandfather's, Peter T. Everett, estate. A few years ago, I had written the Register of Deeds for Martin County, NC to see if there was a will for my Great Grandfather, and there wasn't one. This past week while putzing around on Family Search, I came across the probate proceedings for my Great Grandfather, who died without a will. However, I wasn't able to print out a clear copy, so I wrote down all the details, in order that I can pick up a clearer copy while there.
2. I would also like to try to locate my Great Grandfather's grave. I have a copy of his death certificate which seems to indicate he may be interred in Everetts Cemetery in Everetts, NC. This is one area where my cousin should be able to collaborate with each other. Cousin Clifford wants  to see his Uncle Buddy's grave. His uncle / my cousin appears to be be buried in the same cemetery as great granddad. After all these years, I still haven't figured out who operates this cemetery. I would like to write ahead of time to find out the exact location of the graves.

I'm sure I'll be adding to this list between now and Friday.

Checklist of things I know I will need to take with me.

1. Camera
2. Portable Scanner
3. Notebook
4. Pens and Pencils
5. Kindle and / or Laptop
6. Water and Snacks

The other thing I need to do is get prepared for the conversation that I'm sure will come up with Clifford about me converting to a vegetarian / vegan diet. Cousin Clifford is a doctor and I've already noticed that he and I don't always see eye to eye on some things.

Sentimental Sunday - Happy Birthday Daddy!

Daddy, today, if you were still living, you would have been 86. In the 3 years, 5 months, and 12 days since your journey here on earth ended, life has continued. There have been good days and bad days and a lot that were in between the two.

Sometimes it feels like your death happened yesterday and at other times it feels like it's been years.

There are still special times of the year, like your birthday, where  days and weeks before, the tears start flowing again. I often don't realize why I'm so emotional until I look at the calendar and realize what time of the year it is. And then there are the times that for no reason at all you just pop into my head and I'm missing all the special times.

So on this day I just want to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY! You are still loved and missed so very much.