Missionary on Horseback–Key Builder of a Nation

In the past, many of my blog posts have focused on my ancient British relatives and their descendents from the Boling/Bolling/Bowling, Chambers, and Taylor branches on my paternal side, to the Lathrop/Lowthropp and Ford families on my maternal side. Geographically,  all of these families resided primarily on the east coast in the earliest colonies--from North Carolina …

ISO Family Athletes and Olympians

Origin of the Olympic Games The Olympic Games began in ancient Greece about 3,000 years ago.   From the 8th century B.C. to the 4th century A.D., the Games were held every four years in Olympia, in Southern Greece's western peninsula, Peloponnese.  The Games honored the Greek God Zeus, who was the god of the sky and ruler of …

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, …

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 …

My Family of Secrets

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. …

Pipers Piping, Ladies Dancing, and Lords a Leaping

And we’re off to Scotland in our ‘Reflections of the past and mirrors to the future…’ It’s a wee country, full of contradictions and BIG surprises!  In Scotland, you can… See tiny, stone cottages nestled at the foot of huge, rugged mountains Watch ominous steel-grey clouds part suddenly to reveal vivid blue skies and bright sunshine Look …