Who Do You Think You Are? Kim Cattrall.

I am still mulling over the Kim Cattrall episode of Who Do You Think You Are? and wondering if the producers of the show had to contact Kim's cousins in Australia before they could air the show? And does England really allow people to look at birth registers for people who were born as recently as 1959? I found that a bit shocking.

Overall, I have to rate this even higher than my new cousin Tim McGraw's episode. Isn't that what we all want to do, is solve the mystery and find something shocking? Those of us from fairly normal whole families take for granted what we have, of that there is no doubt. I just can't get my mind around the idea that bigamy is more acceptable than divorce though.

Food for thought.

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Sympathy Saturday - Mary Elizabeth Chinn Bowman

Sometimes you have an ancestor who really touches your heart and I am fortunate to have a few women that survived some terrible times. One of  these is my great-great grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Chinn, daughter of Dr. Joseph Graves Chinn and Barbara Garland Graves.Mary was born November 2, 1821 in Bourbon county, Kentucky. She married John Parker Bowman on September 26, 1837 in Fayette county, Kentucky. This marriage produced 6 children: Isabella, John, Joseph, Edwin, Frank and Clifton, born between 1838 and 1858. On March 16, 1862, her husband Lt. Col. John Parker Bowman died from exposure after the battle of Elkhorn Tavern (Pea Ridge.) Of her surviving children - son John died in 1858 at the age of 18 - Isabella was married and the rest were still in her care. Mary Elizabeth never remarried. In 1904 at the age of 82, she died in Lexington, Missouri.

From the Higginsville Advance, Higginsville, Missouri, obituary, 4 March 1904, p1

Died in Lexington, February 26, 1904, Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Bowman, aged 82 years. Mrs. Bowman has resided in Lexington since 1844. She was an exemplary Christian lady most highly respected by her many acquaintances. Funeral services were held at 2 o'clock Saturday afternoon from the home of G. M. Mountjoy.

Monument reads "In Memory of Mary E. Bowman.  Born Nov. 2, 1821. Died Feb. 26, 1904.  'Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.'"


Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Freaked Out Friday!

In between thunderstorm watches & warnings and tornado watches and warnings, I've been trying to write this blog. You know, you hope when you are working on something you've worked on all day that nothing gets zapped while you are a) writing it or b) saving it. Such was the case during the light show this evening with the lightning flashing all around and the lights flickering. Yes, my laptop will run on battery, but the external drive I back up to does not. And yes, everything is on a surge protector. Periodically, I will also back up to a flash drive, that way I can at least move the info to a different computer if absolutely necessary. But still I get a little freaked when that light show starts. And the winds gust. Things are quite now, and I will try to post this.

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes