Misc: What's Your Line , Natchitoches Parish La Submitted by: Suzanne Shoemaker Many Thanks to the Natchitoches Times for allowing the LaGenWeb to use this article. ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** The Natchitoches Times article. What's Your Line? A column written by members of the Natchitoches Genealogy and History Association October 15, 1999 issue WHAT'S YOUR LINE? Dumfries, Va., is the oldest continuously chartered town in that state. Cincinatti, Texas, was wiped out by a yellow fever epidemic in 1853. Of the billions of facts, there are probably some that you alone know. You are the only person in the whole world who can speak authoritatively on some subject. My father-in-law was a small child on a sheep ranch in Texas. Sheep are not beloved by cattle ranchers. There was a range war. Father Wells recalled lying on the floor as bullets whizzed through the little frame house. Giving up sheep, the family turned to planting cotton, as they still do. Father Wells could remember how many oxen were hitched to the plow when the soil was broken for the first time. He told us the large number. Neither he nor we ever wrote down the details. I do not remember the number except that it was large. To plow through roots of tall grass took many oxen. One true family tradition is lost forever. You are the world's expert on the story of your own life. Write! Small events are the stuff of family tradition. The Natchitoches Times article November 19, 1999 issue. WHAT'S YOUR LINE? A column written by members of the Natchitoches Genealogy and Historical Assoc. By Carol Wells The current issue of "Louisiana Roots" gives readers a petition to Governor General Don Emanuel Gayoso Delamos telling the condition of the southern part of Rapides Post. Fifteen leagues from Rapides Bayou, travel to the seat of justice was difficult. At all seasons, only river travel was practical. Only for six months was there high water. At low water, the trip took at least two days. The petition asked that Benjamin Grubb be appointed Alcalde for that area. The petition was signed by Alexander Fulton, Reuben White, Emanuel Rue, Joseph Holmes, George Paul, Joseph Walker, King Holstein, John Bra---d, Uriah Wiggins and Daniel Wiggins. "Louisiana Roots" is a free publication that asks only that subscribers send postage contributions. Monthly features include indexes to current journals of Louisiana genealogical societies and names and addresses of such organizations. The Natchitoches Times article. November 26, 1999 issue WHAT'S YOUR LINE? A column written by members of the Natchitoches Genealogical and Historical Association By Carol Wells About 1811, in Edgefield, S. C., Jehu Caston and Andrew Caston sold land to John C. Jordan. Jordan's name was also spelled Jourdan in this deed. One of the witnesses was Eppey Tillery. In a deed written a year earlier this person was called Eppy Tilery when he or she, Lucreasy Broadwater and Charles Broadwater sold land to William Tillery, which he soon sold to David Tillman. At this point, the searcher cannot know if Eppy or Eppey was a man or a woman. The deeds also show a common genealogical problem: different spellings of a name. Clerks were required to be able to write. Some old writing is easy to read; some is almost indecipherable. If the clerk was semi-literate and the transcriber had trouble with what the clerk wrote, the chances of mistakes are multiplied. When a searcher finds a family name in a printed book, it is best to obtain a copy of the original document. The Natchitoches Times article. November 5, 1999 issue. WHAT'S YOUR LINE? A column written by members of the Natchitoches Genealogy and History Association. By Carol Wells Letters of Cammie Henry of Melrose Plantation left a record of much that would have disappeared with the changes wrought by years had she not written these facts. Have you written about your young days? Mrs. Henry wrote "Names of timey servants-Aunt Julian Beo-once a slave-cooked for me 19 years. Alice Benjamin and 'Old Aunt Patsy (Williams) slaves-the latter now spins for me. Mother's black mammy 'Biddy Minard' and her daughter Rhoda Minard-Tennessee darkies, both slaves. Also 'Aunt Inn' for Innocence. Others are Clotilda, Calliope, Caldonia, Aquilla, Mehetibal and Hepsibal." These people were part of the tremendous changes of American History; their lives exemplified the personal side of wartime and legal decision. Would their names be remembered if Cammie Henry had not written about them? Are their descendants working on family history? The Natchitoches Times article. November 12, 1999 issue. WHAT'S YOUR LINE? A column written by members of the Natchitoches Genealogy and Historical Association. By Carol Wells DNA testing, a procedure that has proved paternity, identified mass burials and freed prisoners from death row, has now reached genealogy. Clan Donald has announced a project to identify descendants of Somerled, a Scottish warrior king and Lord of the Isles, who lived in the 12th century. Somerled is the acknowledged founder of the MacDonald family and associated families with surnames such as MacIver, O'Cahan, McConnel and others. The study "will provide information from which we can better understand such varied historical questions as the paternal lineage of Somerled, the Norse or Gaelic paternal descents of the followers of Somerled ." Two world renowned Y-chromosome scientists plan to work with the project.