I Must Be Full

During my trip to Texas (see below), Mom and Mel and I spent several days going through old photos.  Most were from Mom’s high school, college and early married years.  There were pictures of my parents being goofy.  There were pictures of family and friends we didn’t know.  There were pictures of places we couldn’t [...]

This is our Great-great Grandfather.  Born 15 December, 1839, probably in Jessamine County, he was the ninth child of John and Susan…the youngest of their brood.  We’re fortunate that a brief, contemporary biography exists for James, printed in the 1887 edition of Kentucky’s history. James M…was reared on the home farm and educated in the [...]

You start looking at these ancestral families and, if you’re like me, you begin to wonder what things were like for them.  Whether John C. died or just disappeared, Susan was left with a mess of kids, living on the other side of the county from her family (the Sagesers) and a farm to run. [...]

Here’s a cool thing.  Roaming around on the net today, I ended up on the web site of the Jessamine County Historical Society.  It’s been redesigned and is much easier to navigate than before.  But the cool thing is under Blog List on the Nav Bar on the left.  Go ahead and click.  The first [...]

Thanks to the indenture recorded in Jessamine County Court on November 8th, 1850, we know the names of John and Susan’s kids.  Because it’s a legal document that assigns property rights, which were (and are) of primary importance in those days, we can safely assume that all the kids are mentioned specifically.  Here’s a later [...]

This is the guy from whom almost all Wattses in Jessamine County descend.  He is our (those of you related to me) Great-great-great grandfather.  He was born in Madison County in 1798 (in the related articles in the right column, click on “Earliest Watts” and “Jessamine County” for full discussion) and died in 1849.  There [...]

I spent the entire day looking into our Watts past and Jessamine County, Kentucky.  It’s safe to say we were in Kentucky early in the state’s history.  As early as 1797 we know William Watts was born in the state to George and Susan, living in what would become Jessamine County.  And now that we [...]

When it rains on a Monday, you can find us inside….getting stuff done.  Durry has spent the day at his computer researching the Watts family in Kentucky in the 1820′s and ’30s.  My day was spent correcting lots of technical errors on a quilt I have been struggling with since August.  Perhaps by the end [...]

“What is the one question genealogists want to answer?”  That’s how a speaker at a genealogy conference started his talk.  You can imagine the various answers, none of which were correct.  Think about it.  I’ll answer later. Today’s story is about the earliest Watts I have been able to find in our family lineage.  It [...]

Farming life in the old days was pretty tough and most of our ancestors did it for a living.  Sometimes I’m surprised that any of them made it through with enough energy to have kids.  Looking at some of the old pictures makes you appreciate even more what they endured. Before I get started on [...]