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.

I know, this is a genealogy page and not the place to forward an email. But since I have had no relative’s celebrations to post in recent days, I thought this an appropriate time to share something awesome about God. If you are interested read on…and certainly take the time to watch the you-tube video. I can’t tell you how cool this is, you must read and hear it for yourself. I hope you like it.

A doctor wrote:

A couple of days ago I was running on my treadmill, watching a DVD sermon by Louie Giglio…and I was BLOWN AWAY!

He (Louie) was talking about how inconceivably BIG our God is…how He spoke the universe into being…how He breathes stars out of His mouth that are huge raging balls of fire…etc. etc. Then He went on to speak of how this star-breathing, universe creating God ALSO knitted our human bodies together with amazing detail and wonder. At this point I am LOVING it (fascinating from a medical standpoint, you know.) ….and I was remembering how I was constantly amazed during medical school as I learned more and more about God’s handiwork. I remember so many times thinking….’How can ANYONE deny that a Creator did all of this???’
Louie went on to talk about how we can trust that the God who created all this, also has the power to hold it all together when things seem to be falling apart…how our loving Creator is also our sustainer.
And then I lost my breath.
And it wasn’t because I was running my treadmill, either!!!
It was because he started talking about laminin.

I knew about laminin. Here is how wikipedia describes them :’Laminins are a family of proteins that are an integral part of the structural scaffolding of basement membranes in almost every animal tissue.’ You see….laminins are what hold us together….LITERALLY. They are cell adhesion molecules. They are what holds one cell of our bodies to the next cell.. Without them, we would literally fall apart. And I knew all this already.

But what I didn’t know is what laminin LOOKED LIKE… now I do.

Here is what the structure of laminin looks like…AND THIS IS NOT a ‘Christian portrayal’ of it…if you look up laminin in any scientific/medical piece of literature, this is what you will see…

155 Years Ago Today
March 31, 1854
Nancy “Nannie” Ward Gregory

My great grandaunt was one six children born to Daniel Parham and Mary Jane (Daugherty) Gregory. Nannie was named for her grandmother Nancy Ward, daughter of the pioneer David Ward.

Taken from Pendleton’s History of Tazewell County and Southwest Virginia, Copyright 1920, page 528, this picture shows some of the implements the pioneer women used for manufacturing fabrics to make clothing for their families. The woman standing by the loom is Miss Nannie Gregory, one of the very few expert weavers now left in the county. She is wearing the poke bonnet her grandmother wore many years ago. The loom, which was her grandmother’s is a hundred years old, as are also the spinning wheels and reel seen in the picture.

From Pendleton’s History of Tazwell, p. 411. “Abstracts of Tazewell County Will Book # 1, page 221,” records David Ward’s will, made May 12, 1821 and Proven June 1827. Wife , Eleanor, one-third of the plantation where I now live containing by estimation 400 acres, At the death of wife the 400 acres to go to equally to Isaac Ward, Hiram Ward and Addison Ward. To son, Rees Ward 100 acres. Balance of personal estate to be divided among my four daughters, Jane Ward, Nancy Ward, Phebe Ward and Matilda Ward. David Ward, John Ward, Robert Ward, Wm. Ward and Joseph Ward signed a petition to form Tazewell Co. VA in 1793. Again in 1795 a petition to form Tazewell Co. VA., signed by William Ward, James Davis, George Davis, Wm. Davis, John Davis Jr., Zachariah Davis, Abram Davis, John Davis, John Davis Sr., Wm. Ward, David Ward, John Ward and Joseph Ward. Then in 1796 a petition of Wythe Co., to form a new County, Tazewell Co., David Ward, John Ward, Joseph Ward, Saul Ward, Wm. Ward, John Davis, A. Davis, Wm. Davis and Zachariah Davis.

Originally from Scotland, the Wards went to Ireland under England’s plantation act after lands and titles were confiscated. Thus becoming the Scotch-Irish of the new world. It all started with James Ward born 1672 in Inishowen Peninsula, County Donegal, Ireland and died 1759 in Greenville, Augusta County, VA. He married Sarah Rodgers before 1700 in Ireland. Their immigration was c 1730, from Ireland to Philadelphia, PA, Augusta Co., VA. Three sons, James Ward Jr.; William Ward; and John Ward all born in Ireland and came with their parents to the new world. We descend from William Ward.
Source: Jeannie Frazier [mailto:jeannie.frazier@worldnet.att.net]

The Scotch-Irish began to arrive in America in 1640 and continued to come in small numbers. By 1700 adverse economical conditions and political and religious conflict arose. The English landlords demanded higher rentals and Parliament regulations restricted the cattle and sheep raising industry. In 1704, Parliament excluded Presbyterians from holding civil and military offices, and taxed them to support the Anglican Church in which they refused to worship. All this caused thousands of them with their Scotch heritage, their Presbyterian faith, and their experience in colonization of Northern Ireland, to leave for the American Colonies. When the English landlords in Ireland in 1717, upon the expiration of leases, raised the rentals a steady stream of the Scotch-Irish began to pour into America, with 10,000 arriving in Pennsylvania within a year. It was with these Scotch-Irish at this time that our Ward forebears came to this country.

In 1758 James made a petition to the local government for support because he was almost blind and unable to provide for himself, according to the “Chronicles of The Scotch-Irish Settlement of VA” Volume 2, page 232.

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130 Years Ago Today
March 31, 1879

My 2nd cousin, 2x removed, Marvin N. Walker, was born to Rev. John Randolph and Mary Jane (Brown) Walker. His grandmother, Nancy Reeves (Gregory) Brown was sister to Daniel P. Gregory, father of Nannie, shown above.

Time passes so quickly. Can it really have been 34 years already since we sat at the kitchen table on Mountain View playing back alley and trying to distract Wanda from labor. Precious little Stuart was wasting no time making an anxiously awaited entrance then, and now has a beautiful family of his own. Send pictures please:)

Wanda said…
As I recall you had me eating tomatoes and saltine crackers. You have such a good memory.

Sherry said…
I still love tomatoes and saltine crackers. It’s the small things that make life so enjoyable.

My first cousin, 5x removed. In other words

John Letcher 1759-1793 ( my 5th g-grandfather * the Gov. Letcher’s grandfather)

Hannah Letcher 1771-1849 ……. (sister & brother) Wm Houston Letcher
John L. Dougherty 1799-1868 … (1st cousins) Governor John Letcher
Mary Jane Daugherty 1826-1897
Eliza Greever Gregory 1857-1922
Mary Jane Davidson 1886-1960
Larkin Watson Buckland, Jr. 1915-1993

John Letcher was born in the town of Lexington in Rockbridge County, Virginia. He attended private rural schools and Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia. In 1833, he was graduated from Washington Academy in Lexington. He studied law was admitted to the Virginia State Bar and opened a practice in Lexington in 1839.

John Letcher was elected as Governor of Virginia in 1859, defeating Whig candidate William L. Goggin, and served from 1860-1864. Letcher was prominent in the organization of the peace convention that met in Washington, D.C., February 8, 1861, in an effort to devise means to prevent the impending American Civil War. He discouraged secession, but was active in sustaining the ordinance passed by Virginia on April 17, 1861. In 1864, his home in Lexington was burned by Union troops during General David Hunter’s raid.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Letcher

http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=L000256