The panel Melissa Barker, Dan Earl, Laura Hedgecock, Shelley Murphy, and Mary Kircher Roddy and I welcome special guest Cindy Freed who specializes in Civil War research. Learn how to get started, what types of records are available, and where to find them. Stores from our own research are also shared.
Watch as she explains how she became interested in researching her Civil War ancestors and helping others with theirs.
Sept. 4~ My maternal 4th great grandfather, Phillip Roberts III (1798-1852), died 169 years ago in Columbia, Richland, South Carolina at the age of 54. He is buried in St. Wesberry High Hill Cemetery, Richland, Columbia, South Carolina.
Phillip Roberts, III Headstone Wesberry High Hill Cemetery Richland County, Columbia, South Carolina Picture Courtesy: Jim Hepler
Who are you remembering this week?
Thanks so much for stopping by! Heping you climb your family tree,
You know the dance. You know you've done it. The one every researcher does after finding something new. The one where you want to jump up and down and shout to everyone around that you found the document, contacted a cousin who has the family Bible, made a DNA connection, or found a whole new branch to your tree. The one that is met with glazed stares and eye rolls.
Celebration Sunday is a place to share your discoveries.
This is a weekly series to enable everyone to tell about their Genealogy Happy Dance moment.
Share by scrolling
down and adding your story to the comments section or you may also put a link to a blog post telling about what had you dancing this week.
My Happy Dance Moment for this week:
Over the last few weeks, I have had the privilege of interviewing some of the course coordinators and other instructors for ( Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy) SLIG Fall Virtual 2021, SLIG 2022, and SLIG Virtual Academy 2022.
Check them out on the SLIG YouTube channel and then register here.
The purpose of the videos is to help those interested in the courses make their decisions on which one is right for them. There are options for everyone!
Me? After my conversations with those who agreed to make the videos, I want to take them all!
What's your Happy Dance Moment?
Please share and let's celebrate together!
Share your discovery!
Let the dancing commence!
Share the fun! Click below to tweet this post!
Looking forward to reading about your Happy Dance moment!
Thanks so much for stopping by! Helping you climb your family tree,
August 24~ My maternal grandfather, Gilbert Ernest Roberts, Sr. (1920-1944) would be 101 years old on this day. He was born in Columbia, Richland, South Carolina to parents William Treadford Roberts (1894-1959) and Beulah Mae (Price) Roberts (1897-1980).
August 28~ My maternal great-grandmother, Emma Ruth (Baker) Early (1901-1993), was born in Sumter County, South Carolina 120 years ago. Ruth was the daughter of Arthur Wellington Baker (1857-1940) and Martha Victoria (Bradford) Baker (1852-947). Happy Birthday, Mama!
You know the dance. You know you've done it. The one every researcher does after finding something new. The one where you want to jump up and down and shout to everyone around that you found the document, contacted a cousin who has the family Bible, made a DNA connection, or found a whole new branch to your tree. The one that is met with glazed stares and eye rolls.
Celebration Sunday is a place to share your discoveries.
This is a weekly series to enable everyone to tell about their Genealogy Happy Dance moment.
Share by scrolling
down and adding your story to the comments section or you may also put a link to a blog post telling about what had you dancing this week.
My Happy Dance Moment for this week:
Preparing a lesson along with my daughter to talk to the young women (ages 12-18) in our church has had me celebrating! The lesson is on family history work and we are encouraging the girls to look for ways they can participate. From doing research. conducting family interviews, scanning photos and documents to indexing we have suggestions that will hopefully spur them on no matter what other things they have going on in their lives. Getting young people to participate with family history is always a reason to do the happy dance!
What's your Happy Dance Moment?
Please share and let's celebrate together!
Share your discovery!
Let the dancing commence!
Share the fun! Click below to tweet this post!
Looking forward to reading about your Happy Dance moment!
Thanks so much for stopping by! Helping you climb your family tree,
The panel puts me in the hot seat for this episode! Melissa Barker, Bernice Benett, and Dan Earl ask questions about becoming a professional genealogist, stories of my ancestors, how GenFriends came to be, and more.
Watch as I answer question about how I became interested in searching for ancestors, which ancestor I would like to interview, and what my favorite records are to research. I also talk about my Repatriation work for the US Army and taking part in helping to bring our missing Soldiers home.
Some of our regular panelists weren't able to join due to other commitments.
Read their questions and Cheri's answers below:
Laura Hedgecock asks:
f you were to start your business over, what would you do differently?
Cheri's answer:
I would start sooner! It's been a wonderful blessing to be able to help others connect with their ancestors. Going professional lead me to the Repatriation work with the Army. It's very rewarding to help bring our Soldiers home.
Terri O'Connell asks:
How can others get started in helping with the repatriation process?
