A few weeks ago, I was browsing through some Ancestry.com hints and found a few interesting records. One was a marriage license application for my Great-uncle Doc—full name Howard Doctor Hopkins. In Kansas City, Missouri. A place I would never have looked for his marriage record. Uncle Doc was a musician who grew up in […]
Research & Analysis
Looking at Locations
Last week I filled my Facebook news feed with colorful charts showing the birth locations of five to seven generations of friends’ families. The idea was started by J. Paul Hawthorne, author of GeneaSpy and grew as others added different variations including death locations, ages at death, cause of death, religion, and DNA haplogroups. I played along […]
William W. Lanier: One Man or Two?
More to the point—was the William W. Lanier who died on 7 Nov 1931 in Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama, the son of William Washington Lanier and Charlotte T. Jackson? Some people think so based on the online trees that give William and Charlotte’s son that death date along with the wives and children of the […]
One Thomas Son Found — Two More to Go
Sometimes you have pieces of the puzzle, but they don’t mean much until the rest of the puzzle falls in your lap. Or in this case, lands in the comments for an old blog post. Several months ago, someone who turns out to be a cousin found a post I wrote in 2012 about my […]
Identifying Parents for Rebecca, Polly, and Rachel
This morning I’m on my way to Salt Lake City for a few days of research this week and the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy course “Advanced DNA Analysis Techniques for Genealogical Research” next week. Narrowing down the research to tackle at the Family History Library can be difficult considering the volume of material available. I’ve […]
Obituaries Aren’t Always Accurate But This One . . .
Every genealogist has probably seen obituaries with mistakes. When I decided to look for my great-grandfather’s obituary last week while visiting Hopkins County, Kentucky, I didn’t expect to find one with quite so many errors. Rev. Hankins, Baptist Minister, Dies at 71 Rev. Lee Hankins, 71, West Broadway, died at […]
No Trace of Five Bennett Siblings
It seems that some of my ancestors’ brothers and sister just disappeared. Earlier this year I wondered What Happened to Melissa A. Petty? and was Looking for Lula Lanier. I’m still no closer to finding either of them but there are others I’d like to feature so I’m going to start writing about these “missing” siblings […]
Following Uncle Jimmy Through Voter Registration Records
When I came across California Voter Registration Records on Ancestry.com a few months ago, I immediately searched for my grandmother’s brother, James Bailey Hankins, but I didn’t expect to learn so much. Uncle Jimmy lived at 11 different addresses from 1924 to 1954 and he wasn’t especially loyal to either major political party. I knew he was […]
What Happened to Melissa A. Petty?
Everything I know about Melissa is from two census records. In 1860 and 1870, she lived with John R. and Margaret (Thomas) Petty. There is no actual proof that she was their daughter but I do have proof that the other children living with them in those years were their children. Melissa was born the […]
How Many Times Was Thomas Richard Hankins Married?
Two? That’s what the consensus seemed to be among family members. Dick Hankins married Bettie Smith on 1 March 1905 in Hopkins County, Kentucky. Bettie and their second child both died in 1909. Later he married Edith Rhea Jackson from Springfield, Tennessee. It appeared they were married before 16 May 1911 because this was published […]