Response to GeniAus: Accentuate the Positive Geneameme 2014

The purpose is to get geneabloggers to remember to accentuate the positive.  I think most genealogy researchers are perfectionists.  They rarely step back to take stock of the positive that has happened in their year of research.  There, of course, is more to do, however, little pieces of the puzzle begin to bring the picture into focus. 
These are questions Jill gave us to ponder and answer with positive thoughts.

1.  An elusive ancestor I found was... David F Burleson.  He was not my direct line, however, David Franklin was listed in many different trees as two men with different wives.  The War of 1812 Pension Files on Fold3 were the source of the break through.  The files showed David Franklin Burleson, who was the son of David and Ursula Burleson, had two wives and it gave the death, that everyone had estimated, of his first wife and the place.  It was a great finding.  One that will change many trees.

2.  A precious family photo I found was... a photo of some type of mill with my gr great grandfather and his son in Oklahoma about 1915...

3.  An ancestor's grave I found was... because of a wonderful person who was just collecting pictures and tombstone of anyone with the same surname, "just in case"... Proved date,and place of death of a civil war ancestor as his Civil War file was not complete.

4.  An important vital record I found was... was the death certificate for the above ancestor.

5.  A newly found family member shared... a picture and caused a second look at a different picture. Controversy still not resolved.

6.  A geneasurprise I received was... DNA matches that points to a confirmation to prior preponderance of evidence without paper trail. 

7.   My 2014 blog post that I was particularly proud of was one of the few 52 Ancestors weeks challenge posts... It was about my grandfather's sister Bessie Langley Bowen. I am so glad I started this and even happier that Amy Crow's 52 Ancestor's meme is continuing it this year. 

8.   My 2014 blog post that received a large number of hits or comments was Totally Floored and Appreciative   Not so much because of content, but because of  fellow blogger interaction.  Do you seek comments? 

9.  A new piece of software I mastered was Android apps for my tablet and phone for Ancestry.com

10. A social media tool I enjoyed using for genealogy was Facebook.  I have a couple of family groups on FB and they have been active in sharing family information as well as pictures and stories.  Love the stories.

11. A genealogy conference/seminar/webinar from which I learnt something new was FGS 2014 in San Antonio.  My heart is saddened that I will not be able to make it to FGS 2015 in Salt Lake City... Would have been too cool to have done FGS and Rootstech right together.

12. I am proud of the presentation I gave to The Sons of the Texas Republic in the Woodlands, Texas.  

13. A journal/magazine article I had published... this was not my privilege.  

14. I taught several friends how to use FamilySearch's Family Tree and use the Search side of the website.

15. A genealogy book that taught me something new was Guide to DNA Testing by Richard Hill.  

16. A great repository/archive/library I visited was Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research

17. A new genealogy/history book I enjoyed was "Grey Skies: A Civil War Legend of Family Courage" by David Self.  This historical fiction book was based on the family history of one of my collateral family members.

18. It was exciting to finally meet many of my genealogy heroes at FGS 2014.  I had been blogging and tweeting with them as well as being Facebook "friends" for several years with so many.  Then to meet them and exchange hugs and chat was just great.

19. A geneadventure I enjoyed was going to an old hidden cemetery with a distant cousin to see the grave sites of  my 4th great grand parents in Ray County, Missouri.  Totally off the grid.  We were taken in an old pickup, which we were holding our breath that it would keep running and crossed three fields to a spot that we needed a machete to clear our way... Outstanding adventure!  

Amy Phillips

20. Another positive I would like to share is that this year, so many have donated time and money to different genealogy projects. It has been awesome to see how the community rallies around each other to help in as many ways as possible for them. 

All in all, looking at it, it has been a very good year.  Thanks Jill for the prompt... it helped.

Tombstone Tuesday: Jasper Newton Wells

The person who shared on Ancestry never gave his name dwightbrooks2, this is also on FindaGrave

My knowledge of Jasper Newton Wells increased when two people who were not related to the Hero's ancestor, took pictures of his tombstone and shared it on Find a Grave and Ancestry.com. I contacted them both and they were glad I knew him. They were keeping it just in case they found a connection because their Wells family lived in the area.  Tombstones do count in genealogy research... I wrote a blog post about this on the WorldWide Genealogy Collaboration Blog, go HERE to see it. 

Still Loving Old Newspapers

This morning I should have been doing dishes and then my bills, but since I woke up tired, I sat down with the computer and explored a bit on the new Virginia Memory: Lost Records .   I was disappointed when nothing turned up, then got distracted by the Chronicling of America link.  I love old newspapers as they have helped me find the Hero's family so many times.  I first experimented to see if there was anything new on my 4th great grandfather.  Nothing came up, so I decided to experiment and search for the Hero's 3rd great grandfather. As the page begin to show results, I fought to not be too excited as John Wells isn't an uncommon name.  I clicked on the first result and WOW there was John listed as the volunteer in the Old '96 Volunteers for the Mexican War.  Confirmation.  The second was the source of the transcription for his death that I had found in a book of the History Of Edgefield, South Carolina. It gave an exact date which was actually 8 Jun 1847. but had been reported in an 1848 in the Newspaper and had been transcribed as such. Another testimony for look at the original source.

http://1.usa.gov/195i5OX

I was doing the happy dance. 

The third, oh wonder of wonders, I was transported back to a meeting room in South Carolina in 1846 where the men had gathered to hear the news and pleas of those rallying around to support the President of the United States in the decision to declare war on Mexico.  You could feel the excitement the writer imparted of the music, the leader's impassioned speeches.  It was no wonder John Wells joined, but that was not all.  Why did he join? It was because his brother Augustus jumped up and volunteered, John following suit. Can't you feel the adrenaline that must have been pumping in that room.

http://1.usa.gov/10ep1Ix

 It is so sad the way it ended.

Now the task of finding who the parents are. Still looking for court records or probate records for the 4 small children  after John died.  I did find a Chesley applying for administrator of a John Wells estate in 1851.  Wondering about the 1851 time period.  In 1855, John's children moved to Henry, Alabama; another long story and lots of speculation.