Family Tree Girl

Holy moly! Well it won’t be a barbeque dinner but it will be a fabulous dinner at the familytreegirl’s round table. So here’s the menu designed by this genealogy professional.

Menu for familytreegirl’s Round Table Dinner for 8!

The Gathering of the Greats.

• Each of the dinner guests have to complete a “timeline” on their life.
• Each have to identify their parents, grandparents and what they know about them and even their great grandparents. (snacks are on the table, fresh fruit and veggies)
• As the host, I will show them photos of their descendants and ask them which of the descendants look like someone in their family
• Each need to tell the names and birth location and ages of their siblings
• Each will share their faith and any churches they attended
• For the ladies, tell me how many children they had and lost along with what their favorite meal they cooked and what they did not like about their husbands, etc.
• If they served in the military, what war and what was their role?
• What is the one thing they wished for their children and descendants?
• Allow familytreegirl to take photos and record the whole dinner session
• I hope they enjoy red wine as that will be the drink for dinner along with a good dressed up arugula salad, mashed cauliflower and a beyond meat burger.
• I will close dinner by sharing the love, answering any questions they might have and telling them to keep in touch, return my telepathy calls & thoughts during my prayers and meditation and thanking all of them for passing down the heart disease, etc.-I am handling it the best I can.

The guest list:

Joseph Goings, I guess a mulatto, free born, 4^tx great grandfather was born about 1775, in Virginia somewhere. He lived in Loudoun County but just not sure-yet- if he was born there. He is either the brother or son of Luke Goins born about 1740. He was married to Nancy (Windsor) in 1801 in Maryland. They leave Loudoun County and resume living in Jefferson County, Virginia and as of June 20, 1863, it is West Virginia. This line supposedly goes to Jamestown and I am on the right path with some evidence so far, but I grave more. I have researched their children but have not located his or his wife’s death location. The one thing I would like to know is who is Joseph Goings and Nancy Windsor’s parents, and how do they connect to William Goings and James Goings. Information retrieved from ancestry.com: Maryland, Compiled Marriages, 1655-1850.

Parley Worden, my European 2x great grandfather on my mother’s paternal side. Parley was born in 1795-1799 in New York according to an entry written in the Worden bible. Parley was part of a party of 19 who left the Herkimer County, New York area and traveled to Eaton County, Michigan. He married Lydoriana Boyer. He died in Oceana County, Michigan 5 May 1862, he is buried in the old section in the Benona Cemetery with no marker. I hope to save some money to put up some headstones for those buried in the cemetery. What I want to confirm is that Parley’s father is Arnold Worden born in 1763 in New Stonington, New London Connecticut, and died in Petersburg, Rennselaer, New York in 1840, confirm where his mother Abigail (Marshall) is buried. I will visit your grave in March and hope to find out that Abigail is buried right next to you. I am sure your second wife Mary Sheppard is buried near you as well. Finding out about Arnold, a patriot of the Revolutionary War will help me complete another application in the Daughter of the American Revolution society.

Sarah Ann Hart-Goens/Goins/Goings, white or mulatto, born in 1810, somewhere in Virginia. She is my 3x great grandmother, on my mother’s side, who married Lawson Goens/Goings/Goins and they lived in Jefferson County, Virginia/West Virginia until Lawson passed 12 July 1874. You moved in with your daughter since I located you in the 1880 Jefferson County population census. I have tracked the children and yet to locate anything on your family. I found family connections but not your parents. The bottom line with Ms. Sarah Ann, “who’s your daddy and momma”?

William Davis, my 2x great grandfather on my mother’s maternal side, a mulatto. William was born 1814-1818, in Pennsylvania, not sure where, but somewhere near Chambersburg, Franklin County, Pennsylvania. He is the son of a slave owner and a slave. Oral history says he is one of three children and his father, the slave owner (who had numerous slaves) was poisoned by the neighbors. The neighbors did not like the fact that Williams’s father, who was not married, has the slave women in the house with him and she had the three children. The neighbor’s poisoned him and on this death bed told the slave woman to take the children and flee north. I believe rather have a theory that the plantation was actually in the Winchester, Virginia area and the fleeing took them to Chambersburg, which is just about straight north of Winchester. William Davis died in Joyfield Township, Benzie County, Michigan in 1881 and is buried in the Joyfield Cemetery, Benzie County, Michigan. It is believed that they are the first family of color to homestead in Benzie County. I would like ask him about his siblings and parents, along with any grandparents to help confirm oral history about the Davis family. I figure the white Davis family in Franklin County is yours but can’t prove it-yet.

