52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

          I have been wanting to dive into the digital world of audio/visual creating and sharing for quite a while now, but for this almost 80 year old grandma it seemed daunting to say the least. I thought this could be a good week to jump into those waters in a very simple way.   And I have taken that leap finally, but alas only to realize that Youtube requires a short time frame before videos will be public (at least for my account level).   So I am writing this blog with the video link inserted, but it won’t be available until midnight tonight. (lesson learned). The theme for this week is “tradition,” and I am writing about Thanksgiving from long ago, specifically 1956. When I was but a child, we spent Thanksgiving with my mom’s parents, Nannie and PopPop (Florence Koetzle Harley and C. Wilbur Harley). They lived in the Atlantic City area. Along with our family, Mom. Dad, Jim, Bob and me, all of Nannie’s brothers, sisters and spouses attend...

SALT ! SALT ! SALT ! If any of you are Jimmy Buffett fans, you might know that this is the common audience participation refrain when he performed his famous song Margaritaville in concerts. But in this case, that same refrain might have been heard well over 230 years ago by settlers in the county of Kentucky, which was still part of Virginia around 1775. You see, salt was a necessity for survival back then. It was used to preserve meat and fish, it was a much needed dietary nutrient, and was so valuable it was used as currency. Early Kentucky explorers found many natural mineral springs that were rich in salt content. One of these areas was named Bullitt’s Lick, and it is the focus of this post. Bullitt's Lick historical marker I have been researching my 3x great grandfather, John Hinch (1804-1862), and am attempting to prove his lineage back to Capt John Hinch (b. about 1745), so two generations back. I will refer to him as Capt John. I know that he married Hannah DeWitt be...

        What is a quiet life? Is it living in a quiet area, like an isolated cabin in the mountains, or residing in a home by yourself, or having a quiet voice or even a quiet persona? I thought about this a few days, as I couldn’t seem to pinpoint a particular ancestor to write about.   Many of my ancestors lived in rural areas, and many of them farmed for a living. But these same families had 7 or more children. So even though their surroundings were quiet, I bet their lives were anything but. And they had neighbors in the same situation, also with large families. Uncle Roy Hinch, in college days So how about living on an island? That is what my Uncle Roy did, starting in the early 1930’s. He had just graduated from college with a degree in teaching. He grew up in Cumberland County, Tennessee - pretty land-locked! His first teaching job was on an island in Lake Erie. It was (and still is) called Put-in-Bay, close to Sandusky Ohio. The only access...

        Something unexpected has happened to me since I first started family history research about 15 years ago. I started out as most people do, by gathering names and dates, and by building a tree of my ancestors’ vital records - birth, marriage, death, etc. That is fairly typical. Over the past few years those specifics have taken a back seat to wanting to know the places my ancestors lived and the history they lived through. Years ago would I ever have read a 300 page book about a particular battle in the Revolutionary War? Nope - no way. But now, I crave all the information I can find about that battle that my ancestors fought in.   My go-to book for pre-state of Tennessee history And even more than the history they lived through is the yearning to know the places where they traveled and lived. I never expected this. I find myself studying old maps and deeds, wanting to know where my people lived, reading old newspaper articles, and searching...

            One of the hard truths of family history research is eventually  every family line  ends in a brick wall, because at some point you run out of written records and sources. In most cases being able to  accurately  trace ancestors back 6 or 7 generations is generally considered a successful result, at least to me.         With that said, I am revisiting our John Hinch brick wall. Yes, I bet you didn’t know that he was a brick wall, or maybe even exactly who John Hinch was. Truth is, I haven’t really focused on him yet. So let me set the stage for a deeper dive into John Hinch and his ancestors over the next weeks, as I attempt to go back to the Revolutionary War period, and the mid 1700’s.           John Hinch headstone, Tollett Cemetery, Bledsoe County, TN     (transcription: John Hinch, was Bornd January 4, 1804. Dec July 25, 1862 Age 58 ys 7 mo...