THE BEGINNING
My fantastic and sometimes fustrating climb began a very long time, some 40 years ago. Let me set the scene for you. I was starting my freshman year in High School. 1970 what a year that was. I was a member of the first class that would be spending all 4 years in the new state of the art, somewhat contraversual new school that was the very first to be totally desegregated. They made the old high school into a 6th grade only school and they closed and finally torn down the all negro high school. (Now before I get hate comments, back in 1970 african americans were called negros. We did not use the term as a negative term. It is just what was used). These were the best of times and the worst of times. Tensions were high. We had fires set in the bath rooms and cars over turned and set on fire in the parking lot. The police were called in, school was in lock down mode almost daily. A rolled barbed wire fence, you know the kind you see around prisons was installed around our beautiful new school and we the students hated it and this actually brought the students together somewhat. The call went out for ALL student inmates to wear prison blue shirts with your student number on the back. We held student sit ins. We protested. We wanted that fence taken down NOW. Well time was on our side and finally things settled down, we had our first ever winning football season and classes got back to normal. So this brings me to how I actually started my climb among the branches of my family tree. That year, 1970 I was taking American History. What a great subject. I loved research and I loved that class. Well, our teacher Ms. Smithe had a surprise for us. She was holding a Family History contest for all the students in her classes. The rules were simple..... trace your family as far back as you could BUT you had to have documented proof that they connected to YOU and that they had something to do with American history. Start with yourself and work your way back. Since this was a contest there had to be a time limit and there had to be a PRIZE. The time limit was set for 16 weeks (a mear 4 months) and the Prize..... the winner, the student who could trace back the furtherest, got the rest of the year with NO homework and NO FINAL EXAM.
My fantastic and sometimes fustrating climb began a very long time, some 40 years ago. Let me set the scene for you. I was starting my freshman year in High School. 1970 what a year that was. I was a member of the first class that would be spending all 4 years in the new state of the art, somewhat contraversual new school that was the very first to be totally desegregated. They made the old high school into a 6th grade only school and they closed and finally torn down the all negro high school. (Now before I get hate comments, back in 1970 african americans were called negros. We did not use the term as a negative term. It is just what was used). These were the best of times and the worst of times. Tensions were high. We had fires set in the bath rooms and cars over turned and set on fire in the parking lot. The police were called in, school was in lock down mode almost daily. A rolled barbed wire fence, you know the kind you see around prisons was installed around our beautiful new school and we the students hated it and this actually brought the students together somewhat. The call went out for ALL student inmates to wear prison blue shirts with your student number on the back. We held student sit ins. We protested. We wanted that fence taken down NOW. Well time was on our side and finally things settled down, we had our first ever winning football season and classes got back to normal. So this brings me to how I actually started my climb among the branches of my family tree. That year, 1970 I was taking American History. What a great subject. I loved research and I loved that class. Well, our teacher Ms. Smithe had a surprise for us. She was holding a Family History contest for all the students in her classes. The rules were simple..... trace your family as far back as you could BUT you had to have documented proof that they connected to YOU and that they had something to do with American history. Start with yourself and work your way back. Since this was a contest there had to be a time limit and there had to be a PRIZE. The time limit was set for 16 weeks (a mear 4 months) and the Prize..... the winner, the student who could trace back the furtherest, got the rest of the year with NO homework and NO FINAL EXAM.
DAY ONE
I know you are dying to know WHAT HAPPENED.........................................
Well that day, as I rode the Bus home I tried to take stock in what I actually knew about my family. to tell you the truth, NOT MUCH. I knew or thought I knew we were a family of the deep South. I knew my brother and myself were born in Florida and my 2 sisters were born in Georgia. I actually knew my mother was born in Alabama but no idea about where my father was born. Time for some answers. I walk in the house and yell MOM I need some answers. She is looking at me like "What are you yelling about" you all know that look... every mother as it ... Well I proceed to tell her about the history contest. I finally got it laid out for her and she starts by telling me that she doesn't know that much either. She confirmed what I already had, gave me both my birth certificates and hers. She tells me about my dad and she thought the contest would probably be based on her family because although my dad was born in Pittsburgh, PA, his mother was born in Canada in about 1904 and her parents were Belgian. I call my dad to check out the facts and sure enough his mother was born in Quebec in 1905 and her parents came from Belgium to Canada in 1904 and later came to the United States around 1912. My mom had long since divorced my dad and said she did not remember which town in Georgia they were married. I got out the map and looked at the counties in Georgia that was closest to Jacksonville, Florida because that is where they lived. I called the county and BINGO yes they were married there in 1952. Please send copy. YIPEEEEE I am excited and my search is off and running. I now concentrate on my maternal side of the family.
