On November 26, 2010, my 5th cousin, Jassmine McNair (b. 1990), was killed in an automobile accident. I have never met her, but soon after learning the news from a family member, I could not help but feel sadness and loss. We share 3rd great-grandparents – Rufus McNair & Mariah Wimberly of Plymouth, Washington […]
RIP Jassmine McNair Read More »
Thanks to the generosity of another researcher with family ties to Washington County, NC, I now have pictures of one of the most important cemeteries in my family research. The cemetery is the Rufus McNair Cemetery of Plymouth, North Carolina. I first learned of this cemetery in 2006 and was thrilled then to know of
Rufus McNair Cemetery Read More »
My mother sent this to me and of course I had to post it. I am related to Charles Barkley (I’m his 3rd cousin once removed), and last night on Lopez tonight they revealed his ethnic ancestry from a DNA test. Turns out he is: 0% Asian 14% Native American 11% European 75% Sub Suharan
This evening, as I was just finishing wrapping the final presents for the kids, I received an email about a distant cousin of mine. I was contacted by a woman (we’ll call her Ms. C.) who is part of a project to identify remains of Korean War soldiers who died during the war. Ms. C contacted
mtDNA Testing in My Family’s Near Future? Read More »
Have you ever been on an aircraft carrier?? I had a chance to visit one this past week during a recent trip to San Francisco. I was in the city for academic reasons (attending the American Medical Informatics Association annual conference), but since I’d found out in May that the USS Hornet was now a
Family History in San Francisco Read More »
I’m going to take Randy up on his Saturday Night Genealogy Fun for August 8, 2009. Not because of the intent to document my ethnicity for that is very easy – to the best of my current knowledge, all (with the exception of 1) of my ancestors as far as I can trace have been
Saturday Night Genealogy Fun – My 16 Read More »
Last night I received an email from a woman descended from an Annie McNair Dancy McCriddic. She has found from Annie’s death certificate that her father was named William McNair. William was born in North Carolina, and Annie was born specifically in Tarboro, Edgecombe County. Today I called her and we had a great conversation
I knew it was a mistake to get back on the computer after I *said* I was going to bed. But, I had to check the email and feed readers “one last time.” Well, now it’s going to cause me to be up long enough to do this blog post, but I couldn’t wait because what
This is Why I Never Go To Bed Read More »
Tonight, my mother called me to inform me about the death of our cousin, Clifton E. Johnson Sr. Cousin Clif was my grandmother’s half-first cousin. Clifton represents my McNair family branch of Martin County, NC (which was one of the reasons I adopted that county for the NCGenWeb project). The closest ancestor that I share
In Memoriam: Clifton E. Johnson Sr. Read More »
A couple of days ago, I discovered a new genealogy blog – Robyn’s blog, Reclaiming Kin. I found her through Randy’s “Best Of the Genea-Blogs” post from Sunday. Well, yesterday she posted on using court records for research and her experience of looking at records in Edgecombe County, NC inspired my Tombstone Tuesday post of