It has however provided source information regarding several familly members that might not have been obtained through any other means.

For example Fred Fenner who is the last known male on the Fenner line, only shows up on the 1880 census(so far) it was in the family bible that we discovered that he passed away in 1898 and as there are no documents that have turned up thus far this is the only known record of his death

There are also two children of Fred and Mary that do not show up named on the 1880 census which mentions that mary had "10 children" 7 of which survived as of the date of the census. The family bible provides us with their name and birthdates

Granted this image is not the clearest of them all but I am actually still going through all the pictutres taken  and when I single out the clearer copies those I will post at a later date.

Pressed for time I can only throw up som tidbits  but:

While digitally recording the family information pages from the Fenner Family bible, we found that  There were THREE children. siblings of Major Fenner that had not been accounted for  at least we had no names for them, although there was mention made of  additional children born in the 1880 census for the fenner household (10 born 7 living)

Found the name of the mother of Lula Pittman - which extensive research had not turned up. I actually found her listed in the marriage index - with Charles Pittman - who is listed as Lula Pittman's Father on her death certificate.

What is compelling about this is that from the 1880 census, we find Lula almost 2 years old in the household of her grandmother Anne Wilkins, The marriage index listing names her as Roxanna Wilkins.

While I have been warned about the "dearth" of marriage license copies in Halifax, This is one record we are going to definitely be looking to see if we can obtain a copy.

Addition to this find we found the Military service records for several members of the Fenner Family and what was significant or profound I guess if you will about this is the awards and honors bestowed upon each and every one of them.

I will blog about each and every find and even more about this trip later on. But for now work/duty calls.

Until

Yes its a short trip and its pretty full but its still one that I am looking forward to. While in North Carolina I will be visiting a local registrar of deeds office in Halifax and I will be visiting the  North Carolina State Archives Office. I am  at this point primarily focusing on locating Marriage records.  the majority of the family members are accounted for with several instances usually of records including for most birth and death records.  After doing some extensive data entry and moving most of my files into a new genealogy software program I found that the thing mainly missing were marriage dates and documentation to support them. so I decided that this mini research trip should focus on that.

Additionally on this trip I will be  digitally photographing the family bible. This is the only instance in several cases of any dates with regards to family members.  There are a few that fall in between the timeline that documentation was required for births and or deaths and so if not for the bible we might never have found out some of that information. It is not I am told in all that great a shape so its imperative that the information be put into a digital format as soon as possible. So I and tripod and camera will attempt to do just that.

When I get back I will work on transcribing and placing the information on the internet for others that might find it of use.

After having spoken to the family as well as the director of the department at state archives that oversees family records and archives it has been agreed all the way around that this information will be shared/provided to state archives and that they would make sure it would be available to any researcher.

I dont know that I will get a chance to blog while I am away although I shall try to do that if not I know that I will have a lot to speak about when I get back.

Until then - Namaste'

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

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

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 :-)

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

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.

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.

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 

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.

pp.74-5, I Mary Fenner of the Town & County of Halifax...to my grandson Robert Fenner my negroe Slave Joe...Grandson John H. Fenner my negro Slave Henry...to my sons John & Dixie C. Fenner...one third part of my negroes not heretofore bequeathed in trust for my son Robert Fenner of the state of Tennessee...the remaining two thirds of my negroes to be divided among them...20 February 1830. (signed). May 1831 Court.

Hello Alinda,

I was able to obtain the marriage certificate previously mention of Robert Rofe and Lina Johnson. Unfortunately, this information lends itself to more questions verses helping to give you additional
information on the family that you are researching.

It states:

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA, Office Register of Deeds, Halifax county. Oct. 24th, 1889
To any Ordained Minister of any Religious Donomination, or any Justice of the Peace of said County;
W. S. Tillery having applied to me for a Lincense for the Marriage of Robert Rofe of Halifax County, age 40 years, colored, the son of unknown and unknown, the father now dead, the mother living, resident of ----
and Lina Johnson of Halifax, age 35 years, colored, daughter of ---- and ---- the father----, the mother ----, resident of Halifax Co.

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA, Halifax County
I, Rev. D. F. Newby of A.M.E. Church, united in matrimony Robert Rofe and Lina Johnson the parties
licensed above on the 24th day of Oct 1888 at Halifax in Halifax Township, in said County according to law.

According to the above information, this Robert Rofe was born around 1848 and Lina Johnson around 1853. I did noticed that other documents such as death certificates listed a Tina Smith.