Next generation is my mothers parents. My grandmother had died when I was about 3 years old so my grand dad was next on my list. Since he is living with us, I had a captive person to interview. My grand dad was pretty old by this time (not knowing that he would be gone in 2 more years). He also starts by saying he does not know much. He tells me he was born in 1883 in Lawrence, Kansas and that some outlaw gang had burnt down the courthouse in Douglas Co, Kansas so he did not have a birth certificate. Oh, what am I going to do now. He tells me his parents were Joseph and Sarah and they were married in Boone, Iowa but was unsure of the exact date but should have been around the time when Minnie, his oldest sister was born. this is not looking good. I had never even heard of a Great Aunt called Minnie before. He tells me that his Dad was born in Vincennes, Ripley Co, Indiana and was a railroad engineer and a Methodist circuit minister and he didn't know where his mother was worn. Grand dad and my grandmother were married in Thomasville, GA in 1919 and that in his papers was a marriage certificate. OKAY time for a trip to the LDS Library.
DAY TWO
Saturday is a fine day to go to the LDS library. Not many people here. The woman running the library is very helpful when I tell her why I am there and shows me how to work the microfilm and microfisch readers. She also takes me into their computer room where this big scary machine is and tells me that this will be my friend. She will help me when I need to use the Computer.
She pulls all the films and fisches for Boone Iowa and then looked for Vincennes..... Vincennes is NOT in Ripley Co but there is a Versailles in Ripley Co. GOOD ENOUGH. the LDS has records and I find the 1870 census in Boone Iowa that has my great grandmother Sarah A Courtney living with a S.S. a Assessor and Melissa SCOTT. There is no Joseph living with them. The date of the census was 1 month before my grandfathers oldest sister was born. I continue to search and living in a boarding house was my Joseph a railroad engineer in Cass Co Iowa. the LDS lady says she thinks the S.S. and Melissa were the parents of Sarah and she went home to have her first baby and her husband Joseph was on a train run. We search for more records. We find more census records, 1880 census Joseph and Addie (grand dad said his mother was called Addie, probably because her middle name was Adelaide). We find a marriage record for Sarah SCOTT and Joseph Courtenay in 1868 in Boone Iowa and was agreed to by Sarah's father Samuel Stewart Scott. YIPEEEEE we are on a roll. Next we look at death records for cemeteries in Boone County and we again hit the jackpot. There is a S.S. Scott who died there, born in NY in 1812 NY and died in Boone 1890 and next to him is a Melissa Scott born in NY in 1823 and died in 1905. OK time for looking on the big scary computer. With help we look up the LDS film for Boone Co death records and we find a copy of the recorded death journal and listed is a Samuel Stewart Scott. He died of Cancer in 1890. He was born in Saratoga Co, New York in 1812. We look for census records for Samuel S Scott with a wife Melissa. YIPEEEE 1870 and 1880 they were in Boone Co Iowa. 1860 they were in Saratoga Co, NY with Sarah A age 11. 1850 S.S. and Melissa in Saratoga Co, NY with Sarah age 1. We are on a roll. LDS helper says she is sure Kansas did a state census, so we look and we see they did a census in 1885. She pulls out the microfilm and we find a J.H. Courtnay age 39, wife Sarah age 36, Minnie F age 14, Walden H age 11, Eddie J age 7, Arthur E. (my grandfather) age 2. I now have a birth record for my grandfather. Oh my goodness, my mother is here to pick me up and I have been researching ALL DAY. I am a big chatter box on the way back home as my finds come pouring out. I think my mom was glad when I went to bed.
DAY THREE
Not much can be done on Sunday. We went to church, home again to fix the normal big Sunday dinner. I escape to start writing my report and to make notes and things to do.
DAY FOUR
Monday comes and I am excite to get to school, oh no school is back in lock down again. They are sending the students home because of a bomb threat.