Mildred Ann Brand-Davis, a mulatto, she is my 2x great grandmother on my mother’s maternal side. Mildred was born about 1825 in Richmond, Virginia, died 17 December 1895, buried next to her husband. Mildred’s father was from Scotland. Now the question to Mildred Ann is what are your parent’s name? Why and when did she relocate to Pennsylvania and meet William Davis. Another question-good gracious, who is Joseph Brand Davis your first born son’s father? We located the court case and it says he is your illegitimate son. Also, who are your siblings and grandparents? http://bit.ly/2DDwWLs

George W. Marsh, an African American, born in 1834 in Virginia is my 2x great grandfather on my Mother’s side. Now you are a slave per oral history and your daughter Clara Marsh-Davis. I know you were dark skinned and very tall. I have heard the stories for over 50 years that you could stand with your hand on a fence post and jump over it. You and your wife, Mary Catherine Goens/Goins/Goings had 12 children, yes I also heard six were dark and 6 were light skinned. Based on the photos we have of the children and Mary, I would say that is oral history was true. You and Mary left Jefferson County right after the Civil War, did you serve? You traveled to Morrow County, Ohio, had your daughter Sara and then migrated to Manistee County, Michigan. On route you met Leonard Reed from New York/Canada and family and you both traveled together. In Manistee Michigan, you are believed to be the first person of colored who homesteaded 160 acres. I grew up spending my summers on this homestead property. Now George, I want to know the truth about what you remember the day your father was killed by the plantation owner, you were only 4 years old what did your mother do after that? Did she stay in Virginia, get sold, what about your siblings and who was the owner of your family, was it Battille Muse of Jefferson County since his farm was called the Marsh farm, did you take his name? Battille Muse had 24 taxable slaves.

Ambrose Cureton, African American my 2x great grandfather on my father’s side. Ambrose was a slave born about 1840, either in Africa and came here at the age of 9 per oral history, or born in Tennessee or one of the Carolina’s. I located him, his wife Eliza, son Govan and daughter Elizabeth in Cocke County, Tennessee in the 1870 census. He with 2nd wife Lue J (Grinway) appear in the 1880 Census for Loudon County, Tennessee. I lose him and the children, except for Govan the first born son. Govan and his wife, Hattie (Russell) relocated to Knoxville and then on to Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Govan’s daughter Viola Cureton marries William Columbus Murphy and from there they become my grandparents. I will visit Govan’s grave while in Ft. Wayne attending the Midwest African American Genealogy Institute (MAAGI). Govan died in 1920, and is buried in Lindenwood Cemetery in the Negro section. Lindenwood Cemetery has over 69k graves. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindenwood_Cemetery) I hope to hear Ambrose tell me who owned him, about his parents, any siblings and where he is buried. Also, did he become free before 1865 and where is Eliza and Elizabeth buried and when did they die.

William Michael Murphy-great grandfather, we have no idea what he is, he might be a mulatto, maybe American Indian and African American, or slave, who knows! You are my Immaculate Conception individual-a real legit brick wall, and so far I am creeping up on an exhausted dead end search for him. Genealogy does not guarantee that we will find an ancestor. He might have been born around the 1860s. I am hoping my genealogy buddy Victoria will have some luck with him. I am not sure when or where he was born or died, when he and my great grandmother Nellie (McCorkle-Giles) got married and had children. Per one record from his son, my grandfather William Columbus Murphy, his father was born in Indian Territory. Nellie was born about 1865 in Greene County, Tennessee. So far there is no divorce, no death record or marriage record. Nellie remarried as Nellie Murphy to Henry Giles and they had two children. I have tracked Nellie’s life through her daughter Irene Ethel Giles’. So far nothing has helped me to connect to William Michael. I am thinking that William Michael was a coal miner and died because the locations of Nellie and Henry tended to be around coal mining towns. What I want to know–where in the hell are you great grandfather William Michael and who are your parents, etc.? This record is William Columbus Murphy’s SSI application noting his father’s name.

Know your Roots, they are Long and Strong!