HistorTree

Book Review: Swabbed & Found by Frank Billingsley

frank-book-signing — Meeting Frank — and getting a signed copy of *Swabbed & Found* — at HGF’s September meeting.

Frank Billingsley has been a familiar face on my television since I moved to Houston. He’s the chief meteorologist at KPRC 2, our local NBC affiliate, and a trusted source in good weather — and in very bad. He’s shared some of his big life moments with viewers, including his 2012 wedding and his recent prostate cancer diagnosis. In Swabbed & Found: An Adopted Man’s DNA Journey to Discover His Family Tree, Frank shares how he reconnected with his birth family with DNA and genealogical research.

I had the pleasure of hearing Frank tell his story at Houston Genealogical Forum (HGF)’s September meeting. Even after listening the entire tale and learning how it ends, I still bought the book — the details were that engaging! Continue reading Book Review: Swabbed & Found by Frank Billingsley

Newspapers.com, OCR Limitations, and How I Learned my Great-Grandfather Liked Liquor

I recently completed a free trial of Newspapers.com. I wasn’t sure what I’d find, if anything, because the limitations of optical character recognition (OCR) technology make searching for my Horn/Horne family challenging. So often OCR sees “Horne” as “Home.” And searching for “Horn” brings up thousands of mentions of brass instruments.

I saw the best results when forming very specific queries. Their collection included The News-Star (Monroe, Louisiana) for the range in which my own engagement and marriage announcements were published. Searching for “Jessica Horne” in the correct date range did not locate the articles — but as soon as I included “Collins” I was staring at my bridal portrait from 2006!

To be fair to Newspapers.com, this OCR frustration isn’t unique to their service. I have the same problem with NewspaperArchive, Adobe PDF Reader, and Google books. If OCR technology improved — or the printed source materials had just a tad more space between the R and N — how many more articles would I find for my Horn/Horne family?

I was excited to find a mention of my elusive great-grandfather John Thomas Horne in the November 12, 1898, edition of The Weekly Democrat-Times (Greenville, Mississippi). It’s a printed petition for a liquor license. (Because it appeared in a long, skinny column, I’ve only clipped to the portion where John Thomas’s name appears. Send me a message if you’d like the whole piece.) I’ve transcribed the upper portion below:

Petition for Liquor License.
To the Honorable Board of Supervisors of Washington county:
We, the undersigned, qualified electors of District No. 5 in said county and State, hereby petition your honorable body to grant unt
WILLIAM RICHARD EVERETT
a resident of said district, a license to sell vinous, spiritous, alcoholic, malt and intoxicating liquors in less quantities than one gallon, in a house to be erected on J. B. Sparks’ place on Jackson’s Bayou, in said District, County, and State, and we hereby recommend William Richard Everett to be of good reputation and sober and suitable person to receive such license and hereby certify him to be a resident of said District No. 5, and of good reputation; and your petitioners will ever pray.¹

John Thomas Horn signed about halfway down the first column (see highlighted name). The name is the same, but is this man my John Thomas Horne? I wasn’t sure at first, but careful analysis has convinced me he likely is. Continue reading Newspapers.com, OCR Limitations, and How I Learned my Great-Grandfather Liked Liquor

A New Direction

For the past two years, I’ve presented information about my ancestors with a “This Day in History” — or, rather, HistorTree — perspective. Each post was a cumulative of several days’ writing and pulled from my many years of research.

I’ve decided to go in a new direction with my blog. In addition to my “this day” posts, I’ll begin using my blog to document tidbits I find along the way. I’ve also begun a self-directed, year-long preparation period for becoming a professional genealogist. I’ll likely post more about methodology and have some entries where I put my research and analytical skills into practice.

And, as always, my favorite people in history — my ancestors — will be our special guests.

13 Jul 1908: John McMurry Dies in Winn Parish, Louisiana

On this day in 1908, my 2x great-grandfather, John McMurry died in Winn Parish, Louisiana.

I know very little about John McMurry; what I have learned is pieced together only from census, land, and church records. It seems he lived a very un-recorded life, a simple farmer in a quiet community. Because I know so little about him, he remains one of my major research interests.

John McMurry was born about 1853 in either Mississippi or Louisiana. He first appears in the 1860 census with mother Judah, brother Robert, and sister S. A. near Farmersville, Union Parish, Louisiana. He then appears as a farm laborer / hired hand on the next two censuses — in the household of Morris Evans near Oak Grove, Carroll Parish (present-day West Carroll Parish), Louisiana, in 1870, and in the household of G. B. Higgs in Ward 2, Jackson Parish, Louisiana, in 1880.

