Exciting new tools for family history are being developed at BYU

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7hqNOQt-2AfeVEpDuc7sCA

Watch seminars/webinars about family history.  The Family History Labs at Brigham Young University are shining a bright light on research and those who are striving to find the key to unlocking our genealogical treasures!

Take this site, for example.  At first glance it might appear to be a parlor game kind of thing.  However, once you get past the glitz and gleam, you will see that pulling records from the dark is basic to genealogical research!  So, it isn't that you are wanting so much to make a connection with Elvis Presley, as you are interested in what types of records/documents/proofs can bring those beloved surnames to the forefront--beloved they are because they are precious to us--they are our history.

So, Pocahontas is my tenth great grandmother.  If that pops up as you work with Relative Finder, than hover over the pink (because she's a female) link, which takes you straight to FamilySearch.org.  It only works if you have previously loaded this site with what you know about your family tree.   Now, click on "View my Relationship".  My connection to Pocahontas is via the surname "Rolfe".  Sound familiar?  I see that my adoptive dad's genealogy, here, is the key.  So, maybe I'm not a "blood" relation, but because I work with my adoptive dad's family history, I will be sharing this connection with his biological relatives.

At FamilySearch, at the profile for Pocahontas, check out "Sources".  There are, not so surprisingly, 82 sources!  Who knew that history is replete with proof/evidence of associated individuals?!!

If you are interested on the types of records that lead to this conclusion, click on this link:  https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp55422/pocahontas?search=sas&sText=pocahontas

North Okaloosa County: Historic Happenings in July

Some of the historic happenings in north Okaloosa County for the month of July:
  

• 1 July1978: Touch-tone dialing becomes available to Crestview Centel customers! 
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  4th July 1964: Rhett Cadenhead hits the first ball on the new golf course at Crestview Country Club.
• 6 July 1976: Bob Sikes Library opens in Twin Hills Park in what is now the Crestview campus of Northwest Florida State College.
• 10 July 1996: North County swelters under 109 degree heat, the hottest temperature ever recorded in the area.
• 11 July 1978:  Okaloosa County Board of Commissioners votes to sell the county hospital system to Hospital Corporation of America (HCA).
• 13 July 1885: Mt. Olive School, one of the first black schools in the north county, is organized in Crestview.
• 17 July 1980: Florida Highway Patrol opens Crestview headquarters in what is now a substation of the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office at U. Hwy 90 and S.R. 85.
• 18 July 1892: Post Office opens in Dorcas (closed July 15, 1918).
• 19 July 1855: Post office and stagecoach stop established in Austinville near present-day Milligan but on the east side of the Yellow River. 
• 21 July 1937: The $25,000 Crestview Town Hall and Shirt Factory (aka the "Alatex Building") built by Purl G. Adams is accepted by the City.
• 23 July 1887: Yellow River Railroad incorporated.
• 23 July 1892: Post office opens in Campton (closed 1894; reopened 1905-1910). 
• 24 July 1972: The Laurel Hill School which had replaced the school that burned down in 1931, burns down.
• 26 July 1883: Post Office opens in Holts (now spelled Holt).

 
 Thanks to the Baker Block Museum & North Okaloosa Historical Association for creating and making available this 2017 Calendar.

Twenty Questions

Family Historians need "food" to keep going! Or should I say "clues"?  Either way, it is appropriate at various times in our research and at various points in our sleuthing, to "exercise" our brains.  "Hound on the Hunt" can provide us with those prompts we need to make our brains work a bit!  And inevitably to lead us to more information and/or more questions!

Witness a small sample of my journey into this realm, using the 20 questions:

1.  Which ancestor moved the farthest from their home?
    Where did that ancestor move to?
    Which ancestor lived in the most countries?

    2.  Which ancestor couple had the most children? How many?
    This is a tough one!  How do I go through pages and pages of genealogy and discover the answer?!!  Well, here are some nominees:
    1.  Allen Bishop with Margaret "Peggy" Lewis Bishop had ten children.  They began in Spartanburg, South Carolina with the four oldest children.  Then, they moved to Lawson's Fork, Alabama, where they had four more!  Finally, I have the last two children being born in Bibb County, Alabama.
    2.  Henry Hill DuPree and his wife, Alsey Priscilla Downs Dupree also had ten children!  Most if not all were born in Alabama. 
    3.  George Washington Edge, with his wife, Melissa E. Powell, had ten children in Walton County, Florida.
    
More questions:
Which ancestor lived the longest?
    Which ancestor gives you the most researching grief?
    Which ancestor is the easiest to track down?
    Which ancestor has the most unusual name?
    Who was the first ancestor born in the country you live in? What year was that?
    Which ancestor was a “bad ass”?  What did they do?
    Do you have a famous ancestor? What were they famous for?
    If you could meet just one ancestor who would it be and why?
    What family tradition carries on from one of your ancestors?
    What heirloom do you have that has been handed down through the generations?
    Which ancestor do you admire most?
    Was your ancestor a hero? What for?
    We all have core values; name one core value that you got from an ancestor.
    What was the biggest surprise you found about an ancestor?
    Have you ever been mad at an ancestor? Why?  And finally,
    If you could have any genealogy wish what would it be?  My answer:
 To have the patience to delve below the surface of the facts and explore the how's, where's, when's, and why's of family history!