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52 Ancestors – Week 42- Full House
52 Ancestors – WEEK 42 – Full House By Cynthia Keefer Patton Many of my paternal families had large families. There were LOTS of children. There MUST have been full houses where people congregated, ate, and slept. One of the families was Abram S. Keefer married to Susanna I. Miller. I am not certain but…
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52 Ancestors – Week 39- Homestead
52 Ancestors – WEEK 39 – Homestead By Cynthia Keefer Patton I was fortunate enough to be given land by my in-laws when my first husband, Shephard Patton and I decided to move back home to southern Mississippi to live on the Patton place in rural Harrison County. When we first arrived in late summer…
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52 Ancestors – Week 37- Tombstone
52 Ancestors – WEEK 37 – Tombstone By Cynthia Keefer Patton Is it funny if I have my name and some vital information already engraved on a tombstone in Gulfport, Mississippi? When my first husband passed away we were both avid genealogists and had taken the time to design a double headstone for ourselves after…
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52 Ancestors – Week 34- Member of the Club
52 Ancestors – WEEK 34 – Member of the Club By Cynthia Keefer Patton My father Clyde Andrew Keefer was a member of the Atlanta Optimist Club and the year I was born, 1958, was their President. He was given a nice gold watch to commemorate his tenure. Anytime we talked about when I was…
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52 Ancestors – Week 33- Favorite Discovery
52 Ancestors – WEEK 33 – Favorite Discovery By Cynthia Keefer Patton When you are a dedicated genealogist it is hard to define your favorite discovery on the journey to uncover and document your ancestors. I do remember the joy I felt when I found that our Walker Mahanna (born c 1823 and died sometime…
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52 Ancestors – Week 26- Family Gathering
52 Ancestors – WEEK 26 – Family Gathering By Cynthia Keefer Patton I am working on planning, organizing, and enjoying a family gathering. My older brother David turns 70 on July 26th and my siblings and I have decided to celebrate it in Minneapolis, Minnesota this year. We booked a large AirBnB in St. Paul…
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52 Ancestors – Week 23 – Health
52 Ancestors – WEEK 23 – Health By Cynthia Keefer Patton We attended my husband Denny Fitterling’s 50th high school reunion this weekend in Warrensburg, Missouri. 50 or so of the original 132 graduates attended. I was so amazed at the good overall health of the group. They had only lost 15 classmates in fifty…
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52 Ancestors – Week 21 – Nicknames
52 Ancestors – WEEK 21 – Nicknames By Cynthia Keefer Patton My great-grandfather Charles Wesley Thomas was born in 1882 in small coal mining town in western Pennsylvania called Nemacolon part of Greene county. His family were Welch and immigrated to America in the 1760’s. My father always called him “Bumpy”. I used to ask…
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52 Ancestors – Week 19 – Preserve
52 Ancestors – WEEK 19 – Preserves By Cynthia Keefer Patton The summer’s are hot and long in southern Mississippi and the growing seasons are also. So there is a LOT of produce when you put in a garden, but that means there is also a lot to preserve. My mother-in-law and her extended family…
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52 Ancestors – Week 18 – Love & Marriage
52 Ancestors – WEEK 18 – Love & Marriage By Cynthia Keefer Patton As I was working my way through obtaining documentation about my grandparents on Mom’s side, I was not able to find a marriage record for Donald O. Mahanna and Margaret Robson in Washington County, Pennsylvania where they lived. I decided to check…