Family Research 101 October 4th in Fayetteville

Saturday, October 4th I will be hosting a mini-course in conducting family research locally. We will look at what is available at the Lincoln County Library, the local archives, genealogical society, the state library and archives, and what you can do with the Library's free edition of Ancestry.com.

After attending a great conference at Nashville Public Library with presentations by State Librarian Chuck Sherrill and staff at Ancestry.com I feel like this will be a great class!

2014's Most Endangered Historic Places

http://www.preservationnation.org/issues/11-most-endangered/

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has released its annual 11 most endangered historic sites. These are always interesting to explore, and some do not have buildings on them.

My website

To check out some other projects I have worked on in recent years, visit my website!

www.jillianreal.com

It was created by students at the University of Alabama in Huntsville!

New Lecture Series!

Schedule change: Dr. Molly Johnson will be July 22nd and Kelly Fisk will discuss Civil Rights in Huntsville, AL on August 26

Short Update

Unfortunately, it has been a while since I last updated this site. My work as Director of the Fayetteville-Lincoln County Public Library has kept me busy...as has my 18 month old and graduate work. We have amazing things happening here at the Library, including access to Ancestry.com for our patrons (for FREE!) My recent writing has focused on some research into the Traveling Church out of Virginia that brought the Baptist faith to early Kentucky, and ultimately leads us to John Whitaker's arrival here in Mulberry. John is actually reference in the memoirs of the Rev. John Taylor during his time as a traveling minister in Kentucky. This is exciting because it actually links John Whitaker to a specific church at a specific time and provides further insight into the church he ultimately came to establish here in Lincoln County. This was an exciting discovery for me as a researcher, and it was a huge piece of information missing from my overall thesis research. I plan to take a trip up to Kentucky int he coming year to visit some sites and gather more documents. I will post some of the highlights from this most recent paper soon, as well as the quotes that tell us about John Whitaker's location in Kentucky.

A Day of History

I recently spent the day with my son and step-mother in Spring Hill and Franklin. We toured both Rippavilla and Carnton Plantations. Both were amazing tours and absolutely gorgeous! Both houses stand within the Franklin Battlefield here in Tennessee and are chalked full of history. Carnton was taken over by the Confederates and utilized as a field hospital. Blood stains still remain in many of the room, the most chilling being in the nursery. Rippavilla was used as a Federal headquarters.

For those who have read my previous posts about the Newton Whitaker house in Mulberry striking similarities in the design and style of Rippavilla will be immediately striking.

carriage entrance of Rippavilla

 

 

Carnton is a a wonderful experience and I highly recommend it. To add to the experience, try reading Robert Hicks's "Widow of the South". Hicks uses the house and the McGavock family as a backdrop for a fictional love story.

Friends of the Library Lecture Series!

We are hosting a fund raising event for the Fayetteville Public Library's Genealogy Room! These talks will go from June 26-October 23rd and run from 6:30-7:30 PM. Admission is free, but the friends will be accepting donations from those who would like to give. The money raised will go toward purchasing supplies and equipment for the Genealogy Room, including items such as Sanborn Maps, and hopefully a new Microfilm reader and printer!!