Newsletter Friday: My Cup Runneth Over

And so do my genealogy folders.

I’m up on the ceiling (no brain), my arms want to flap spastically, and the synapses are firing wildly. This is the “Happy Dance” in fast forward. I have returned from an enjoyable and successful research trip with a great story to tell about one of many discoveries, and I want to tell the story in coherent form, but right now I feel like a hyperactive child trying to come down from a sugar high.

But someone keeps feeding me chocolate bon bons.

Before we left, a cousin sent me a picture of my grandfather L. C. Brinlee when he was young; this was the grandfather whom I had never seen a picture of when I was growing up; cousins sent me the first picture of him I had ever seen earlier this year.

Then when we got back from the trip, I received some information as well as copies of letters and articles on the family of a great-great grandfather, George Floyd, who had been a big brick wall up to now. One of the letters was written by a son of this great-great-grandfather – my great-grandfather, Charles Augustus Floyd. There were typescripts of several letters written by his daughter, Lannie Angelina Floyd, my grandmother’s sister. These were passed to me by a descendant of George Floyd’s half-brother, Ransom Floyd, as was a summary of research on this Floyd family done by another descendant of Ransom Floyd. I was able to share photos of some of the people they knew through the letters, as well as the Floyd house in Hutchins, Texas, which had been mentioned in the letters.

And my husband has been researching the Virginia continental line (he says he finds the organizational history a total mess, very difficult to untangle) to better figure out the history and timeline for my 4g-grandfather, William Lewis, who was a major in the Virginia Continental Line. He wants me to get on the ball and print out William Lewis’ records from Footnote.

So now I have to take a deep breath, sit down, and try to get some research done this weekend.

To George, Raymond, Edna, and Gail, my ever-generous Brinlee cousins, to Randy and Richard, my wonderful newly discovered Floyd cousins, to Paula and Carolyn, my fabulous, fun Moore cousins, to my husband, and to all the cousins who generously share their research, memories, and pictures: Thank you. You are wonderful.