Trace Your Family Tree Free For 7 Days!

John Thomas Matherly was born in 1854 in North Carolina to John and Martha (Stewart) Matherly. He was a normal kid, nothing spectacular or out of the ordinary happened in his life. For late 1800′s, everything was going well for this young man.

On 31 AUG 1880, John Thomas married Sula J. Mitchell in Crawford Co., IN. They had a house full of children and life was pretty good for them.

The Matherly family had a secret, however. Something happened to John Thomas Matherly, and, to this day, we don’t know what.

Sometime between 1880 and 1900 John Thomas just disappears. There are two old stories, one more believable than the other:
1. John Thomas was a drinker and would yell at his wife a lot. Her brothers decided to rough him up a bit to teach him a lesson. Instead of just roughing him up, they killed him. This was an accident so they covered it up. They threw him down the Jollisaint well. The Jollisaint family lived where Patoka Lake is now located.

2. John Thomas stole some corn to feed his family and was arrested. He was tried and convicted and sentenced to time in the Indiana State prison. We have researched court and prison records and can find nothing about John Thomas.

I do believe my ancestor was killed. There is no record of him in the courts or prison, so the first is more believable. However, there could be another possible scenerio….I don’t know what it would be, but it may be that neither of these are true…

No Comments »
Filed under: Thriller Thursday

You now have two Carnivals to choose from at GenLady.

The first is our Where Were You….carnival. I have restarted it. The next edition is due to me by Friday March 22nd. You can get it to me any time that day or before and I’ll get you included. This edition description is: Where were you (your ancestor(s)) during the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. This one may take some creativity on your part, because you may not know exactly what your ancestor was thinking. Tell us about your ancestor (any one alive at that time), What do you think he or she felt about the assassination? Had your ancestor voted for Abraham Lincoln or were they against his views? I’m looking forward to reading your submissions!

—————

The second is a brand new one! The GenLady Genealogy Carnival

This is a random genealogy carnival. Each month there will be a new topic. These are due by the first Friday of each month. Of course, you can submit it any time before that, you don’t have to wait until that day.

Our first edition topic is:

This edition is about religion. Do you have a minister, rabbi or priest in your family? Maybe a nun or a traveling preacher…? Tell us about them, their life and how their chosen profession shaped their life and made them the person they were. (Any religious story is welcome, your ancestor didn’t have to be any of those to be included here.)

I hope to hear from many of you very soon!

Happy Hunting!

No Comments »
Filed under: Genealogy Carnival, Where Were You?

I know it’s a little late in the day to post a “Motivation Monday”, but here it is. I had a Dr.’s appointment this morning and it has been a busy day since.

I have decided to lay out my goals for this year here on my blog.  I write them down, but that paper always seems to be misplaced…

Anyway…here they are.  This is in list form, but I will try to explain each one, and, if possible, how I will accomplish them.

1. Continue my genealogical education – This is important. I never realized how important, but something near the end of last year made me realize that it’s something I need to do. So far, it has helped tremendously in my research. I’m now embarrassed that I have done research for others in the past and actually charged them.

• Begin filling in holes in my research with birth records, marriage records and death records – By this, I mean the closest to me. It just amazes me that so many of us will have documents proving our great-great-great grandfathers birth, death, marriage and whereabouts for his entire life, but we’re missing crucial documents from our immediate family, such as grandma’s birth certificate, grandpa’s death certificate, grandpa’s military records, etc.

• Post to my GenLady blog at least once each week. – This is self-explanatory. I will say, however, that I hope to post much more than once per week, but this is my basic minimum.

• Transcribe two collections – This can be any collection, or cemetery.

• Apply for certification – I’m excited about this one. In order to offer the best service to my clients, I feel becoming certified is a necessity. I will not apply until I have finished the NGS home course, though I do expect to apply in 2013.

• Attend at least one conference – I’ve found that there is one in Ft. Wayne in August. That’s probably the one I’ll attend. If I can find others I’ll consider those, as well.

• Outline the family history book my dad and I have been talking about for years.

• Begin writing the book – With my dads help, of course.

Well…that’s it for now. I’m sure there are more, and I’ll add to it as they come up. I will also being putting together a monthly goals list. My goal list for March will come next Monday…but each month after I’ll try to get the list out on the first Monday.

Have a wonderful day, fellow hunter!

No Comments »
Filed under: Motivation Monday