52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

After my mother passed away in 2017, I took over custody of all the letters my dad wrote to her while he was overseas in WWII. My mom had kept them all.   Over the next two years I transcribed them (they were in cursive), scanned them, then shared them with my brothers, and our families. The entire project was so meaningful to me. I learned many things, one of which was my dad was a gifted writer.   My Dad, Roscoe When I saw this topic “Witness To History” I knew that I would write about one particular letter he wrote while traveling through the aftermath of the Battle of the Bulge (the forested Ardennes region in Belgium, Luxembourg and France). The battle lasted one entire month from mid December 1944 to mid January 1945. My dad Roscoe traveled through much of this area in the US Army Medical Corps in May 1945. At first I thought I would recharacterize what he wrote, but when I reread his letter, he said it much better than I ever could. So here is the letter my dad w...

Heirlooms I absolutely love heirlooms. Each one brings back so many memories of a person, a place, or a certain time. I have to admit I find it difficult to not keep everything. I’m sure many others feel the same way. I also often wonder what happened to all the items that belonged to my more distant relatives. For today though, I would like to write about two heirlooms that I hold dear, both being passed down to me from my mother. The first one is a cameo ring that belonged to my great grandmother Elizabeth “Lizzie” Reilly. She was born in 1859 in Hamilton County, Ohio to her Irish immigrant parents. She was the first born child of John Merryn Reilly and Matilda (maiden name still unknown to me). By 1865 Lizzie, her younger brother and sister and parents had moved to Brooklyn, NY (per 1865 NY state census). Then by 1870 the family had moved to Philadelphia, PA. with a new addition to the family - another brother. Lizzie was 11 years old in 1870.         ...

Favorite Photo This is such a challenging topic, because there are so many photos to choose from. Every photo tells a story, as they say. Today this one spoke to me the loudest.   I chose this one because I knew the setting where it was taken, I knew the person who took the photo and the subjects, and I absolutely love the expressions on the faces of this couple. The entire image evokes such memories. It’s like I could just reach out and hug them. The photo is of my paternal grandparents, Steward Hinch and Rebecca Sherrill Hinch. As near I can tell, the photo was taken around 1955, maybe a little before that. It was taken by my Uncle Roy Hinch, who was one of my dad Roscoe's two brothers. Uncle Roy captured his parents perfectly. Stewart (Steward) Hinch and Rebecca Catherine Sherrill Hinch Uncle Roy and his wife LaRue were amazing folks. So intelligent, kind   and talented. Roy was a school teacher, but also had many hobbies, one of which was photography. As you can se...

                 I first heard this story about one year ago from a cousin of mine, who has been doing family history research for many years now. He and I are third cousins, and has lived in Cumberland and Rhea counties of Tennessee all his life. He and I are both closely related to Jessie Sherrill. When I saw this topic for 2024, I knew right away that this is the family lore I would write about.   This story has been passed down through four generations, and by all accounts it is true, according to the great granddaughter of Jessie G. Sherrill (1846-1924). Jessie Sherrill is my 3rd great uncle.   Hinch Cemetery, July 2023 Jessie grew up and lived on Hinch Mountain, which is in the Cumberland Plateau in the USA. The mountain is highest point in Cumberland County, TN. My father’s parents, grandparents and great grandparents made their home there, as did many other families since around 1840.   It is deeply forested, w...