Fun with Search Terms

It's time for another round of "Fun with Search Terms!" People type certain words or phrases into search engines. If the combination is right, my blog turns up in the search results. Sometimes the searches are funny. Sometimes I can provide more information to users, if only they'd comment on my blog. Either way, I enjoy the process. Please note that these searches are anonymous so I don't know who is stumbling on my blog. I just comment in the hope that they find it again.

Now on with the show. Actual search phrases are in bold.

ancestry libraries in Houston
I'm going to interpret this to mean you are looking for libraries in the Houston area that hold genealogy materials. The Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research is the obvious answer, but don't forget to check out the Conroe branch of the Montgomery County Library System. The George Library in Ft. Bend and Rosenberg Library in Galveston also have historical materials. I've also found good stuff at the Woodson Research Center, Houston Metropolitan Research Center and the Central Branch of the Houston Public Library where newspapers (and obituaries) are held.

cameron parish civil war memorial louisiana

Cameron Parish Courthouse

Here it is. I took photos of it including most of the names on it, and the World War II panels to each side. You know what else? People that contact me and ask nicely get those photos with their ancestors' names on them. Keep it in mind for next time.


grandma was in DAR, am i?
No. However, if your grandmother was in Daughters of the American Revolution, your path to qualify might be easier than others. Usually you have to prove (with a whole bunch of documentation) your direct relationship to a patriot. If your grandmother provided appropriate documentation for her application, you might only have to prove your relationship to grandma (or so I've been told by several DAR members as I have the same situation as you do). Consult your local DAR chapter for guidance on exactly what you need to begin the process and attain membership.

How to join genealogy societies
Show up. Bring a checkbook. If you want to join a society as a distance member or in an area where you don't live, register online or send in the appropriate forms and funds. Easy peasy.

best genealogist houston, texas
Yes. This search string leads right to this blog. My evil plan is working.

marriage of noel h thibodeaux and josephine bourgaux in Louisiana
noel thibodeaux and wife josephine b
noel thibodeaux and eliz eldridge married
I have information on all of this for both my great-grandparents and great-great grandparents. It's too bad you didn't contact me.

family tree for william minor quesenbury
Sorry, but family history isn't that easy. This is the point in the Quesenbury research where it gets challenging to go back further, so you thought the internets would just drop a complete family tree from the sky. That's not how it works. This is the point where you find my blog and see that William Minor Quesenbury/Quesenberry is my 4th great-grandfather. You are supposed to contact me. We have a friendly exchange and work together to fill in the Quesenbury line. That's how it works. Or you could just search "someone do my family history for me" on the Google. Know what happens when you do that? NO QUESENBERRY FOR YOU. Good day, sir.


That's all, folks! Go forth and genealogize.

P.S. I created a tag called Fun with Search Terms. Now you can read the whole series! Or not.

Stealing Time With the Williamsons

Life is really busy right now, so I don't have the time to take a "personal genealogy day" like I used to do every now and then. When someone pays for my services, his or her family tree gets priority and my time...which is as it should be.

However, I always get a little bummed when my own genealogy is neglected for a long time. My solution is to steal an hour here or there for my own research.

This weekend, I was able to find three hours over two days.

My research focus was on my Williamson line, specifically the children of my third great-grandparents John Laurens Williamson (1811-1862) and Susan Quesenberry (1823-1892). Their oldest daughter Ann Williamson (1849-1889) married Alva Russell, from the family for which Russellville, Arkansas was named.

Ann and Alva had a daughter Alberta Russell who married John Hudelson Ganner. Apparently, Mr. Ganner was the town photographer in Russellville. The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville has an impressive collection of Ganner's images, many of them featuring my ancestors as subjects. I need to see that collection at some point.

I used my three hours of personal time to research the children of Alberta Russell and John Ganner. Thanks to the availability of Arkansas marriage records at FamilySearch, I was able to reverse research this family well into the 20th century.

It felt really good to make some progress on my own research. I'm planning a family history trip to Arkansas this summer, so getting all my Arkansas roots in order is a priority.

Now I've just finished a long day of researching someone else's family. The cat is fed, the kid is fed, and there's still a few hours left in this day. Maybe I can steal another couple hours to spend with my Williamson family tree.

What about you? When things get busy, do you still make some time for the genealogy research you enjoy? Because you should...

Naming Names

Craig at GeneaBlogie had the wise notion to publicize the names he was searching and see if anyone else knows something about them. This is a great idea. I can't believe I never did it before, but I'm posting them here now:

Baerecke, Barecke (WI, IL)
Bean (TN, AR)
Bourgaux, Bourgeaux (Acadia Parish LA, Gilly Belgium)
Bourland (KY, TX, OK)
Brauckman (Germany)
Brigance (TN, AR)
Brigham (TN, AR)
Clingman (AR)
Cloyd (TN, VA)
Colbert (Chickasaw, Indian Territory, OK, MS)
Degreve (LA, Belgium)
Eldridge (St. Landry LA, Milan County TX, KY)
Hood (KY, TX)
Howorth, Howarth (SC, TX)
Jones (Chickasaw, TX, NC, OK, Indian Territory)
Jost (Austria, PA)
Legoffe (France, LA)
Lenertz (IA in 1850's, MN, Luxembourg)
Lockweiler (poss. Luxembourg)
Menou (Acadia Parish, LA, France)
Moore (MS, OK, Indian Territory)
Mitchell (NC, AR)
Neilson (NC, TX)
Perkins (KY, TX, LA)
Quesenberry, Quesenbury (AR, NC)
Shokweiler (poss. Luxembourg)
Shukeveiler (or something like it)
Smith (LeSueur MN)
Sparks (AR, poss. TN)
Tate (NC, AR)
Thibodeaux (Acadia & St. Landry Parishes LA)
Turk, Tuerk (Germany)
Williamson (AR, TN)
Yost (PA, Austria)

Ok, now I have to use the word "genealogy" so search engines will pick it up and people searching for Eldridge genealogy or such will land on this blog.

