And the walls came tumbling down . . . well, maybe!

Anyone who has attempted to research their family tree for any length of time has encountered what are known as "brick walls." This term applies to those ancestors who seem to take great delight in thwarting all efforts to trace their roots. When you've been pursuing genealogy as long as I have, you start collecting quite a few of these nuisances.

One of my most frustrating forebears has been my third-great-grandmother Mrs. Martha J. Macy of Pine Castle, Florida. According to family tradition, her maiden name was DEAN. But, while compiling documentation for the General Society of Mayflower Descendants several years ago, I uncovered something of a scandalous discrepancy in the marriage records of Orange County, Florida. They revealed that Martha did not marry my assumed ancestor William H. Macy until 1874--some six years after their son Paul Macy was born. Further, the marriage certificate listed her as MRS. Martha Jane Dean, which left me questioning Paul's paternity. Was he really a Dean by birth, who assumed the Macy surname of his stepfather?!

Over the years, I have undertaken an exhaustive search of the local records, and those of surrounding counties in an effort to solve this mystery. While those efforts proved mostly fruitless, I did discover that Martha and William Macy were living together as a married couple for several years before making it a legal arrangement. They signed deeds together, and were listed as man and wife in the 1870 census of nearby Volusia County (page 739a) . . . though their surname was recorded as MASON instead of Macy!

Recently, that census record and subsequent enumerations encouraged me to pursue a different tactic in the ongoing effort to break down the brick wall. All of these records agreed that Martha, whatever her maiden name was or whoever her first husband may have been, was born in Tennessee about the year 1835. I had already found her second husband William H. Macy living in Tennessee before he came to Florida. So, I began wondering if perhaps the two had known each other up in the Volunteer State, and if records there might reveal not only information about Martha's first marriage but also give some clues about her parentage.

Long story longer, the 1860 enumeration of Germantown (near Memphis) in Shelby County, Tennessee, includes not only the household of William H. Macy and his first wife (nee Mary J. Brandow, Hudson, New York) on page 351. A few pages earlier (331) it also included this family:

* Dean, Galston B., age 32, farmer, born in Tennessee.
* Dean, Martha, age 25[?], born in Tennessee.
* Dean, William, age 5, born in Tennessee.
* Dean, Amanda, age 4, born in Tennessee.
* Dean, Desalma, age 2, born in Tennessee.

Obviously, further research is needed to firmly establish that Galston B. Dean's wife Martha is the same woman who later married his neighbor William H. Macy in Florida some 14 years later. But, this is the first good lead I've had in quite some time!

I did find that G.B. Dean served in Compay I of the 38th Tennessee Infantry Regiment (CSA) during the Civil War. So, it is entirely possible that he left Martha a war widow . . . (See www.itd.nps.gov/cwss .)

If all this bears out, I also see that another researcher named Angela Wilhite has identified Dean's wife as the former Martha Twyford, and carried her ancestry back to the 15th Century at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~angelasattic

I'll keep ye socks posted on the progress of this ongoing search!

Gators grind out their first SEC win of the season

Despite all the pre-game hype predicting another romp in The Swamp, our guys in the Orange and Blue actually had their work cut out for them this afternoon.

Several things conspired against them:

1. Though Vols QB Jonathan Crompton is woefully outclassed by Tim Tebow in the statistics department, he has some formidable teammates. Hats off to safety Eric Berry and runningback Montario Hardesty. They earned our respect.

2. Tebow was not himself. He turned over the ball in the red zone. He threw an interception. And, he failed for the first time in 30 games to throw a touchdown pass.

3. Brandon Spikes was forced to sit out the entire second half due to tendinitis.

4. The officiating crew was something less than impartial. They penalized the Gators for defensive tackle Jaye Howard's "unsportsmanlike conduct," a very debatable call. Then, just minutes later they not only failed to recognize similar conduct displayed by the Vols following an interception. They also failed to penalize Tennessee for an obvious intentional grounding by Crompton.

It was an actual relief to many Gator fans in the final moments of the game when safety Ahmad Black intercepted another Crompton pass to put this ugly game to bed. No style points will be awarded for this win.

