133 Years Ago Today
April 8, 1876

Daniel Boone R. Sutherland, my 5th cousin, 3x removed, married Tennessee Dyer. Daniel was one of fourteen children born to William and Sylvia (Counts) Sutherland.

1. William Floyd Sutherland
2. Jasper Sutherland
3. Newton Sutherland
4. Elijah “Lige” Thurman Sutherland
5. Joshua P. Sutherland
6. Phoebe Sutherland
7. Martha Taylor Sutherland
8. Daniel Boone R. Sutherland
9. Mary Polly Deel Sutherland
10. Margaret Sutherland
11. FNU Sutherland
12. George Washington Sutherland
13. FNU Sutherland
14. Leander Sutherland

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133 years Ago Today
April 8, 1876

Isabel Victoria Counts was born in Russell County, VA. Isabel married Joshua P. Sutherland (above)

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115 Years Ago Today
April 8, 1894 – February 11, 1956

Sarah Catherine “Kate” Jessee, my 1st cousin, 2x removed, was one of ten children born to Thomas Jefferson “Big Jeff” and Mary Frances Jessee.

1. Georgie Estelle Jessee (birthday – 4-9-1882)
2. Ora Stanford Jessee
3. Gertude America Jessee
4. Horace Foster Jessee
5. Irene B. Jessee
6. Sarah Catherine “Kate” Jessee
7. Gaines Jessee
8. Dewey D. Jessee
9. Grady Jessee
10. Bonnie Lake Jessee

Sarah married Roy Ernest Kiser on December 19, 1914 and they had eleven children.

1. Nannie Frances Kiser
2. Horace Fuller Kiser
3. Lillian Claire Kiser
4. Mabel Stinson Kiser
5. Millard Combs “Red” Kiser
6. Effie Gertrude Kiser
7. Irene Jessee Kiser
8. Roy Katherine Kiser
9. Garland Kelly Kiser
10. Caroline “Carrie” Kiser
11. Eva Gray Kiser

Many thanks to Jessee cousins, Jeff Jessee and Kathy Haynes for the information and pictures on these relatives.

It has rained catz and dogz this week in Florida. Now I know we needed the water desperately, so I have tried to remain patient; but it is ever so difficult when dark clouds and gloomy days never seem to let go. Sophie and I sit in the office; I in my chair and Sophie at her post by the window. Ever diligent at her duties to watch for squirrels, our spoiled-rotten dog stays right by my side while I dig for more ancestors. And dig I do. When I start burrowing in my messy nest and the computer captures my days, I am transported to another time. Discovering relatives who served in the Civil or Revolutionary Wars, I try to imagine how their life must have been, living among fierce Indians and fighting for their lives and those of their chidren.

Nevertheless, reality slips back in as the sun shines brightly on the pond, and I am certain of how truly blessed I am. The Sunshine State legitimizes it’s name by giving me a view that is nothing short of spectacular. The trees, the water, the Canadian geese, wood ducks, red headed woodpeckers, squirrels, foxes, even coyote….all here for me to enjoy.

This is my day, filled with wonder and adventure, right from the vantage point of my computer. Thank you Lord, I am indeed grateful for the blessings and …the sunshining once again.

It has rained catz and dogz this week in Florida. Now I know we needed the water desperately, so I have tried to remain patient; but it is ever so difficult when dark clouds and gloomy days never seem to let go. Sophie and I sit in the office; I in my chair and Sophie at her post by the window. Ever diligent at her duties to watch for squirrels, our spoiled-rotten dog stays right by my side while I dig for more ancestors. And dig I do. When I start burrowing in my messy nest and the computer captures my days, I am transported to another time. Discovering relatives who served in the Civil or Revolutionary Wars, I try to imagine how their life must have been, living among fierce Indians and fighting for their lives and those of their chidren.

Nevertheless, reality slips back in as the sun shines brightly on the pond, and I am certain of how truly blessed I am. The Sunshine State legitimizes it’s name by giving me a view that is nothing short of spectacular. The trees, the water, the Canadian geese, wood ducks, red headed woodpeckers, squirrels, foxes, even coyote….all here for me to enjoy.

This is my day, filled with wonder and adventure, right from the vantage point of my computer. Thank you Lord, I am indeed grateful for the blessings and …the sunshining once again.

