Welcome to my family history blog! Here on Shoots, Roots, and Leaves, I investigate my family tree, tell my ancestors’ stories and link them to larger historical forces and moments in time, especially those that tend to get overlooked.

As the long-time keeper of my family tree and fascinated follower of intersectional American history, I love to dig into library archives, investigate family lore and get to the bottom of what really happened. So often, the truth is much more interesting (and complicated!) than I ever could have prepared for. And best of all, the stories usually tell tales that connect me and my ancestors to fascinating moments in American history – a history that is complicated, powerfully constructed, and fraught with stories of oppression and perseverance.

I hope that you will join me, and linger to share your own ancestors’ stories – whether our families’ branches link, overlap or simply rest beside each other in the forest of American history.

Learn more about my family branches:

• DODSON, GREEN, ROWLETT families of Mecklenburg County, Virginia
• SAYLES, WHITE families of Allegany County, New York/Mecklenburg County, Virginia
• STRICKLAND family of Wake, Franklin, and Nash Counties, North Carolina
• MINOR family of Greene County, Pennsylvania
• BRADFORD family of Coshocton/Muskingum County, Ohio
• CORRIGAN, DELEHANTY families of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania

“History is a conversation and sometimes a shouting match between present and past, though often the voices we most want to hear are barely audible. People make history by passing on gossip, saving old records, and by naming rivers, mountains, and children.” 

― Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History