by Sharon Hall | Oct 25, 2014 | Surname Saturday
Brinson I don’t usually write about surnames from my own family tree, but I’ve been researching this line a bit and there are some pretty interesting characters – so why not? One of my ancestors appears to be perhaps the first Brinson to immigrate to America in...
by Sharon Hall | Oct 22, 2014 | Digging History Magazine, Ghost Town Wednesday
Today, this would be considered an unfortunate name for a town, ghostly or otherwise. Believe it or not, years ago the swastika symbol was widely used. It was also used by Native American tribes like the Navajos, Hopis, Apaches and others (although later...
by Sharon Hall | Oct 18, 2014 | Surname Saturday
There at least two schools of thought regarding the origins of today’s surname. Ultimately, it appears to me that its origins were most likely Germanic, although the first settlers who came to America in the 1630’s came directly from England. Two sources...
by Sharon Hall | Oct 15, 2014 | Digging History Magazine, Ghost Town Wednesday
I was looking for an interesting ghost town to feature this week, preferably short and sweet since I’m under the weather this week with some nasty upper respiratory thing-y. I opened up one of my trusty ghost town books, Ghost Towns of Kansas by Daniel Fitzgerald. ...
by Sharon Hall | Oct 13, 2014 | Tombstone Tuesday
Stephen Paul was born in Robeson, North Carolina around 1836 to parents John H. and Mary (Wise) Paul. John and Mary had both been born in North Carolina and after they married in 1825 they produced a large family. By 1850 there were thirteen children enumerated,...
by Sharon Hall | Oct 13, 2014 | Mining History Monday
By the mid-nineteenth century there were few Chinese immigrants who had made their way to America. In early 1849, there were only fifty-four in the entire state of California, but that would change as word spread and gold rush fever took hold. The prospect of work,...
by Sharon Hall | Oct 10, 2014 | Surname Saturday
The Purchase surname originated as an occupational name, although it’s uncertain when the name began to be used as a surname and passed down to succeeding generations. According to New Dictionary of American Family Names, the name referred to “one who acted as a...
by Sharon Hall | Oct 8, 2014 | Digging History Magazine, Ghost Town Wednesday
Gold and silver were discovered in the late 1880’s in what is now southwest Catron County, New Mexico. Preferably, in order to contain costs, gold and silver needed to be processed as close as possible to the mines. However, the problem in this particular...
by Sharon Hall | Oct 6, 2014 | Military History Monday
Today’s Military History article continues the story of the Quattelbaum (Quattlebaum) family whose American progenitor, Petter Quattelbaum, arrived in America in October of 1736 (see this past week’s Surname Saturday article here). Johannes Quattelbaum, son of Petter,...
by Sharon Hall | Oct 3, 2014 | Surname Saturday
For the first two generations after arriving in America, this German family from the Palatinate region, spelled their surname “Quattelbaum” but eventually settled on a slightly different spelling as “Quattlebaum”. The second part of the name, “baum”, means “tree” in...
