For Cureing Horses of all the most malignant diseases which they are subject to.

These are homemade prescriptions for treating horse diseases. They were written down by either Dorcas Sanderson Payne or her husband Claiborne John Payne between the years of 1836 and 1865 in Butler County, Alabama. Spelling is per original, although punctuation has been added for readability. These prescriptions do not necessarily reflect accepted veterinary practice and are provided here solely for genealogical preservation purposes.

Research notes: In prescription #4 for distemper, the herb life everlasting is mentioned. This herb is indigenous to North and South Carolina only - so this suggests these prescriptions might have come with Dorcas Sanderson Payne (born in North Carolina in 1820) from the Sanderson family.
==============================================================

1. Big Head, Big Jaw. Take 1 gallon greene hickory wood ashes, 1/2 pint of spirits of turpentine, 1 ounce camphor, add sufficiency of ley[?] to make a thin mush. Fill a horn with the mush boiling hot and with a thin cloth over the end of the horn apply it four times upon each side of the head or jaw. Each time fill the horn with the boiling mush. Immediately after the above operation take the yolk of four eggs, dissolve as much fine salt with them as they will receive and rub the blisters prodused with it each day. If the head or jaw get two sore omit the above and keepe the places greased with lard and Jamestown leaves in equal quantities stewed to a salve.

2. Big Shoulder Swiney. With a pair of Smith’s tongs or pincers draw up the skin in three places upon each shoulder and run through the skin a red hot iron spear as large as a wheel spindle. Then draw up the skin upon the sholders and the shoulders will fill with air. Then take the yolks of 4 eggs, dissolve as much fine salt with them as they will receive, rub the shoulders with it until you bathe all in. Give the shoulders three bathings with the mixture each morning, then take 1 quart of whiskey, 1/2 pint of spirits of turpentine and 1 ounce of camphor, put all in a bottle and each evening bathe the sholder until well. Shake the bottle before using.

3. Pole Evil Fistula. Begin with the horn and medicine as in Big Head. Steam the swelled parts applying the horn ten times, each time filling the horn with boiling mush. While steaming keepe mooving the horn over the swilled parts. Each morning take the yolk of 4 eggs and dissolve as much fine salt with them as they will receive and rub the swelled parts with it. Then take 1 quart of whiskey, 1/2 pint of spirits of turpentine and 1 ounce of camphor, put all in a bottle and each evening pur slowly over the swelled parts in table spoonfuls until the swelling disappears.

4. Distemper. Mix 1/2 pound of the herb lifeeverlasting with 1/2 pound of lard and stew them together. Annont the swelled parts with it each evening.

5. Botts. Procure 1 quart of green persimons or 1 gallon of persimmon tree bark, beat them fine. Pore over it 3 pints of water, squeeze the bark out until you get a strong oose and drench with it. Green persimmons are preferable but the bark will answer.

6. Cure for distemper. Blende well, then take a table spoonful of Coperic[?] and turn it over at the root of your horse tounge and he will be well in 3 days.

7. Cure for Sparin Splint Kingbone & Wind Galls, Sparin. Take one 25 cent bottle of Mustang Lineamunt and half ounce of Iodine, rub them well together. Bathe the spairn or any of the above diseases two or three times a day. Rub well with a flannel rag and the lumps or nots will soon disappear and your horse will be well as ever.

8. Cure for Blind Stagers. Mix red pepper tobacco, spirits of any kind to a strong tea and squirt it up the nose until the animal snorts then. Quit. Rub the tobacco to a fine snuff before mixture.

9. For Flounder. Take the yolks of 10 eggs, dissolve as much fine salt with them as they receive. Rub the limbs with it to the boddy. Bathe hoofs with hot lard and pour it in the frog of the hoof. Take one 1/2 lbs of peach tree bark, boil it. 3 gallons water to one gallon. Add one ounce of allum, drench with one pint each day.

Names and Birthdates for Enslaved African Paynes from Butler County, Alabama

As I've explained in previous blogs (http://noblehorseforest.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-search-for-sam.html) I am the grandson of Sam Payne, born in 1879 in Crenshaw County, Alabama.