My challenges are as follows:

Any indication of a Baerecke or Barecke in Chicago in 1892.
A death date for H. H. Baerecke/Barecke.
An idea of what H. H. stands for (I think it's Harry from WI but have no proof.)

Information on the following Lenertz's all born in the 1800's:
Alex Lenertz
Alexander Lenertz
Catherine Lenertz
Frank Lenertz
Henry Lenertz
John Lenertz
Joseph Lenertz
Margaret Lenertz
Mary Lenertz
Michael Lenertz
William Lenertz

Also in search of information on the Pierre Thibodeaux born in Louisiana in 1829, not the one born in 1835.

If you have any information on these folks, or you need more clarification, please email me using the email address provided in the right column of this blog.

An Irreparable Loss: The Obituary of Susan Quesenberry Williamson

Susan Quesenberry was my great-great-great grandmother. She had six children, one of whom was William Woodberry Williamson. Her parents were William Minor Quesenberry (1777-1851) and Elizabeth Ann Bean (1787-1857). Susan was the eighth of ten children.

For my family members keeping track, Susan Quesenberry was Sam Williamson's grandmother.

Below is her obituary as it appeared in the Russellville, Arkansas paper in 1892:

Mrs. Susan Williamson was born in Tennessee, April 23, 1823 and died Jan. 20, 1892. She made a profession of religion in early life and her life was so exemplary and her devotion to Christ so manifest that her influence was a power in maintaining the moral and religious interests of the community in which she lived. She was an active member of the Shiloh congregation of the Cumberland Presbyterian church and took a leading part in the Sunday service. She was the wife of J. L. Williamson to whom she was married Dec. 15, 1847. In her death the family has sustained an irreparable loss, and the church and community has been deprived of the counsel and instruction of a devout christian.

- - -

Sources:

Pope County, Arkansas, Obituaries and Death Notices: February 2, 1887 - December 7, 1893. Page 36. Copied by J. B. Lemley. Date unknown. Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research, Houston, TX.

The Clan MacBean in North America. Bernie and Carol Bean. The Clan MacBean Register, 1976. Montgomery County Library, Main Branch, Conroe, TX.

Another Man and His Wives

Previously, I talked about William Woodberry Williamson and his three wives. WWW's father was John Laurens Williamson (1811-1862). He was my great-great-great grandfather, and he had two wives.

The Williamsons came with other families from Tennessee to Arkansas in the early 1830's. Though John was a young adult, he traveled with his parents as part of their family unit. At some point, John Laurens Williamson and his brother went back to Tennessee to get married and bring their brides back to Arkansas.



Jane Hamilton was John Laurens Williamson's first wife. I have yet to find any birth or death timeline for her. In the photo below, you can see I cleared grass and mud from the bottom of the stone in the hopes that there was a date or two there. Nothing.

There is a well-known family paper that mentions John Laurens Williamson and Jane Hamilton have two sons. However, the 1850 census lists four children living in the household that fit the timeline. I also have a copy of a will index that lists four heirs with the same names in John Laurens Williamson's will. I am in the process of getting a copy of that will to verify that there were four children from this union.

Jane Hamilton may have died between 1842 and 1847 because John Laurens Williamson married Susan Quesenberry in December of 1847. Susan is my great-great-great grandmother. She raised Jane's children and had six of her own with John Laurens Williamson.

William Woodberry Williamson, born in 1853, was third in birth order. He had 2 older sisters, 2 younger sisters and one brother.

John Laurens Williamson died in 1862. Susan Quesenberry then raised her children alone on the Williamson homestead.

Susan Quesenberry passed away in 1892. A post of her obituary will be the next stop in the We Tree family tour.

Get Ready, Arkansas

Today I made hotel reservations and everything's confirmed: my first planned family history trip will be in early August in Pope County, Arkansas.

The subject is William Woodberry Williamson (1853-1942), his 3 wives and 7 kids. Also if there's time, John Laurens Williamson (1811-1862), his 2 wives and (guesstimated) 10 children. If anything pertaining to Brigance or Quesenberry falls out of the sky, I'll take that, too.

I have a day planned at the Pope County Library. Their online details of their genealogy holdings is making it easy for me to write down ahead of time what I want to see when I'm there.

I also have a day for cemeteries, chasing down the graves of many, many people.

One day is devoted to court house research as well, but hopefully I can get a lot from the film at the library.

As if there wasn't enough to do, it turns out that BargainsGaloreOn64 is going on at the same time. 160 miles' worth of antiques and garage sales? That's just too tempting...

So the money's spent and the plans are made. Now I have to do my homework, print my notes and be ready to break down walls and get some answers.