What I'm up to. . .

Follow me on Twitter

Jim Butler Army Enlistment

Butler genealogy

A few days ago, my dad called wanting to know if I could find his grandfather’s military records so that he could order a marker to be placed at the new Murray County Veterans Memorial Park.  Specifically, he needs Jim’s service dates, latest rank, and any medals he may have been awarded.

I immediately logged on to . . . → : CONTINUE READING

52 Weeks To Better Genealogy – Challenge #19 – Military Records

Butler genealogy

I’m catching up on some prior 52 Week Challenges that I had missed along the way.  Challenge #19 was to:

Examine the “Genealogy and Military Records” page on the National Archives page (http://www.archives.gov/veterans/research/genealogy.html). (Non-U.S. folks: examine the military records information from your country’s national archives.) Click the links and read everything you can. If you’ve ordered a . . . → : CONTINUE READING

52 Weeks to Better Genealogy – Google Maps

genealogy, Kendrick, Rock Island, Civil War

This week’s challenge from Amy at WeTree is to play with Google Maps, a “a helpful tool for determining the locations of addresses in your family history.”  My genealogy software uses Google Maps to map all the locations for each individual within the database, so I’ve never gone straight to Google Maps and used it as . . . → : CONTINUE READING

Paternal Ancestors in the Civil War

I had a conversation with my dad on Friday about his ancestors who fought in the Civil War.  I thought it would fun and interesting to put together a list, with a summary of each person’s military service.  I’ve also included each person’s relationship to my dad (as opposed to me, which is my usual practice.)

James . . . → : CONTINUE READING

Monteville Roberts and The Great Locomotive Chase

Monteville and other members of the Roberts family aided in capturing the Union soldiers who were involved in the Andrews Raid (a.k.a. The Great Locomotive Chase).  The Andrews Raiders had abandoned the locomotive General eighteen miles south of Chattanooga.  The hunt for the fugitive raiders was prompt and successful; several were captured the same day and . . . → : CONTINUE READING

Fighting for a New Nation

As we prepare to celebrate the anniversary of the birth of our nation, I want to take a moment to recognize my ancestors who fought for (or supported the fight for) our freedom and independence.  I have seventeen ancestors and relatives who were involved in the American Revolution.  To see the complete list, click here.  Many . . . → : CONTINUE READING

Daughters of the American Revolution

I’ve decided to join the DAR.  I’ve thought about this for awhile and finally decided to go forward for a variety of reasons.

Identifying Revolutionary War patriots is one of the things that originally got me interested in genealogy.
Obtaining access to the DAR genealogy files.
Completing the rigorous application process will be a test of my research skills.  . . . → : CONTINUE READING

James A. McEntire Military Records

As I reported here, I’ve recently found records related to James A. McEntire in two new Ancestry.com databases:  U.S. Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles and Confederate Pension Applications from Georgia.  Here is a summary of the information found in these two records.

James was born in McDowell County, North Carolina.  He and his family moved . . . → : CONTINUE READING

Civil War Databases

As many other blogs have reported, Ancestry.com has recently added five new databases to its Civil War collection.  I have found two particularly valuable:

U.S. Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles

Confederate Pension Applications from Georgia

A quick search of the U. S. Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles database yielded the record for James A. McEntire.  I learned . . . → : CONTINUE READING

William Brookshire’s Revolutionary War Service

William Brookshire, my 5x great-grandfather, served several tours of duty in the American Revolution.  He was drafted for his first tour in Rowan County, North Carolina in August of 1775 or 1776.    Under the command of General Griffith Rutherford, his militia company marched upon the Cherokee Nation, but found that the Indians had fled.  . . . → : CONTINUE READING