Sam's father was Robert Fulton Payne, born around Greenville, Alabama in September of 1850.

Robert Fulton Payne's father was Claiborne John Payne (1815 Georgia - abt. 1862 Greenville, Alabama) and his grandfather was another Samuel Payne, born in 1793 in Columbia County, Georgia, died in Greenville, Alabama in 1864.

Both Claiborne and his father Samuel died in Alabama during the Civil War, and both left wills detailing the names and sometimes ages of the African-Americans they enslaved - which numbered over 100 in 1860.

Just recently I received a xeroxed copy of Payne family papers (from a descendant of Claiborne Payne) dating from the pre-Civil War years, from about 1830 through 1860. Claiborne and his father Samuel were running some sort of plantation during these years in Autauga County, Alabama (from about the 1830s through about 1840) and Butler County, Alabama (1840 on) - and these papers (apparently kept by Claiborne's wife Dorcas) detail accounts and expenditures. In addition there are other interesting miscellaneous records, including handwritten remedies for acute horse ailments; hand drawings/doodles of possibly Dorcas and her husband Claiborne by either herself or one of her children; and other miscellaneous comments and notations. The two geographical locations referenced are Washington, Alabama which is in Autauga County. At the time Washington was a bustling town, but today it is a ghost town. The other place mentioned is Payne's Grove - of which I cannot find any geographical reference whatsoever. Perhaps this was their name for the plantation.



Of particular interest though, was an extensive handwritten list of enslaved African children born on the plantation, including their names, their mother (beginning in the mid-1850s) and full birthdates - month, day and year. The lists were written on over 12 pages measuring about 6 inches by 16 inches. They were probably kept between the years of 1836 (the year of Dorcas' and Claiborne's marriage) and 1865.

There are over 140 names on the lists, with about 44 of them noted "dead" - representing about a 30% mortality rate.

If you have African Payne ancestors from Butler County, Alabama during this period, check the list below (alphabetized by first name) for your ancestors:






