Very popular among first names chosen for today's millennials are variations of the name Kyle; i.e., Kayla, Kylie, Kylan, and obviously, Kyle. It just so happens that branches of my family were among the first to receive the name Kyle, but as a family surname. The "Kyle" surname is of Scottish and Northern Irish origin … Continue reading “What’s In A Name…”
family origins
Ancestors, Life, and Other Stuff
As I sit here today, eight years last week since my first blog post, I am reflecting back across 366 stories that I wrote about "stuff". And, this past weekend at church the message to parishioners was about "stuff."It strikes me that I had initially so very little information about my ancestors beyond my maternal … Continue reading Ancestors, Life, and Other Stuff
What’s All This Fuss About a Groundhog Named Phil and Punx’a’what?
Our local Calvert County weather forecast for Friday, calls for a mostly cloudy day, which in Groundhog Day terms means if Punxsutawney Phil were here with us locally he wouldn't see his shadow and we would see an early Spring instead of six more weeks on Winter! Wel, guess what? Punxsutawney's forecast also calls for … Continue reading What’s All This Fuss About a Groundhog Named Phil and Punx’a’what?
Back From the Future – Part 2
A Quote from the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, June 2014: Christopher Columbus never reached the shores of the North American Continent, but European explorers learned three things from him: there was someplace to go, there was a way to get there, and most importantly, there was a way to get back. Thus began the European exploration of … Continue reading Back From the Future – Part 2
Boling, Texas: ZIPcode 77420
In light of many historical and genealogical examples, I couldn't help but associate Ford, Morris, Wharton, and Boling families with Wharton County's Boling, Texas! Among Google Books, I found “Virginia Cousins,” which placed the Texas Whartons and Bolings among my paternal great-grandparents of Virginia. Genealogists found and transcribed an old collection of verbatim wills in … Continue reading Boling, Texas: ZIPcode 77420
More Than a Few Names or Mere Numbers
As an addendum to this week's post What's In a Name?, I revised my Surname Report in Family Tree Maker™. This report shows that our family's tree (including my spouse's family) has 10,772 persons in it. Of those persons (living and dead), 52 percent of them are male; making my database's percentage of males three percentage points higher than the … Continue reading More Than a Few Names or Mere Numbers
You Little Dickens!
My mom has told me a story about my relationship with my Cherokee maternal great-grandmother, Mary Susan Morris Ford, ever since I was old enough to talk. Unfortunately, I was only 14 months old when Grandma Susan passed at 73 years old. The story goes like this. My great-grandmother went to sleep one night and when she … Continue reading You Little Dickens!
The Family “Do You Know” Scale
Yesterday's post Family Stories that Bind Us included a few family questions from Emory University's Do You Know Scale. Below are all the questions asked within Emory's study. I'm going to try them out on my family and see just how much we have communicated our stories among the generations--and their different spins on the information. … Continue reading The Family “Do You Know” Scale
Family Stories that Bind Us
Often when I have writer's block, I take time out to read what others are writing about or I simply google a theme that I have in mind. And, today, I discovered the "This Life" column that appears monthly in the Sunday Styles Section of the New York Times. The article "Family Stories that Bind Us," … Continue reading Family Stories that Bind Us
FORESTVILLE–1700′s to 1900′s
Tucked away in the basement of the Greenbelt Public Library in the old town of Greenbelt on 11 Crescent Avenue, is a single room packed to the brim with historical information within the collections of the Frederick S. DeMarr Library of County History. It was here, among the many shelves of old documents, books, maps, newspapers, and … Continue reading FORESTVILLE–1700′s to 1900′s
Bi-racial Relationships of the 60’s–the 1860’s!
The Year 1868 Last week my genealogical research took me back to my second paternal great-grandfather, Lawrence T. "Larl" Boling. I already knew that Larl married Sarah Elizabeth "Bettie" Tapp in Fredericksburg, Virginia, but when I looked more closely I found that their wedding took place just one week before Christmas 1868--that was the Christmas day when our … Continue reading Bi-racial Relationships of the 60’s–the 1860’s!
Irish-American Heritage Month: March 2014
DNA Test Reveals 10% Irish Ancestry From my ancestry.com DNA report--A Look Into My Irish Ancestry - Primarily in Ireland, Wales, Scotland, but some lived in France, and England: I guess the DNA results that revealed my blood lineage as 10 percent Irish, allow me to legitimately wear green today to honor my Irish heritage. Ireland, … Continue reading Irish-American Heritage Month: March 2014
What’s All This Fuss About a Groundhog Named Phil and Punx’a’what?
From my May 26, 2013, blog post, Busted "Brick Wall" Reveals More "Chambers" "…So again yesterday morning, I decided to start over once more with basic research techniques for the elusive Chambers within our family's ancestors. Among my review of earlier research and findings of Frank Maynard Chambers, through my contacts with the Las Vegas Bunker … Continue reading What’s All This Fuss About a Groundhog Named Phil and Punx’a’what?