Police with dogs are all over the school. My turn to call my mom to pick us up, she come but I have her take me back to the LDS but I have to find my own way home. NO problem. As I was getting out of the car she says... Hey Bill my stepdad called Saratoga Co Historical Society for me and he has a bunch of information coming in the mail for me, but to do more research in Saratoga Co, NY. So in the LDS I go to look for SCOTT families in that county. WOW there are a bunch. I find a S.S. Scott on a 1840 census and a Samuel S on the 1830 census. I am hating that the early census records do not list everyone by name that are in the family. I move to the scary computer again. I punch in Scott + William + Lewis + Samuel + all the other Scotts listed and record after record after record came popping out. Well it seems the town reocrds for Greenfield, Saratoga Co, NY has a ton of information on my SCOTT family. It seems William Scott was one of the founding fathers for Greenfield NY. He was mason of the highest order. He was a Revolutionary War patriot. THIS is what I am looking for. I am starting to fall in love with the big scary computer but that is another story. OH NO it is 4 and I missed my ride home. I stayed too late and now have to walk, jog, run home. Off I go, 8 miles, geez my book bag is heavy but I am happy with my research. I arrive with not a minute to spare and my mom is fussing and my stepdad is shaking his head. I go collapse on my bed. Several hours later my mom wakes me up to say I missed dinner and to come eat and go back to bed. Now I am wide awake and want my dad to tell me what he found. NO I have to wait for the records to come in the mail but he is smiling. I head back to bed.
DAY FIVE
No time for research, we have to make up the lost time at school so homework is piled on us. Why is it when you are dog tired when you are in Phy Ed they want you to run laps and do the Presidents Phy Fitness thing. You guys remember the President's Phy Fitness Award?
DAY SIX
I meet with my American History teacher and tell her what I have found and what records she wants as proof. I have to prove the connection to each generation if I want to win the contest, this will be no small feat. I currently have Myself - birth Certificate, Parents - I have my mom's birth cert and her marriage cert. Grandparents - I have that 1885 census for birth record for my grand dad and his marriage certificate. I also have the record from the old family bible showing his parents and the birth, marriage and death of all their kids. Census records for 1860, 1870, 1880. Great Grandparents - I found a Marriage cert for them in 1868 and death record and census records for 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880. So far so good. Now I am waiting for mail. I am wondering if the Barefoot Mailman is delivering our mail. For those of you who do not know, the Barefoot Mailman delivered the first U.S. mail between in Palm Beach, Florida to Miami. He use to walk on the beach with no shoes or traveled by boat because there were no roads in 1885 when mail service was established. The total round trip route took 6 days and covered 136 miles. So now I wait for the current mail to arrive.
DAY SEVEN
I am still waiting for the mail. Was it lost? I wonder if my mom will let me call and check to see if they actually put the records in the mail. Nope, there is not a chance of that happening. I continue to write my report and sort through my notes. Waiting is terrible for a 15 year old. Back in those dark ages we did not watch tv so we read books or heaven forbid, actually talked to your siblings or parents. Me..... I talked more to my grand dad to see if his memory got any better and a few more stories came out for me to fill in the missing parts of the whole family picture. I found out the my grandmothers father lived with them after his wife dropped dead at a train station in Richmond Virginia. Richmond is where my grandmother was born. He also said my grandmother was married before she married him. Her husband went out to the store one day and was never heard from again, and that my Uncle Snooks (I do not know why they called him Snooks as his name was Ayers) was the son of my grandmother and her first husband a Ed Hoffman. He also told me that grandmother and their only son was buried in Waycross, GA and that his parents died in Nashville, TN and were both buried in cemetery there. He also said he was one of 8 or 9 kids. He could not remember exactly because he was the last one living now but several of the kids born before him had also died before he was born, so the number of children he was unsure of.
I know you are dying to know WHAT HAPPENED.........................................
