My brother-in-law, Alan, recently shared with me a document he found in some of his Mississippi grandmother’s belongings. In great shape other than a few torn and folded edges, this first person account of a man named Will Mathis appeared
My grandparent’s farm in Haywood County in the mid-1990s. I’m a Southerner and I love all things related to West Tennessee. If you ask me what symbols represent home, my mind immediately goes to family, cotton fields, cicadas on a
Photo/Lynn J. Graves Click to Enlarge Mary Aurelia Blaydes Castellaw with her grandchildren Lynn Graves is one of my many Castellaw cousins that descend from my third great-grandparents, Thomas Jefferson “T.J.” Castellaw (1808 – 1878) and Mary Elizabeth Cole (1809
Random Photo from Pinterest Thanks to my cousin Betsy’s detective work, we were recently able to take part in a DNA project that confirmed our Brantley lineage goes back to Edward Brantley, an early immigrant to America from England in
Click to Enlarge Likely descendants of Hiram Bradford taken at“The Old Bradford Place,” Sept. 1924 I love it when technology allows complete strangers to work together to solve puzzles relating to individuals who died decades ago. I recently wrote about the
Click to Enlarge I’ve long been fascinated by the the years immediately following the Civil War and how it impacted the lives of my West Tennessee ancestors. In just a few days, on April 9, 2015, it will have been
Photo/Mary S. Williams Click to Enlarge Will and Eva Williams I never knew my paternal great-grandfather, William Lafayette “Will” Williams (Feb. 13, 1888 – April 1, 1962) because he died the year before I was born. Although I’ve seen several
I was grateful last week to open the mailbox and find my copy of “The Brantley Family: Preachers, Planters and Pioneers of the South” by Ken Brantley. As big as a phonebook and weighing in at what feels like about 25 pounds,
Click to Enlarge Iva Griffith McElroy I usually blog about my adventures while researching my own genealogy, but for a long time I’ve been wanting to begin looking into the ancestry of my wife Michelle. A few years ago, her
Photo/Lib. of Congress Click to Enlarge Modern