James L. Thompson Makes A Generous Gift

James L. Thompson Makes A Generous Gift

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 17 Theme: At Worship

Generation 8My 3rd Great Grandfather

Rigsby, Kienlen, Aden, Thompson

I was raised Roman Catholic like my dad, but my mom was Baptist. When I was little, we would attend Sunday Mass with my dad at Seven Holy Founders, then head over to the First Baptist Church of Affton for Sunday School. Once we moved, when I was about 10 years old, my mom had trouble finding a church she liked so we would go to Mass with my dad. She eventually found her way to Canaan Baptist Church. Her faith was strong, and that church and congregation meant a lot to her.

(logo credited to the original artist, Piotr Mlodozeniec)

My heritage is a diverse mix of Christianity. Besides the Catholics and Baptists, there were Quakers, Presbyterians, Methodists, Reformed Dutch, and Anglicans. There were probably more that I can't recall at this moment. Some ancestors led their faithful flocks, and others led more secular lives. Like many family historians, I have at times been surprised by the intermingling denominations in my family tree. I am fortunate to interact on a daily basis with people from all over the world, from many diverse cultures and with many different belief systems. I embrace this diversity in my own tree and in my community. It makes life interesting!

In 1861, James L. Thompson, a Methodist who came from Presbyterian stock, along with Samuel Miller, deeded 2 1/2 acres of land to Obion Chapel Methodist Church for a church and cemetery. Thanks to this generous gift, people are still worshiping in that same location today. He lived just uphill from the church, and the rest of his tragic story I will save for another day.

Transcription of land deed: 
James L. Thompson and Samuel Miller to Deed 2 ½ acres Methodist Church, Obion Chapel. Registered on the 11 day of April AD 1861. We have this day granted and do hereby grant to the Methodist Protestant congregation at Obion Chapel the following tract of land in Obion County bounded as follows: Beginning at a small black oak Thompson's SW corner thence W 12 poles to a hickory with hickory pointers thence N 17 poles to a stake with 2 hickory pointers thence E 24 poles to a dogwood with 2 white oak pointers thence S. 14 poles with ash dogwood hickory pointers thence W 12 poles to the beginning containing by estimation two and a half acres to have and to hold to the same congregation their heirs their assigns forever we hereby warrant and will forever defend the right and title to the said land against all lawful claims what ever. In Testimony where of we have hereunto set our hands and seals this day of 1860 Ack. James L. Thompson [seal] and Samuel N. Miller [seal].

Richard L. Kienlen: Famous Pigeon Photographer?

Richard L. Kienlen . . .

Famous Pigeon Photographer?

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 16 Theme: Out of Place

Generation 3

My Father

Rigsby, Kienlen, Aden, Thompson

Researching close family is a strange process. 
I was close to my parents. I thought I knew them, but surprises are 
out there just waiting to be discovered.

As I mentioned in a previous post (HERE), 
my dad loved to travel. He also loved photography and science. 
As a photographer for Ralston-Purina, he was able to incorporate the things
he loved into his career. I once asked him why he chose that career instead of one where he could make more money. 
He told me that it was more important to enjoy the work you do than to have money. 
That was such an important lesson, one that I passed on to my children. 
My girls may never be rich, but they are doing what they enjoy, which makes me happy. My dad would be so proud!

On Thanksgiving day, 2014, I lost my dad. 
It's a strange feeling when both of your parents are gone, and I am so
thankful to have two wonderful sisters. We got each other through those difficult times. Doing my dad's final tax return was a horrible experience. 
I sent it in and prayed it was right. With his final refund we did what my dad would have wanted us to to. We took a sisters trip.
We couldn't decide where to go, so we each put three locations into a cup and drew one out. I don't remember what won, but we realized 
that we had all put in Charleston, South Carolina so we decided to go there.
My dad had taken us to almost every state, but not South Carolina.
It was a fitting choice.

Kienlen Sisters in Charleston

We stayed at the Embassy Suites in the Charleston Historic District. Every day, several times a day, we walked by The College of Charleston. 
Every day. Several times a day.

Sometime after our trip, I decided to Google my dad. I entered 
"Richard L. Kienlen" photograph.

Guess what! 
In the Wendell Mitchell Levi Papers, at the College of Charleston, 
there is some sort of reference to my dad.
The College of Charleston.
The one we passed by every day. Several times a day.

As it turns out, Levi put together an encyclopedia of pigeons and used
some of my dad's pigeon photographs. I didn't know he took pictures
of pigeons, but it makes sense with him working for Ralston-Purina. 
After further research, I learned
that some of my dad's pigeon pictures are in science textbooks.
I don't know if he knew that. Liking science as he did, he
would have been thrilled. 

I have lived in St. Louis all my life. So did my dad and his parents and grandparents before him. 
Never in a million years would I have expected to 
find information about my dad in Charleston.
It seems so out of place.
Luckily, my sister is going back there this summer.
I hope she'll stop by The College of Charleston and
pick up some records for me!

