Surname Saturday

Surnames I am researching, along with geographic areas of interest, are the following:
Baldridge - Ireland>PA>NC>SC>TN>MS
Branch - VA>NC>TN>MS
Coggins - NC>SC>GA>AL>MC
Fenner - RI>NC>GA>AL>MS
Gibson - VA>NC>SC>TN>MS
Merriwether (Meriwether/Merriweather) - VA>KY>SC>GA>AL>TN>MS
Motte - Dublin, Ireland>West Indies>SC>AL>MS Territory
Netherland (Neatherlin/Netherlin/Neatherland) - VA>KY>TN>GA>AL>MS
Pettus - VA>KY>TN>GA>AL>MS
Porter - PA>VA>NC>SC>AL>MS
If your ancestors share these surnames, I would love to hear from you.  Who knows...we may be cousins!

Surname Saturday - Are We Related?

It's Saturday again, and it's been a while since I last posted a list of the surnames I am researching. If you are also searching any of these names and in any of these locations, I would love to hear from you.  Maybe we can exchange some information or offer each other some new research ideas.  So here goes:


Baldridge -  Ireland >PA>NC?>SC>TN>MS(Carroll County) 
Branch -  England >Virginia>NC>TN>MS (Hinds, Madison, and Attala Counties) 
Coggins - Wales>Nash County)>SC>GA>AL>MS (Holmes County) 
Fenner - Ireland >Rhode Island>NC>GA>AL>MS (MS Territory, Wilkinson County)
Gibson - Scotland>VA>NC>SC>MS (Adams, Monroe, Calhoun and Carroll Counties)
Merriwether - England>VA>KY>SC>GA>TN>MS (Calhoun and Carroll Counties)
Middleton - England>SC>MS Territory (Franklin County)
Netherland - VA>KY>TN>GA>AL>MS Territory (Amite County)>MS (Holmes and Yazoo Counties)
Pettus - Norwich, England>VA>KY>TN>AL>MS (Holmes County)
Porter - Ireland>PA>NC>SC>GA>AL>MS Territory (Franklin County)>Madison & Attala Co (MS)
Ragland - Wales>Ireland>VA>NC>SC>GA>AL>MS (Franklin, Wilkinson, Hinds, Attala Counties)
Trigleth - England>VA>NC>SC>GA>AL>MS (Holmes and Yazoo Counties)

How I Missed My Own Blogaversary

The impetus to write this post is the fact that I missed my own blogaversary this year. How could I have done that?  It was easy....I was preoccupied with other things. I hate to admit it, but it happened.  First, we were on a vacation in early July and drove over twenty-five hundred miles.  Yes, we did have a fun time visiting with friends in another state and visiting relatives on the return home. But after we got unpacked, a wave of family birthdays in July (five, including my own) was heading our way, and a variety of other plans were in the making.  By the time July 23rd rolled around, I just plain forgot.  


At the first of the year, I like to write a post that includes statistics about the past year's activity on this blog. Since I also forgot to do that last January, I thought this "missed blogaversary" post would be the perfect place to include a few blog statistics.  Call me crazy, but I absolutely l-o-v-e analyzing statistics, especially when they are for this blog. My first experience with blog statistics began in mid-2008, when I was still learning how to spell "genea-blogger."  First, I installed Site Meter (the free version) primarily out of curiosity to track sources of traffic to Mississippi Memories.  Perhaps it was the fact that I was new to blogging, and I was still uncertain that anyone would really want to read what I wrote about my family's history. But this handy little gadget would enable me to see that real people were actually finding my site. Site Meter turned out to be a fantastic tool, and it not only allowed me to determine the number and geographic locations of visitors to my blog, it provided data that contained "search words" that had directed visitors to Mississippi Memories. 


Later, I installed Google Analytics.  With only a few keystrokes, this tool provided a wide variety of statistics.  Like magic, Google Analytics produced a plethora of neat colored lines and graphs that tabulated information about visitors to my blog.  I could view statistics by the day, week, month and year.  I could see numbers of visitors for specific times of the day, and I could tell what percentage of visitors came from where.  


