ANCESTORS-GRANDPA AND THE GREAT CHAIN My wife’s 4th Great-Grandfather, Haynes Bartlett, was born in Newburgh, Ulster County, New York, on March 4, 1757, when the village was mostly comprised of rail fences. He learned the blacksmith trade in his early days in Newburg. He lived in Cornwall, Orange County, NY, when...
ANCESTRY- FROM EXTORTION TO WASHINGTON'S APPOINTMENT My 5th Great Grandfather, Joseph Greenway, was baptized on August 4, 1756. He was taxed as a cooper in 1774. He was commissioned as an Ensign on January 20, 1776, for the 1st Pennsylvania battalion, Continental Line. Later that August, he was commissioned as a...
ANCESTRY- ANOTHER COLEMAN'S BROKEN HEART In the last edition, we covered the death of millionaire industrialist Robert and Coleman and future president James Buchanan’s fiancé Ann Caroline Coleman Ann Coleman It turns out Coleman had another daughter, Sarah, who is also believed to have committed suicide. Around 1824, William Augustus Muhlenberg (1796-1877)...
HOUSTONS PAY THEIR DEBTS In several past editions, I wrote about my three times great-grandfather, William Harper Smither. His father, John Smither (pictured), was born on May 27, 1779, in Richmond County, Virginia. He moved to Culpeper County, Virginia, and married Mary Polly Greenway in Chesterfield County, Virginia, on July 18, 1808....
GENEALOGY- MORE ON THE SMITHERS My Great-Great Grandfather Gabriel Neil Smither served in the Confederate Army. He enlisted at age 17 on March 10, 1862, at Oxford, Mississippi for one year. Less than a month later he reenlisted for three years or the duration of the war. He served with the...
GENEALOGIST- MORE ON THE SMITHERS OF HUNTSVILLE In the last edition, I shared my Smither ancestor’s store accounts book, John Smither, which showed Sam Houston’s debts, and that our client, who is Houston’s second cousin five times removed, paid off Sam’s debt. As a genealogist, I received a copy of the Smither...
GENEALOGY- HEARTBREAK FOR A FUTURE PRESIDENT We visited the Cornwall Furnace National Monument in central Pennsylvania. There was a personal interest as my wife and my son-in-law’s (they’re tenth cousins) many times Great Uncle Peter Grubb (c.1702—1754), founded the Grubb Family Iron Dynasty in 1737, developed Cornwall Iron Mines and established...
ANCESTRY- WILLIAM COOPER, DANIEL BOONE, AND SIR ALEX Years ago, while researching one of our clients’ ancestors, I came across his sixth great-grandfather, William Cooper. I reported on that in 2021. Included below are some recently discovered excerpts documented by a Scotsman. William was an Indian Trader who lived amongst the...
Genealogy isn’t just about building family trees; it’s about uncovering stories that connect generations. When you hire a professional genealogist, you’re entrusting them with your family’s secrets, historical records, and sometimes even DNA results. That’s why ethics are so important in genealogy-for-hire services. In this article, we’ll cover the basics...
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