Research Updates

I thought I would update my cousins and fellow researchers where I am in my research.  I have been a little quiet in posting my research mostly because I am involved in "community" research.  In some cases I have "lost" my ancestor's trail and am currently researching all those associated with my ancestor.  It is time consuming and tedious at times, but I really like this type of research.  I feel like I truly learn how those in a community interacted with each other.  Of course, I find a lot of collateral ancestors this way as well.  Keep reading.  Things should become clearer (I hope.).

Howard Family Line (Wake, Moore, Lee NC Counties):  This family line is solid back to James Harward of Wake County and King and Queen County, VA before that.  Since K and Q County is a burned county, no records exist from the time that James lived there as as young child in the 1760's.  I'm still hoping that records from areas of the country that the family and neighbors migrated to will surface and shed light on the earlier generations in this line. This line will likely need to join a DNA project to determine which Howard/Harward line is ours.


Haley (Halifax and Charlotte Counties, VA):  My Haley family research certainly challenges me to find new ways over, around and/or through this genealogical brick wall!  My current research takes this family line back to Jesse Haley who was born ~1803 in Virginia - likely in Halifax or Charlotte County.  Honestly,  I'm stuck when it comes to Jesse.  I have turned to researching all those with whom he associated.  Interestingly, he did not seem to associate with many other Haleys - at least not in the records.  To learn more about Jesse and hopefully his parentage, I am researching William Cardwell (Jesse's friend) and the Brackett Owen family (Jesse's in-laws and possible blood relations.)

There is another aspect to my Haley family research that I am enjoying immensely.  Sharing stories and identifying photographs with my Haley cousins gives depth to the stories of our generations past. I never even knew most of these cousins before I started my research.

Isn't that what genealogy is about?

White (Surry, Rockingham, Caswell, Granville Counties):  Ahh.....another "brick wall" family.  Let's just say that researching a man by the name of John White in North Carolina (or any other state) is not an easy task.  Now that that's been said, another White family researcher and I have made and continue to make great strides in tracing this line back.  We are confident of this line back to John White who arrived in Surry County, NC sometime in the 1810's or 1820's.  We are fairly certain John White is the son of Cagebeth [Cadbreth, Cajabeth] White Rockingham and Granville Counties, NC. Like the Haley family line, the White family line requires researching the associates, neighbors, and even in-laws to get to the next generation back.  This is a line of research I will definitely be posting more about this summer.