Everything but the kitchen sink.

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.

Intrigued with tracing my family lineage online, I was startled one night to stumble upon a supressed chapter of American founders, and for better or for worse, to discover the key to my lifelong struggle with a series of symptoms that had long mystified my doctors.

An amazing new history is emerging of a Mediterranean people, sometimes referred to as Melungeons, who settled American in the 1500′s long before the Northern Europeans first arrived. (The Arabic origin of the name Melungeon–”Melun-Jinn”–means one who has been abandoned by God–a cursed soul.) No, this tale does not begin with the early New Mexican settlers, but begins with a Southeastern lineage that has spread throughout the United States, and the rare and potentially decimating genetic disease traced to these colorful people.

Even more intriguing, this disease parallels some of the symptoms of Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS), fibromyalgia, Alzheimer’s, Multiple Sclerosis, and Diabetes. It also includes a group of other symptoms regularly ignored or misdiagnosed by physicians: acute chest pain, pleuritis, appendicitis-like attacks, arthritis–particularly of the feet, ankles, knees and hips, and the symptom for which it is named, a recurring high fever that lasts three to four days and dissipates. The name of this insidious genetic “misspelling” is Familial Meditteranean Fever (FMF). If your family story featured an ancestor called “Black Dutch,” “Black Scot,” or Cherokee, listen up.

Ironically, the story of the Melungeon people has been broken not by the US press, but by the BBC correspondent Richard Lister. He was astonished to find the streets of the Appalachian village he visited filled with Melungeon descendants who “would not look our of place on the Turkish coast with their dark olive skin ad straight black hair.”

Sir Francis Drake brought many of these Portuguese, Armenian, and Ottoman Turks to America after he freed them from the Spanish in 1587. Genetic studies now also indicate Jewish lineage in the Melungeon people as the Portuguese Jews were fleeing persecution.

I suspect Drake was relived to deliver this human cargo and avoid whatever strange malady these people suffered. In an era of mysterious plagues, a shipload of people running high fevers would have terrified any captain.

[...Much MORE]

via Home Page.

Washington » Mormon Church leaders presented President Barack Obama with a detailed family tree in five leather-bound volumes Monday during a private meeting in the Oval Office.

The 30-minute sit-down was the first time Obama has met with Thomas S. Monson, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Monson was escorted by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the highest ranking Mormon in the government, and LDS Apostle Dallin Oaks, the chairman of the faith’s genealogical committee.

LDS leaders have made a tradition of presenting presidents with genealogical breakdowns, giving similar reports to Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, but none have been as varied as Obama’s, whose mother was from Kansas and whose father was from Kenya. Previous ancestral examinations have uncovered Obama’s Irish and German lineage as well.

“President Obama’s heritage is rich with examples of leadership, sacrifice and service,” Monson said. “We were very pleased to research his family history and are honored to present it to him today.”

The bound volumes include details about multiple generations of his family going back hundreds of years.

In a brief statement, Obama said he enjoyed meeting the Mormon leaders and appreciated their gift.

“I’m grateful for the genealogical records that they brought with them and am looking forward to reading through the materials with my daughters,” he

Advertisement

said. “It’s something our family will treasure for years to come.”

The meeting, arranged by Reid, was closed to the press.

[...MORE]

via Mormon leader presents family history to Obama – Salt Lake Tribune.

More East Valley news: Chandler | Gilbert | Mesa | Pinal County | Scottsdale | Tempe

Gilbert

Family tree leads some to witches, naked queens, Romeos

2 comments by Srianthi Perera – Jul. 1, 2009 02:44 PM

The Arizona Republic

Genealogy led Don Benham of Gilbert to a witch.

Winnifrid Benham was tried in 1600s in the last Witch Trial in Salem, Massachusetts and Benham even found a book containing a transcript of the trial.

Meanwhile, his wife Anne claims that her paternal ancestor, William Wainner, made shoes for Tom Thumb, the real life, diminutive character that inspired the folk tale.

Genealogy can be akin to solving a mystery, as many Gilbert residents have found out. They say you’ll never know what you’ll discover after poring over the manuscripts and databases available at the Mesa Regional Family History Center at the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints Temple in downtown Mesa.

The pieces of the puzzle might lead you to claim kinship to royalty. Or, you might discover a black sheep.

“Everybody who does genealogical research is going to find a black sheep in the family,” said Steve Packer of Mesa. “There’s no family that is immune. If you’re afraid of doing it, you don’t do the research.”

via Family tree leads some to witches, naked queens, Romeos.

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.

[...MORE]

via Darlington School: Alumni.

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.

History of Shelby County Alabama

By Bobby Joe Seales

Welcome to Shelby County, “The Heart of Dixie”. We’re glad you’re here taking a look at us, because we’re proud of our county and like to show it off. While visiting this site, should you have any questions, comments, or need any assistance that I may help you with, please e-mail me.

