Vyanzo

I have been way overdue to post however, personal issues aside I am just now able to sit still long enough to do so.

 

I am planning a research trip to Halifax, NC in September.  If you think there is planning involved in a vacation - you should try to cram a research trip into a few days :-)

 

 There are two main places that have records that would relate to the current research project.

The one is the Halifax County Clerk office or Register of Deeds  (Courthouse)

The other is the North Carolina State Archives. Both places have information that could prove very helpful.

 

However since time is at a premium and since the places mentioned are at least two hours apart from each other  i have had to sit down and come up with alist of items in particular that I am looking for and pretty much figure out where those records are located, or i should say which one of those locations will I be able to find them. Halifax vs Raleigh

 

Currently I am very much interested in obtaining marriage records for the  Fenners: Mary and Fred would be nice but any records if they existed with their marriage information would probably go back to around the civil war or right before their oldest son Major was born in 1869 and I would imagine that it would be more likely to run into a co-habitation record however from what i have seen that time frame is notorious for lack of any documents. Laws regarding filing birth certificates, marriage licenses and even death certificates were  not really enforced/effective around that time. I have nto found any record of Fred's birth or Mary - his wife either. Their eldest son Major - i found his birthdate in the family bible along with many other members of the Fenner family.

 

so the main goal of the upcoming trip is to try and document marriages. If time permits I would like to see if i can obtain copies of the estate records from John H Fenner, Wm E Fenner  both of which were slave owners in Halifax circa the 1860 Census. To try and identify one or the other as possible slave owners of these family members.

There are a few other couples I am looking for marriage records for, namely, Robert rofe and Lena rofe(johnson) Johnson

For those of you who don't know this is not a project that will be done in a a few weeks months or i daresay years. That there is somewhat of a lot of information already only makes it even more work to check out leads  and a lot more dead ends.

While I would like to look up estate records and land/deed records i doubt i have enough time to do all that and not wind up coming back exhausted both mentally and physically.

 

One thing that will be accomplished when I go down there is the digital photographing  of the Fenner Family bible which I will post excerpts here once I get back from my trip in September. So for those of you that need to feel like you have a date to work with  - look for the exceprts/transcripts of the family bible to start going up  around mid october - earliest.

 

Those of you who have a relative with the surname Fenner can email me  with questions related to that line who' may have entries in the bible.

 

until i get to post again remember...

Blessed are those which do hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled

Matt 5:6

I have been finding of late that most of the males in the Fenner famil y throughout the generations have served in the military at one time or another. Many during the World Wars.

The following is a current list:

 

Edwin Chester Fenner - drafted during World War I

Frank Montgomery Fenner - drafted during World War I

James Wilson Fenner - drafted during World War I

 

Donald Fenner (son of Frank) enlisted during World War II - Killed in Action - awarded Purple Heart

 

I was in the process of and actually did post a message on Afrigeneas message boards asking about how one goes about obtaining Military Service Records for WW1 when I figured it out (found it  more likely) on my own.

 

Apparently there's privacy issues with those documents and most of  that information is only available to next of kin. The gov't defines next of kin as mother or father, brother or sister, spouse, or a child or legal guardian.

If none of those applies to you, as a genealogical researcher, you have to send in an SF-180 form requesting information. Since there are several family members that served during WW1 and WW2 I will be needless to say, sending in a few of those forms soon. I am including also a link to the information regarding how to apply which can be found at this link: Military Personnel Records

 

 

I was hoping to get some information before I go back down to Halifax  but not sure what the time frame will be on this but it won't hurt to cross my fingers and say a few prayers :-)

Not meant to be a thorough review of both software but more an observation on functionality based on my own needs. In addition to being able to record the information I also tend to like a program that has extended functionality and options with regards to building a website or internet pages based on the genealogy information. While I can say that  I like the RootsMagic citation wizard, I definitely prefer the website builder that comes with Legacy. I currently have Legacy ver6  but plan to upgrade to 7 in the not too distant future.

 

I will try to do a more thorough review of both at some point.

 

Just to add - Legacy comes with a built in map generator that builds up a map based on the names and locations in your database and the map can be viewed as a conventional map or as a hybrid with a regular map overlay or it can actually show you the actual landscape(similar to that google map thing)  and flags locations where ancestors lived that you can click on and get information on the ancestor.

 

Looking forward to playing around with it over the weekend

 

 

Haven't had much opportunity to write  - been busy with work  and am still waiting on the pictures to start coming in so I can begin to connect the faces with the names.  In the meantime I have connected with the head of the genealogy society in Halifax and have invited her and the members of the society to visit/view this blog(which is still in its infancy). However I felt that since the bulk of my research is centered around the Halifax area that it would be a welcome resource for other researchers.

 

I actually have two family trees going one on Ancestry.com, and one in my family research software - RootsMagic. I plan on uploading that tree online hopefully by this weekend and will link to it from this blog. I have to say that having the software has made  the research process go much more smoothly in that it is tons easier to document and track sources as well as compile  family trees and miscellaneous reports.

 

it will be linked from this portion of my site which  i know needs to be updated but there are only still 24 hours in a day

Beattitudes - Genealogy

 

Have to install the software for updating those pages and im going to aim for doing that tonight but again its more likely to be done between now and this weekend.

