The stars in the night sky are shimmering a bit brighter these days now that my grand aunt Opal (Trantham) Shelton has taken her rightful place among them. Born August 8, 1933 to Lutiness Alonzo and Mattie (Buys) Trantham, Opal was one of eleven children and my paternal grandfather’s half sister. Opportunity and distance prevented me from ever meeting her. But, it is clear… More →

My week-long stay in Warren County, Missouri has ended. I traveled there hoping to find information about my 3rd great grandparents, the Düwels or Duewels, who appeared in the census of 1870 but not 1880. Their daughter, Friederieke, was the mother of my paternal great grandfather, Henry Duesenberg. Using church records, deeds and estate documents, I’ve been able to piece together the final chapters of their lives after… More →

I can’t make this stuff up. I’ve stumbled upon yet another “Martin Trantham“. Well, it’s more like I stubbed my big toe on him. One of my dad’s DNA matches on Ancestry.com (who by default is also my match) happens to be very knowledgeable about genetics. By profession, she’s a medical doctor and my “go to” person when I have questions about… More →

Some of my most favorite “discovered” distant cousins are the unassuming ones who lived extraordinary lives. When I find myself thinking: “I could never have done that”, I know that I’ve found another one. Helen Luelf, my 3rd  cousin, 2x removed, is an inspiring leaf hanging proudly from the Winter branch of my family tree. She was the 7th of 14 children born to Herman… More →

Genealogy wouldn’t be the same for me if I didn’t have my DNA-matched cousins on Ancestry.com “turbocharging” my research. Many of these distant cousins have built out their public family trees far enough back that they often unknowingly help me confirm a connection or overcome a research roadblock. Earlier this week I introduced yet another Martin Trantham. I wondered if any of my DNA cousins could provide evidence that this Martin and his descendants… More →

A package from the public library of Huntsville, Texas arrived this week. It was stuffed with the genealogical findings of a distant Trantham cousin. In a frenzy reminiscent of Christmas mornings past, I ripped into the padded envelope and quickly scanned for the section on “Martin Trantham”, our presumed common ancestor. I had high hopes that the author, Herbert Raymond Trantham, Jr., had… More →

The Mississippi Legislature adopted resolution SC 593 on March 5, 2015, mourning the loss of Henry Outlaw, my 2nd cousin, 1x removed. The resolution recognizes the remarkable career of one of Mississippi’s beloved sons who passed away February 21, 2015. An award-winning academic, Dr. Outlaw taught chemistry at Delta State University from 1966 until 2002. His numerous contributions to this school, its students and faculty cannot be summarized easily. In 2014, his “retirement” culminated with his becoming the first recipient… More →

My cousin Hallie is a person and not just a DNA match. While that might seem obvious, after a dozen or more emails exchanged the only thing we had learned about each other is how we might be related. Our suspected common ancestors have the same last names and came from the same part of Europe blah blah blah. I fully intended to introduce Hallie within this context and had… More →

One of my favorite ways to identify cousins I never knew I had is through “Google Alerts”. Essentially, this is a free tool that scours the web looking for new content that contains keywords that are of interest to me. In my case, the keywords are the relevant surnames that appear throughout my family tree. When the tool finds a match, it alerts me by sending an email. I receive… More →