North Carolina, wills and Probate Records, 1665-1998 for Happy Stone, Franklin County; accessed digitally on ancestry.com, 20 August 2021. On a Tuesday morning in March three springs before her death, Happy Stone sat with H. H. Davis and Robert Mannas and dictated the terms of what should happen to her farm and estate upon her … Continue reading Amanuensis Day: The Last Will and Testament of Happy Stone
Strickland
Amanuensis Day: Happy Stone’s Land Goes to the Next Generation
Geographical, Statistical, and Historical Map of North Carolina, 1823; digitally accessed from the UNC library, North Carolina Maps, 18 Aug 2021, (https://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ncmaps/id/178). My 4x great-grandmother, Kerenhappuch "Happy" Stone watched the sun rise from her home on Cypress Creek, Franklin County, North Carolina. Today, as I wait for the sun to peek from behind Storm Fred's … Continue reading Amanuensis Day: Happy Stone’s Land Goes to the Next Generation
Examining the Language of Slavery
During the mid-nineteenth century North Carolina was the global supplier of naval stores. The "Turpentine State" lay in the long-leaf pine belt--a region of dry sandy clay subsoil that ran from North Carolina, south to Florida, and as far west as southern Alabama and Mississippi. The sap of turpentine orchards was harvested and distilled into … Continue reading Examining the Language of Slavery
Diagram Your Family Tree with Gutenberg Block
I played around with this Gutenberg Block editor in hopes of sharing genealogy basics in a more visually appealing, less overwhelming format. 'Cause, let's face it, when you're trying to engage with kin that lie somewhere out there beneath your family tree's shade, the typical checklists of names and dates of birth, death, marriage, and … Continue reading Diagram Your Family Tree with Gutenberg Block
Recipes and receipts: A 1970(ish) Texas Sheet of Chocolate Deliciousness
Our dinner table in southwest Virginia was always full. Mother and Daddy at either end, us four kids seated two across from two on each side. In the center, sat two vegetables, a starch, a meat dish or casserole, to be passed to the left until all were served. At each place was a glass … Continue reading Recipes and receipts: A 1970(ish) Texas Sheet of Chocolate Deliciousness
Shoots, Roots, and Leaves 