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.
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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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