The Johnsons & The Smiths When I found out that my great-great grandmother Martha (Johnson) Peelle’s parents were William Johnson and Rachel Smith, I figured that I would never know anything about their family lines given their common names.  The only way it could have been more common was if her mother had been named Mary.   Anyway, it turned out that with lots of research and some luck that I have been able to

Beards are something that come into style and then go out of style.  Some men can grow them and some can’t. Neither my dad nor any of my uncles had beards.  Of course, some of them may have been influenced by my Grandpa Mc.  He believed that having a beard meant that you were too lazy to shave.  And, lazy wasn’t something that was allowed in his household.   Despite his view, his grandfather, had

Little Pawnee Creek runs through our family’s property.  To the south, it crosses the road at what is affectionately called “The Crooked Bridge.”  The bridge, built in 1910 isn’t crooked, but the approach from each side requires turns and it is a part of a hill as well.  It isn’t easy driving a larger vehicle over it, although I have navigated it with a tractor, older style baler, and wagon all attached.   To the

I don’t really think of my Uncle Dewey as having a lot of pets.  However, I do remember him as someone who liked animals.  And, someone whom animals liked.  He enjoyed having them around and seemed to be able to do things with them that others couldn’t. According to Dad, Dewey had been that way for as long as he could remember.  Most likely it was Dewey’s calm, quiet demeanor that attracted animals to him. 

    I use DNA almost every day.  I use it to research distant ancestors where research has hit the brick wall, to help people who have been adopted or have other mysteries in their family, and to generally enhance my research.  Yet, I really struggled with what to write about DNA.  I could write about a given case, interesting finds, etc.  Finally, I decided to share an overview of my approach to digging deep