 

 

Hand in hand with searching for information regarding one's ancestors, probably is the desire to "see" what people might look like or put a face to the name. The course of the research has come to that point now and I have already put out feelers about trying to obtain some photographs from the family to include and add into their family tree.

 

I have already received one pic that is recent but has some of the surviving Fenner family siblings and you can view it below:

 

 

This picture is fairly recent but its a start to hopefully being able to include photographs with the research that has already been done for the family.

One who is involved in genealogy research will appreciate the significance of the "Family bible". Oftentimes its the ONLY source of information on relatives especially for African Americans during the 1800's where the records for persons of color were often scarce or non-existent.

I had heard about the existence of a family bible for the Fenners but hadn't really had an opportunity to speak with the  family member who has it in her possession until recently.

 

Upon finally getting the chance to speak to her a world of information came to light. family members who did not make the census, Lamon Fenner b. 1921 parents Major Fenner and Mattie Rofe-Fenner.

 

Wtih this find though comes more questions, Where were Fred and Mary prior to the 1880 census?  What happened between the time their firstborn Major was born and the time Fred the next son was born  there is a large windown for that time as people tended to have kids fairly regularlly. What are the circumstances surrounding Fred Fenner's death?

Unfortunately some of these questions may never be answered.

 

Finally found dates of birth and date of death for Fred Fenner who prior to all this had been somewhat of a mystery but the bible lists his date of death as June 7, 1898 the year of the WIllmington Massace 

I have to say that one thing for me that has been a hallmark of doing genealogical research is the feeling at times of being in-between both worlds today and back then. Many who do this kind of research will tell you that it is key to being able to find some of the people and places. Having an understanding not only of the history of the places that you search in but of the times and the people living there as opposed to looking at things with modern views is crucial.

Having said that, there are still when looking back some things that tug at your heartstrings and transcend all time and space.

Such is the case where this story begins, with Fred and Mary Fenner. the 1880 census for Halifax, NC lists Fred Fenner as being born about 1839, which means he would have been born into slavery. In his household at that time was his wife Mary who in later census records is known as Mary Precilla and Mary Brown.

Out of all the research I have done so far their story is the most haunting to me. Not because of the details of it which there are very few. More so because of what is known so far. In the household at that time was his mother Nellie Randolph, his wife Mary and his two sons: Major F age 11 and Eddie age 2. Ages are close approximations with regards to census information as these are notoriously inaccurate for myriad reasons.  However with regards to Fred's sons they are pretty accurate in this instance as later documents will attest to.

Since we cannot ask them because they are long gone, we will probably never know about the gap in ages with Fred's two oldest sons. The family shows up again on the 1900 census but Fred is not shown in the household. There are more children as by that time the family size had increased to include: James, Eartie, Eliza, Frank and Mary. Frank being the baby  has a date of birth listed as Sept 1, 1893. it is the last time known that his father would be alive. 

A marriage certificate for his oldest son Major, shows that in 1907 (when it was applied for) that his father Fred, was deceased. How to understand or know what that family went through at that time. We may never fully understand what indeed  their lives were like at that time. One thing is clear however, Mary - Fred's wife - never remarried although she lived out a long life. She never married again and she raised all her children on her own.She is last seen in the household in the 1920 census as  head of household with her son James W. and his wife Maggie (nee' Shields) and their children: Catherine, Horace and little Maggie.

 In case one needs  some perspective being unfamiliar with the history of those times and circumstances, there were no jobs as there are now - there was no such thing as welfare, or head-start,  or any of the things that many nowadays take for granted  while complaining loudly about their "plight".





























I am reminded yet again why the stories of these people, our ancestors need to be told...

Lots going on this weekend. I have to stop a moment and thank Allen McClain from afrigeneas.com who has managed to find some documents that we thought were lost. I got the email from him Saturday and was in tears for a while afterwards.  I will be blogging about all this and definitely will be updating all this week.

To  Major, Frederick, Edwin and James, but most especially to Mary and Fred - we haven't forgotten you and your stories WILL be told.

Blessings....

The following bio is excerpted from the Ulmer Family History and was graciously given to me by a "cousin" who also has been and is doing family research.

 

Lucy "Rita" or "Reeder" (Slave name) was sold in slavery to the Ulmer's. Since she was on the Ulmer Plantation or farm, she took on the last name of the owner, Ulmer. At that time, Lucy was considered a "breeder" as she had a few children for her white master before she married Jim(James Ulmer) who was also on the Ulmer Plantation.

Grandma Lucy and Grandpa Jum had 14 children together. some of their children either died very early in life or before they reached adulthood. Of those that lived were: Caroline the oldest, christian, Mary and Martha(Twins) Jake James (Ulmer) who after he had a son  named James became James Sr. (also known to many of the familly as "Dudd" or "Uncle Dudd"., Robert, George, Lavinia(my mother's paternal Grandmother) also called "Ninny" and Edward the youngest in the bunch.

Grandma Lucy came from the Lone Star area of South Carolina, which was an Indian Reservation (Cherokee Indian) in those days. I was told that she was half Cherokee Indian(oral history - not confirmed).

There is more to this history however I am waiting for the additional pages to be sent to me so i can post them here.