Well that day, as I rode the Bus home I tried to take stock in what I actually knew about my family. to tell you the truth, NOT MUCH. I knew or thought I knew we were a family of the deep South. I knew my brother and myself were born in Florida and my 2 sisters were born in Georgia. I actually knew my mother was born in Alabama but no idea about where my father was born. Time for some answers. I walk in the house and yell MOM I need some answers. She is looking at me like "What are you yelling about" you all know that look... every mother as it ... Well I proceed to tell her about the history contest. I finally got it laid out for her and she starts by telling me that she doesn't know that much either. She confirmed what I already had, gave me both my birth certificates and hers. She tells me about my dad and she thought the contest would probably be based on her family because although my dad was born in Pittsburgh, PA, his mother was born in Canada in about 1904 and her parents were Belgian. I call my dad to check out the facts and sure enough his mother was born in Quebec in 1905 and her parents came from Belgium to Canada in 1904 and later came to the United States around 1912. My mom had long since divorced my dad and said she did not remember which town in Georgia they were married. I got out the map and looked at the counties in Georgia that was closest to Jacksonville, Florida because that is where they lived. I called the county and BINGO yes they were married there in 1952. Please send copy. YIPEEEEE I am excited and my search is off and running. I now concentrate on my maternal side of the family.
Next generation is my mothers parents. My grandmother had died when I was about 3 years old so my grand dad was next on my list. Since he is living with us, I had a captive person to interview. My grand dad was pretty old by this time (not knowing that he would be gone in 2 more years). He also starts by saying he does not know much. He tells me he was born in 1883 in Lawrence, Kansas and that some outlaw gang had burnt down the courthouse in Douglas Co, Kansas so he did not have a birth certificate. Oh, what am I going to do now. He tells me his parents were Joseph and Sarah and they were married in Boone, Iowa but was unsure of the exact date but should have been around the time when Minnie, his oldest sister was born. this is not looking good. I had never even heard of a Great Aunt called Minnie before. He tells me that his Dad was born in Vincennes, Ripley Co, Indiana and was a railroad engineer and a Methodist circuit minister and he didn't know where his mother was worn. Grand dad and my grandmother were married in Thomasville, GA in 1919 and that in his papers was a marriage certificate. OKAY time for a trip to the LDS Library.
DAY TWO
Saturday is a fine day to go to the LDS library. Not many people here. The woman running the library is very helpful when I tell her why I am there and shows me how to work the microfilm and microfisch readers. She also takes me into their computer room where this big scary machine is and tells me that this will be my friend. She will help me when I need to use the Computer.
She pulls all the films and fisches for Boone Iowa and then looked for Vincennes..... Vincennes is NOT in Ripley Co but there is a Versailles in Ripley Co. GOOD ENOUGH. the LDS has records and I find the 1870 census in Boone Iowa that has my great grandmother Sarah A Courtney living with a S.S. a Assessor and Melissa SCOTT. There is no Joseph living with them. The date of the census was 1 month before my grandfathers oldest sister was born. I continue to search and living in a boarding house was my Joseph a railroad engineer in Cass Co Iowa. the LDS lady says she thinks the S.S. and Melissa were the parents of Sarah and she went home to have her first baby and her husband Joseph was on a train run. We search for more records. We find more census records, 1880 census Joseph and Addie (grand dad said his mother was called Addie, probably because her middle name was Adelaide). We find a marriage record for Sarah SCOTT and Joseph Courtenay in 1868 in Boone Iowa and was agreed to by Sarah's father Samuel Stewart Scott. YIPEEEEE we are on a roll. Next we look at death records for cemeteries in Boone County and we again hit the jackpot. There is a S.S. Scott who died there, born in NY in 1812 NY and died in Boone 1890 and next to him is a Melissa Scott born in NY in 1823 and died in 1905. OK time for looking on the big scary computer. With help we look up the LDS film for Boone Co death records and we find a copy of the recorded death journal and listed is a Samuel Stewart Scott. He died of Cancer in 1890. He was born in Saratoga Co, New York in 1812. We look for census records for Samuel S Scott with a wife Melissa. YIPEEEE 1870 and 1880 they were in Boone Co Iowa. 1860 they were in Saratoga Co, NY with Sarah A age 11. 1850 S.S. and Melissa in Saratoga Co, NY with Sarah age 1. We are on a roll. LDS helper says she is sure Kansas did a state census, so we look and we see they did a census in 1885. She pulls out the microfilm and we find a J.H. Courtnay age 39, wife Sarah age 36, Minnie F age 14, Walden H age 11, Eddie J age 7, Arthur E. (my grandfather) age 2. I now have a birth record for my grandfather. Oh my goodness, my mother is here to pick me up and I have been researching ALL DAY. I am a big chatter box on the way back home as my finds come pouring out. I think my mom was glad when I went to bed.