Aaron Arren Payne, 8 Apr 1863, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Abbie Payne, 9 Jan 1865, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Abigail Payne, 22 Nov 1862, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Abigale Payne, 5 Aug 1842, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Abner Payne, 10 Apr 1854, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Aggie Payne, 8 Apr 1848, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Albert Payne, 7 Oct 1849, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Amanda Payne, 6 Feb 1849, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Amos Payne, 14 Nov 1858, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Anderson Payne, 2 Oct 1858, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Angeline Payne, 21 Sep 1831, Washington, Autauga, Alabama, USA
Ann Payne, 22 Sep 1847, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Ann Payne, 31 May 1858, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Bisey Betty Payne, 19 Mar 1856, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Calla Caroline Payne, 12 Feb 1861, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Canada Payne, 5 Sep 1837, Washington, Autauga, Alabama, USA
Caroline Payne, 6 Aug 1841, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Catharina Payne, 12 Jun 1840, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Catherine Payne, 24 Apr 1859, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Caty Payne, 12 Feb 1855, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Celia Payne, 14 Sep 1847, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Celia Payne, 10 May 1855, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Chany Payne, 28 Aug 1818, Washington, Autauga, Alabama, USA
Chany Payne, 3 Jun 1845, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Charity Payne, 16 Sep 1834, Washington, Autauga, Alabama, USA
Charity Payne, 31 Jan 1861, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Charles Payne, 11 Apr 1840, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Charles Payne, 15 Mar 1863, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Charlotte Payne, 24 Feb 1862, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Clark Payne Jr, 29 Aug 1858, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Columbus Payne Sr, 12 Sep 1826, Washington, Autauga, Alabama, USA
Columbus Payne, 4 May 1858, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Courtis Courtey Payne, 29 Sep 1849, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Dan Daniel Payne, 7 Oct 1841, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
David Payne, 10 Feb 1839, Washington, Autauga, Alabama, USA
Delila Lila Payne, 23 May 1836, Washington, Autauga, Alabama, USA
Dick Payne, 23 May 1864, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Dock Payne, 23 Apr 1843, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Dolly J Payne, 1 Aug 1862, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Dora Payne, 14 May 1855, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Edd Payne, 3 Nov 1859, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Elenor Payne, 17 Jan 1836, Washington, Autauga, Alabama, USA
Eli R Payne, 12 Dec 1858, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Elijah Payne, 26 Jun 1831, Washington, Autauga, Alabama, USA
Elijah Payne, 5 Aug 1844, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Elijah Payne, 19 May 1862, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Ellen Payne, 17 Jan 1836, Washington, Autauga, Alabama, USA
Ellen Payne, 5 Apr 1858, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Ellick Payne, 13 Sep 1841, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Ellis Payne, 16 Oct 1862, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Emily Payne, 22 May 1855, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Emily Payne, 10 Aug 1860, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Emily Payne, 28 Sep 1860, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Eunice Payne, 17 Feb 1846, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Fanny Payne, 13 Feb 1849, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Felix Payne, 30 Apr 1851, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Floyd Payne, 12 Dec 1862, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Francis Frank Payne, 26 Sep 1857, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Frank Payne, 19 Mar 1861, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Gilbert Gilford Payne, 5 Jun 1836, Washington, Autauga, Alabama, USA
Greene Green Payne, 18 Jun 1840, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Harriett Payne, 7 Jul 1853, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Haywood Haynes Payne, 3 Mar 1847, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Henry Payne Sr,4 May 1835, Washington, Autauga, Alabama, USA
Henry Payne, 31 May 1859, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Hezekia Payne, 30 Jul 1848, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Hilery Payne, 15 Aug 1842, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Humphrey Payne Sr, 18 Feb 1826, Washington, Augauga, Alabama, USA
Humphrey Payne, 4 May 1854, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Isaac Payne, 27 Apr 1859, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Jacob Payne, 8 Dec 1843, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
James Payne, 2 Oct 1834, Washington, Autauga, Alabama, USA
Jane Jam Payne, 1 Nov 1837, Washington, Autauga, Alabama, USA
Jim Payne, 13 Mar 1856, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
John Payne, 19 Feb 1861, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Josiah Payne, 25 Nov 1833, Washington, Autauga, Alabama, USA
Katie Payne, 6 Nov 1865, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Lewis Payne, 12 Mar 1854, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Lewis Payne, 22 Aug 1856, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Lionel Payne, 7 May 1863, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Louisa Payne, 14 Nov 1824, Washington, Autauga, Alabama, USA
Louisa Payne, 29 Jul 1858, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Louisa Payne, 9 Nov 1863, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Lucy Payne, 8 Aug 1856, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Lucy Lady Payne, 14 Apr 1838, Washington, Autauga, Alabama, USA
Luke Payne, 9 Feb 1853, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Mahala Payne, 28 Feb 1831, Washington, Autauga, Alabama, USA
Mahala Mahaly Payne, 4 Aug 1848, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Mariah Payne, 12 Mar 1854, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Martha Payne, 30 May 1839, Washington, Autauga, Alabama, USA
Martin Payne Sr,9 Nov 1828, Washington, Autauga, Alabama, USA
Martin Payne, 22 Jul 1851, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Mary Payne, 26 Feb 1834, Washington, Autauga, Alabama, USA
Mary Payne, 24 Aug 1851, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Mary May Payne, 20 Oct 1856, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Melia Payne, 16 Oct 1844, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Micasor Payne, 26 Jun 1829, Washington, Autauga, Alabama, USA
Milly Payne, 14 Dec 1820, Washington, Autauga, Alabama, USA
Milton Payne, 26 Jun 1856, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Minna Payne, 6 Jul 1858, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Monroe Payne, 1 Apr 1849, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Nancy Payne, 5 Aug 1851, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Nat Payne, 4 Aug 1853, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Nedom Neadham Payne, 22 Apr 1846, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Owen Payne, 1 Oct 1854, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Pearce Payne, 25 Feb 1859, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Peggy Payne, 27 Oct 1847, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Peggy Margaret Payne, 19 Jan 1844, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Permelia Payne, 16 Oct 1844, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Peter Payne, 14 Sep 1843, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Pheriba Payne, 18 Apr 1845, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Phillip Payne, 14 Mar 1854, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Pleas Payne, 22 Jan 1860, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Pourtnoy Payne, 19 Jun 1861, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Rachael Payne, 1 Dec 1839, Washington, Autauga, Alabama, USA
Rachel Verda Payne, 9 Oct 1860, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Rebecca Becca Payne, 17 Feb 1860, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Rebecca Becca Payne, 3 Nov 1860, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Reubin Payne, 18 Sep 1834, Washington, Autauga, Alabama, USA
Rhoda Payne, 19 Oct 1856, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Riddock Payne, 12 Jun 1818,South Carolina
Riley Payne, 30 Sep 1845, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Robin Payne, 20 Apr 1847, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Rose Payne, 14 Dec 1854, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Sambo Payne, 20 Dec 1856, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Sarah Payne, 14 Nov 1837, Washington, Autauga, Alabama, USA
Sarah Payne, 31 Oct 1857, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Scott Payne, 27 Dec 1852, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Sidney Payne, 9 Jul 1853, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Silva Payne, 16 Nov 1834, Washington, Autauga, Alabama, USA
Simon Payne, 20 Sep 1851, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Simon Payne, 8 Apr 1862, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Solomon Payne, 13 Jan 1854, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Solomon Payne Jr,22 Apr 1862, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Sooky Payne, 17 Jun 1854, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Sukey Sooka Payne, 9 Jun 1851, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Susan Payne, 12 Jul 1839, Washington, Autauga, Alabama, USA
Thomas Culpepper Payne, 19 May 1845, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Visa Payne, 12 Sep 1850, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Walter Payne, 19 Sep 1852, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Wiley Payne, 12 Aug 1855, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
William Payne, 1 Apr 1841, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
William Payne, 12 Jul 1849, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA
Willis Payne, 11 Jun 1862, Paynes Grove, Butler, Alabama, USA

