52 Weeks of Ancestors Challenge 2021

 Week 8 - Power This week the key word is Power, and so I thought I would jump from my own biological ancestors to one of my cousin Jackie’s biological ancestors, because he was a very colorful, fascinating character with a powerful intellect and powerful influence.  His name was Christian Gottlieb Priber , and he was Jackie’s 9th great grandfather. Mr. Priber, born in 1697, was a highly educated German gentleman who is described as a “Utopian Socialist” and claimed to be a Jesuit priest.  This man was apparently kicked out of Germany, and went to London. From there he went to Georgia, then South Carolina.  Finally, he sold everything he owned and went to the Cherokee Nation to live among the Indians and establish a utopian empire of united Native American tribes who planned to drive the English off the continent. Before he came to America, Christian Priber was married and living in Saxony, Germany. According to Rickey Butch Walker’s book (referenced below), Pribe...

* Picture from American Battlefield Trust I admit I was really stumped as to what I could include as an unusual source. Then the other day I stumbled across this document rich in details and in the ancestor’s own words! Memucan Walker is my 5th great grandfather on my paternal Bragg branch.  He lived from 1764 - 1876, and was a Virginian. He would have been 12 years old at the time of the Declaration of Independence. In September 1780, when he was 16, he joined the war as a patriot and fought in the war until November 1781. However, in 1832, when he tried to collect his pension, he found that he had lost his discharge papers and had to petition for the pension. This petition held valuable information. Memucan isn’t the everyday William, James, John, Philip, Alexander, Thomas type of name that was so prevalent at the time.  However, I found records for a Memucan Walker from Maryland all the way to South Carolina, and I wasn’t sure that they were for him. Did he marry someone in...

  Week 6 - Valentine With Valentine's day a week away, here are some bittersweet love stories.  I have two “love stories” shared by people who are no longer with us.  One is from my maternal grandmother Mildred (Carlock) Canaday.  The other is from my cousin Tad’s 3rd great grandmother, one of my favorite people I never met.  She was not only a wife and mother living out on the prairie, but also a writer, artist, and keeper of family lore.  I’m pretty sure this first story was handed down to Grandma Mid from her mother, Grandma Carlock. My 2nd great grandparents were Elias Whetherhult and Wealthy Cherry. Wealthy Jane Cherry was the daughter of Mary Amanda Shumway and Ebenezer Griffin Cherry.  According to the records I could find,  Mary Amanda died in January of 1883; Wealthy married Elias Whetherhult in June of 1883; and my great grandmother Mary Valerie Whetherhult was born on September 12 th 1883.  (Perhaps it was a “shotgun wedding?”) We...

 Week 5: In the Kitchen My grandma Sene (Athena Alice Kirkpatrick) had a plaque in her kitchen when I was a kid.  It said “No matter where I serve my guests, they seem to like my kitchen best.” Grandma Sene was an excellent cook, and those skills served her well on the farm.  I remember the summers when she would prepare a feast for the hay men who came to help with the putting up the hay. Her table would be brimming with corn from the garden, fried chicken, and one of my favorites: “new potatoes” (aka creamed potatoes and peas).  I was a very picky eater as a child, but I remember liking this dish. I went online to look for a recipe. If you Google “new potatoes” you will find that they are young potatoes that are firmer and sweeter when cooked. Most of the recipes I found showed the potatoes with the skins on, but I think grandma peeled them (or as a kid I probably wouldn’t have even tried them.) At any rate, here’s a link to a recipe that looks similar to what she ...