I really believed I could just show up and be led to his resting place. I had been given his full name and approximate date of death. Unfortunately however, I had no idea where his grave was located, and neither did his loved one — living in no way near the city — in search of a photo of his tombstone.
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In searching ways to see some of my vital records in a new light, I came across a video posted on rootstelevision.com which showed this video, and subsequent videos, on census records. The videos are part of the popular PBS series, “Ancestors.” I’m sure many of you have already viewed this series, but I thought that I should post it anyway as it has helped me in moving forward with my research and perhpas could help someone else. I have realized different bits of information that I do have, thanks to census records, that can lead me to finding more of my people.
I typed his name into the search engine several times before, along with the name of his wife and the county where, I had strong reason to believe, he was born.
Nothing.
I added an estimated date of birth.
Nothing.
Death.
Nothing.
I eventually moved on and sought information pertaining to other members of my tree. Earlier this week, however, I typed his name — Jethro WARREN — into the engine again and instead of including the name of his wife and the county in which I had strong reason to believe he was born (Harnett) — I simply selected “North Carolina.” Imagine my surprise to see the yielded result.
I spent family day (Fourth of July) with my mother, father, brother, boyfriend and two dogs (well one is my dog; the other, my mom’s). We had a great time. Dad used the grill we got him for father’s day last month to grill the best salmon ever, we watched the shortest fireworks show ever, we spent the longest time trying to get out of a parking lot ever, and mom and I went shopping and found the cutest shoes ever! I also took the time to conduct some scouring around the house for any clues to our family history-the best scouring I’ve ever performed!
I have created a number of to-do lists in my day. I always have so much on my mind, I’m very forgetful, and so writing down my thoughts as they come helps me out quite a bit. Yesterday I found a list that I made last Sunday. It was written to ensure my one day off from work wasn’t totally wasted. Reading over the note, I got to thinking: I wonder how much information someone can discern about me by reading what I wrote down. That thought led me to this one: I bet I can figure out a lot about a person by reading a note they may have left behind from long ago.
There are so many holes in my ancestral puzzle. Instead of searching for the rightful place of each respective piece one at a time, however, I have, gathered in my hand, three from the corner, two edges, several from the middle — and I’m eager to lay them all down, now.