The Good News and the Bad News.

Good stuff...........One of my problem ancestors (there are many) is Spivey Blackard. Yes...what a name. I've had a tough time getting much info on him other than he was born about 1810 in Sumner County, Tennessee. Within the last year I was able to discover his birth date and marriage to Catherine Garrett/Garrott, who was also a stumbling block. What I love about genealogy is the process of digging and digging, coming up short and leaving it for long periods. Then...something amazing just falls into your lap with the wonders of the internet! I do have the Blackard's dated back to Spivey's grandfather, Charles Blackard, but I'm consider the dates and places only the beginning of the search. I want to know about their lives and what history was happening all around them.

Here is a picture of 'ol Spivey and Catherine taken about 1880 when Spivey must have been about 70 years old and Catherine about 68. They are my ggg grandparents. I also found information on Catherine Garrett/Garrott that I have to prove, but I believe she is the daughter of John Garrett and Jenny McMurtry of Sumner County, Tennessee. I will be making a trip to this area late this summer to do some research.

These pictures are amazing as they were my grandmother's (who raised me) maternal great grandparents.

Thank you to K. Kiester for putting this out there for Blackard family members to find.


Bad stuff...............I was very excited to find a link on ancestry.com to find out what famous people to whom you are related. Computer database linking has come a long way. Sadly...almost every person I was supposed to be related to was absolutely wrong. The first was a Mayflower link to Christopher Martin. This link had me to believe that Christopher Martin was my direct 12th great grandfather through his son George. Unfortunately, Christopher Martin had only one know son "Nathaniel". Christopher and his wife "Marie Prower" died in Plymouth the winter of 1621. Nathaniel did not leave Burstead, England, and to my knowledge there were no other children.

BE VERY CAREFUL about internet genealogy information even on trusted sites such as ancestry.com and the LDS website: familysearch.org. Both have no policing of family information that can be posted at random. I even posted my family tree on ancestry years ago, only to find out I couldn't edit what I had wrong. They just told me to repost the right information. Much to my horror, this erroneous info is STILL on their site and I can't change it.

I use these sites as clues to go out and find the actual records to back up the findings. Lots of information turns out to be correct, but lots doesn't. Be careful out there! Happy hunting!!