181 Years Ago Today
April 3, 1828 – July 20, 1880

Mary Clay Gregory, my 3rd cousin 4x removed, was one of fifteen children born in Pittsylvania County, VA to John Keatts and Elizabeth Holland (Corder) Gregory.

1. Daniel Parham Gregory
2. Lewis Corder Gregory
3. William Lowery Gregory
4. Perlina Ledford Gregory
5. John Henry Gregory
6. Permelia Clement Gregory
7. Martha Tucker Gregory
8. Mary Clay Gregory
9. Richard Shadrack Gregory
10. Nancy Reeves Gregory
11. Elizabeth Holland Gregory
12. Franklin Clemons Gregory
13. James Madison Gregory
14. Thompson Edward Gregory
15. Doctor Clauton Gregory

Mary Clay married John Drew Peery on July 29, 1894 in Tazewell County, VA and they had seven children. The couple is buried in the Whitley-Peery Cemetery on Riverside Drive in N. Tazewell, VA.

1. David Preston Peery
2. Charles Henry Peery
3. George Peery
4. Ella Martelia Peery
5. Mary Elizabeth Peery
6. Louisa Alice Peery
7. Mary Elizabeth “Molly” Peery

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115 Years Ago Today
April 3, 1894 – September 23, 1894

Adam Stephen Tabor, my 2nd cousin, 2x removed, was born to Henry J. and Mary Arminta (Wagner) Tabor.

1. Zachary Taylor (not the president)
2. Frances Taylor
3. Colonel Richard Lee Taylor
   was an officer in the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War, and the father of the 12th President of the United States, Zachary Taylor.

Taylor was born in Orange County, Virginia in 1744 to Zachary and Elizabeth (Lee) Taylor. He was a graduate of the College of William and Mary. In 1769 he explored the Ohio River and Mississippi River with his older brother, Hancock Taylor, travelling from Pittsburgh to New Orleans. When the American Revolution began, Taylor became an an officer in the Virginia Continental forces, and fought in the battles of Brandywine, Monmouth, Trenton, and White Plains. He was discharged as a lieutenant colonel.

Taylor married Sarah Dabney Strother in 1779. They lived first at his plantation, “Hare Forest”. However, he had acquired 8,000 acres (32 km2) throughout Kentucky, and with the return of peace in 1783, he started clearing the land to move his family there. They did so in 1785, and by 1790 he had built his home “Springfield”, known today as the Zachary Taylor House.

During the Northwest Indian War, Taylor served as a volunteer in the Kentucky militia under Major John Adair. He was injured in a disastrous 1792 battle with Indians under Little Turtle near Fort St. Clair, site of the present Eaton, Ohio.

By 1800, Taylor had enlarged “Springfield” to 700 acres (2.8 km2) by 1800. He remained active for the remainder of his life in Kentucky politics.[2] [4] He donated 60 acres (240,000 m2) for the creation of Taylorsville, Kentucky, which was named in his honor.[5]

Richard Taylor died in 1829 at the age of 85. He was buried in the family cemetery, now part of the Zachary Taylor National Cemetery.
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252 Years Ago Today
April 3, 1757 – November 25, 1821

Lawrence “luke” Kelley, my 4th great granduncle was one of eight children born to John and Amy Kelley.

We are the chosen. My feelings are, in each family, there is one who seems called to find the ancestors. To put flesh on their bones and make them live again, to tell the family story and to feel that somehow they know and approve. To me, doing genealogy is not a cold gathering of facts but, instead, breathing life into all those who have gone before. We are the storytellers of the tribe. All tribes have one. We have been called, as it were, by our genes. Those who have gone before cry out to us: Tell our story. So, we do.

In finding them, we somehow find ourselves.
How many graves have I stood before now and cried? I have lost count. How many times have I told the ancestors, you have a wonderful family, you would be proud of us? How many times have I walked up to a grave and felt somehow there was love there for me? I cannot say.

It goes beyond documenting facts. It goes to whom I am and why do I do the things I do? It goes to seeing a cemetery about to be lost forever to weeds and indifference and saying, I can’t let this happen. The bones here are bones of my bone and flesh of my flesh. It goes to doing something about it.

It goes to pride in what our ancestors were able to accomplish. How they contributed to what we are today. It goes to respecting their hardships and losses, their never giving in or giving up, their resoluteness to go on and build a life for their family.

