Three of my great-grandparents were still alive when I was born. Two of them were my maternal grandmother’s parents, John Cook Taylor and Emma Jane Owens. My parents and I moved to Mt. Vernon, where Paw and Granny lived, when I was six months old. Paw died before I was two years old, so I […]
Bios & Stories
Branching Out: The Kruegers
All of my identified immigrant ancestors arrived in what is now the U.S. before the Revolutionary War. A few holes exist in my family tree where a post-Revolutionary War immigrant might fit. But so far I haven’t found one and the possibilities seem slim in most cases. The Krueger family is the closest I have […]
Family Stories: Elmer Dennis Hopkins and Emma Ewers Taylor
The latest edition of Family Stories is about my maternal grandparents, Elmer Dennis Hopkins and Emma Ewers Taylor. I’m the oldest of four children. Mamaw and Papaw were a constant in our lives. After Papaw retired from the Louisville & Nashville Railroad when I was eight years old, they were around even more. Almost every […]
Family Stories: Albert Elvie Hankins and Isabella Jane Goodloe
I’m finally moving faster with the family stories I started working on a year ago. The stories for my 2nd great-grandparents Albert Elvie Hankins and Isabella Jane Goodloe and their children are now available. Albert and Janie were both born and raised in Hopkins County, Kentucky, and lived there their entire lives. They married on […]
Family Stories: John R. Petty and Margaret E. Thomas
Way back on January 1, I had a plan to publish biographies for ancestral couples and their children throughout the year. That hasn’t gone quit like I planned. I did publish stories for my great-grandparents Lee and Samantha Petty Hankins and their children in March. And now the next family—Samantha’s parents and siblings—is finally ready. […]
Family Stories: Thomas Leander Hankins and Samantha Angeline Petty
As promised in my New Year’s Day post (although over two months late), today I published the first set of stories featuring an ancestral couple and their children. First up are my great-grandparents Thomas Leander “Lee” Hankins and Samantha Angeline Petty of Hopkins County, Kentucky, and their seven children. Three of their children died young—daughter […]
What Happened to Great-Aunt Lula? The Answer
For ten years I’ve been asking “what happened to Lula?” My great-grandparents, Joseph Smith Lanier and Nancy Jane Bennett had ten children who lived to adulthood. Lula was the oldest. What I Knew In 1870 Joseph, Nancy, and four-month-old Lula lived in Chambers County, Alabama.1 By 1880, they were in Rock Mills in Randolph County, […]
When Your Dad Worked for the Railroad
My mother and her sisters grew up in a small town in Harlan County, Kentucky, but train travel to big cities was a normal part of their lives. Their father worked for the Louisville and Nashville Railroad hauling coal out of the mountains in Harlan County, and that made the family eligible for passes to […]
Storms: Flood Water in My Grandparents’ House
My grandparents, Elmer and Emma Hopkins, had a house built on the corner of Mapother and Johnie Streets in Loyall, Kentucky in 1925. My mother and two of her sisters grew up in that house located a short block from the Cumberland River. Mom remembers being prepared to leave on a moments notice during heavy rains […]
The Old Homestead: John & Emma Taylor’s Farm
As a child, my mother loved to spend time at her maternal grandparent’s farm in Rockcastle County. John and Emma Jane Taylor lived at Buckeye, just outside Mt. Vernon, and Mom would stay with them anytime she had a chance. I’ve heard many stories about “the farm” over the years, but a few weeks ago […]
