Abernathy family scrapbook is amazing resource

This column has so many facets I hardly know where to begin. It concerns both a family and a resource.

No one does better and more complete research on a family than a direct descendant of that family. And, if you are really trying to complete your family tree, fill in all your ancestors' brothers and sisters, spouses and kids, you are stepping outside that direct line and will probably have to call on someone who is descended from that family to really make your research accurate.

Such was the case last week when I realized I had nothing on the family of Jane (named Gennett in her father's will) Boyd who married Samuel Abernathy.

I was browsing the Newberry Co., S.C. Web site and, lo and behold, came across the name of Mary Abernathy Meyer who had left a message in the migrations section saying she was researching Samuel Abernathy who had migrated from South Carolina to Georgia. I quickly fired off an e-mail to Mary who was delighted to hear from me since she had nothing on my family either, namely Hugh Boyd, who was Jane Boyd Abernathy's brother. The family had double significance for me since one of the Abernathy girls had married Jessie Fincher Dorman, brother of my GGgrandfather, Allen Dorman.

"Have you seen Allie Abernathy's scrapbook?" Mary wrote in her e-mail. I had not. "I'm going out of town for a few weeks and I'll send it to you," she wrote. I was dubious as to the value of childhood remembrances, but I welcomed any information that would help. And I was very surprised that Mary would send me the book. She didn't know me from Adam's house cat. But, send it, she did.

Within three days, the "scrapbook" was sitting on my dining room table ... a hard-bound, 438-page book with photocopies of the pages of Allie's scrapbook. I had no idea, until received it, how valuable a resource it was.

For 30-some-odd years, from 1893 until 1923, Laura Alabama Floretta Abernathy had faithfully clipped items from her local newspaper, The LaFayette Sun of Chambers County, Ala., (and from a few others, it would appear) and pasted them into her scrapbook, using only flour and water for paste. And she kept everything. Anyone who was remotely related was in the book ... aunts, uncles, cousins, in-laws ... everybody. She also kept items of national interest (there are items on President Theodore Roosevelt and one on Queen Victoria), poems, advertisements and home remedies. Allie's nephew, Frank Abernathy, had published the scrapbook in book form in 1987. I was awestruck. I still have not finished going over it but, for those of you who may have Abernathys in your family tree, I will give some of the family history.

Allie, born in 1867, was the daughter of William Franklin Abernathy (born in DeKalb County, Ga. in 1838) and Laura Awilda Milford, the granddaughter of John Davis Abernathy and Margaret Baker, and the great-granddaughter of Samuel Abernathy and Jane Boyd. Jane Boyd was the daughter of Robert Boyd and Rosannah Stewart, of Newberry Co., S.C. and Meriwether Co., Ga.

Samuel Abernathy (1798-1878) and his wife, Jane Boyd (1799-1870), moved from Newberry Co., S.C. to DeKalb Co., Ga. in late 1822 or early 1823 and stayed there for about 20 years. Samuel joined the Primitive Baptist Church at Nancy Creek (DeKalb Co.) the first Sunday of June, 1829, and joined the Ebenezer Primitive Baptist Church (DeKalb Co.) in 1830. Mary has a note that Ebenezer's location is now in Fulton County. By 1843, Samuel and his family had moved to Chambers Co., Ala. and he joined the Macedonia Primitive Baptist Church there on March 4.

Samuel and Jane Boyd Abernathy had 14 children, the first three born in Newberry Co., S.C., nine born in DeKalb County, and the last two born in Chambers County.

They were: John Davis Abernathy Sr. (1820-1854), m. (1) Margaret Priscilla Baker, m. (2) Eleanor Caroline Blythe; Robert Boyd Abernathy (1822-1823); Mary Elizabeth Abernathy (1823-aft. 1910) m. Henry Perry Lacy; Rosannah Permelia Abernathy (1828-1872) m. Christopher C. Coggin; Rhoda Louise Abernathy (1830-1895) m. James B. Creed; Nancy Lucinda Jane Abernathy (1831-1868); James William Thomas Abernathy (1833-1917) m. Frances Joanna Creed; Margaret Isabell Abernathy (1835-1910) m. William Henry Harrison Hunter; David Hugh Boyd Abernathy (1838-1931) m. (1) Martha Stallings, m. (2) Sarah F. Rowland, widow of a Tomlinson; Samuel Joseph Stewart Abernathy (1840-1929) m. Ladora Aletha Gilbert and moved to Palo Pinto, Texas; Edathy Naomi (appears as Edith in the 1860 census) Abernathy (1841-1910) m. Hiram W. Hammond; Martha Ann Adeline Abernathy (1844-abt 1940) m. Jessie Fincher Dorman, son of Wiley Dorman and Elmina Jones; and one other child, name or sex unknown, born in 1846.

Most of the family stayed in Chambers County and most are buried there. If you think you may be connected to this family, I'd be glad to discuss them with you.

If it hadn't been for Allie's scrapbook, I never would have been able to read the obituary of my GGgrandmother Dorman which ran in the paper after her death in 1908. Or known about my Uncle Jessie's Civil War service. Or known that my cousin William Dorman's bride wore a "dress of Copenhagen blue silk" at her wedding in Birmingham. Or known that my Aunt Laura Moss Dorman taught piano. Scrapbooks are truly amazing resources.

Better go check your attic.

Send stories on your Georgia ancestors to The Citizen, Drawer 1719, Fayetteville, GA 30214; E-mail jkilgore@thecitizennews.com or

jodiek444@aol.com.

Until next week, happy hunting!

(Judy regrets that time does not permit her to do personal research for others. She will willingly share research information on her own family lines, including collateral and allied lines.)