William Barnett Sims, my 3rd great grandfather, lived and died in Weakley County, Tennessee. Most Sims Family researchers believe (as I do) that his father was Alexander Sims who died in Weakley County around 1860. Alexander’s parents, according to these same Sims researchers, are also known. Well, sort of. From census records, we know that Alexander was born around 1773 in… More →
Category: Trantham Kenfolk
Behold the Mayo
Today is Father’s Day. Although I have many male ancestors I could be writing about, I decided instead to focus on a man who is not related to me (that I know of) but of whose existence I am reminded every time I fill out an application requiring my full legal name. This man’s name was Basil Mayo and he was… More →
Can I Get A Witness?
Desperate times, desperate measures. If you’re following this blog, you may remember my post entitled “Lydia’s Plight”. In it, I told of Lydia (Turbeville) Deason‘s failed attempt to secure her “fallen” son’s Civil War pension. Lydia is my 4th great grandmother. Her son, Milas Deason, was the Army bugler who went missing after the Confederate attack and massacre at Fort Pillow in 1864.… More →
P.S.
Discovering one of my ancestors was characterized as a “lunatic” in court records was a bit unsettling. I am not sure why. I was okay with the idea that Rebecca Trantham had died tragically during childbirth (which didn’t happen) but not that she had been committed to an asylum for lunatics (which did happen). Weird. Not one to let sleeping dogs sleep, my… More →
Rebecca
While browsing historic court documents from Weakley County, Tennessee this weekend, I stumbled across answers to questions I did not know I had. In the end, a heartbreaking story of a family that struggled with mental illness emerged. Rebecca (Deason) Trantham is my 3rd great grandmother. She married my 3rd great grandfather, Robert Floyd Trantham, on May 10, 1855 in Weakley County, Tennessee.… More →
Mister Sister Wives
Hiram Holladay, my 2nd cousin, 4x removed, loved three Haynie sisters. He married two of them and he might have married a third had her husband not shot and killed him. The fact that Hiram was infatuated with three woman from the same family came as no surprise to me. He probably inherited that trait from his Holladay and Trantham ancestors. Let’s review.… More →
Tree Housekeeping Score
Earlier this week I set out to better understand why the common ancestors of so many of my DNA matches on Ancestry.com are still complete mysteries to me. So I created a scorecard so I could keep track of the ancestral “holes” in my family tree. I’ve now completed my father’s side (scorecard below) which obviously represents 50% of the overall task. I suspect my… More →
The Big Brain Theory
Disputing my theory that Werner Heisenberg, my 4th cousin, 3x removed, had anything but a big brain would be futile. In 1932, he won the Nobel Prize in Physics “for the creation of quantum mechanics”. He was 31 years old. When I was 31 years old, I won $3 because I correctly matched the Powerball. In 1928, Werner and two of his colleagues were nominated… More →
Of Kings and Things
This last weekend I had very sobering genealogical experience followed by an uplifting genealogical experience. The reality check came when I started looking more closely at my father’s DNA matches and realized about halfway down the 2nd page of results (out of 129 pages) that I had no clue how the DNA match and my father were related. Keep in mind… More →
Da’ Peach Mood
Many years ago I came to the realization that I have (self-diagnosed) ADHD-like tendencies. I am easily distracted and often start things that I never finish. The fact that I’ve managed to keep this blog up for ten months is not like me at all. Thusly, I realized recently that while I had introduced John Harding Peach a long time ago in another… More →