Shelby County is the geographic center of the state of Alabama. It is one of now seven counties comprising the Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area. The others are Jefferson, Blount, and St. Clair counties and three new additions in June 2003 – Bibb, Chilton, and Walker. Shelby County is bounded by Jefferson and St. Clair counties to the north, by Talladega and Coosa counties to the east, and by Chilton and Bibb counties to the south and southwest.

Shelby County was created by an act of the Alabama Territorial General Assembly on 7 February 1818, from former Creek Indian territory ceded in the Treaty of Fort Jackson on 9 August 1814. The county was formed out of the northern portion of what was then Montgomery County. Originally, Shelby County was one of the largest counties in the state. However, the state legislature soon began carving up the area to create other counties, including St. Clair County, Jefferson, Talladega, and Chilton counties. The marker for the geographic center for the state of Alabama can be found on the steps of Main Hall at the University of Montevallo. The actual geographic center, however, is said to be located in the Richardson-Randall Cemetery, about 2 miles east of Montevallo.

The county was named for Isaac Shelby, a hero of the King’s Mountain Battle during the Revolutionary War. Also, he was the first governor of the state of Kentucky, and had refused election to a second term as governor in order to fight the Indian wars. The first courthouse was fashioned of logs, and was located at Shelbyville, long since deserted, however, believed to have been located within the modern-day city of Pelham. It was selected as the county seat in 1820 and the county’s first courthouse was built by Thomas Amis Rogers, Alabama’s first Secretary of State, who, along with his neighbor George Phillips, represented the county in the state’s first Constitutional Convention in 1819. Judge Thomas W. Smith was the first judge to preside in it. The Shelbyville courthouse, built at a cost of $53, was used until 1826, when the decision was made to move the courthouse and the county seat.

In 1826 the location of the courthouse was moved to an old school building in Columbia, located in the central part of Shelby County. However, an act of the Legislature changed its name to Columbiana on 13 January 1832, and the county seat was then permanently located at Columbiana.

via Shelby County History.

From Mackey’s Revised Encyclopedia of Freemasonry:

Washington was initiated, in 1752, in the Lodge at Fredericksburg, Virginia, and the records of that lodge, still in existence, present the following entries on the subject. The first entry is thus: “Nov. 4th. 1752. This evening Mr. George Washington was initiated as an Entered Apprentice.” …On March 3 in the following year, “Mr. George Washington” is recorded as having been passed a Fellow Craft; and on August 4, same year, 1753, the record of the transactions of the evening states that “Mr. George Washington” and others whose names are mentioned, have been raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason.

via Religion and the Founding Fathers.

[...excerpt...]

Many of the leaders of the French and American revolutions followed this belief system, including John Quincy Adams, Ethan Allen, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison Thomas Paine, and George Washington. Deists played a major role in creating the principle of separation of church and state, and the religious freedom clauses of the 1st Amendment of the Constitution.

We have been unable to find estimates of the number of Deists in North America. Although both the U.S. and Canada census document religious affiliations, many Deists are listed under Freethinkers, Humanists, persons of no religion, etc. Many Deists who feel a need to join a spiritual community of searchers for truth become members of congregations associated with the Unitarian Universalist Association. [...More]

via How is Thomas Jefferson a Diest? What is a Diest? – Yahoo! Answers.

There are many mundane attractions from mountains to the sea, naturally. That can also be said about other states. However, South Carolina is a world of discovery. It’s home to a variety of magnificent gardens that attract visitors from all over the world. The multi-colored azaleas and a plethora of flowering, fragrant species slumber beneath the moss-draped cypress trees of the Lowcountry. They are heaven-sent, pictures of beauty exquisitely framed by the black, still waters around them. Colorful flowers create impressions that linger long after visitors have flown away. Our own Festival of Flowers is a testament to that beauty.

*

History, to be sure, is integral to the state’s rich heritage. From revolutionary times to today, the state’s lineage is evident. It’s the march of time in review, a reminder of who we are. From Fort Moultrie and Fort Sumter, to Star Fort at Ninety Six. From the Mars Bluff Confederate Navy site on the Great Pee Dee River, to the John C. Calhoun Home on the Clemson University campus, to the South Caroliniana Library on the USC campus, history is a consummate teacher. It gives us insights into how the past impacts the present and prepares us to face the future.

Think about Cokesbury College and old Sheldon Church near Yemassee. Native American names reflect the lives and times that have had a lasting influence on this state, the South and the nation.

Historic Abbeville is a jewel. Add Camden, Kings Mountain and on and on and on. There’s a wealth of knowledge, not only for visitors, but especially for our own. There are the obvious signs of history all around. There also are many reminders of our past that we might miss if we don’t pay attention. There are markers along roadsides that point the way to and highlight the significance of many sites tucked away, often in secluded areas. All are worth exploring. They help explain lifetimes long forgotten.

Other cultures provide glimpses into our past that also define who we are. What could be more informational and colorful than Gullah life on the state’s sea islands? It harkens back to West Africa, complete with stories, customs, music, dress and foods.

via Index Journal | Greenwood, SC | Our View > Behind The News.