Using DNA to Confirm Research Conclusions

Using DNA to Confirm 

Research Conclusions

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 15 Theme: DNA

Uncle Tom is our official family historian.

Some of us in the younger generations have inherited the "genealogy gene" and have done our own research, but Uncle Tom provided us with a head start. 

I have been able to use his information as hints which have led me to more 

in-depth information to fill in the gaps.

Uncle Tom has been right about his, and therefore my mom's, ancestors.

That amazes me. I believe he has done most if not all of his 
research the "old" way. 

He wrote letters. He interviewed people. He visited libraries, 
courthouses, and cemeteries.

What I didn't get from Uncle Tom were source citations. He may have them, but I have never asked because I enjoy the process of finding things again, for myself. It's like a treasure hunt.

My dad's ancestors have, for the most part, been easy to trace. His French Canadian ancestors settled in the "Illinois Country" during the early 18th century. This, of course, included what is now St. Louis, where many of his English and German ancestors also came. As a life-long 

St. Louisan, I have had easy access to records - no travel necessary.

In general, I find that I have a pretty complete tree. I have researched not only my ancestors, but all of the collateral lines. Because my tree is so full of branches, I haven't found many 

new links based on DNA alone. 

The one thing I do get from DNA testing is confirmation.

My ethnicity profile seems about right.

I suspected Joseph Guyot (whom I have written about HERE) to be my ancestor.  He was, along with the woman who bore his children. 
Her origins remain a mystery.

I seem to be related to a lot of people that I should be related to based on DNA and tree evidence. I should mention, however, that we could all be following the wrong paper trail together. 

Ancestry.com has a new feature called "ThruLines" which seems very helpful. I look forward to going through this in the weeks to come. 
I am hoping for some new discoveries.

Our Adventure In Search of Henry Barkley of Rowan County, North Carolina

Our Adventure In Search of Henry (Hendry) Barkley 

of Rowan County, North Carolina

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 14 Theme: Brick Wall

Generation 11
My 6th Great Grandfather

Rigsby, Kienlen, Aden, Thompson, Cowan Barkley

Henry Barkley has been a puzzling subject. Most online family trees show Henry as the son of Robert Barkley and Margaret Kerr. Others think his parents were Robert Bartley and a woman named Leah. Robert W. Ramsey, in his book Carolina Cradle, cites a source claiming Henry was from Pennsylvania, but we have been unable to locate the original record he had found.

Some researchers connect Henry Barkley to the Barclay family near Stonehaven, Scotland through the Robert married to Margaret. There is no proof. He was called Hendry in his will, which is the Scottish form of Henry. Does this mean he was Scottish, or was the person writing the will Scottish? I don't know. He was certainly living in the samelocation as other Scots and Scots-Irish. Also, he was Presbyterian.
I also have no proof that he's not related to the famous Barclay family of Stonehaven. Maybe he wasn't an heir to the Ury lairdship, but he could have been a nephew or cousin of some sort.

In 2016 I went to Scotland with my daughter, Jennifer. We knew of the Barclay mausoleum near Aberdeen and planned a visit. You can guess how the reasoning behind this went. We didn't know if we were related to this family at all, but thought a visit was in order, just in case. It turned out to be quite and adventure.

It was a drizzly day, as usual for Scotland. We had some GPS coordinates for the mausoleum, and some very basic directions. The google map above shows the location, kind of in the middle of nowhere. When we got to a dirt road in the general area, I stopped at a house and asked for directions. The nice woman told us to go up the dirt road where we would find our destination at the top of a hill. She said it was a lovely place and that she visited there often with her dog.

Jennifer and I headed up the muddy road in our little rental car. There was some construction along the road, and the ruts left in the road were so deep that I was afraid the car would get stuck. So we parked and headed up on foot.It seemed like we walked forever, and it was a miserable walk. We were wet. We were muddy. I couldn't see a hill, and it looked like a ravine blocked our path. I lost hope and suggested we give up.

Jennifer was undaunted. She went on ahead so far that I lost sight of her. I was kind of mad because I had no idea where she was.  I called a couple times and she didn't answer. She was likely mad at me for giving up so easily. A bit later, I received a text message: "I found it." 
So I went on up the road through the mud.

There it was, at the top of a hill covered in grass much taller 
than it appears in this photo. 

The door to the mausoleum was securely locked with a little twig. We removed it and headed in to check it out.

There were two rooms with dirt floors. Some grave markers were in the wall, and others on the ground. In one room was a large plaque outlining the history of the Barclay family from 1110 - 1610.

I don't know if I am related to this Barclay family, but this muddy little adventure is one of my favorite memories of Scotland. I also learned from my daughter to never give up. The answer is somewhere.

In hindsight, it was pretty amazing to be out on our own, 
 just exploring, even if these aren't our ancestors.

What I actually can prove of Henry Barkley's life follows: