February 2024 - Changing/adding a name to a memorial other than what is on the headstone will cause confusion for people and duplicates. I will add the full name in the bio section if there is a documented source. In my personal case, I go by my middle name. No one knows me by my first name.
February 2021
People, .....sigh - just because the death certificate says it, does NOT make it so. Just because the burial marker has a date on it, do not make it a concrete date.
Prime example with my own family.
My father's mother's name was Hattie Gladys (Nelson) Hill. On her death certificate, my aunt gave her name as Harriet Gladys (Nelson) Hill. HARRIET?? I know we are from the deep south, but how can one get the name Harriet mixed with the name Hattie??? My aunt probably in her grief gave what she though was correct information. So be it.
On my mother's father's death certificate, he is listed as WILHAM Henry Rhoads. His name is WILLIAM Henry Rhoads. Now, I can see that deep southern accent saying William and being mistaken as Wilham.......but as I said, just because it was on the death certificate doesn't make it etched in stone!

April, 2020 - Photo documenting of a Historic Slave Cemetery within Huntsville is completed. It was a wonderful two and half year experience, finding markers that had sunk down into the ground, finding piece of markers and working a puzzle in the cemetery; working to get just enough of a date or name so a memorial could be created.
I'm tickled to be able to give the many lost and forgotten loved ones a memorial so that now generations going forward can now see where their relative is now resting.

July 2016 - At two different times during the Civil War, Huntsville, Alabama was occupied by Union Troops. Having just come off battles in Shiloh, Tennessee & Corinth Mississippi, the troops took the route into Huntsville by way of Tuscumbia and Decatur Alabama for some rest while occupying Huntsville only to encounter embedded guerilla Confederate Troops on the outskirts of the city. If the deaths of the Union soldiers wasn't due to fighting, many Union Soldiers died in Huntsville Hospital Camps of typhoid fever, pneumonia, Rubella/smallpox, measles, chronic diarrhea or ran over by a train just to name a few. I am researching all the Regiments/Cavalries that passed through Huntsville, Alabama during 1861-1862 finding soldiers that died and are buried in unknown graves at Huntsville Cemetery and/or were moved at a later date to the Chattanooga National Military Cemetery. This has been an intense research project that I am truly enjoying! The end result, to have a marker erected in Maple Hill Cemetery, Block 1 (commonly know as the final unmarked resting place for the Union Soldiers). I have explored Union Troops from Alabama, US Regular Army, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois. I am honored and humbled to be able to research these soldiers and tell the story of their service during the Civil War.

June 2016 - After reaching an end to researching both sides of my family, I have been floundering around trying to find something to research.
Back at the beginning of the year, I accepted a request - no to be photographed, but an appeal for help in getting a memorial corrected. After asking the basic questions, I was able to recreate that family line, linked correct family members to the correct memorial and finally, requested that incorrect pictures be removed and place on the correct memorial.

It was at this time and I found myself eagerly searching for and verifying information on this one issue. I was hooked, and why not?? This is what I do all day at work, resolve issues in my government job. So, a few more puzzles/mysteries come along and I was able to resolve the quickly also.

This is a part of life that I truly enjoy! Bring it on. Have a mystery that you can not resolve.....I'll take it on and see what I'm able to find.

8/10/2013 - Happy dance!! Found a breakthrough the brick wall on the HILL/NELSON side.

I have been doing Genealogy since before there were computers....back in the days that it was a road trip for the long weekend to a Courthouse basement to prowl around old books that would crack if not handled w/care. In the days that you had to actually read the book to see if the person is actually mentioned. Now, just a click of the mouse and you have 'stolen' someone else hard work w/o a care in the world.
I know the computer world has made it easier to sit and read files after files and scan quickly, but if it was not for the old school hard reading and crunching the numbers and checking the counties....I don't believe I would have broken through the brick wall that has plagued me since 1979.
I'm only interested in managing close family of Grandparents, and Great Great Grandparents, and further back was well as the Aunts and Uncles (Great Great aunts & Uncles). Nice to know about cousins and in laws, but unless it helps in the progression of following the direct line, I'll let someone else manage the site.
Susan