If you have further questions, email me at dougnoblehorse@cox.net and I'll answer them to the best of my ability.

The Search for Sam

Madness Monday - Samuel Luther Lawrence Payne

Madness Monday for genealogy enthusiasts is a chance to vent about the brick walls that are inevitably encountered. Some walls present a temporary obstruction as additional records are found, allowing you the researcher to move on.

Other walls are a bit more stubborn, proving to be a thorn in the side, but with a little luck and a lot of effort (and the discovery of more records to research!) you can wear them down.

And then there's the intractable walls that defy even the loudest of Joshua's horns. These are the walls that you chip away at, celebrating minimal advances and the tiniest increase in historical understanding. With these walls however, every step forward inevitably raises one or more additional mysteries! These are the most frustrating of walls; at the same time they are your greatest challenges. Ultimately, they can be the most rewarding, as your paleogeneaological efforts can lead to completely unexpected rewards.

Such a wall is the life of my grandfather, Samuel Luther Lawrence Payne.

I never met my grandfather Samuel Payne as he died in 1950, 5 years before I was born. Moreover, my father had moved over 1800 miles from his home in Oklahoma to the deserts of Washington State. My grandfather had never married my grandmother Ida Perry, so there was never any mention of him during our yearly visits to my grandmother's house. Likewise, my father never, ever mentioned anything about my grandfather, other than his name, Samuel, that he was full-blood Cherokee and there was some vague indication that Samuel had not gotten along with his parents, having left them as a young man and never returning.

All I knew of my grandfather was from the photo you see here. (I found the photo as a kid one day when I was bored and rifling through my father's dresser drawers looking for anything even remotely interesting. At the bottom of neatly folded clothes were this photo and a steel-blue .45 pistol (yes, it was unloaded!) that I knew wasn't my father's gun as he never showed any interest in firearms. (Those that know firearms know that the .45 I found isn't the gun Samuel's holding in the photos.) I always assumed that this photo was taken in Oklahoma.

So I knew when I started my genealogical journey that Samuel Payne might be a challenge. I had no idea...

When my father Earnest Payne died in 2004 I ended up with a suitcase of photos and memorabilia in which I found the telegram that my father received when his father died. So I knew that Samuel had died in 1950. I also came into possession a copy of my father's birth certificate (thanks to my sister Mary!) on which Samuel had indicated he was born on January 26, 1879 in Park Hill, Oklahoma. So armed with this information I set off to scale the wall (which of course I didn't yet know existed!)

