Wesley Blalock in the Civil War

Second great-grandfather (2GG) Wesley Blalock (1825-1895) joined the 31st Illinois Infantry Regiment, Company K, on 10 August 1861 in Centralia, Marion, Illinois.((Wesley named one of his daughters after the town in which he enlisted.))  The…
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My Civil War Ancestors

In recent posts, I've been in an analysis rather than research mode.  First came a summary of ten years of discoveries and breakthroughs.  (Read here.)  Then I posted a series of three articles about the occupations of my ancestors.  (Read…

Ancestors by Occupation III

This is the last in a series of three posts about my ancestor's occupations.  See the first two here and here. In a nutshell, my ancestors were mainly merchants, bankers, doctors, scientists, teachers, clergy, local public officials, and…

Ancestors by Occupation II

In the previous post, I introduced occupational family trees and displayed two charts, one for my Dad's tree and one for Mom's.  (See the post here.) In this post, I will identify the most common occupational fields of my ancestors.  To…
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Ancestors by Occupation I

Family trees come in all forms and styles.  In addition to the traditional chart that identifies ancestors by name, one can also create tree diagrams emphasizing a particular aspect or feature of one's ancestors.  Genetic trees, for example,…
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R.I.P. Joy M. Kiser (1947-2022)

Our family was stunned and heart-broken to hear of Joy Kiser's unexpected death a week ago at age 74.  She would have been 75 tomorrow. Joy was the Jones family historian.  Beginning in the 1990s, Joy spent many years researching the tragic…
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My Pilgrim Ancestors

My son Peter gave me a book for Christmas that I really enjoyed - They Knew They Were Pilgrims: Plymouth Colony and the Contest for American Liberty.  It's a new history of Plymouth Colony by John G. Turner, a professor of religion at George…

Origin of Hildeburn Name

In 1831, Robert McMullin Jr. (1787-1862) and wife Mary Tabele (1795-1869) of Philadelphia named their eldest son Samuel Hildeburn McMullin (1831-1892).  Samuel is my 2nd great-grandfather (2GG) and his parents Robert and Mary are 3GGs. Rev.…

Discovery: Wesley Blalock had Two Wives

Just not at the same time! In 2012, I obtained the Civil War pension file for 2GG Wesley Blalock (1825-1895) from the National Archives.((Wesley Blalock (Pvt., Co. K, 31st Ill. Inf., Civil War), pension no. Inv. 58388, Case Files of Approved…

Ten Years of Discoveries

I feel like it's time to step back and reassess.  I began building a family tree over a decade ago.  In January 2011, I joined Ancestry.com at the suggestion of a buddy at work, Ray Thomas - a fellow Ohioan like my father.  I was immediately…