How had I lived without Google's latest creation, my new blog toy?  


Although Google Analytics may be most useful for gathering data on e-commerce sites, the tool has served me and my blog well.  I can determine what topics were of the most interest to my readers, the peak times that visitors read my blog, and the locations where most of my readers live. Now that Blogger has evolved and has a new and improved format, all sorts of stats about posts, visitors and times are available there on demand.


Maybe like me, you may be wondering just who has been reading this blog, when do they read it, and just exactly what they are reading. Using statistics from the past two calendar years, I know the majority of visitors to my site hail from "East of the Mississippi."  Yes, I do have blog visitors who reside throughout the U.S. (and in several countries) but most of them seem to live primarily along the East Coast and in the South. Another finding is that most readers of Mississippi Memories likely work for a living. And since the statistics show that peak traffic times are 6-9 a.m., around noon, and after 6 p.m., it appears these readers are not using company time to read this blog.  


Topics that have attracted my readers still continue to fascinate me and to prove that posts I sometimes deem blog-worthy often are not that at all.  Sometimes a simple post about a certain surname brings an unexpected surge of visitors to the site.  Good examples of this phenomenon are some of the posts that I have written during the past two years about the Burel/Burrel/Burrell, Netherland, and Conner families.


Although Blog Year #4 is already more than thirty days underway, it seems like only yesterday when this genea-journey began.  I want to take this opportunity to "Thank You, Dear Readers" for visiting Mississippi Memories....I hope you visit again soon.  And I sincerely hope you find a little something here that will help you piece together that family history puzzle. 

New Genealogy Books about the Franklin and Dodd Families, by Gena Ayers Walls

During a recent contact with Gena Walls, I found that she has written two new genealogy books. The first book is entitled "Franklin Folks, Descendants of Job and Hannah Wheeler Franklin." Based on a flyer that Gena mailed me, the Franklin book is an accumulation of thirty years of research by a great-great-great-great granddaughter, and is a 'must' read for anyone related to Job Franklin of Habersham County, Georgia. Job and Hannah's seven children were Nancy, Jeremiah Richard Warren, Wesley, Thomas Alfred, Jonathan Mitchell, Sara Jane, and Moses. Fifty-four grandchildren made up the next generation, and their descendants' are inter-related by family ties to almost everyone who lives in Habersham County today.

Gena describes the publication as a hardbound, cloth book, containing 600 pages printed on acid-free paper, with 230 illustrations, including charts, copies of documents, and photos. Its index contains more than 10,000 names that represent 1,150 different surnames, all related to Job and Hannah Franklin, either by blood or by marriage.Also included in the book are related families with the surnames Adams, Allen, Barron, Bellew, Benefield, Brown, Burell, Carter, Church, Davis, Dawkins, Dodd, Dover, Edmonds, Fry, Garrett, Henderson, Ivester, Loudermilk, Moore, Rudeseal, Shirley, and Shore.

Dodd family descendants will want to read Gena's second new book, entitled "Dodd Family History: Habersham County, Georgia." This book contains the history of the family of James Dodd, who was born circa 1774 in Virginia and died in Habersham County, Georgia in 1852. Included in the book's 800 pages is the accumulation of fifty years of research conducted by Mr. Dodd's great-great-great granddaughter, beginning with Dodd's children, Marilda, James Allen, Green Berry, Jane E., Levi H., and Mary Malissa. Other surnames included in the book and having familial connections to the Dodd family are Ayers, Burke, Carter, Clark, Harper, Perkins, Watson, Westmoreland, and Whitehead. Related families also discussed in the Dodd book are Blair, Bowers, Farmer, Frye, Henderson, Ivester, London, Loudermilk, Magness, Martin, Massey, Morris, Nix, Odell, Rich, Sanderson, Sisk, Sullens, Tate, Thomason, and Yearwood. The Dodd family book, like the Franklin book profiled above, is also hardbound, printed on acid-free paper, and contains a comprehensive index of more than 10,000 names.

