A native of Waco, Texas, my Texas roots extend back to the Republic of Texas since my great paternal grandmother, Andora Keesee Smith (1841-1920), of Chappell Hill, Washington, Texas, was the first woman in Texas to graduate from a Texas institute of higher learning, earning her M. A. degree (that's Maiden of Arts) at Chappell Hill Institute, which would eventually become Southwestern University.

My American ancestry also runs deep since my great paternal grandfather, a Michigan native, David Charles "D. C." Smith (1837-1882), a Hamilton County, Texas, judge, descends from Mary Allerton Cushman (1616-1699), who was four-years-old when she crossed the Atlantic to land at Plymouth Rock. Moreover, ancestors of three of my four grandparents fought in the Continental Army in the American Revolution, although the Boxes were Quakers, and the McDonalds were Tories.

In addition to English ancestry, primarily from Kent and the London area, I've also traced my family tree back to both Lowland and Highland Scotland, Northern Ireland, Donegal, the Republic of Ireland (via Ontario, Canada), and France--one ancestor, Anthony Verdel (1755-1788), was General Lafayette's band leader while my Keesee ancestors were Huguenots.

Several years ago, I found that using Find a Grave along with Ancestry.com works as an excellent check on genealogical research, and as my friends will explain, my genealogical research isn't limited to my own family tree. I've traced the ancestry of German-, Swedish-, Norwegian-, Greek-, and African American friends, perfecting my genealogical research techniques through a course from the American Library Association as well as Boston University. However, I started out tracing my family tree back in about 1978, asking older family members to send me the records in their family Bibles and writing county seats across the United States to request family records as well as viewing microfiche Census records at a public library. I've also come in contanct with numerous distant [Smith, Dickerson, Chappell, Keesee, and Dougherty] cousins in both the United States of Texas, who have shared their research with me.

Although history is one of my teaching fields, along with English and ESL, I first became interested in my family's genealogy when I was about age nine, for I was always asking my grandmothers to tell me what it was like when they were girls. I hold a Ph. D. in English from Texas Christian University (1995), but after teaching at Southern Methodist University and Idaho State University, I returned to Waco to care for my mother. I also hold a Master's in Library Science from the University of North Texas (2012).

A native of Waco, Texas, my Texas roots extend back to the Republic of Texas since my great paternal grandmother, Andora Keesee Smith (1841-1920), of Chappell Hill, Washington, Texas, was the first woman in Texas to graduate from a Texas institute of higher learning, earning her M. A. degree (that's Maiden of Arts) at Chappell Hill Institute, which would eventually become Southwestern University.

My American ancestry also runs deep since my great paternal grandfather, a Michigan native, David Charles "D. C." Smith (1837-1882), a Hamilton County, Texas, judge, descends from Mary Allerton Cushman (1616-1699), who was four-years-old when she crossed the Atlantic to land at Plymouth Rock. Moreover, ancestors of three of my four grandparents fought in the Continental Army in the American Revolution, although the Boxes were Quakers, and the McDonalds were Tories.

In addition to English ancestry, primarily from Kent and the London area, I've also traced my family tree back to both Lowland and Highland Scotland, Northern Ireland, Donegal, the Republic of Ireland (via Ontario, Canada), and France--one ancestor, Anthony Verdel (1755-1788), was General Lafayette's band leader while my Keesee ancestors were Huguenots.

Several years ago, I found that using Find a Grave along with Ancestry.com works as an excellent check on genealogical research, and as my friends will explain, my genealogical research isn't limited to my own family tree. I've traced the ancestry of German-, Swedish-, Norwegian-, Greek-, and African American friends, perfecting my genealogical research techniques through a course from the American Library Association as well as Boston University. However, I started out tracing my family tree back in about 1978, asking older family members to send me the records in their family Bibles and writing county seats across the United States to request family records as well as viewing microfiche Census records at a public library. I've also come in contanct with numerous distant [Smith, Dickerson, Chappell, Keesee, and Dougherty] cousins in both the United States of Texas, who have shared their research with me.

Although history is one of my teaching fields, along with English and ESL, I first became interested in my family's genealogy when I was about age nine, for I was always asking my grandmothers to tell me what it was like when they were girls. I hold a Ph. D. in English from Texas Christian University (1995), but after teaching at Southern Methodist University and Idaho State University, I returned to Waco to care for my mother. I also hold a Master's in Library Science from the University of North Texas (2012).