If you're like me, you spent more time watching YouTube in 2020 than you had previously. Some of those months when so many things had seemed to grind to a halt, there was a limited selection of things to do. And regular TV is just boring to me. Most of the time,...
Do you happen to have a carpenter in your family tree? How about a blacksmith? A bricklayer? Or any of 127 different crafts practiced in the American South (coopers NOT included, more's the pity). This is your lucky day! I have just stumbled over this bit of...
Samuel Lawson received a deed of gift from his stepfather, John James, 25 May 1770. In the deed, Mr. James uses a phrase that, both baffles and intrigues me. From Craven County Deed Book 18, p. 1 and 2 (emphasis mine). North Carolina }Craven County }To all People to...
Boaz Squires is a rather enigmatic figure. Appropriate, wouldn't you say, for a man legend says was a wizard? Local stories claim he was a rather lazy fellow who made demons build boats while he lounged beneath the pines smoking his pipe. He even fought the Devil,...
There were, demonstrably, two William Brights living within, what was then, Craven County during the mid 1700s. Look at the Petition to Change the Seat of Government of 1733. Among the signatories of this document were William Brite and William Bright. So, how do we...
While Ancestry is notorious for spreading false information, you should also be wary of Find-a-Grave (link to her page). Remember, both sites depend on users, who are human, to create family trees/bios. Always, always, always check the facts against contemporary...
When you have a brick wall in your family tree, what else can you do but chase down every lead of anyone who had any relation to your mystery relative? This annotated marriage bond serves that purpose for me. On Thursday, August 22, 1805, John KING (son of Joel KING)...
Researcher Sherry Mirkovic had done extensive research on Rowland Ledbetter and his parentage several years ago. My cousin Mike Morris and I both wound up with a document she had prepared with all of her Rowland data and it strongly suggested that John Ledbetter was...
I've had to take a break from research for the past few months because I've been so busy with work, but knowing we'll all be hunkering down for much of the coming weeks, I thought last night was a perfect time to get back to research. I was thrilled to see the...
(This article was originally published July 25, 2018. It was most recently updated June 6, 2019.) It's now worth investigating the possibility that Harriet Morris is a daughter of Thomas Morris of Beaufort County and granddaughter of Elisha Morris. While Laban...
My 5th great-grandfather, Jesse P. Vendrick, was probably born in Craven County circa 1760. The identities of his parents and the mother of his children are mysteries. Why? Because there were two Jesse Vendricks in this generation. I think. Thought? I don't...
The word "brother-in-law" is becoming the bane of my research. In earlier times, the term "in-law" had a broader scope than is now the case. Pretty much anyone related to you by marriage was an in-law. Therefore, a brother-in-law could be one in the modern sense, a...