Working backwards, I quickly found him in the 1930 Federal Census, with his wife Hattie, and three children - none of which were my father (who lived with his mother.) Growing up I was only aware of my father's siblings from his mother - two aunts and one uncle. And now, in a simple keystroke (from my perspective!), I had another uncle and two more aunts. And then vague images begin to float up through my memory of faces I couldn't quite picture, but my adult realization was that at some point during my childhood we had actually visited some of these people on isolated occasions; I had never realized they were my father's brothers and sisters! So at the age of +50 I suddenly had a new uncle and aunts, with the logical conclusion that there must be cousins and family out there I had never met.

(Actually, this wasn't the first time that such a thing had happened in my life; the same thing happened with my biological mother Virginia Gulick when I was in my 20s - but that's a story for another post...)

I also quickly found Samuel in the 1920 Federal Census, with his wife Minnie, and two children (the youngest was born after the 1920 Census). Hmmm... Minnie in 1920, Hattie in 1930. Both had the middle initial E... was this the same woman? But the ages didn't match, so I concluded that Samuel had remarried during the 1920s (and so he had...)

I couldn't find any trace of Samuel or Minnie in the 1910 Census (and still haven't to this day...), and as the oldest child was 9 and therefore born about 1911, I wasn't certain if Samuel and Minnie were married in 1910.

The 1900 Federal Census turned up nothing. And we all know about the black hole that is 1890.

Finally, I could find nothing in the 1880 Census when Samuel would have been 1 year old.

All of this was not too surprising, as my grandfather was as I said Cherokee, and I surmised that either records weren't taken or were kept elsewhere for the Native Americans of Oklahoma. Oklahoma wasn't a state until 1907, being Indian Territory before then.

So I researched the Dawes Rolls that enumerated the Five Civilized Tribes of Oklahoma. Nothing... (although I did find my Shawnee grandmother, her parents and her siblings.)

So, I was stuck as far as the Censuses (Censusi?) went. For myself, when I get stuck at a wall, it's best to work for awhile on a different branch and let the wall stew for awhile - until you come up with a new avenue of research. I eventually decided to tackle Samuel's children... to find out any information I could as to what might have happened to them.

(In the interests of manageable assimilation, to be continued...)

Follow Friday - Washington State Digital Archives

I am originally from Washington State, so naturally one of my favorite online resources is the Washington State Digital Archives.

This is a collection of state records that have been digitized and is available online for free. Records available include (but are not limited to) vital records, including birth, death and marriage records; census records; auditor records; court cases; land records; power of attorney records; and professional license records to name just a few categories. Years covered are different for each type of record and for each county; overall, the years covered range from frontier years to the present.

Of course, free is one of the most attractive aspects of the website, but I like that this is an ongoing project. Not every county is represented, but folks are hard at work digitizing, so from time to time new counties come online. What this means to me is that this website is a returnable resource. You can return every so often to do your fundamental searches over and over - sometimes turning up new information.

For instance, over the years I've located some of my father Earnest Payne's marriage records - one to Jennie Wilson Slagle who became my stepmother. Surprisingly, I located two marriage records to the same woman - recorded in the same year, but six months apart. There is no indication that the first marriage license was never used, so this anomaly remains a mystery for the time being. You know how it is - you finally get to the bottom of one mystery, but your answers raise several more questions and mysteries!

I had always thought that my father married his first wife (first as far as I know!) in Oklahoma (which is where my father was from), but when the Archives added Clark County to their available digitized records, I idly did a search for my father, never expecting anything new to pop up. Imagine my surprise then when his marriage record with his first wife (a Hazel Pauline or Pauline Hazel Jones - my oldest half-sister's mother) showed up - they had gotten married in Clark County, Washington! A woman I had always thought was from Oklahoma now appears to have been raised in Washington State.

This might not seem like a big deal to some, but I strive for accuracy in detail in tree. Of course, accuracy is a lifelong pursuit when you're doing genealogy - your tree is never completely immaculately trimmed and shaped, a la a bonsai tree. Nevertheless, I always welcome a website resource that provides information that brings your tree into sharper, more accurate focus.

