Round and round we go from the east coast to the west. Before we had many grandfathers in the American Revolution, we had those fighting king phillip in the northeast, those settling in the 1600s into massachusetts and new york indian country and of course, two that we have discovered on the first mayflower landing at plymouth, doty and fuller, who's descendants migrated south. Such a joy following their wagon tracks as they journeyed through the wilderness making their contributions to the new country of freedom.

Montgomery AL itself was an indian village yet became the spot of Jefferson Davis taking oath as president of the Confederacy and his home has been moved to be near the capital, where that took place, on the street where our ancestors went to sell their crops and served in the war with Davis. A gold star is still on those capitol steps where he took oath. This Dexter avenue was dirt at that time, full of horses and buggies, then brick for many years, yet paved around 1970.

Blessed with the many contacts and emails to further my journey of family research, many of us have joined the mayflower society, the daughters of the revolution and our sons of the confederacy, thanks to all who led me, to all who have passed on, and here is hope that our loved ones will continue on this path as our elders would have appreciated. 

 
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Facts are so hard to find when proving our lineage. He said this and she said that and away we go looking through the puzzle pieces. Go back to those old postcards and letters to study the story, names and locations. Dig into the family birth certificates, marriage licenses, school records, court records, church records too! Many old books, military records, and census images are online and provide much information, but some are blurry, with names spelled wrong, maybe they were bouncing on their horse while writing but some images are downright sloppy, so use your own common sense when researching! Sometimes people just did NOT know their neighbors nor their parents or grandparents.

I found a census of my great great grandpa having a nephew living with him and I knew this old guy! He managed the family cemetery! Our mother had talked with him several times over the years as we lost one after the other, and I still do not know if they realized they were kin. 

Our parents had no idea their own great grandfathers served in the civil war nor many other battles and then those had greats who served in the american revolution - oh such fascinating history here as we journey through time., one wagon after another. 

 
Family Photos
  • 1865 (37 KB)
    our great grandfather charles mcclain had a grandfather named james
  • great grandpa charles mcclain has my moms nose (67 KB)
    he also served in ww1, had two sisters who died before he was born, could not read nor write and was never certain of his age, a small short type of guy, with lazy eye, was very spiritual. His nose is very much like the famous creek chief calvin mcghee but i find no mcghee in my lineage so who was his mother hmmmmm
  • 1840 watkins and calloway (342 KB)
    our GG great grandfather Henry Bozeman lived amongst some of the most influential people of the county but he is never mentioned in the history books....his land was divided and sold when he passed away in 1847 and a Thomas Carter bought a portion which we can still see and visit the family cemetery as Tom had married Henry's niece Lacy Bozeman, the daughter of Jesse and possibly Lucy Anderson...this is also the only place where uncle Jesse had his middle initial M....so he could have been named jesse mordecai after his grandpa......also note that peter has the family....he has moved near the Anderson family......he is closer to Lavinia Jane Sellers Anderson......also our family
  • 1968 (13 KB)
    standing on dexter avenue where my elders once came upon this old dirt road to sell cotton or tobacco after a good harvest and also where they watched jefferson davis take his oath as president of the confederacy
  • PEB setting the record straight (584 KB)
    PeterEdward's original home made grave stone shows the year of his death to be 1895......his wife filed for his pension in 1896 and so in error we assumed the wrong dates.
  • 1920 grandpa carter (15 KB)
    mom never knew her dad, in fact she was orphaned at age 4 and raised by her mcclain grandparents but always told that her daddy was cherokee
  • 1949 funeral record (264 KB)
    proof of mcclain parentage gave me something new to research and then i could amend his death certificate for any future researchers...this also helped provide information for his wife's parentage so that I could have her death certificate amended and it also shows my sweet granny Emily Carter who died at age 19.
  • Levi Cooper (50 KB)
    Mamaw's daddy sure resembles frank and david....the coopers have a lot of history, migrating into creek territory of chambers county and then into montgomery.Levi also married a carter, so was he kin to me maybe
  • 1824 Grandpa Isaac Coonfield (298 KB)
    Daddy's mom's side came out of Pennsylvania 1700s into KY 1800 and then 1824 Indiana history books of migrations
  • 1890 Lorena (336 KB)
    I knew the granny who raised my mother and traced her on the census records, and personal records indicate her death certificate had many errors so I personally sent the information to have her legacy correct for future generations of the Bozeman family and her mother Lorena Stephens
  • 1895 uncle frank fenn (18 KB)
    we had visited his huge farm in coosada when i was a child.....he must resemble his mother anna stone and his daughter was martha fenn cook mcclain whom i also met and interviewed for our family history....she knew my mother and her brothers
  • 1838 heirs (173 KB)
    the Bozeman heirs name Lucy and Sterling Campbell but look closely.....is it LACY??? and of course it mentions our grandpa HENRY and then the minor heirs of meedy who resided with ellen and vincent joiner who did not remain in montgomery county.this does not include the third daughter of peter so she may not have survived the journey to alabama. but do take note of the CAMPBELL surname as it begins to appear quite often in the next several years of our family; perhaps cousins marrying cousins.....or not..
 
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Named after my great grandmother Lorena Bozeman McClain who was born in 1890 Ramer, Montgomery, Alabama, I have thoroughly enjoyed writing about this great lady and her heritage.

After my parents passed away and my husband died of cancer, I began to write about them and their family trees when I was unable to sleep.

Our families have traveled many miles and intertwined in the same communities, some knowing each other, many moons ago. 

Lorena was named after her mother Alice Lorena Stephens and the story was that Alice's great grandfather was in the American Revolution and married to a full blood Cherokee, giving her a Biblical name. Indian unrest was so bad in the Carolinas, they packed up and moved to Dublin and Ramer in Alabama. Records indicate there were several Stephens Plantations in that area once, near many other migrating families like Broadway, Bozeman, Gibson, Timmons, Dillard, Money, Hill, Gardener, McClain, Anderson, Sellers, with most of their children intermarrying. 

While tracing mom's family on the East Coast I also found my dad's lineage, many of whom migrated into Kentucky and Ohio about 1800. They soon migrated into Iowa Territory and or Arkansas.

It's all fascinating family history, some mentioned in books of old pioneers and such, plus so very patriotic, makes me proud. 

 
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