Archive for the ‘Digital Records’ Category
Family Tree Progress
Okay, let’s do a quick wrap-up here…
The PARK family has descendency ties to Robert E. Lee; his ancestor who was George Washington’s wife (maiden name CUSTIS); PARK/PARKE/PARKS descendants are connected to the Burchfields — the Burchfields via the Park line (somewhere) are kin to the Gustafsson/Justice family originally from Sweden; and how did I get here (this time)?
Tracing the Davis-Smathers connection of Aunt Betty Davis (married – Jack Abernathy) — trying to learn about her father’s family.
The other point of interest is the ties to a Cherokee Chief Oowahooskie (various spellings found). His ‘wife’ had been captured from a white settlement/group when she was about six years old. They had three sons; she and the sons were later released — they lived as white men, and were land-holders. This made for Cherokee heritage claims with US courts unsuccessful — but the Indian connection seems valid from research/sources found online, now.
There is also a connection between the PARK family and a CHANDLER line in Georgia…will follow this up later.
Another connection exist between the DAVIS line and the CARPENTER (ZIMMERMAN) families from North Carolina — this warrants further research, since my mother and my father’s ancestral line include connection to the CARPENTER (ZIMMERMAN) lines from the Carolinas.
NO direct Patey/PATE/PATTY connections — but have found AYERS/AYRES, PAYNE, and McClellan connections in the Carolina regions (where my husbands family were from)…The PAYNE connection may link up with the TEAGUE, SPEER, PERRY, OWEN or other related families who later migrated to NE Alabama (near Ft. Payne).
With the research from the past three days — “We are all kin” has more meaning then is previously did, for me.
Each friend I have helped with their family tree research, I have also found something that fit with prior research for my own complicated ancestral lines.
Are your ancestors included in this tangle of kinfolks?
Contact me with a bit of your grandparents vital statics (dates, location, family members) — I will see what I can find.
– Cathy Ann Abernathy
weavercat@gmail.com
Horace Miller Sproull, Jr. ’41 — Davidson College / Class Memorials
Davidson College – Class Memorials – Summer 2008
He was elected finance commissioner for the City of Anniston and served from 1962–66. He helped found and build The Anniston Academy, a college preparatory school, and served as chairman of the board. The school later was named The Donoho School for which he was a director emeritus. His leisure-time activities included being an avid reader, a scratch golfer, an expert hunter, a world traveler, and a civilian pilot. He is survived by his wife, Barbara V. Sproull, 100 Raemon Dr., Anniston, AL 36207; children, James Creswell Sproull IV, Sara Sproull Choquette, Eva Abel Sproull, Hunt Miller Sproull (Susan Vinsant Sproull), Barbara Sproull Snow (Gary), and Horace Miller Sproull III (Joy Martin Sproull); grandchildren, James Creswell Sproull V, Drayton Allison Sproull, Paschal Trippe Sproull, Suzanne Sproull Choquette, Sara Catherine Choquette, Justin Hunt Sproull, Marie Louise Sproull, Eva Catherine Sproull, Chelsea Caroline Sproull, Logan Sproull Snow, Shannon Wimberly Snow, Vaughn Morton Stewart III, Houston Sproull Andrews, H. Miller Sproull IV, Wimberly Elisabeth Sproull, Holly Milliken Sproull, and Gabriel Sparks Sproull; and great-grandchildren, Lucienne Sproull, Hunter Jackson Sproull, Jackson Sproull, and Reagan Sproull.
Pell City – City Well Property Dispute
Daily Home – Petition granted to condemn well property
PELL CITY — St. Clair County Probate Judge Mike Bowling granted a petition by the city to condemn the former Avondale Mills’ well property.The well property is located along U.S. 231, and is now owned by Pell City-Tifton Properties, LLC, which is a subsidiary of Thunder Enterprises of Chattanooga.
Thunder Enterprises bought most of the Avondale Mills properties in Pell City, about one year after the local plant closed in 2007.
Avondale Mills allowed the city to operate the well on the condition that it kept the property up and provided free water to the company’s Pell City plant.
According to documents obtained by The Daily Home, the city had an option to renew a 20-year well lease with Avondale but failed to do so within the required time frame.
Pell City-Tifton Properties, LLC, offered to sell the one-acre commercial plot to the city for $1.9 million but eventually lowered its price to $1 million.

