My treasure

I have wrote about this many time, but this ancestor (though really my husbands ancestor) is so dear to my heart.

When I began my search for our ancestors more than three years ago my husbands grandmother had only one request. She wanted me to help her find where her mother was buried. She didn't know for sure where and she had never been to her grave.

Estelle Connor was only eleven years old and the oldest of four children when her mother, Flora Mae (Manning) Connor died two days after giving birth to her last child Geneva who also died and was buried with her. Grandma didn't even know the sex, let alone the name of the last child.

I took me nearly two years to find anything on Flora. However once the doors opened I was flooded with information on her. She was the youngest child of Thomas Manning and Mattie Smith. She was born 25 May 1911. It is said that her mother died of dropsy (heart attach) with a baby in her arms. The child had to be pried from her arms. We can only assume that since Flora is the last known child of Mattie that she was that child.

We don't know much more about her childhood. She became estranged from her father and three brother when she choose to marry a part Native American boy, Ernest Ghamo Conner. This is the only known photo of Flora. We believe this was taken shortly after their marriage.

I eventually found where she was buried in Amarillo, TX. Grandma finally got to visit her grave and was so sad when she discovered that only a brick size piece of cement marked their graves of her mother and youngest sister with only their first names on it. She then bought new stones for both of them before going back home.

I hope that some day I will have the opportunity to visit the grave of the woman that I worked so hard to find. She may not be the grandmother who inspired my passion for genealogy, but she was the one who kept me going until I found her.

Search Engines and Genealogy Research

I stumbled across a new blog today that had a great post. Many of us use Google to do our searching, but there are many other choices out there that may serve our needs better when it comes to genealogy.

Visit the Hayes and Greene Family History blog to find out what Steve discovered in his search for information and the uses of different search engines. I couldn't say it much better myself.

So call me crazy!

Why is it some of us never seem to have enough hobbies and find the need to start new ones? You've got me on that one. I don't know the answer. I just know I'm one of those people.



Yes I've started getting into another new hobby, quilting. Since I started my new job in September I have found that I rarely have enough time when I'm fully awake and coherent to do any genealogy research. Yes I still plan to keep looking for my ancestors and from time to time pop back on here and add more to my blogg. But for now I may also be adding little tidbits or showing off some of my quilts in the future.



I didn't mean to become a quilter. I never saw myself setting at a sewing machine and having fun. But there is something I hate and that's waste. When it comes to fabric my work wastes a lot of it! So one day I got the idea to bring some of the scrap fabric (though some is large enough not to be called scrap) home and try my hand at quilting. I quickly fell in love with it when I bought my first sewing machine (a cheap one that does the job for now).

I also plan to scan many of the fabrics into my computer to use in my digital scrapbooking. There are many fun designs that will make great scrapbook pages.

I'll post pictures later of some of the fun things I'm working on.

Our New Addition

Well we finally got one. Not exactly an English Bulldog, but close. Rocky on the right is a White English Bulldog. We went yesterday to pick one out. The family was very happy to allow us to bring our dog Sareena to help us choose a new family member. Rocky had two other brothers still left looking for homes. There was a very cute one with tan spots, but he was very shy and a bit scared of my three rambunctious kids. Then there was anther boy who came out and played, was very sweet and the first to catch my eye. He had bigger patches of black around his eyes and solid black ears, but is was Rocky who won not only James' heart but quickly adopted Sareena and was accepted by her. They quickly paled up and have stuck together every since. Now we have the arduous task of house breaking the little guy.

For now I must get ready for work and make sure the last minute cleaning is done in my house since the in-laws will be here tonight to visit for a week or so.

If anyone is interested in a puppy like Rocky just email me here and I will give you information to contact the gal who is trying to find two more good homes for Rocky's brothers. They have another litter of puppies on the way so they are in a hurry to find them homes.

Two jobs and no time!!!

Well for a while you may not hear from me again. I am going to help out an old friend and at the same time make a little extra money. I'll be working two jobs, from 8 A.m to 11 PM between the two. So even if I do have any time to do research or write, my brain will probably be mush!

Until you hear from me again, Happy Hunting.