My Famous Relative

I finally found him! Growing up, we’d always heard from my maternal grandmother that we were related to Charles Barkley. She would tell me how he would sometimes go to the family reunion too. I’ve never been clear about exactly how we were related until tonight though – but I got it! We share descent from Rufus McNair – my 3G Grandfather and his 2G grandfather. (Charles’ father was named Rufus Barkley). So, that makes me his third cousin once removed. Hey Charles – maybe I’ll see you at a family reunion!

In other genealogy news I have the following updates!

• • While attending my grandmother’s funeral, I was able to take pictures of several of my relatives’ headstones in the cemetery. I hope to go back this fall and take more.

• • With the help of a woman who has been researching her family ancestry for more than twelve years, I may have found my first evidence of an ancestor being sold as a slave. I have been corresponding with her to try and follow her same logic in understanding all the clues, so I expect to post more about that later.

• • My mother and stepfather were visiting family this week (I’m helping him do his family genealogy too) and I received a shipment of pictures today. Including a picture of my mother’s paternal grandmother whom I had no idea what she looked like until today!

• • I am on a quest for the perfect program to create good quality lineage charts! I just purchased RootsMagic and so far I like their charting options a lot. I bought it in combination with GenSmarts to see if that helps me assess different avenues for my research.

• • I am starting the process of really cleaning my online site and standardizing the way I collect data. I’ve been so gung-ho on collecting information that I have just kind of thrown it all up! Well, the librarian in me is starting to bring me to my senses and I must get it all cleaned up.

Happy hunting!