George W's blog

Who Do You Think You Are" TV Show.  Reba!  Reba McEntire was recently featured on this fascinating genealogy show.  Something I like about recent segments like this one is that Reba asks more intelligent questions about HOW the research was done.  A genealogist criticism of this show in the past has been that viewers could easily think that all one's genealogy is readily available for the asking.  Of course, genealogists know that it can take countless hours of research to achieve what is presented in the show in an hour.  Nevertheless, "Who Do You Think You Are" brings a positive and exciting new image the field of genealogy.  Videos of the series can be found at http://www.nbc.com/who-do-you-think-you-are/video/reba-mcentire/1388707. Once you get to the NBC website you might have to start the video by clicking Reba's picture.

by Ruth Lindsey #2217

One of the earliest memories of my childhood is the little grocery store, owned and operated by Ernest Weisemiller, who was my Uncle, and Oliver Walker, his partner.  As a tribute to Elizabethtown, its citizens of days gone by, I write a few memories and facts about the store once located at 136 E. Dixie Avenue in Elizabethtown which was operated from about 1905 until 1962.

For the full story:  http://aths.com/content/walker-miller-grocery-136-edixie-avenue-elizabethtown-kentucky

by Martha Fontenot – mfontenot7 [at] aol [dot] com

Solving family genealogy roadblocks can be challenging, frustrating and exhilarating!  Confirming our Prather family’s oral history that Mahala Vanmeter, daughter of Captain Jacob Vanmeter and Rebecca Rawlings was our ancestor has elements of all three. Family members have searched for many years to discover and confirm this link without success until recent days.

For the full story: http://www.aths.com/content/solving-genealogy-roadblocks

The coal oil lamp flickered on a small dresser, casting its yellow glow around the room and long, barely perceptible shadows danced on the walls. The house was quiet except for the creaks and groans that any wood frame building made. Having spent the day following a horse and plow across the bottom, Roy slept. Across the room, Ruth, just four years old, slept and dreamed of following “daddy” around the gently rolling fields of their place. The muffled ticking of the clock, the rustle of leaves on a tree outside, the gentle creaking of wood planks beneath her chair were the barely audible sounds that could be heard. 

Sorry that the link wasn't working earlier. To read the whole story: http://www.aths.com/content/grandmothers-flower-garden-0

DID EUROPEANS VISIT MEADE COUNTY 300 YEARS BEFORE COLUMBUS SAILED WEST?
BY G. KEMPF, C. LUEKEN, R. BRIGGS & C.L. DAWSON

There is compelling evidence that Europeans reached North America hundreds of years before Christopher Columbus sailed west attempting to reach the orient.  Controversial evidence suggests the Phoenicians (from the coastal regions of Syria, Lebanon, and Israel) may have reached the east coast of North America – perhaps penetrating as far west as present Michigan.  There is little doubt among scholars that the Vikings (Norsemen from Scandinavia) arrived in North America 300 years before Columbus.  Controversy arises regarding how far west the Vikings explored from their landing on the east coast.  The most controversial evidence and speculation involves the claim that the Welsh (Wales, England) reached North America and penetrated north from Alabama to the Dakota’s in the twelfth century.  The Welsh explorer who is believed by some to have accomplished this feat was Madoc.  There is evidence, though controversial, that Madoc penetrated from the Gulf Coast to Kentucky and was forced further north by Native Americans (Shawnee, Cherokee and others) in a battle at the Falls of the Ohio at present Louisville, Kentucky; and eventually settled in North Dakota generations later.

Click on this link for the rest of the story:  http://aths.com/content/brandenburg-stone-mystery