In addition, a few copies of "The Netherland, Leatherlin Legacy with Allied Crane and Walls Families," compiled and written by Gena and published by Gateway Press, are still available as a result of a limited publishing.

If you are interested in one of these three family history books, please contact Gena Walls by email at HFRsearch@aol.com, or she can be reached by regular mail at:

Gena Walls
7418 Swanson Drive
Richmond, TX 77469

Froggie's Friday Book Review

Last week here I reviewed Gena Ayers Walls' book, "The Netherland Leatherlin Legacy and Allied Families Crane and Walls." When I opened my email a couple of days ago, I was pleasantly surprised to see an email from Gena, advising me that she had stumbled upon my blog and thanking me for reviewing her book. Also, Gena mentioned that she still has a number of books that are available for purchase. The cost of the Netherland book that contains 175 pages of documents and photographs and mentions over 10,000 names, is $65, with shipping and handling included.

From Gena's email I learned that she has now published a second family history book, entitled "Franklin Folks, Descendants of Job and Hannah Wheeler Franklin." Gena's new book chronicles this large family of Habersham, Georgia, beginning with Job and Hannah and their seven children, Nancy, Jeremiah Richard Warren, Wesley, Thomas Alfred, Jonathan Mitchell, Sarah Jane and Moses. According to Gena, Job and Hannah Franklin's seven children produced a total of 54 grandchildren, and today these descendants have familial links with almost everyone in Habersham County, Georgia. Published by Gateway Press, a division of the Genealogical Publishing Company of Baltimore, the 600 page book is 8.5 x 11 inches, hardbound, and contains 280 pages of photographs and evidentiary documentation.

The index included in "Franklin Folks" is a handy reference itself, since it contains over 10,000 names that represent approximately 1150 families. Among the surnames in the book's index are Allen, Adams, Barron, Belew, Benefield, Brown, Burrell, Carter, Church, Davis, Dawkins, Dodd, Dover, Edmonds, Fry, Garrett, Henderson, Ivester, Loudermilk, Rudeseal, Shirley and Shore families. "Franklin Folks," like the Netherland family book, can be purchased directly from Gena Ayers Walls for $55.00 plus $5.00 shipping and handling.

Gena's books, comprehensive and well-documented with copies of photographs and actual family records, are indeed finds for family researchers everywhere. If you have ties to Crane, Walls, Leatherlin/Neatherlin/Netherland, families, or to the Franklin family of Habersham, Georgia, these two books are must-haves.

To order a copy of either of these books by Gena Ayers Walls, please contact Gena by email at HFRsearch@aol.com, or by snail mail at: Gena Walls, 7418 Swanson Drive, Richmond, Texas 77469.

Froggie's Friday Book Review

The subject of today's book review is "The Netherland, Leatherlin Legacy with Allied
Crane and Walls Families," written by Gena Ayers Walls, of Houston, Texas.


But first I want to tell a brief story about how I first became aware of this book. It all started on the genealogy floor of the wonderful Erikkson Library in Dallas, Texas, where I was researching several family lines, including the Netherland family. I found the book among the many volumes there written specifically about various families in the United States. If you have never been to this library, I can only say that it seems a book is available there for every name known to man. Handwritten inside the cover of the book's cover was an inscription by Clarence Netherland, indicating he was a Dallas resident who had donated the book to the library.


After perusing the book's pages, I decided that I wanted to purchase a copy for my mother. As soon as I returned home, I looked up Clarence Netherland, who just happened to have two more copies of the book that he agreed to sell to me. Not only did I obtain a copy of the Netherland book, I also found a Netherland cousin. Unfortunately, Clarence Netherland, a well-respected Dallas resident, a petroleum engineer and founder of his own consulting firm, died early last year.