Nonetheless, Florida adds to their record-breaking win streak, improving to 3-0 while the Vols drop to 1-2. Hopefully, Urban's crew learned a few more lessons they can apply to games further down the schedule . . .

It's still great to be a Florida Gator!

Another romp in The Swamp

One of the things this particular Gators fan looks forward to on Saturdays is to see what Bible verse our star quarterback is going to wear into battle.

That's no doubt, at least in part, because I know it annoys all the secular humanists out there.

This week's verse was Mark 8:36. (What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?)

Though the mighty Orange and Blue destroyed Troy on the gridiron (56-6), they have got to be doing some last minute soul-searching in the lead up to next week's big showdown with the Tennessee Vols and their mouthy new coach Lane Kiffin.

I suppose that's why UF has the tradition of playing two relative patsies at the beginning of each season. (No offense intended to ye Trojan and Charleston Southern fans out there.)

It's much better to have the weak spots exposed early, so Urban Meyer, Charlie Strong, and staff can hone the skills of the fine squad of athletes they are coaching.

Coupla things this fan is hoping they work on this week:

1. Clock management. But for this, yesterday's 83-yard drive would've resulted in an extra 6 or 7 on the scoreboard before halftime. Definitely not the margin of victory in this match-up, but it could be the margin in one of the bigger games further down the list.

2. Turnovers. Our guys fumbled the ball 6 times. Against not-so-mighty Troy, this only resulted in 3 actual turnovers. But, against an SEC level defense, that ratio could prove deadly.

Still, hopes for big things to come are still very much alive and well in this little corner of heaven. How could they not be?!

GO GATORS!

GATORS 30, vols 6

Call me crazy, but as long as the Orange and Blue beat FSU and Tennessee, I consider that a winning season.

Well, as of today we are halfway there, having once again beaten the hillbillies at Rocky Top.

After the game, I heard some folks talking about the vols' coach(?) Philly-cheese Fulmer. But, I couldn't quite make out what they were saying.

Maybe, ye socks can help me out.

Was it "mediocre," or "meaty ogre"?

I think this picture will help you choose . . .

Got any roots in Memphis, Tennessee?

If you do, you will be interested in knowing that the Shelby County Registrar of Deeds has indexed some of the oldest records in the area, dating back to 1820.

Look under the "Archives" section of this website:

http://register.shelby.tn.us/

I found my great-aunt Ellen Macy's marriage record there!

Was it Everett or Everest?!

If you're not in to genealogy, this will probably go right over your head. But, I am really excited by the possibility of breaking down one of the proverbial "brick walls" we poor researchers generally encounter when we attempt to track down our ancestors.

In my case, the ancestor in question was a lady named Hannah. According to the 1850 Census of Shelby County, Tennessee, she was born in Connecticut about 1785. She was living in the household of her son William H. Macy.

From Sylvanus J. Macy's compiled genealogy dated 1869, I found William H. Macy listed as the son of a Thomas Macy. But, old Sylvanus failed to specify which of Thomas's two wives was the mother of his eight children. His first wife was a lady named Phebe Bunker, and the second wife was the Hannah in question. I had always assumed that Hannah was at least the mother of the youngest, William, as she moved all the way out to Tennessee to live with him by 1850. But, you know what happens when you assume anything, especially in genealogical situations.

Anyway, the one thing that Sylvanus did state was that Hannah's maiden named was EVERETT and that she had been previously married to a fellow whose last name was CHAPIN.

Well, this week I was contacted by a lady named Elizabeth Olsen, who is trying to track down the parents of her ancestors Luther CHAPIN and Hannah EVEREST. According to her, this couple divorced in the early 1800's. She has found documentation on Luther's remarriage and move to Indiana. But, she hasn't found anything on his ex-wife Hannah.

Could her Hannah and my Hannah be the same person?! Seems highly likely!

And, all these years I've been looking for Everett connections when I apparently should have been looking for Everest records instead . . .

Anyway, it's always fun to collaborate with other genealogical researchers, and I'm looking forward to solving this little mystery by working with Elizabeth. The added bonus in this case is that she is currently working as a missionary at the LDS Genealogical Library out in Salt Lake City, so she has the finest collection of family history material at her disposal to help us in our quest!

OK, you non-genealogists can wake up now.