I have joked many times before that I come from a long line of riverboat gamblers and horse thieves. I based that simply on the knowledge of the kind of people I come from, but until now I had no proof of that.
So imagine my delight when I was going through some new family tree hints from Ancestry.com and discovered that my second paternal great grandfather, George Russell, is listed in the 1860 United States Census as a prisoner at the Ohio State Penitentiary, convicted of “hoss stealing.” Way to go great, great grandpa! You’ve done your people proud! 😊
His name and his wife’s name were a roadblock for me for a long time, and following new links and records about them takes me back to 1795. I believe I will be able to find some information on George’s father and mother, but I’m too busy with my new book to get into a lot of research on that right now. However, I’m really looking forward to doing so when I have the time.
We have all heard the term the squeaky wheel gets greased, and apparently that’s true. After I wrote in yesterday’s blog that UPS couldn’t find our address and told me our road doesn’t even exist, even though they have delivered here at least once or twice a week since we moved in, quess what? After I sent them a link to the blog, they found us! I got a message yesterday to contact their customer service person handling my account, who assured me that they were going to redirect the tractor implement I ordered and deliver it to me here instead of to our old house in Florida. Of course they couldn’t tell me when that might be, but maybe some day it will show up.
Yesterday was such a beautiful day that we needed to get out and do something, so we went to the Alabama Antique Mall in Tuscaloosa and spent a couple of hours browsing through all of the displays. This place is huge and they have something for everybody. We will definitely be going back.
Today is supposed to be another nice day, but I will be seeing it through the window because I have a lot of writing to get done while Terry is busy editing and proofreading chapters I have already completed in my next Tinder Street book.
And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.
Congratulations Karen Bennett, winner of our drawing for an RV camping journal donated by Barbara House. Barbara makes several variations of these, and they all have pages where you can list the date, weather, where you traveled to and from that day, beginning and ending mileage, campground information including amenities at RV sites, a place for campground reviews, room to record activities, people met along the way, reminders of places to see and things to do the next time you’re in the area, and a page for notes for each day. We had 41 entries this time around. Stay tuned, a new contest starts soon.
Thought For The Day – I’m not saying I hate you, but I would unplug your life-support machine to charge my phone.
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
That’s a good story about your gg grandfather, I found something similar in my paternal grandmothers family. Her oldest brother, born in 1863, disappeared from Alabama in the mid 1880s and was later found to be in Texas after changing his name to Jones. After searching through obituaries where next of kin was mentioned, I was able to make contact with my missing great uncles great great granddaughter. She was able to fill in some missing details, appears there was a fight in a bar down near Tuscaloosa and someone died, and my great uncle was a suspect who decided to move to Texas with a new name. Appears he was a respectable citizen there and his many descendants are accomplished people. Genealogy study will keep you busy with many dead ends, certainly is challenging.
An ancestor of mine was the first sheriff of Boulder, Colorado. Some years ago, they were doing an exposition of all their sheriffs and they wrote to me to ask if I had a picture of him. Sadly, I didn’t, only a letter written by his father when he was a boy.
My Dad always said he knew there were no horse thieves in his family, no one every had a horse.
Nick I’m thrilled to be the latest winner of the camping journal. And it’s just in time for our latest jaunt to Navajo Nation in Northern Arizona. Looking forward to seeing it in our mailbox. Thanks a bunch! Karen