Sometime after 1880, he married Mary Smart, daughter of Samuel Smart and Adeline Shaver. I have not found a marriage record for John and Mary; however, their son Robert lists Mary Smart as his mother’s name on both his Social Security application and on his own marriage license application in Franklin Parish.

John and Mary had three sons: Robert Franklin McMurry in 1882, James J. “Jim” McMurry in 1884, and my great-grandfather, George Washington McMurry, in 1888.

On December 1, 1898, John purchased and was issued a land patent by the US Government for 159.74 acres in Winn Parish, Louisiana. The patent describes the property as “the south half of the northwest corner and the north half of the southwest corner” of Section 22, Township 13N, Range 2W — placing the property near the community of Gaar’s Mill. John and his family likely lived in the Gaar’s Mill area even before purchasing this property, as my great-grandfather George listed Gaar’s Mill as his birthplace on his World War 1 draft registration.

By the 1900 census, John was widowed and living with his three teenaged sons in Gaar’s Mill. He was working as a farmer with his sons as farm laborers.

The only other information I have found about John McMurry is his appearance in the records of Harmony Grove Baptist Church. The church was located in the community of Gaar’s Mill. The transcribed membership list shows a “J. Mack Murry” joining the church by experience in September 1893. Under his entry are lines for Robert McMurry and James McMurry, most likely referencing his sons. These church records also include other McMurrys, but I have not yet established a relationship for these McMurrys to John and his family.

The final notation in the church records state John McMurry died on July 13, 1908. His burial site is unknown; however, it is possible he is buried in the Harmony Grove Baptist Church cemetery.

1860 U.S. census, population schedule. NARA microfilm publication M653, 1,438 rolls. Judah McMurry and household, Union Parish, Louisiana. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.

1870 U.S. census, population schedules. NARA microfilm publication M593, 1,761 rolls. John McMurry in the household of Morris Evans, Ward 5, Carroll Parish, Louisiana. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.

Bureau of Land Management, “Land Patent Search,” digital images, General Land Office Records (http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch : accessed 10 Jul 2018), John McMurry (Winn Parish, Louisiana), accession number LA1420.069.

Harmony Grove Baptist Church, Dodson, Louisiana. “Record Book 1: 1877-1912,” transcribed by B. Jo Branch. http://files.usgwarchives.net/la/winn/churches/hargrove-records.txt, accessed 1 Aug 2016.

“Robert Franklin McMurray” in U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 [database on-line]. Ancestry.com. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.

Tenth Census of the United States, 1880. (NARA microfilm publication T9, 1,454 rolls). John McMurry in the household of G. B. Higgs, Ward 2, Jackson Parish, Louisiana. Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.

United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900. John McMurry, Police Jury Ward 7, Winn Parish, Louisiana. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1900. T623, 1854 rolls.

United States, Selective Service System. World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918, George McMurray, Franklin Parish, Louisiana. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. M1509, 4,582 rolls. Imaged from Family History Library microfilm.

4 Jul 1957: Descendants Dedicate Monument to Elisha Thomas Horn at Centennial Celebration

On this day in 1957, descendants of Elisha Thomas Horn (my 3x great-grandfather) gathered at Zion Hill Baptist Church to dedicate a monument to his memory. It was the centennial anniversary of his deeding property for Zion Hill Church, near Carthage, Leake County, Mississippi.

Gatherers prayed, sang the national anthem and two hymns, and had a time to visit and review family records. The governor of Mississippi, James Plemon Coleman, even addressed the crowd. (And they served dinner on the ground as all good Baptists — even the Primitives, I suppose — must do for an important occasion!) The monument was unveiled in the adjoining cemetery, and it still stands today. My father, oldest son, and I visited the monument in May 2013.

Elisha Thomas Horn Monument — Monument to Elisha Thomas Horn, Zion Hill Cemetery, Leake County, Mississippi

My “tree cousin” Susan Pollard Caldwell sent me a wonderful find in 2015 — a scan of the program distributed at the Centennial Celebration. It was among the papers of her uncle George Joshua McCauley, a keen genealogist, who she presumes attended the event. All four pages of the program are presented below:

Elisha Thomas Horn Centennial Celebration Committee, Program, 4 Jul 1957; privately held by Susan Pollard Caldwell, Memphis, Tennessee, from the papers of George Joshua McCauley. Received electronic scan 20 Oct 2015.

Zion Hill Cemetery (Coosa, Leake County, Mississippi), Elisha Thomas Horn monument, personally photographed, 23 May 2013.