Littleton Riggins and Descendants-Generation 3
[possible kin: Riggins/Dunlap, my maternal relatives in Al, Ga, Tx, Ar]
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9. Elizabeth Ann Riggins (William Gant, Littleton) born abt. 1815 in AL and died abt. 1895. She was married Mar. 17, 1833 in Bibb Co. AL to Alexander S. W. Dunlap son of James Dunlap & Nancy Unknown. He was born abt. 1806 in SC and died abt. 1866 in Monroe Co. AR.
Notes about Elizabeth Riggins Riggins
She is found in her father’s household in 1830 Bibb Co. AL census.
She is found in the 1870 & 1880 Monroe Co AR census as a widow.
Notes about Alexander Dunlap
He is found in the 1850 Shelby Co. AL census.
He is found in the 1860 Monroe Co. AR census.
Childrenof Elizabeth Riggins & Alexander Dunlap
52. i. Minerva C. Dunlap born abt. 1835 in AL.
53. ii. Nancy A. Dunlap born abt. 1837 in AL.
54. iii. Miller Dunlap born abt. 1842 in AL.
55. iv. Mary Malissa Dunlap born abt. 1843 in AL.
56. v. Milly Elizabeth Dunlap born abt. 1845 in AL.
57 vi. William G. Dunlap born abt. 1847 in AL.
58. vii. David A. Dunlap born abt. 1849 in AL.
59. viii. James B. Dunlap born Feb. 1853 in AL.
60. ix. Bascom Akin Dunlap born abt. 1854 in MS.
61. x. Almus Monroe Dunlap born Sept. 1856 in MS.
63. xi. Malona Julia Dunlap born June 1859.
South Carolina: Facts, Discussion Forum, and Encyclopedia Article
Sephardic Jews have lived in the state for more than 300 years,(*) (*) (*) especially in and around Charleston (*). Until about 1830, South Carolina had the largest population of Jews in North America. Many of South Carolina’s Jews have assimilated into Christian society, shrinking Judaism down to less than 1% of the total religious makeup. In addition, Roman Catholicism is growing in South Carolina due to immigration from the North.
[...much MORE]
via South Carolina: Facts, Discussion Forum, and Encyclopedia Article.
OnMilwaukee.com – Reader Blogs
For those who love history, dream of adventure, riches, and fame; for those really believe they’ll hit the jackpot on the lottery scratch-off, for those still look up at night to see the stars and passing clouds. and for those who love to touch the past, here’s a challenge to give meaning to your visions and put money in your pocket.: Whatever happened to the Confederate gold?
If you worry about the fiscal state of the country or the money in your own pocket, the gold spoils of the civil war offer hundreds of chances to expand your net worth.
Thought the Confederacy was poor and in a state of penury by the war’s end? The central government still had great wealth even as the war put the administration on the run. The last Confederate Cabinet meeting presided over by Jefferson Davis was held on May 2, 1865, in Abbeville, SC, at the Burt-Stark House.
By the time Lee surrendered, five wagons of gold and silver—coins, bricks, and bars, the remains of the Confederate treasury’s reserve–were loaded May 24, 1865 in Richmond, at the train depot. Captain Parker of the Navy and an escort of armed troops, guarded the gold on the ride from Richmond, Virginia, to Anderson, South Carolina. There the gold was reloaded to wagons for shipment to Savannah or Charleston.
Confederate president Jefferson Davis met the caravan at Washington, GA. Later, scouts observed Union troops near Augusta, and the caravan returned to Washington (which is now in Lincoln County).
Unknown raiders attacked the wagon train near the Dionysius Chennault Plantation (the home of an elderly Methodist minister)–only a 100 yards from the house. During the attack, the gold disappeared. Most researchers and contemporary observers believe it was hidden, but the location of this cache of riches remains a mystery.
Lincoln-Rice cousins (Pres. Abraham Lincoln’s kin)
susan bronston hutson 2008-10-07 20:42:57
Here is what I believe to be the connection between Elizabeth Lincoln and President Abe Lincoln (1st cousins once removed).
Catherine Rice, (my GGGgrandmother) d/o David Rice & Elizabeth Lincoln, would have been Abe’s 2nd cousin, as follows:
Catherine Rice < Elizabeth LINCOLN & David Rice < Thomas LINCOLN & Elizabeth Casner < John LINCOLN & Rebecca Flowers (common ancestors)
President Abraham Lincoln < Thomas LINCOLN & Nancy Hanks < Abraham LINCOLN & Bathsheba Herring < John LINCOLN & Rebecca Flowers (common ancestors)
hope this helps.