February 2024 - Changing/adding a name to a memorial other than what is on the headstone will cause confusion for people and duplicates. I will add the full name in the bio section if there is a documented source. In my personal case, I go by my middle name. No one knows me by my first name.
February 2021
People, .....sigh - just because the death certificate says it, does NOT make it so. Just because the burial marker has a date on it, do not make it a concrete date.
Prime example with my own family.
My father's mother's name was Hattie Gladys (Nelson) Hill. On her death certificate, my aunt gave her name as Harriet Gladys (Nelson) Hill. HARRIET?? I know we are from the deep south, but how can one get the name Harriet mixed with the name Hattie??? My aunt probably in her grief gave what she though was correct information. So be it.
On my mother's father's death certificate, he is listed as WILHAM Henry Rhoads. His name is WILLIAM Henry Rhoads. Now, I can see that deep southern accent saying William and being mistaken as Wilham.......but as I said, just because it was on the death certificate doesn't make it etched in stone!

April, 2020 - Photo documenting of a Historic Slave Cemetery within Huntsville is completed. It was a wonderful two and half year experience, finding markers that had sunk down into the ground, finding piece of markers and working a puzzle in the cemetery; working to get just enough of a date or name so a memorial could be created.
I'm tickled to be able to give the many lost and forgotten loved ones a memorial so that now generations going forward can now see where their relative is now resting.

July 2016 - At two different times during the Civil War, Huntsville, Alabama was occupied by Union Troops. Having just come off battles in Shiloh, Tennessee & Corinth Mississippi, the troops took the route into Huntsville by way of Tuscumbia and Decatur Alabama for some rest while occupying Huntsville only to encounter embedded guerilla Confederate Troops on the outskirts of the city. If the deaths of the Union soldiers wasn't due to fighting, many Union Soldiers died in Huntsville Hospital Camps of typhoid fever, pneumonia, Rubella/smallpox, measles, chronic diarrhea or ran over by a train just to name a few. I am researching all the Regiments/Cavalries that passed through Huntsville, Alabama during 1861-1862 finding soldiers that died and are buried in unknown graves at Huntsville Cemetery and/or were moved at a later date to the Chattanooga National Military Cemetery. This has been an intense research project that I am truly enjoying! The end result, to have a marker erected in Maple Hill Cemetery, Block 1 (commonly know as the final unmarked resting place for the Union Soldiers). I have explored Union Troops from Alabama, US Regular Army, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois. I am honored and humbled to be able to research these soldiers and tell the story of their service during the Civil War.

June 2016 - After reaching an end to researching both sides of my family, I have been floundering around trying to find something to research.
Back at the beginning of the year, I accepted a request - no to be photographed, but an appeal for help in getting a memorial corrected. After asking the basic questions, I was able to recreate that family line, linked correct family members to the correct memorial and finally, requested that incorrect pictures be removed and place on the correct memorial.

It was at this time and I found myself eagerly searching for and verifying information on this one issue. I was hooked, and why not?? This is what I do all day at work, resolve issues in my government job. So, a few more puzzles/mysteries come along and I was able to resolve the quickly also.

This is a part of life that I truly enjoy! Bring it on. Have a mystery that you can not resolve.....I'll take it on and see what I'm able to find.

8/10/2013 - Happy dance!! Found a breakthrough the brick wall on the HILL/NELSON side.

I have been doing Genealogy since before there were computers....back in the days that it was a road trip for the long weekend to a Courthouse basement to prowl around old books that would crack if not handled w/care. In the days that you had to actually read the book to see if the person is actually mentioned. Now, just a click of the mouse and you have 'stolen' someone else hard work w/o a care in the world.
I know the computer world has made it easier to sit and read files after files and scan quickly, but if it was not for the old school hard reading and crunching the numbers and checking the counties....I don't believe I would have broken through the brick wall that has plagued me since 1979.
I'm only interested in managing close family of Grandparents, and Great Great Grandparents, and further back was well as the Aunts and Uncles (Great Great aunts & Uncles). Nice to know about cousins and in laws, but unless it helps in the progression of following the direct line, I'll let someone else manage the site.
Susan