My grandmother, Jeanette Shrum Willett, left us a wonderful handwritten manuscript of her life which she wrote in the mid 1980’s. She was born August 4, 1897 in Bloomington, Indiana and died March 3, 1988 in Salem, Massachusetts. I have been transcribing her manuscript here. You can start from the beginning with Part 1. I…
In 1926, Mrs. G. J. Wilkins of Atlanta Georgia wrote to the Office of Indian Affairs, “My great-grandfather on my father’s side was a full-blooded Indian with tribal relations with the Cherokees of Georgia.” Mrs. Wilkins was referring to Abraham Helton, known by his family as Young Chicken Chetiganete. He was born in 1843. He…
What would Hattie say? I’ve mentioned Hattie Potter Chase before if you read my earlier blog post, The Shameful Secret of David Edgar Chase. She was left a widow at age 45 in 1900 when her husband, David, put a gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger in their upstairs hallway while she was eating breakfast…
The process of researching is hardly a lonely road. I’ve met many people over these past 20 years in my research and through genealogy events. Many have come to be very good and dear friends to me. I’ve said this blog is primarily for my children and descendants to read so they will know some…