I'd like to share with you, the headstone of Mary Ann "Polly" (Hoover) Ingram Sparks....or at least I believe it's hers.
During a previous visit, I dusted this stone with some dirt that was nearby and was able to make out the words "Polly Sparks." The reason I believe this to be my 3g-aunt is that one daughter is buried next to her and another is buried at her feet. Other surrounding graves are Polly's grandchildren. The land the cemetery is located on once belonged to her son-in-law.
Obviously, unless a record of burials for this remote cemetery is discovered, this remains a mystery. Circumstantial evidence strongly suggests it though.
I'm determined that I am going to do this. I know I say this all the time, but I'm actually going to do it this year.
One of the fun things about my genealogy hobby is I'm not only working on my adoptive family, but my birth family AND my husband's adoptive family. He's not made the jump to find his birth family yet. I don't know if he will. I keep telling him that my experience with my birth family is not the norm. We've been in touch since 1992 and have a wonderful relationship.
So, what is my major plan for organization, you ask? I know that I will be all over the place, working on three families at once, but what I've decided to do is begin at the A's. As I work on each family, I WILL document each and every fact I find. I will print off each census, fact, etc I find and organize it - first with the main family the ancestor comes from, as far as I have it documented and then work my way down the line.
As the research is being done, I'm going to keep a running list of questions/brick walls/undocumented dates and places. Hopefully, this discipline will help me keep on track and not need the genealogy ritalin I seem to need.
I also WILL get to the Kentucky State Archives in the coming year. I've made so many plans to go, but have always had to cancel my plans, even if I was only 60 miles away from them. But, before I do, I have to have my list of questions/brick walls/undocumented dates and places. If I walk in there unprepared, it will be a case of shiny object syndrome. My eyes will glaze over, I'll start to shake and will only be able to stammer one or two names!
Lastly, I will seriously look into becoming a certified genealogist. I have absolutely no idea what all is entailed, but after 20 some-odd years, I think it's about time.
Kathy stopped by and commented on a post of mine. She suggested I stop by and read about her own crumbling of a brick wall. I thoroughly enjoyed it and read other posts.
(Title of this blog is based on the poem by
Major Innes Randolph, C.S.A - later put to music)
.... or, then again, maybe he wasn't.
Despite the stereotypes that people have of the Southern Appalachian mountains, there was actually a strong Union presence in some areas - except Scott County, Virginia. I have quite a few ancestors who served in the various wars of the United States from the Revolutionary War forward. In all those old veterans, I only have one Confederate - Isaac Hickam.
If the last name "Hickam" sounds familiar, perhaps you remember the 1999 movie, "October Sky" with Jake Gyllenhall. It was based on the story of Homer Hickam, a cousin of mine.
My 3g-grandfather, Ike Hickam, was born on the family farm on October 20, 1842 in rural Scott County, Virginia, the son of George Hickam and Frances Dixon. The family farm was located east of Gate City, just off present day Highway 58.
On June 26, 1861, Ike enrolled in Scott County to serve the newly formed Confederacy. He was one of the 67 men that made up the Clinch Mountain Boomers. Captain William James Smith was in command. They traveled to Abingdon, Virginia, arriving on July 13. The Clinch Mountain Boomers became known as Company H of the 48th Virginia Infantry.
Since he is my only Confederate, his papers are my only experience dealing with what's available for researchers of Confederate veterans. I'm unsure if the few papers I have is the exception or the norm.
Something of interest, Ike is shown to have been in hospital in Winchester, Virginia, from June 27, 1863 until June 30, 1863. The note on the hospital roll is that "Hickam is improving". I don't know what happened or where he was wounded. What is also of interest is the place his unit was headed at the time of his dismissal from the hospital. Company H/48th Virginia Infantry found themselves assaulting Culp's Hill at Gettysburg. Did Ike make it in time to join his company in the assault? Unfortunately, I've not found anything to prove or disprove it. I have to say, when my daughter and I visited Gettysburg in October, we spent some time at the crest of the hill. It was easy to see the ghosts of both the offense and defense in that place. It was quiet the day we visited with a bit of a chill in the air - completely opposite to the hell that was found on those holy acres.
The one thing his papers do show is Ike decided that he didn't much care for war on March 12, 1864 and left. He wasn't on the rolls from then until December 31, 1864 when he was dropped from the rolls.
According to family stories, Ike had become a Union sympathizer. After leaving his post, he settled briefly in Powell Valley, Tennessee before making his way to Garrard County, Kentucky. His mother had died in 1847 when Ike was only 5. His father remarried and there was quite a bit of discord between Ike and his step-mother as Ike grew. Again, according to family stories, there are hints at violence within the family and that's the true cause of his moving away.
Ike met and married Nancy Pointer in Garrard County in 1869. Their growing family is found on the Garrard County censuses for 1870 and 1880. They moved just across the county border into Madison County where they and four of their unmarried children lived out the rest of their days. Interestingly, they lived in the steep hills of western Madison County; however, when they died, they were buried in the large cemetery in Richmond, rather than one of the smaller one near their home.
This is one of my favorite photos of my daddy and his sisters. Grandma didn't put a date on this, but from the age of Daddy, it looks to have been taken about 1926. In case you couldn't tell, the little guy in front is my daddy - William Kenneth Elam, born in Lerna, IL in 1921. His sister, Doris, is on the left and his sister, Dorothea, is on the right. This was taken in Vienna, IL.
Alright, now that you've stopped laughing, continue reading.
For anyone who's worked on genealogy even the least amount of time knows what a funny statement this is. You know, in genealogy, there is so much to do. It's much more than find names and dates. As we do this maddening hobby of ours, we become hand-writing experts, paralegals, map specialists, minor (or major) historians, land/title experts just to name a few.
I look at the various stacks of research papers and record books I have in my genealogy office. Then I look up at the gallery of my ancestors' photos I have on my wall behind my monitor. They gaze down at me disapprovingly, as if to say, "We're not going to share what we know until you clean this mess up!"
I've recently come into possession of well over 200 photos from my adoptive father's side of the family. I need to scan those, but whenever I get ready to do this, I think, "Well, I'd want to upload those to the website...but I don't have this person entered on the website yet." So, I'll go to enter them, then I end up going over census reports on the internet...then I see an ad to click here....and I end up playing something on Pogo.com. Is there such a thing as genealogy ritalin?
Do I start with the families that I don't have much information on? Do I start with the three-inch file I have on my Hoover family? Do I just just build a bonfire and chuck everything into it? No, don't worry, that was just a bad joke.
And while we're talking about ancestors withholding information - I'm so ready for a break in some of my brick walls. There are so many that just seem to have sprung up from the mountains in Kentucky, Virginia and North Carolina. I feel as if I'm whittling away at the bricks with a plastic spoon.
Anyway, enough of my blathering - I have files to organize!
Footnotemaven challenged the Geneabloggers to join in on a chorus or two of blogging carols. In the spirit of the season, I thought I'd share one of my favorite Christmas songs with you.
