Roots Disentangled

I found the Civil War Service Record for my child's third great grandfather, Joseph Wakefield, on Fold3. An escaped slave who served in the US Colored Troops, his owner filed a Claim for Compensation for her lost services. She indicated that she inherited her slave from her father, and provides a name. I am hopeful I can find a copy of her father's estate. There is a chance one or both of Joseph's parents might also have been mentioned. CLAIM OF Judith Wakefield FOR THE COMPENSATION OF SLAVE NAMED Joseph Wakefield I, Judith Wakefield, a loyal citizen, and a resident of The County of Green, State of Kentucky, hereby claim compensation under the provisions of Section 24, act approved February 21, 1864, and section 2, act approved July 28, 1866, for my slave Joseph Wakefield, enlisted 22nd of April 1865 at Lebanon, Ky, by Capt J. M. Fidler, in the 125th regiment U.S. Colored Troops, Co. F, certificate of which enlistment, and a descriptive list, as required, acco...

With the Kentucky ancestry of my adopted child (including both the Boones and the Wakefields), I have been doing some research on the state recently. Bill West at WestInNewEngland  has an Annual Poetry Challenge 1. Find a poem by a poet, famous or obscure, about the region one of your ancestors lived in. It can be about an historical event, a legend, a person, or even about some place (like a river)or a local animal. It can even be a poem you or one of your ancestors have written. 0r, if you prefer, post the lyrics of a song or a link to a video of someone performing the song.  2. Post the poem or song to your blog (remembering to cite the source where you found it.). If you wish to enter an older post, you may as long as it has not appeared here in an earlier Poetry Challenge. 3.Tell us how the subject of the poem or song relates to your ancestor's home or life, or the area of the country where they lived. After reading his post, I tried to find some Kentucky p...

These are the two portraits that come up in an image search on "Edward Boone" (Daniel's brother). Both can be found on family trees for Edward, as well as a couple of websites. The first is actually a portrait of Daniel Boone , which can be found on his Wikipedia page. The second appears to be a portrait of another brother, Squire Boone Jr., as it is very similar to one which has a nameplate. Yes, brothers often look a like, but not that much alike. I'm going to assume there isn't a known portrait of Edward, my child's 8th great grandfather.

3rd Cousin, Five times Removed to my child

Research indicates my adopted child's 8th great grandfather is Edward Boone (1740-1780) - a younger brother of frontiersman, Daniel Boone. According to The Life and Death of Edward Boone : Edward Boone was born in Pennsylvania November 30, 1740 and was killed by Indians in Kentucky. October 6, 1780, while he was on a hunting trip with his brother Daniel. Edward and Daniel married sisters, Martha and Rebecca Bryan, whose father, Joseph Bryan, was one of the founders and defenders of Bryan Station near Lexington, Kentucky. Edward spent most of his life in what is today Wilkes County, North Carolina where he was a community leader and family man. He served on juries, was a road surveyor, a tax collector, a constable. Although the Boones had for many years been Quakers, he was baptized in the Baptist Church and loved to sing. He was called Ned or Neddie by his family and friends. He was “A peace man.” (Draper Manuscript 23C17-4) I tend to agree with Randy Seaver of Genea-musi...

One expects the census entries for a household to follow a particular pattern: Head of Household Spouse Children in descending age Others When the entries don't follow this order, it can raise questions. Below is a detail from the 1880 census for the family of Joseph and Emily PJ Wakefield, Greensburg, Green, Kentucky Wakefield, Joseph | Black | Male | 43 | Head of Household | Married | Farmer Wakefield, Emily PJ | Mulatto | Female | 26 | Wife | Married | Keeping Home Wakefield, Aldora | Mulatto | Female | 1 | Daughter | Single Wakefield, Christopher | Mulatto | Male | 18 | Servant | Married | Farm Laborer Wakefield, Mary J | Mulatto | Female | 12 | Step Daughter | Single | At Home Wakefield, John W | Mulatto | Male | 6 | Son | Single Wakefield, Martha | Mulatto | Female | ? | ? | Married | At Home Ancestry.com's "tree hints" suggest that Aldora is the only child of Joseph and Emily in this census. Once it reaches a servant, it assumes the ...

I have been researching my genealogy for over a decade. However, my spouse and I have adopted a child. Unfortunately, it is my belief that the family of one of the biological parents might be completely unaware of the existence of the child. This creates difficulties with blogging about near ancestors. And the more I blog about distant ancestors, a close relative could find the blog and discover a significant amount of surnames in common. I don't wish to give up the benefits of finding distant cousins through blogging. I've broken down some of my own brick walls in this manner. However, I would rather be anonymous if this happens, and they decide to contact me. If you are thinking about contacting me, be aware I will not tell you who I am, or where I live. If I know, I might tell you how closely related you are to my child. I might not. It will certainly depend a lot on how much time has elapsed since this initial post. As my child will need to be old enough to express thei...