DAY THREE
Not much can be done on Sunday. We went to church, home again to fix the normal big Sunday dinner. I escape to start writing my report and to make notes and things to do.
DAY FOUR
Monday comes and I am excite to get to school, oh no school is back in lock down again. They are sending the students home because of a bomb threat.
Police with dogs are all over the school. My turn to call my mom to pick us up, she come but I have her take me back to the LDS but I have to find my own way home. NO problem. As I was getting out of the car she says... Hey Bill my stepdad called Saratoga Co Historical Society for me and he has a bunch of information coming in the mail for me, but to do more research in Saratoga Co, NY. So in the LDS I go to look for SCOTT families in that county. WOW there are a bunch. I find a S.S. Scott on a 1840 census and a Samuel S on the 1830 census. I am hating that the early census records do not list everyone by name that are in the family. I move to the scary computer again. I punch in Scott + William + Lewis + Samuel + all the other Scotts listed and record after record after record came popping out. Well it seems the town reocrds for Greenfield, Saratoga Co, NY has a ton of information on my SCOTT family. It seems William Scott was one of the founding fathers for Greenfield NY. He was mason of the highest order. He was a Revolutionary War patriot. THIS is what I am looking for. I am starting to fall in love with the big scary computer but that is another story. OH NO it is 4 and I missed my ride home. I stayed too late and now have to walk, jog, run home. Off I go, 8 miles, geez my book bag is heavy but I am happy with my research. I arrive with not a minute to spare and my mom is fussing and my stepdad is shaking his head. I go collapse on my bed. Several hours later my mom wakes me up to say I missed dinner and to come eat and go back to bed. Now I am wide awake and want my dad to tell me what he found. NO I have to wait for the records to come in the mail but he is smiling. I head back to bed.
DAY FIVE
No time for research, we have to make up the lost time at school so homework is piled on us. Why is it when you are dog tired when you are in Phy Ed they want you to run laps and do the Presidents Phy Fitness thing. You guys remember the President's Phy Fitness Award?
DAY SIX
I meet with my American History teacher and tell her what I have found and what records she wants as proof. I have to prove the connection to each generation if I want to win the contest, this will be no small feat. I currently have Myself - birth Certificate, Parents - I have my mom's birth cert and her marriage cert. Grandparents - I have that 1885 census for birth record for my grand dad and his marriage certificate. I also have the record from the old family bible showing his parents and the birth, marriage and death of all their kids. Census records for 1860, 1870, 1880. Great Grandparents - I found a Marriage cert for them in 1868 and death record and census records for 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880. So far so good. Now I am waiting for mail. I am wondering if the Barefoot Mailman is delivering our mail. For those of you who do not know, the Barefoot Mailman delivered the first U.S. mail between in Palm Beach, Florida to Miami. He use to walk on the beach with no shoes or traveled by boat because there were no roads in 1885 when mail service was established. The total round trip route took 6 days and covered 136 miles. So now I wait for the current mail to arrive.
DAY SEVEN
I am still waiting for the mail. Was it lost? I wonder if my mom will let me call and check to see if they actually put the records in the mail. Nope, there is not a chance of that happening. I continue to write my report and sort through my notes. Waiting is terrible for a 15 year old. Back in those dark ages we did not watch tv so we read books or heaven forbid, actually talked to your siblings or parents. Me..... I talked more to my grand dad to see if his memory got any better and a few more stories came out for me to fill in the missing parts of the whole family picture. I found out the my grandmothers father lived with them after his wife dropped dead at a train station in Richmond Virginia. Richmond is where my grandmother was born. He also said my grandmother was married before she married him. Her husband went out to the store one day and was never heard from again, and that my Uncle Snooks (I do not know why they called him Snooks as his name was Ayers) was the son of my grandmother and her first husband a Ed Hoffman. He also told me that grandmother and their only son was buried in Waycross, GA and that his parents died in Nashville, TN and were both buried in cemetery there. He also said he was one of 8 or 9 kids. He could not remember exactly because he was the last one living now but several of the kids born before him had also died before he was born, so the number of children he was unsure of.
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