Rockdale
Genealogical Reconnaisance in Central Texas
Last month, being Family History Month, seemed like a good time to head for the ancestral homelands in central Texas. The fact that I was speaking at an American Bar Association thingie in Austin was completely coincidental. Longtime readers of this journal (if there are any out there!) will recall that in 1884, my great-great-grandmother and her son Otis went …
November 16, 2012 Friday at 2:16 pm
Rockdale, Texas
If it seems like years pass between my journeys into the ancestral homelands, well, that’s because it’s true. My first trip “back home” was in 2005 when I went to Upson County, Georgia. My second trip was in 2007 to Kansas City. Now, I’m headed for Rockdale, Texas! I leave tomorrow at noon. Rockdale is a town in Milam …
October 6, 2012 Saturday at 7:31 pm
The Grand Genealogy Journey 2010 (Virtual Edition) Starts Anew
Believe it or don’t, but it’s been three years since the Big Train Trip. I’m really ready to go again, but circumstances currently won’t allow that. So we started to lay out our virtual genealogical dream trip traveling via Amtrak and other conveyances. We ran into a set of difficulties soon after the beginning of the trip. As a result, …
June 30, 2010 Wednesday at 2:34 pm
Texas School Census Records
Over at GenealogyWise, in the Texas History Hunters Group, Barbara Cunningham pointed out that Texas school census records can be a 1890 census substitute. “In some counties, the County Clerk keeps and maintains the records. In other counties, they are kept by the County Judge,” Barbara said. [Note for non-Texans: the “County Judge” is not a judicial officer–at least not …
July 23, 2009 Thursday at 6:59 pm
Carnival of Genealogy: 106 Years in America–And More!
One ancestor I’m really trying to learn more about is my great-great-grandfather William (“Billie”) Sanford. He was born in 1809 in Virginia and died in 1916 in Texas at the age of 106! A book I read says that he is the oldest person buried in the “colored” section of the Old City Cemetery in Rockdale, Milam County, Texas. (170 …
July 16, 2008 Wednesday at 4:24 am
A Memorable Visit
In my Jamboree posts the week before last, I alluded to a special mission I had attended to as part of my trip to Southern California. I took part of the time I was there to meet my father’s step-mother. I never knew that my father had a step-mother, as such, until the last few years, or so it seems …
July 12, 2008 Saturday at 11:30 pm
School Days in Milam County, Texas
School days, school days,Dear old golden rule days.‘Readin’ and ‘ritin’ and ‘rithmetic,Taught to the tune of a hick’ry stick. I wish I had some stories of my ancestors in school. Unfortunately, I have no stories, except the now-debunked story that my grandfather was teased (today, we would say harassed) in school in Georgia because he was the only “Spanish” boy …
April 21, 2007 Saturday at 4:36 pm