It goes to deep pride that they fought to make and keep us a Nation. It goes to a deep and immense understanding that they were doing it for us, that we might be born who we are, that we might remember them. So we do. With love and caring and scribing each fact of their existence, because we are they and they are us. So, as a scribe called, I tell a story of my family. It is up to that one called in the next generation to answer the call and take their place in the long line of family storytellers.

That is why I do my family genealogy, and that is what calls those young and old to step up and put flesh on the bones. (Author Unknown but shared by a relative and fellow family history lover).

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82 Years Ago Today
April 2, 1927
Otha C. Gregory, my 2nd cousin, 2x removed, married Gertrude Fox. Otha was one of six children born to John Barnes and Louise (Stowers)Gregory.

1. Aubrey Barnes Gregory
2. John Gregory
3. Truby Roscoe Gregory
4. Woodrow Gregory
5. Frances Gregory
6. Otha C. Gregory

John Barnes Gregory, Richard Shadrack Gregory, John Keatts Gregory, William Gregory, John Gregory, Thomas Gregory III, Thomas Gregory II, Thomas Gregory (England), Richard Gregory (England)

September 29, 1917 – March 18, 2009
Joe E. Kiser

I first met Joe Kiser this past August at the Cleveland Community Center in Russell County, VA. Easily recognizing that he was the center of attention at the annual Kiser-Sutherland family reunion, I was drawn close enough to hear Joe sharing his memories with family.

Not boastful, as some might be who had survived such things as the attack on Pearl Harbor. Not negative, as some who have attained the ripe old age of 90, only to find themselves with very little eyesight and dependent on others. Joe was a kind, courteous, friendly sort of man with a smile on his face that warmed the hearts of everyone in the room. His positive outlook never waivered, even though he might have to stop and think on things, giving his memory time to catch up with the questions.

Apparently, Joe has fed the likes of us family history buffs for years with his stories from the past. He especially delighted me with his childhood account of lighting a corn-cob pipe for Granny Haley. (Mahala Sutherland Kiser, my 2nd great grandmother). That particular day, the last Kiser-Sutherland reunion he would attend, Joe Kiser and Earl Campbell shared a story about ole Tom Sutherland and the one time he left the county. They said that when he came back home that all he talked about for the rest of his life was how high those Kentuck women could kick. I’m not real sure what lay beneath that tale, but it didn’t really matter. Joe charmed everyone with his humor, his contagious smile and his modest demeanor.

He will be sorely missed by those who knew him all these many years, and by those of us who just met him for the first time. I’m blessed to have made his acquaintance. Rest in peace Joe.

LEBANON, Va. – Joe E. Kiser, age 91, passed away Wednesday, March 18, 2009, in Russell County Medical Center. He was born September 29, 1917, in Russell County, a son of the late Loy Kiser and the late Iris Amburgey Kiser. He was the husband of the late Virginia Taylor Kiser. He was a WWII Veteran of the U.S. Army Air Corps, a Pearl Harbor survivor, a life member of the Lebanon V.F.W. Post No. 9864 and a member of the Honor Guard of the Post. Joe attended Carbo Community Church.

In addition to his parents and wife he was preceded in death by a daughter, Sarah Kiser; sisters, Peggy Kiser, Nadine Kiser, and Kathleen Vance; brothers, Tom Kiser and Paul Kiser.
Survivors include a daughter, Thelma Walters, Lebanon; a son, Tippy Joe Kiser and wife Brenda, Lebanon; granddaughter, Pat Kiser and Dean Deskins; grandsons, Jay Shepard and wife Kathy, and Brian Shepard; great-grandson, Dalton Deskins; great-granddaughter, Nikki Shepard; sister, Grace Parrott, Cleveland; and several nieces and nephews.

The funeral service will be conducted at 8 p.m. Friday, March 20, 2009, in the Combs Funeral Service chapel, with the Rev. Roger Phillips and the Rev. Duane Musick officiating. Burial will be at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 21, 2009, in Ketron Memorial Gardens in Lebanon, where full military honors will be conducted by the Lebanon V.F.W. Post 9864. Those attending are to meet at the funeral home by 1:30 p.m. to go in procession to the cemetery. Members of the Post will serve as pallbearers. The family will receive friends 6 to 8 p.m. prior to the service. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Lebanon V.F.W. Post No. 9864, P.O. Box 133, Swords Creek, VA 24649. Combs Funeral Service, 291 Fincastle Road, Lebanon, VA 24266, (276) 889-4444, is serving the Kiser family.