Preparing today for Hurricane Sandy to 'visit' our area, so just a quick post to add a photo of my Mom and Grandma from years past.
Grandma's name: Bessie Parks Simpson, Mom's name: Dorothy Lee Simpson.  Bessie was only 14 when she married my Grandpa, Henry Simpson, and 15 when she had my Mother.  They lived in West Virginia.  Mother was born in Printer, Boone County, WV on 28 Jan 1924.  

Getting The Family Involved

A couple of weeks ago, one of my sons and his girlfriend decided to both work on some genealogy for their respective families. This led to my son asking me for some info that I couldn't put my finger on right away, as it had been awhile since I looked at the family line he was interested in. My son managed on his own to find a whole new surname in that family, the Branscome name in Virginia, which I am excited to work on with him! Around the same time, we cleaned out the basement storage room where my genealogy file cabinet is. I decided now was a good time to go through those dusty old pre-digital era folders and see what research notes I had in it. Some had never made it to my PAF and Roots Magic programs at all, other folders had only outdated beginnings of research that I now have much more details on. My project for this fall is to go through all of the folders in that file cabinet, see that all the data is entered into my online programs, upload an up to date Gedcom file to the new Family Tree at the LDS www.familysearch.org website, and see if I can start to connect some of my surname lines that 15 years ago were dead ends before I used the internet to connect with cousins and other researchers. Moral of the story? Get the family involved in your research! Thank you, Nathan, for getting me back in the saddle of organizing. It doesn't do much good if you can't find the data you need when you want it.

Ivy Perry Hobbs

Ivy Perry Hobbs was my Dad's aunt, and he often told me stories of the time he spent with his Uncle Willie and Aunt Ivy on their farm. Here is her picture:

Hibbert Hobbs - 1940 Census

The 1940 Census is now available! Like so many people, I wasn't able to access it on the release date last week but this week things seem to be working just fine at least on ancestry.com which is the site I used for viewing it.
The first thing I did was take a peek at Logan County West Virginia to see if I could find my father. And I did. He was living with his brothers in a house in Omar, and working as a tippleman at a local coal mine. Here is the data:

1940 Census for Sandy Bottom (unincorporated place),census for Lower Omar, Logan County, West Virginia:
Hibbert Hobbs, age 20, brother, b. WV, 8th grade education, living same place in 1935, tippleman.
Herbert Hobbs, age 20, brother, b. WV, 8th grade education, 9th grade education, living same place in 1935, tippleman.
Herman Hobbs, age 19, brother, b. WV, living same place in 1935, tippleman.

Surname Sunday - Some Nunley Ancestors

No pics today, just a simple post to list some of my Nunley ancestors. Maybe you connect through one of them? These are all children of Daniel Nunley and America Skaggs
Jane Nunley b. 1837 Cannonsburg, Boyd Co KY
Benjamin Franklin Nunley b. 1847 in VA or KY, d. 11 Mar 1892 in Wayne, West Virginia
Charles L. Nunley b. abt 1856 Greenup Co KY
Milton Leonidas Nunley b. Jun 1858 KY

Daisy Sansom and Ethel Sansom Hobbs

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY - A PICTURE OF MY GRANDMOTHER AND HER SISTER

DAISY SANSOM - LEFT
ETHEL SANSOM HOBBS - RIGHT

Minnie Hobbs Samples

This is my great Aunt, Minnie Hobbs who married Roy Dick Samples 25 Sep 1922 in Logan County WV.
What I know:
Minnie Hobbs was b. in Mingo County WV in 1906. Parents: G.W. (George) and Victora McCoy
1910 Mingo County WV census, age 6, born in West Virginia.
1920 United States Federal Census
about Minnie Hobbs
Name: Minnie Hobbs
Home in 1920: Logan, Logan, West Virginia
Age: 15 years
Estimated birth year: abt 1905
Birthplace: West Virginia
Relation to Head of House: Daughter
Father's Name: George
Father's Birth Place: West Virginia
Mother's Name: Victora
Mother's Birth Place: West Virginia
Marital Status: Single
Race: White Sex: Female
Able to read: Yes Able to Write: Yes
Image: 169
Household Members:
Name Age
George Hobbs 57
Victora Hobbs 52
Minnie Hobbs 15
Hugh Hobbs 12
Graenway Hobbs 8
Children: Minnie and husband Roy had three children that I know of:
Rose Marie b. 1926, Roy Dick b. 1928, and William D. b. 1929.

I would love to know more about her!

Narrows Giles County Virginia

I've been doing some online research in hopes of finding out more about the area my great grandmother Josie (Minter? Tilley?) Johnson Parks came from. She was supposedly born in Narrows, Giles County, Virginia. It is very close to the West Virginia border. Josie lived in McDowell County WV as a wife and mother, and died there as well.
So I started by seeing what info was online about Narrows. I was very excited to find that Giles County has a beautiful website! Very well laid out, gorgeous photos, and very useful information.

Here is a link to one source from the Giles County.org website: Narrows Virginia
The first settlers were in the vicinity in the 1770's.

This page of the Giles County VA site includes a google map of the area including Narrows VA.

And here is the resource page for Giles County Historical Society genealogy page which includes info on their research services and office hours, and family files and books.

I was EXCITED to find on their Family Files List the surname Tillie! There is no mention of the surname Minter. Could that be a stronger indication that Josie's maiden name might have indeed been Tilley? We shall see...