That's why I'm recommending the Washington State Digital Archives - not for everyone I know, but to Washingtonians a valuable resource!

Treasure Chest Thursday - Baxter Hair Wreath

With this post I'm jumping on the daily blogging theme bandwagon.

The first family treasure that immediately came to mind is what I've titled the "Baxter Hair Wreath." This wreath is not in my possession; nor have I seen it in person. However, it's still in the family after all these years - in the possession of second cousins from the maternal branch of my tree. I have no idea how the wreath was made nor how it has been preserved.

To my eyes the wreath is a bit unsettling (knowing that family DNA from almost a century-and-a-half ago still exists) as well as beautiful. It's a treasure to literally have pieces of our ancestors.

This wreath was made by the sisters of my great-great grandmother Emma Baxter Gulick (August 23, 1855 - June 26, 1943). The little bit of information that came along with it indicates that it was made by her sisters, Rebecca, Rachel Anna and Eliza Jane Baxter, in Van Wert, Ohio in 1873. The note states that the wreath was made from the hair of family members and family friends. My g2-grandmother had just married a couple years before in 1871, so I'm not certain that she participated or contributed, especially since she appears to have been living in Colorado by 1873.

Besides the sheer age of this wreath, a special bit of melancholy creeps in when you consider that my g2 grandaunt Eliza Jane died in April 1876 in Colorado. So in a small way this wreath is representative of Eliza Jane's legacy to her family's descendants.

Good Morning!

Hello! My name is Douglas Edward Noblehorse.

When it comes to genealogy, I've taken the road heavily traveled - I didn't consider genealogy a productive pursuit until after my father, Earnest Robert Payne, passed away in December 2004. My biological mother, Virginia Mae Gulick, had passed away in March 2008, while my stepmother, Jennie Lee Wilson, passed away in November 1994.

In my defense (such as it is) I had always been told and believed that my mother Virginia had been adopted as a child. Also, my father Earnest had never talked much about his early years - he was of Native American descent, being half Shawnee and half Cherokee (or so I believed for most of my life); I mistakenly thought that not much family history on his side could be traced beyond my grandparents.

Family assumptions. You grow up being told certain things about your family and these assumptions carry forward unchallenged into your adult life. So it was for me. I had no reason to think otherwise.

I believe it was my oldest daughter Damara Payne Neuenschwander (for reasons that escape me now) that finally secured a copy of my mother Virginia's birth certificate from the State of Washington - and it clearly showed that adoption was not involved. So one assumption was eliminated; however, the genealogical bug hadn't hit just yet.

I grew up having quite the blended family - both my mother Virginia and my father Earnest were married multiple times during their lives (at last count 10 for my father!) I can count 14 siblings, alive and dead, half and step; however, I have no full siblings. Keeping track of who was who was easy for me - it seemed like a natural thing to me, as all things seem normal and natural when you're growing up.

So it never occurred to me that my children were a bit confused as to which of my siblings belonged to which set of parents, at least until my youngest daughter Aleena Noblehorse mentioned that she had no idea who was who. So, thinking that this was an easily remedied problem, I set about to find a computer program that would help me diagram my immediate family tree so that my children could understand my genealogical history - at least as far back as my parents.

I had no clue what awaited me - surprises, twists, turns, brick walls, family stories verified - but most of all, the skeletons in the closet. Along the way my understanding of myself, my parents and my family history has completely changed. Despite having an already large and unwieldly blended family structure I found (or in some cases they found me!) complete branches of my family completely unknown to me! And I'm talking aunts, uncles and first cousins, not 14th cousins, 38 times removed. Some of these family members literally lived down the street from me - not in the town where I grew up nor in the town where they grew up, but in the city I've adopted as an adult home town (as did they), Phoenix, Arizona.

This blog will detail the long and winding genealogical road I've traveled, the surprising stories I've uncovered, and the brick walls I've run headlong into. As a reader of this blog you may see elements of your own genealogical journeys in my story - I'm hoping you can identify with the delights and commiserate with the frustrations.

Welcome!