DESCENDANTS Tag

05 Dec

Posted at 15:49h in Newsletter, Genealogy

GENEALOGIST- BALLING IN THE GRAND CANYON In 2011, we backpacked west of Grand Canyon National Park, into the Havasupai Indian Reservation. At the end of the trail lies the village of Supai on the valley floor of the Grand Canyon. It’s a short hike to the beautiful Havasu Falls, and you can even continue onto the Colorado River. We spent the day swimming in, about, and under the falls pool. As of the 2010 census, they had a population of 208. The capital of the Havasupai Indian Reservation, Supai, is the only place in the United States where mail is still carried...

29 Nov

Posted at 12:17h in Newsletter, Genealogy

ANCESTORS- MY MAYFLOWER ANCESTOR My 11th Great Grandfather, Stephen Hopkins (fl. 1579 – d. 1644), is my only Mayflower ancestor. Here are some interesting items about him: • He was one of 41 signatories of the Mayflower Compact • He was an assistant to the governor of Plymouth Colony through 1636. • He was first a minister’s clerk and then worked as a tanner and merchant. • He was recruited by the Company of Merchant Adventurers of London to provide governance for the colony and to assist with the colony's ventures. • He was the only Mayflower passenger with prior New World experience, having been shipwrecked in Bermuda...

16 Nov

Posted at 13:34h in Newsletter, Genealogy

GENEALOGY- A PLAY SURFACES AND IS PRODUCED 100 YEARS LATER I wrote in the February 2025 newsletter about Zola Neale Hurston and the work we did gathering all their family information for their foundation meeting. I was excited to read an article about one of her “lost for 100 years” plays being produced. Nearly a century after its completion, a play by Hurston is being staged in full for the first time. Spunk, written in 1935 by the acclaimed author of Their Eyes Were Watching God, was never performed during Hurston’s life. Instead, it remained in the Library of Congress until it...

02 Nov

Posted at 18:11h in Newsletter, Genealogy

ANCESTRY- CHRISTIAN LAND STEWARDSHIP One of our clients was recently honored by the Texas Department of Agriculture. In addition to her family history, we documented in a book the challenging path she took to restore her family's lands and then proceeded to donate land for a Texas State Veterans Cemetery. NEW BRAUNFELS, TEXAS – (October 15, 2025) - The Christian and Jones families have once again shown what it means to walk by faith, build by family, and serve by example. On this blessed occasion, the Texas Department of Agriculture, led by Commissioner Sid Miller (PI), presented the Christian Family with not...

18 Oct

Posted at 13:29h in Genealogy, Newsletter

GENEALOGIST- THE MORMON ASSASSIN My niece’s husband’s ancestor, William Adams "Wild Bill" Hickman (1815 – 1883), married his first wife, Bernetta Burchartt, in 1832, at 17. While living in Missouri, Hickman encountered members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints traveling from Kirtland, Ohio, to their new gathering place in Clay County, Missouri, and ultimately agreed to be baptized into the religion in 1838. Upon the killing of Joseph Smith in 1844, he and many other Mormons followed Brigham Young westward into Mexican territory. During this period, Hickman began to practice polygamy under the instruction of Brigham Young, marrying Sarah...

10 Oct

Posted at 11:54h in Newsletter

ANCESTORS- CAPTAIN STARBUCK'S JOURNEY Back in 2023, I shared information on my wife’s 5th Great Grandfather, Hezekiah Starbuck Starbuck We learned more about him on a visit to Nantucket, where it turned out he had kept a journal recorded from 1770 to 1775, as a whaling ship captain in the Pacific, which is in the hands of the Nantucket Historical Society. At Mystic River Seaport, we had the opportunity to board the Charles W. Morgan, an 80-year-old whaling ship (pictured) that remains afloat. It was interesting to see how it was set up and to see the captain’s quarters. Because the Atlantic had...

02 Oct

Posted at 21:01h in Newsletter, Genealogy

GENEALOGY- HE WASN'T SHOT IN THE WAR, BUT SUFFERED FOR 23 YEARS My wife’s three-times great-grandfather, Joseph Craig Needham, came to America at age 19 in 1841 or ‘42. At the age of 40, he left his wife and their four children, aged 14 to 3 months, at home, and enlisted for three years on February 29, 1864, at Clarendon with Company H of the Michigan Eighth Infantry (pictured in his soldier’s uniform). There were ten other soldiers in Company H who were older than him. His regiment served in front of Richmond when Lee evacuated on April 3, 1865. They were also...

02 Oct

Posted at 20:26h in Newsletter

ANCESTRY- THE FIRST LADIES AND ALL OF THE OTHER LADIES One of the questions that people ask when we’re building books is “What about grandma?” Where’s her page? The reality is, until the invention of family planning and birth control, most of our female ancestors were busy raising a herd of children, feeding everyone, tending to the time-consuming home, and helping with farm or ranch chores. Unfortunately, there was not a lot of public documentation about their independent activities, which may have occurred in their early or later lives. Until the 1960s, most married women were referred to as Mrs. "So and...

23 Aug

Posted at 13:35h in Newsletter

GENEALOGIST- NOT YOUR GRANDPA'S MARCHING BAND My wife’s grandfather was a drummer in the Straughn, KS, Concert Band, standing to the left of the drum in the colorized picture below. My wife inherited the legacy and was in marching band in high school and college. Later in life, she joined the local community orchestra and a traveling “second time around band” that performed in the 2019 Macy’s Parade and the 2021 Dublin, Ireland, St. Patrick’s Day parade. That band has transformed into a traveling symphony and has performed in Germany, Austria, Italy, and will next year perform in Belgium, France, and Germany. As...

16 Aug

Posted at 12:34h in Newsletter

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 he enlisted in the Revolutionary War for five of the seven years, with three terms of enlistment ranging from 1 to 9 months. At one point, he served in the Dragoons. He was in New York City when the British captured it. After returning to Orange County, he helped in the...

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