Cheri's answer:
Build your skills in traditional research and finding living people. In order to find living relatives for a Soldier, you need to be able to build a tree for them and look for people who are still living. Sometimes you have to go up several generations and them come back down to find someone. As many of the closest relatives of our missing Soldiers are beginning to pass away due to the passage of time, often we are looking for 1st, 2nd, or even removed cousins. Then look for jobs posted for repatriation work on professional genealogist message boards and announcements. APG is a good place to look. You can also do a search for companies doing this type of forensic work and send a query about opportunities to work with them.
Mary Kircher Roddy asks:
What has been your most exciting find?
Anytime I find something I didn't know before, it's exciting. I can clearly remember sitting at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City Utah in the early 1980s and putting my first microfilm on the reader and seeing my great grandmother as an 8-year-old on the 1910 Sumter County, SC census. Her sister Kate was the keeper of information on the family and had recently sent me a family history she had compiled. I was thrilled to see the names of those I had met and heard about for years. The whole day was filled with finding family in the census records. It was my first research trip to look for records. I have been looking ever since for all I can!
Shelley Murphy asks:
What has been the most challenging you have experienced in your research?
Cheri's answer:
Finding the records of my ancestors who were slave owners. The first time it was the Slave Schedules. That discovery brought so many emotions. Reaching out to try to connect with those who may be descended from those that were enslaved by my direct descendants and collateral lines has helped me to do something positive with the negative.
Do you have any questions for Cheri?
We'd also love to hear your ideas for topics and guests for upcoming episodes of GenFriends!
Aug. 20~ Mary Jane Brown McRady (1821-1894), my maternal 3rd great-grandmother, would have been 200 years old on this day. Jane was from the Sumter County, South Carolina area and may have been born there.
Martha Jane Brown McRady Headstone Pisgah Baptist Church Cemetery Pisgah Crossroads, Sumter, South Carolina Photo Credit: Remember Me-Findagrave.com Used with permission
Also on this day~ My paternal 3rd great-grandmother, Matilda Caroline (Splawn) Martin (1812-1876), was born, possibly in the Iredell County area of North Carolina, 209 years ago. Matilda's maiden name is unknown to me at this time.
Matilda C. Martin Headstone Bethesda Presbyterian Cemetery Statesville, Iredell, North Carolina Photo Credit: Joy Steele-Findagrave.com Used with permission
Who are you remembering this week?
Thanks so much for stopping by! Heping you climb your family tree,
You know the dance. You know you've done it. The one every researcher does after finding something new. The one where you want to jump up and down and shout to everyone around that you found the document, contacted a cousin who has the family Bible, made a DNA connection, or found a whole new branch to your tree. The one that is met with glazed stares and eye rolls.
Celebration Sunday is a place to share your discoveries.
This is a weekly series to enable everyone to tell about their Genealogy Happy Dance moment.
Share by scrolling
down and adding your story to the comments section or you may also put a link to a blog post telling about what had you dancing this week.
My Happy Dance Moment for this week:
A new computer! After having problems with connecting to the internet, running very slowly and memory almost full, I finally retired my old computer and bought a new one.
What a difference to have a reliable laptop that actually works the way it's supposed to!
I am doing the happy dance for sure!
What's your Happy Dance Moment?
Please share and let's celebrate together!
Share your discovery!
Let the dancing commence!
Share the fun! Click below to tweet this post!
Looking forward to reading about your Happy Dance moment!
Thanks so much for stopping by! Helping you climb your family tree,
In this episode of GenFriends, Bernice explains how and why the Freedmen's Bureau Records were created, how you can find them, and tips for finding your family in them. Cheri and the panel Melissa Barker, Laura Hedgecock, Shelley Murphy, and Mary Kircher Roddy share their experiences with researching these documents and get their questions answered about why everyone should take advantage of the family stories contained within.
Watch and learn how you can discover more about your family in these valuable records.
Have you discovered family in the Freedman's Bureau Records?
The panel, Melissa Barker, Dan Earl, Laura Hedgecock, Mary Kircher Roddy, and I welcome Liz and Devin, Team Red from Season 7 of Relative Race. We've been waiting for a while for schedules to line up so we could talk to them about their journey to find relatives and winning on day 10! We also talk about the amazing after the race reveal with Team Blue -Anthony and Joseph. Definitely the most inspiring end to any season!
Watch as Liz and Devin share their memories of the race, what they are up to now, and learn more about Familyremixed.com.
August 1~ My maternal great great grandmother, Bessie Mae (Eargle)Price (1878-1943) died 78 years ago in Columbia, Richland, South Carolina from heart disease. She was buried in the Graniteville Cemetery, Aiken, South Carolina.
Aug. 5~ Samuel James Bradford II (1815-1875), my paternal 3rd great grandfather, died 146 years ago in Sumter County, South Carolina. Aug. 7~ My paternal 4th great grandfather, John Milton Dargan (1799-1847), died in Sumter County, South Carolina 174 years ago. He was buried in the Dargan Cemetery in Sumter County.
Who are you remembering this week?
Thanks so much for stopping by! Heping you climb your family tree,