The name of this book itself, "The Netherland, Leatherlin Legacy with Allied Crane and Walls Families," offers some insight into its contents. Actually, this book has been written by Mrs. Walls about her husband's ancestors, his Netherland, Crane, and Walls families. The title is an indication of one of its contents, a discussion of the origins and variations of the present day Netherland family's name. In her well-researched and documented book, Mrs. Walls provides an in-depth discussion of the family's initial settlement in colonial Virginia and traces its migration path westward into Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. Included in its almost 300 pages are many family pictures and other documentation that includes birth, marriage, and death records. Photocopies of other types of historical documents are provided in the book, as well. Some of these are copies of land grants, wills, and war records that may provide the researcher with evidence needed to establish a long sought after familial relationship.


Of particular interest to me, a Netherland family researcher myself, was medical history information that I gleaned from death certificates included in the book. It was because of this finding that I now know that five of my maternal grandfather's family, including my grandfather himself, died of complications from stomach cancer.


Although the book written by Mrs. Walls was first published over 10 years ago, it is still the leading genealogy book available about the Leatherlin, Neatherlin, Netherland family in the United States. If you have ties to the Crane, Netherland, or Walls families in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, or Texas, this book may be able to assist you in finding your "roots."


New copies of the book may still be available by contacting Gena Ayers Walls directly.

Recently, I was able to purchase an inexpensive used copy of the book for my uncle through this bookseller:


Barbara A. Geisert, 290 Birchfield Dr., Marietta, GA 30068-3803. Barbara can also be contacted by email at http://gencenlibbooks@aol.com

The Pettus Family - England>VA>ALA>MS

Left: St. Simon and Jude Church, Norwich England

My maternal grandmother was Rosa Mae Pettus. She was the daughter of William Elza Pettus and Lucy Lula Trigleth and was born in Holmes County, Mississippi on August 28, 1908. Rosa Mae was married first to Ralph Ernest Netherland, when she was about 18 years old and he was 41. They had two children, a daughter and a son. Their daughter was my mother.

When my mother was 14 and her brother was 11 years old, my grandparents divorced. A divorce in 1940 must have been quite unusual, even an embarrassment for the couple and their families, especially when the couple lived in a small, rural Mississippi town where everyone likely knew everything about the business and personal lives of everyone else. I am uncertain of the exact reason why my grandparents divorced, but my best guess would be that the difference in their ages eventually "caught up" with them and changed the relationship.

When I was 13 years old, I met my grandfather for the first time ever, when he was near death in a hospital in Jackson, Misssissippi. He died of cancer a few days after my family's visit with him in the hospital. My grandmother had remarried after her divorce in 1940, and her second marriage to Frank Parsons, Jr. had ended about 10 years before Ralph died. She never remarried after Frank Parsons, Jr. died. Mr. Parsons, or "Pa Frank" as we called him, was the only grandfather I knew on that side of the family. A few years after Pa Frank died, Grandma moved to Jackson, Mississippi, and went to work in the nursing department of St. Dominics Hospital in Jackson, Mississippi. When she was about 65 years old, she retired and moved near her son in Holmes County. In January 1986, she died peacefully in her easy chair at home near Yazoo City, Mississippi, after driving herself to and from church that morning.

Rosa Mae Pettus Netherland Parsons had been a nurse for most of her adult life. During my mother's early years, she provided "home" nursing visits and often stayed overnight with people in the community who were ill. My mother learned to take care of the house and cook for herself and a younger brother at an early age. I never knew any other family members with the Pettus last name. But what I have found out from research about the Pettus family who emigrated from England to Virginia in the early 1600's is in this post.

