Our Friends, Family, Feelings, and Future

I'm sitting at my computer on a chilly Sunday afternoon feeling rather dispirited in a season where we should rejoice the almighty and gather with family and friends for quality times. Playing in the background as I write, I'm listening to 8 HOURS ✰ Christmas FIREPLACE ✰ ACOUSTIC GUITAR ♫ ☆ Christmas Music Instrumental. With …

Archives And Old Newspapers Speak Volumes About Ancestors

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day To Our McDaniel Clan! I discovered a timely treasure trove of ancestry hints and vintage newspaper clippings while researching my family's history. The path that opened up to me was too tempting to pass up. The Scottish-Irish McDaniel family line of my son-in-law Brian goes back to his 10th Great-Grandfather, Sorley …

The Origin Of Our 59-Year Romance

I met Bob Dickinson on Tuesday, September 15, 1964, (a leap year), one week into my senior year at Suitland High School. I remember this date well because it was the day I started my first job behind the soda fountain at People's Drug Store (now CVS), located in Forestville's Penn Mar Shopping Center. Then, …

“We Do Not Remember Days, We Remember Moments”

On January 30th, we celebrated our son-in-law's 50th birthday! Yet another instance of moments in our lives passing too quickly. Our daughter, Jennifer, first introduced Brian to us 31 years ago. Our introduction to Brian's father, Bill, (who was 50 years old when Brian was born), gives way to an amusing story. Jennifer's dad, Bob …

Some Days The Spirit Just Moves Me!

This was one of those days.  At church, we are diving deep into the short (5 chapters) but important epistle of James, written sometime between 50 and 60 A.D.  James was the half-brother of Jesus,  son of Mary and Joseph, and the brother of Joseph, Simon, and Judas. James does not identify himself by name, …

STORIES FOR OUR CHILDREN

My maternal grandparents showed me unconditional love and support as a child. In my role as historian and matriarch of our family, I am also committed to helping the next generations understand who they are and how they fit into a chaotic and callous world. My children’s books are intended to help our children learn …

11th great-grandfather John Rolfe died 401 years ago.

Yesterday (March 22, 2023), marked the 401st anniversary of the death of my 11th great-grandfather, America's first entrepreneur, John Rolfe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlej6LLpU6Q&t=1s This video produced by Native American History covers events since the founding of Jamestown in 1607 in the English Colony of Virginia and Powhatan Confederacy territory until the Jamestown massacre of 1622. It shows …

Love and Respect–Our Family’s Cycle

In the Old Testament's book of Genesis, Noah was the tenth and last of the biblical patriarchs. He was chosen by God as the only righteous man of his time and is known infamously as the hero of the Flood story (2,000-10,000 BCE). The name Noah peaked in 2016 when nearly 20,000 newborn babies were …

Lawrence T. “Larl” Boling – 1838-1910: The Wounded Soldier

The records I am reviewing today are those of my second great-grandfather, Lawrence T. “Larl” Boling/Bowling, born on May 26, 1838, in Chancellorsville, Virginia (about ten miles west of Fredericksburg). In my two previous posts, “Wild Times in "The Wilderness" of Spotsylvania - December 18, 2020, and "The Battle of Wilderness Farm - May 5-7, …

Hungry For History

I just love it when local history pops up before me. Who knew that since 2008 Smith Island Cake has been Maryland's official state dessert? And today, this cake is being awarded a grant from the William G. Pomeroy Foundation through the Hungry for History Program that will fund a historic sign marker for it. …

Elderly Parents Say The Darndest Things

I posted the following scenario to Facebook on November 16, 2016, and decided it so typified the humor my parents shared with others that I am compelled to capture it in my blog about our family’s heritage. When caring for the elderly (our Matriarch and Patriarch who were 88 and 89 at the time), I …

We Start And End With Family, No Matter What Changes

After 75 years of family festivities, we missed our family's Christmas Day celebration. COVID had not even kept us apart. However, one share of pie before the big day sickened us, our family’s Matriarch and Patriarch, so we wouldn't risk possibly infecting others with our presence. In the past decades, however, the world has seen …

My Children’s Books Page Launches Here

It might have crossed your mind that I had stopped blogging.  Not at all.  Through my blog's stories that provide mirrors to the future, I have been reflecting on the past and looking forward.  With the end of 2022 closing in on us, I also have been searching for data about bloggers and blog readers. …

Celebrating America’s Veterans On This Day!

Our family's men after the colonial days became fighters in the Revolutionary, Civil, 1812, and yes, even the Indian Wars between 1850-1890). My maternal great-grandfather, John Carpenter Ford, was born January 15, 1864, (a Capricorn like myself), in Wake County, North Carolina (a Confederate state) in the midst of the American Civil War. According to …

Our First Thanksgiving in Plymouth (1575-1653)

Pilgrims and Indians celebrated the first Thanksgiving in Plymouth, Massachusetts in the early 1600s. Puritans fled England and Holland during the American Civil War, and Abraham Lincoln created the holiday in 1863 to practice their religion freely. The colonists wanted to celebrate their first good harvest of corn and barley harvested with generous assistance from …

Writer And Adventurer -I’m Still Going Strong!

I have authored three children's books since my last post here, and two of them have been released. My first book "If Only I Was Special" is about a little dog named Hashbrown, who has forgotten he is unique. His wish-filled quest for specialness is vividly illustrated in colorful images. My second book, "Hi I'm …

Uncommonly Close

This picture is not of our boys and their uncles, but it reminds me of some of their adventures and escapades. They were, in fact, uncommonly close like a band of brothers. They explored abandoned areas, on dares from neighbors, they walked on gutters across our roof, made their own backyard fires, and built forts …

Early Cocky (AKA Cocke) Emigrates To Virginia

In seventeenth Century Henrico County, Virginia’s most powerful families were the Randolphs, Cockes, Eppses, and Byrds. Research shows them all among my ancestors.   In fact, Lieutenant Colonel Richard Cocke (13 Dec.1597- 4 Oct 1665), was my paternal 10th great-grandfather. He was a graduate of Caius (sounds like “keys”) College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England. …

America’s First Murderer – 1582-1684

This article is based on William Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation, 1606-1646, The Human Tradition in the Atlantic World, 1500-1850, and https://history.howstuffworks.com.  This history tells the story of America's first murderer, his victim, and his execution. John Billington, my 12th paternal great-grandfather, was a Mayflower pilgrim.  One of the 41 signers of the Mayflower Compact, he …

“Othering”

The following post was written by my eldest grandson, Joe, whose 35th birthday we celebrate tomorrow. Joe is an upstanding family man and all-around good guy. Besides being well-read, he is well educated, thinks deeply, and enjoys in depth discussions and debates. The following is an example of Joe's perceptive thinking and deductions on the …

My Cousins Declare America’s Independence

Many Americans take for granted our annual July 4th Independence Day.  While working in my genealogical databases, I came across the name of John A. Hancock, a familiar name from America's history.  I decided to compare our family's John Hancock (my second cousin, seven times removed), to the list of 56 signers of the Declaration of …