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

Pilgrims and Indians sat down to a feast peacefully around this time of the year in Plymouth, Massachusetts in the early 1600s as the "first" Thanksgiving. According to a letter from Plymouth colonist Edward Winslow dated December 11, 1621, the colonists wanted to celebrate their first good crop of corn and barley grown with generous …

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

I gathered the following information from Plymouth's Governor William Bradford's Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation, 1606-1646, The Human Tradition in the Atlantic World, 1500–1850, and https://history.howstuffworks.com.  America's first murderer, his victim, and his execution are revealed in these histories: My 12th paternal great-grandfather, John Billington, was a Mayflower pilgrim.  As one of the 41 signers …

“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 …

Celebrating Our Family’s Men on This Father’s Day

Our daughter reminded me that my nearly 500 posts over these past 10 years have failed to describe our family's men's occupations.  Our men first migrated from Europe to America, many of them among the first voyagers to Virginia or on the Mayflower that landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts.  They were well-educated and used their intellectual …

Play Fair

In the early 1970’s the women’s rights movement was recognized as the “second wave” of feminism. Every aspect of women's lives, including work, family, and sexuality were included in this movement.  However, not everyone was on board with this equal rights for women’s evolution. In fact, some of the fathers and coaches on our Catholic …

A Caring and Adventurous Heart

Nineteen months after the birth of our first son, Bobby, we welcomed Jeff into the world. Bobby was a happy, contented, and quiet baby. Jeff, by contrast, had a temperament that proved his personality was larger than life. He weighed 7 pounds, 12 ounces, and measured 21 inches long when he was born in 1968. …

Forgotten Mulberry Island

On the north shore of the James River, 20 miles west of the Chesapeake Bay, the marshy plains of Mulberry Island rise above the gentle tide. Actually a peninsula bound by the James and Warwick Rivers. Mulberry Island is a picturesque fixture of Virginia’s Tidewater region whose natural beauty is enriched by thousands of years …

From My Family Tree–

Founding Father Fables & Folklore I received three gifts from the Ages of Enlightenment (1700-1800) and Reform(1830-1850).  My family tree revealed that I am descended from three distinguished founding fathers -- our first, third, and 12th presidents: George Washington (1732-1799) My 6th paternal great-granduncle was Virginia's Robert Bolling IV. His wife, Sally Washington, was the …