My first experience with DNA testing for genealogy was a Y-DNA test for my brother in 2008 that identified my grandfather’s family and answered questions various members of the family had been trying to answer for 50 years. I did two autosomal tests in early 2011 and soon added one for my mother. Since […]
Archives for March 2018
Strong Woman: Samantha Angeline Petty Hankins
Finding strong women in any family tree isn’t difficult. Several in mine came immediately to mind when I saw that was the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks prompt for this week. But I settled on Samantha. Born 3 April 1861 in Dalton, Whitfield County, Georgia to John R. Petty and Margaret E. Thomas, Samantha Angeline […]
Where There’s a Will: Finding Polly Smith’s Father
A few years ago, I mentioned in a blog post that I didn’t know the parents of my 3rd great-grandmother, Polly Y. Smith who married James Lanier 29 July 1810 in old Randolph (now Jasper) County, Georgia.1 I wouldn’t call that a brick wall, because I hadn’t really tried to identify her parents beyond a cursory […]