The Citizen Online - Genealogy

Finding Your Folks: Saying good-bye … but not really

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:12:14 -0400

It is Oct. 31, 2008, and here we are at the end of the road … the last page of the final chapter … the final "Finding Your Folks" genealogy column. I'm giving you the date because one of the biggest problems with our website when it changed back in 2005 was that there were no dates on the "blog" type stories. The old website, which can only be accessed through a special link, featured a date with each story, making it easer to reference them. However, you can estimate the dates by going back a week for each one. They were published each Friday on the Web.

Finding Your Folks: Winding things down

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:27:00 -0400

I messed up last week when I said that was the next to last column. Actually, this one is. I also promised you an explanation. I have already received a couple of concerned but kind-hearted phone calls and several emails and I will be happy to explain why we are discontinuing the columns.

Finding Your Folks: Seeking Crawfords in the Line Creek area

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 16:43:27 -0400

I was delighted to hear from an old high school classmate this week. Neal Cobb of Rabun Gap who attended Russell High with me back in the 1950s, is looking for his Crawford family who lived in the Line Creek area back in the 1800s.

Finding Your Folks: A little more Brandenburg

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 15:53:01 -0400

I was a little disappointed in myself last week when I couldn't find any more information on Lewis Brandenburg to share with you, although there was quite a bit of Brandenburg family history.

Finding Your Folks: The Brandenburgs of Meriwether County

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:06:48 -0400

One of the families mentioned in conjunction with the recent Kempson reunion at Mt. Carmel Methodist Church in Meriwether County was the Brandenburg family. Two sons of Lewis and Ann Hatton Brandenburg married daughters of Peter and Mary Ursula Long Kempson, thereby making their children descendants of Harmon Kempson and members of the reunion family.

Finding Your Folks: The Caldwells of Meriwether County

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 16:27:04 -0400

Since we're already here and this family was part of last week's Kempson reunion at Mt. Carmel UMC, I thought I'd just give a little light research on them since we haven't done them before. Next week, we'll discuss the Brandenburgs, another family recognized at the reunion and one which we haven't done before. The other two reunion families, Kempsons and Grays, were covered in previous column series.

Finding Your Folks: Kempson reunion set for Sept. 21

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:48:03 -0400

I usually don't use the column to announce family reunions but these families were so prominent on the south side I'm going to make an exception.

Finding Your Folks: The rise and fall of Campbell County, Part 2

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 16:32:05 -0400

Last week we ran part one of Anne Westbrook Green's excellent story of old Campbell county and its merger into Fulton in 1932. Some of Anne's information came from an old newspaper article, possibly from The Atlanta Journal or The Atlanta Constitution, date unknown, written by Winifred Lee Moore entitled "Memories of Old Campbellton," referring to the first county seat which was replaced by Fairburn in 1870. Anne continues with information from the article, with a warning that she can't vouch for the accuracy of statements made therein, saying …

Finding Your Folks: The rise and fall of Campbell County, Part 1

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:07:32 -0400

Several times over the years I have mentioned that part of Fayette and Coweta's adjacent neighbor county to the north, Fulton County, was once known as Campbell County. In doing the genealogy columns, I always refer to this area as Campbell, since the name wasn't changed until 1932. Our study of families usually involves those who were in Georgia in the late 1700s and those who settled our immediate area and were here from the beginning, or in the early 1800s.

Finding Your Folks: Allen Marlin McWhorter's disappearance and demise

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:18:29 -0400

I'm going to stay with the McWhorters this week since I recently got involved in a volley of messages on the McWhorter email list. This Allen M. McWhorter was a relative of Laura McWhorter Thompson Stowers of last week's article since he was the much younger half-brother of Laura's grandfather, Moses McWhorter and, therefore, the uncle of Laura's father, Leroy McWhorter. However, since Allen was the child of a second marriage, he (b. 1795) and his nephew, Leroy (b. 1797,) were close to the same age.

Finding Your Folks: Anyone seen Laura McWhorter Thompson Stowers?

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 16:03:14 -0400

I was so excited last week after receiving a reply to a message I had left on Rootsweb back in 2001 about my McWhorter family.

Finding Your Folks: Endsleys revisited

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 17:10:39 -0400

Some of you may know that I have this huge, sprawling family tree (nearly 20,000 people) on Rootsweb's WorldConnect Project and, by default, on Ancestry's World Tree. Many people in it are relatives and some are not. We call these semi-related and non-related families "collateral" and "allied" families because they are either related through marriage or connected through other means.

Finding Your Folks: Seeking living descendants of William Redding Byers

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 16:13:13 -0400

Most people who write to the column are looking for their ancestors who died long ago. But this week we're looking for living descendants so we can have a proper tombstone dedication.

Finding Your Folks: James and Mary Herndon Norris

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 16:49:15 -0400

I'm going to pick up on a family from last week - James and Mary Herndon Norris, a member of the Norris family of Walton, Gwinnett, Fayette, Campbell, Douglas and Cobb counties. When I mentioned them a couple of weeks ago I had no idea that someone would pick up on this particular couple. I was thrilled. I had very little myself. But Pat Vermeer wrote and gave us a little more information for which I am very grateful. Let me give you a little of what I have, then I'll tell you some of what Pat said.

Finding Your Folks: From Campbell to Cleburne

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:40:21 -0400

I hope to be able to wrap up these family stories this week, concluding with their move from Campbell County to Hightower, Ala., just across the Georgia State line near Carroll County.