Susan Bronston Hutson
source site:
http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com — online database
Generational Kudzu: Barbara Vaden Sproull | AnnistonStar.com
BARBARA VADEN SPROULL, homemaker and community volunteer
Born: Christmas Day, 1926, Anniston
• The widow of Horace Miller Sproull Jr., who died in 2008, she is the daughter of Thomas Hunt Vaden, who married Eula Crook in 1925 and lived in a house where the Quintard Hardee’s restaurant is now.
Vaden worked for the power company.
• Eula Crook’s parents were Samuel L. Crook, who was a first cousin once removed to James F. Crook. Crook was a business partner of Dr. T.W. Ayers in the Jacksonville Republican, later moved to Anniston to become The Anniston Star. They had bought it from Mr. Crook’s father.
• Samuel L. Crook was cousin to a Calhoun County probate judge, Emmett F. Crook. They had a daughter, Margaret, who married Ned Almond, later to become Gen. Almond, aide to Gen. Dwight Eisenhower. Gen. Almond retired in Anniston.
• Barbara Vaden Sproull’s late husband, known as Miller, was the son and only child of H. Miller Sproull Sr. and Sara Powers Sproull. She died within days after Miller was born; Sproull senior died when Miller was 21.
Sproull Sr. was the son of James Creswell Sproull. He had three sisters: Caroline Sproull Knight, who married Roy; Virginia Sproull Weatherly, who married Clay; and Catherine Sproull Hamilton, who married Ralph Hamilton, one of three Hamilton sons of Tobe Hamilton. One of the sons, Charles Hamilton, became a benefactor to several local institutions, including the hospital, the Boys Club and the YMCA.
• James Creswell Sproull, born in 1856, came to Anniston from Rome, Ga., in 1887 and founded Anniston Hardware, which, when telephones were installed, had the number 1.
via Generational Kudzu: Barbara Vaden Sproull | AnnistonStar.com.
Darlington School: Alumni (Horace Miller Sproull, Jr.)
Mr. Sproull, a native of Anniston, was born the son of Horace Miller Sproull Sr. and Sara Powers Sproull on April 29, 1920. His mother died five days after giving birth. In 1950, he became the third generation president of The Anniston Hardware Company and The Gadsden Hardware Company, family owned businesses founded by his grandfather James Creswell Sproull, Wade Cothran Sproull and J.A. Cheney in 1887. He was widely known as an astute businessman and civic leader.
He retired from the hardware business in 1976 when the business was sold to a local group of investors. As a young boy, he was a member of the Boy Scouts of America and earned the Eagle Scout badge. He attended Anniston public schools through the tenth grade. He graduated in 1937 from The Darlington School, Rome, Ga., a college preparatory school, and received his B.S. degree in Economics from Davidson College, Davidson, N.C., in 1941. While at Davidson, he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity and the varsity tennis team. He joined the U.S. Navy in July of 1941 prior to Pearl Harbor.
Following his graduation from Midshipman School in 1942, he was assigned to the Pacific Theatre where he served during World War II, participating in six naval battles against Japan. He was honorably discharged as a Lt. Commander from the Navy in October 1946. Upon returning to Anniston he was made Vice President of The Anniston Hardware Company. In 1947, he married Barbara Crook Vaden and they had six children. He survived a tragedy in June, 1959 when he suffered second and third degree burns over 67 percent of his body during a mishap at a Father’s Day get together with family and relatives at his home.
A lifelong member of The First Presbyterian Church, he was an Elder and a Deacon. He was a teacher of The Sam Russell Bible Class there for thirty years. In 1962, he helped raise money to build the educational building for the church. He also helped to found and was President of The Soup Bowl, a charitable organization feeding the hungry.
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For librarian, it’s all relative : Local : Times Record News
CHILLICOTHE — ver wondered if you might be related to a famous historical figure or the family down the street who has the same last name? You just might be able to find that information in a cozy little shop in Chillicothe.
What began as an effort to help her son win a scholarship has become a life-long passion for Doris Cozart.
Cozart said her love for genealogy began some 40 years ago when her son Robert Carl was an Eagle Scout. He was offered a chance to apply for a Sons of American Revolution scholarship.
One of the scholarship requirements was to prove four generations on all sides of his family. “This was when I really got serious about family research,” she said.
“I was a Parker, and my mother always said that Quanah Parker was her first cousin,” Cozart said. After extensive research, she discovered she shared six generations of ancestors with the famous Comanche chief, but there was no direct blood relation. “My mother was very upset with me when she found out she was not directly related to the famous Indian,” Cozart said.
Cozart recently opened a genealogical research library on U.S. Hwy 287 at the intersection of Ave. I South in Chillicothe.
via For librarian, it’s all relative : Local : Times Record News.