The earliest Pettus ancestor I found was John Pettus, born circa 1530, who married Joan Dethick, in Norwich, England, on October 29, 1548. Their children were Sir John Pettus, born circa 1550 in England, and Thomas Pettus, born circa 1552, near Norwich, England. I was unable to locate a spouse's name for Sir John Pettus, but I did find that Thomas Pettus was married to Cecily King sometime after 1588, and he died in June 1620. John Pettus, the father, died on January 12, 1596 and is buried in Norwich at St. Simon and Jude Church cemetery.

It appears that Thomas Pettus is likely my direct Pettus ancestor. He and Cecily King Pettus had a son named William Pettus, Esquire, born circa 1583 in London, England. William Pettus married Mary Gleane, born circa 1585, on December 21, 1607 in London, England. Mary died on July 27, 1631, and William died in 1648. Their son was Colonel Thomas Pettus, who was born in 1610 in Norwich, England. Colonel Thomas Pettus married Elizabeth Durrant, born circa 1615 near Williamsburg, Virginia in 1645. Colonel Pettus died in 1662, and Elizabeth died a number of years later. They had one child, Captain Thomas Pettus, who was born in 1646 in Williamsburg, Virginia. He was married first to Elizabeth Dabney, born circa 1644, and second to Mourning Glen. Captain Thomas Pettus and Elizabeth Dabney Pettus had four children, Dabney Pettus, born circa 1680, John Pettus, born circa 1683, Stephen Pettus, born circa 1685, and Elizabeth Pettus, born circa 1687. Captain Pettus died in 1698 near Williamsburg, Virginia, and Elizabeth Dabney Pettus died several years later.

The old Pettus townhouse is still standing on Elm Hill Street in Norwich, England. Large lettering across the second story can be read easily through a magnifying glass. The first line reads "Thomas Pettus, Gent. of Norwich. 1506." The next line reads "Thomas Pettus, Sheriff of Norwich 1566, Mayor 1590." The last line reads "Sir John Pettus, First Knight of the Family, Mayor 1608."

Near the old Pettus house is Saints Simon & Jude's church and cemetery, where many Pettus tombs and memorial tablets can be seen, and the Norwich guide books call one of these tombs "the sumptous tomb" of the "first knight of the family."

According to my research, I found that Dr. William Jerdone Pettus of Charleston, South Carolina spent some time in England around the turn of the century, and with the help of a genealogist, found the identify of the Pettus emigrant from Norwich to Virginia in 1637. In 1890, Dr. Pettus wrote:

"The name is extinct in England since the death of the 6th Baronet, Sir Horatio Pettus, July 31, 1772. I saw his tomb in Rackheath Church. The last female Pettus in England was his daughter, Charlotte, who married John Richard Dashwood and died in 1804. "

According to Miss Lucile Pettus of Washington who also visited Norwich, a wonderful portrait of Sir John Pettus, Mayor of Norwich, hangs in the Guild Hall there. Several other portraits are owned by Pettus family descendants who still live in the Norwich area and are on display in their private residences.

The research conducted by Pettus family historians has verified the Pettus family was prominent during the times of Elizabeth, James I, Charles I, and Charles II. Members of the family fought under Prince Rupert, according to a book written by Sir John Pettus in 1670 and entitled a "History of Mines." Sir John wrote the book while he was serving as the Royal Commissioner on Mines. He also served as a member of Parliament for 12 years, and whe wrote a book in 1660 entitled "Pettus on Parliament."

The Pettus family became prominent citizens of the Virginia Colony and the State of Virginia, and ruins of the old Pettus Plantation can still be seen along the James River near Williamsburg. As plantation lands had been "farmed out" with tobacco crops during the years following the American Revolution, members of the Pettus family left to settle other parts of the colonies. Some traveled to lands to the west and to the south that had been opened up for settlement in the late 1700's. Some of these family members migrated to the area of the country that became known as the Deep South and settled first near Huntsville, Alabama, in the area now known as Limestone County. One of the landmarks of Alabama, the Pettus Bridge, where photographs taken during the years of desegregation in the South have now been seen around the world, was named for the family that I am proud to call my ancestors.

And then they moved to Mississippi.