Genealogy Jottings

Summertime looms, and with it comes my annual genealogy trip. This time we will head south for my niece’s wedding in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Of course I want to attend this lovely wedding in the historic Wren Chapel at the College of William & Mary. Both the bride and groom attended this school. What a fabulous setting for them!

Because I live in Colorado, the question of how I will get there has already arisen. I thought about flying because Virginia lies so far away from here. But I really, really hate the ordeal that flying has become. Trying to remember all the TSA rules while packing, enduring embarrassing security checks at the airport, and sitting in an uncomfortably squeezed airplane seat for hours– all have a chilling effect on purchasing that airline ticket.

And then I remembered that the route from Denver to Williamsburg could retrace the steps of my ancestors as they moved west. What if I drove to Virginia, stopping in all the ancestral counties along the way? The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea. My husband/tech advisor agreed to the plan.

So we will travel through the upper south with these stops along the way:

• Texas and Wright Counties, Missouri where my grandfather, Owen Herbert Reed, was born in 1896 and my great-grandmother, Petronellia Sherman Reed, was buried.
• The Richmond, Kentucky area, home to my Day and Sherman ancestors.
• Wayne County, Kentucky where my great-great grandmother, Jane Carter Reed, was born in 1824.
• Greene County, Tennessee where my third great grandparents, Mary Templeton and John Carter, were married in 1816.
• Lunenburg and Augusta Counties, Virginia, home to my Day and Howe ancestors.

I am working hard on these ancestral lines this spring to ready myself for this trip. I can’t wait to see this part of the country.