52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week #5 Theme - BRANCHING OUT, which could include branches going up or down.

Over the years we have tracked Gerry's elusive Burris/ Burrows ancestors. Through census records and some old letters we found his 2 Gt. Grandfather, Josiah Burrows (Burris, Burroughs, etc.) who was born in Tennessee 1825, and lived in Arkansas, and Missouri. He died in 1889 having been married at least 4 times and fathering 23 children. So Josiah could fulfill the theme of Branching Out, right there.

But, after Gerry had received DNA results on Ancestry, we found that many of his DNA "cousin matches" descended from one Anthony Burrows/ Burroughs who lived in Tennessee in the early 1800s. Not proving the father of Josiah, we could still track his ancestry to this Anthony by DNA. Anthony's will of 1822, Franklin County TN, has given us the information that his land was called Pear Place at the headwaters of the Elk River. With all the geographic info, we could locate this land two hundred years later. As we planned our trip and corresponded with a local gentleman, we were told of a spring which produced a pool called the Blue Hole at the headwaters of the Elk River. And what is the land still called? Burrows Cove. Accompanying photos show the only Pear Tree we could find in Burrows Cove and the beautiful Blue Hole.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks:  FAVORITE FINDS  

 I was born in Texas, raised in Oklahoma, and now live in GA. We discovered that our Griffin family roots reached back to West Virginia. Through land records and legal papers, we discovered that in about 1820, our 3Gt Grandfather, Jonathan Griffin, lived "near the headwaters of Stony Creek" in what became Pocahontas County, WV.   We traveled to West Virginia, one recent summer, and explored the one lane roads up and down Stony Creek (which has stones, but no water in the summer).  Just soaking up the atmosphere where our Jonathan Griffin family may have once lived was a surreal experience. When we stopped to take pictures of an interesting cabin, we found we were blocking a farmer's way. Apologizing, we told him why we were there, "looking for the Griffin land." He said "I live on the Griffin land."     

No Griffins had been there for over 100 years, but it was their (our) land. We were home.  There was more to discover on that trip but I have to say that was one of my favorite finds.