America’s Red Summer – 1919

As I continue to dig more deeply into my family's history, I am learning more about their life and times.  Today I received more leads and resources from the National Archives and The Wake County Historical Society.  I hope these help me find my third maternal great-grandfather, Henry Ford, who was from Wake County, North …

My Heritage: A View From The “Great” American Indian Wars

My post of January 12, 2013, mentioned my maternal great-grandfather, John Carpenter Ford, from Wake County, Raleigh, North Carolina.  John's U.S. Army Enlistment Records of August 14, 1888, show his date of birth as January 15, 1864, which would have been just one year before "The 'Great' American Indian Wars began (1865-1890). His enlistment record …

Addicted to Genealogy

For the Love of a Dear Sister After many years as an Ancestry.com (the world's largest online history resource) subscriber and enthusiastic supporter, I went looking for a similar but free resource for a friend of 40 years (who's like or better than a biological sister to me) who has never been consumed like me by …

Coincidence or Destiny?

Census records from 1870-1900 reveal that my maternal great grandfather, John Carpenter Ford (1864-1961)--one of the last of 2 survivors of 19th Century Indian Wars and infantryman of Company D., 17th Infantry--was born and raised just off of Forestville Road in Forestiville, NC --known since the beginning of the 20th century as Wake Forest. In 1960, nearly …

Native Americans, White People, and Scottish-Irish Emigrate to North Carolina

Native Americans A recent blog post focused on my maternal great-grandmother Mary Susan MORRIS's family--our Native American heritage through the Morris branch--and the freshly fallen bricks of a wall I had been up against for years. White People Not abandoning this wall, but continuing on, I returned to my maternal great-grandfather--Grandmother Susan's husband, John Carpenter Ford's (1864-1961) family. Similarly, I found …

Our Native American Heritage–A Follow On

 My post just a few days ago focused on our Native American heritage and the tribes who resided along the borders of the Chesapeake Bay. In my April 24, 2014, and December 3, 2012, posts we looked at our paternal Pocahontas ancestry--First Lady Edith Bolling Galt Wilson (my third cousin), and our lineage to Pocahontas …

Remembering Loved Ones for Their Military Services

Home of the Brave About 1-1/2 years ago, I wrote a blog post From Everyday Moments May Come Precious Memories where I noted my feelings, ties, and respect for my mom's grandfather, John Carpenter Ford; her parents, Robert Gideon and Loretta Ford; and her brother, my uncle, John Austin Ford.  The Ford family was intricately involved with me in …

From Everyday Moments May Come Precious Memories

My Times with Four Generations of Our Ford Family in Maryland: 1947-1968 Following a restless sleep in which Childhood stories and memories kept creeping into my mind, I felt compelled to write them down for sharing with others before these memories get lost forever in the chaos of everyday life. Much of the following are …