A Sunday Walk Around the Blogs

Positivity: GA Man Buried in Coffin Built By High School Students from BizzyBlog. A Rabun Co., GA happening (my home county). See? There are still nice people in the world.

Genealogy: Indirect path is sometimes best route to answers by Julie Miller for the Broomfield Enterprise. A mini case study using indirect evidence to provide proof of a relationship.

Getting Past Genealogy Roadblocks by Steve Luxenberg for AncestryMagazine.com. A nice anecdotal article detailing one man’s search for his mother’s friends.

Tombstone Tuesday: Albert and Sarah Cragg

Albert Cragg
Born Apr. 23, 1844
Died May 6, 1936

Albert Cragg was the son of Ellis and Margaret (–?–) Cragg (sometimes Craig), who were both born in Burke Co., NC. Albert and several of his older siblings were born in Caldwell Co., NC, which was formed in 1841 from Burke and Wilkes Counties, NC. The family migrated to Rabun Co., GA in the mid- to late-1850s; many descendants of this family still reside within the county, some on land bought by Ellis and Margaret after their move here.

Sarah Cragg
Born Apr. 14, 1848
Died Jan. 2, 1914

Sarah Shook and Albert Cragg were married October 5, 1865 by William E. Philyaw, Minister of the Gospel, in Rabun County.

Notice the hands holding one another on the top of each stone. One hand probably represented the deceased, while the other represented Jesus reaching down to lift the departed into Heaven.

Albert and Sarah were buried in Powell Gap Cemetery, which is off of Bridge Creek Road in Rabun Co., GA.

MawMaw’s Zucchini Bread

We’ve had a bumper crop of zucchini this year, so naturally we’ve been making lots and lots of zucchini bread. The recipe we use was handed down by my maternal grandmother, Ruth (Anderson) Ledford, who was a superb cook. (Ah, Sunday dinners!) This recipe can easily be divided in half for those who only want a little bread.

Zucchini Bread

4 cups coarsely shredded zucchini
3 cups self-rising flour
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 cup chopped nuts (we like pecans)

Blend all ingredients together in a large bowl until all ingredients are incorporated. Pour into two greased loaf pans. Bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for about 50 minutes or until the loaves test done in the center.

Enjoy warm with butter or cream cheese, or wrap and store for a later treat.

A Sunday Walk Around the Blogs

Family Enjoying City Named for Their Relative from the Ludington Daily News. An informative article about Sybil Ludington, a Revolutionary War heroine who lived in New York, and the Ludington/Luddington family in general.

Preserving Wedding Pictures by Dick Eastman at Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter. The pros and cons of taking and preserving pictures digitally.

Family Reunions and Genealogy Games from Olive Tree Genealogy Blog. A brief look at ways to introduce the family to their ancestors through fun and games.

A two-part article written by Michael Hait at Examiner.com called “Using Clusters to Track Your Ancestors Through Multiple Census Years” Part 1 and Part 2. Anyone who is interested in taking their research to the “next level” should study these articles.

A Sunday Walk Around the Blogs

Amanuensis Monday: Western Union Telegrams by John Newmark at TransylvanianDutch Genealogy and Family History. A lovely look at how the little things can add perspective and define our ancestors’ lives.

The Georgia Archives recently introduced Georgia Non-Indexed Death Certificates, 1928 – 1930, which I found via a blog post on the Columbus Public Library Genealogy and Local History blog. The site includes step-by-step instructions for searching death certificates from this period. See also: Georgia Death Certificates, 1919 – 1927.

Blount County Articles from TN Genealogy Society and Index to 1795-1819 Deeds by TNGenWeb-Blount County, Tennessee. It’s always nice to hear about new online records and indexes, especially in counties where my ancestors lived!

16 Great-Great Grands of Carol Yates Wilkerson from iPentimento. This is both an interesting and fun way to highlight a certain part of the family tree.

Tombstone Tuesday: W. M. Carver

W. M. Carver
Born Sept. 26, 1828
Died Jan. 12, 1920

I don’t have very many Aha! moments with my own family anymore, but this is one of them. Today, I was browsing through the death certificate images for Rabun County (available online through Georgia’s Virtual Vault) when one of those exciting moments happened. I was actually looking for death certificates for the Gillespie family of Rabun County, and was browsing because the spelling on old records is unreliable. I found an entry for one Samuel M. Carver. Not being familiar with him, I clicked on the link to view the image. Imagine my surprise when Samuel’s parents were listed as William Carver, born Spartanburg S.C. and Elizabeth Morris, born Cobb Co., GA.

My first thought was, this is my family!, followed closely by, but William and Elizabeth didn’t have a son named Samuel! So I pulled up my trusty database and, sure enough, no son named Samuel. But there was a William M. Carver whose birth and death dates matched the same dates on the death certificate of “Samuel M. Carver” exactly. I’m not sure exactly why the name was different, but I am thankful for the inclusion of the mother’s maiden name; this is the first definitive proof I have of Elizabeth’s family name, and I hope that this death certificate will be the springboard I need to find her parents.

William M. Carver was buried next to wife, Malinda Jane, in Godfrey Cemetery, located in the Chechero community of Rabun County.

A Sunday Walk Around the Blogs

Links to articles I found interesting this past week.

Tallulah Falls Railway and Depot A description of a historical marker placed to commemorate the Railway and Depot in 1999.

Cousins Gather, Research Genealogies of Former Confederate Soldiers Two researchers in Dallas are working to compile biographies on every Confederate soldier buried in two Lancaster cemeteries.

A Reasonably Exhaustive Search by Michael Hait, whose whole column on Examiner.com is well worth the read.