My Family of Secrets
This morning, I received an alert about a new comment to a post of May 24, 2013, on my blog site (joannedi.wordpress.com), “My Family of Secrets.” The subject post tells the story, as I know it, of my paternal grandparents Helen Louise Chambers and Jesse Burton Boling and their parents Frank Maynard Chambers and Lottie Taylor.
And much to my surprise this morning, the best Christmas present of 2013 arrived online at my site. From a great uncle, Maynard, that I never knew existed was a message that knocked down several more bricks from my Chambers family genealogical wall. It seems as my post alluded to in May, that Frank Maynard Chambers, in fact, did father additional children after he relocated to Las Vegas. Maynard advises that he is the eldest of three and that he has two sisters. So, my grandmother, Helen Chambers, who died before I was born, was actually the first of four children fathered by Frank Maynard Chambers. In my great excitement I quickly responded back to Maynard to say, “definitely, yes, I’d like to exchange stories and to learn more.” I next went to FaceBook and easy as that, I found Maynard’s page. I can’t wait to explore more and share the unfolding saga as it happens. So, stay with me, folks, there will be more that follows.
Helen Louise Chambers Boling (1 Jul 1911 – 16 Mar 1944) My Paternal Great Grandmother:
| Obituary On Thursday, March 16, 1944, at Baltimore, MD., Helen L. Boling, the wife of Jessie Boling, mother of Frank, Dolores and Barbara Boling and daughter of Frank and Lottie Chambers. Services at the Chambers funeral home, 517 11th st. se., on Wednesday, March 22, at 1 p.m. Interment Columbia Gardens Cemetery. Washington Post (1877-1954) Mar 23, 1944; page 12 |
| Burial: Columbia Gardens Cemetery Arlington Arlington County Virginia, USA |
I expect this post will be one of my more personal and difficult to write. There remain many blanks to my paternal grandmother’s (Helen Louise Chambers Boling) life that we cannot fill in and some of the answers we have found aren’t what we had hoped for by any means. Helen was estranged from her family and living in Baltimore City, Maryland, when in March 1944…
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More Perspectives Into Our Southern Ancestry
Since its founding in 1845, the New England Historic Genealogical Society has been helping its members to research, record, and tell their own unique family stories. The following story was published in the American Ancestor Magazine in April 1986 and lends yet another perspective into my southern ancestry. I have added some sketches, pictures, maps, … Continue reading More Perspectives Into Our Southern Ancestry
Mother of the Modern Hospice Movement: Rose Hawthorne Lathrop/Mother Mary Alphonsa
Here's yet another story of our Lathrop family lineage that adds to our long and growing list of notables... It further exhibits their societal/cultural status as well as their talents and gifts for writing, painting, illustrating, and their lifelong philanthropic dedication and commitment. Rose Hawthorne Founder of the Servants of Relief for Incurable Cancer (1851-1926) … Continue reading Mother of the Modern Hospice Movement: Rose Hawthorne Lathrop/Mother Mary Alphonsa
Our 28th President, His First Lady Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, Pocahontas, and Me
In Celebration of November - Native American History Month President Woodrow Wilson - husband of my 3rd paternal cousin Edith Bolling Galt Wilson Edith Bolling Galt Wilson was the 35th First Lady of the White House. President Wilson's daughter, Margaret Woodrow Wilson served as First Lady for a brief period following the death of President Wilson's … Continue reading Our 28th President, His First Lady Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, Pocahontas, and Me
…Back to Ole’ Virginny
Although we are officially two weeks into the 2013 Fall Season today (October 3), it is yet another day in a string of unseasonably warm ones with brilliant blue skies, bright sunshine, blossoming flowers, mostly green trees, and temperatures rising again into the mid-80's. What an opportunity to 'Saisir le jour,' as the French would … Continue reading …Back to Ole’ Virginny
The Taylor’s of Culpeper, Virginia (1877-1945)
William Frazier TAYLOR, Jr. William Frazier Taylor, Jr., was my great grand uncle and brother to my paternal great-grandmother, Lottie L. Taylor Chambers. (It's uncanny, my brother John's son, Matthew Burton Boling, four generations later, is the spitting image of William as he appeared in the image on the left.) When William was born on … Continue reading The Taylor’s of Culpeper, Virginia (1877-1945)
The Tudors and Taylors: My British Connection
The Tudors Two years ago, we watched on Netflix, almost incessantly, 38 streamed episodes of Showtime TV's monumental, award-winning series The Tudors. The Tudors originally aired from April 1, 2007, to June 10, 2010. It starred the 35-year-old Golden Globe award-winning Irish actor, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, (2nd from left in the photo), and this year's 30-year-old, British born actor, Man … Continue reading The Tudors and Taylors: My British Connection
Our Unbounded Heritage: 12th Century & Beyond 