Searching for your ancestors is like a big hunting expedition.  You dig & dig for the right information, only to find that the document or database that you thought would have the answers only had more questions.  I have come to that line… I am questioning everything we’ve ever known about William Preston Wilson Sr. who married Polly Chagum (daughter of James & Molly).  I found in an old document for Connecticut U.S. Pensioners, 1818-1872 a William Wilson, but all it says is “See previous book” – A LOT of help there, NOT!  I found a William Wilson in the Revolutionary War Pension Index on Ancestry.com – that doesn’t give me a lot either just his name, state, rank, stipend and a number. UGH!!! This is getting frustrating!! LOL!!

I went to the DAR (Daughters of American Revolution) website, and found only one William Wilson in their database, and his birth & death date & places don’t match and his wife was Sarah Rust.  Whew, I’m off to check out the NSSAR website to see what I can find.

I wonder if William Preston Wilson was even in the Revolutionary War.  I am wondering if he was a white man at all.  I can’t find anything of his life before the Lighthouse Tribe settlement.  No parents, nothing in Fairfield at all, except a William S. Wilson married a Phebe Wilson on 16 Feb 1838 in Stratfield, Fairfield, CT.  My gut is telling me that William Preston Wilson Sr, was not white but that he was an Indian who could pass as a white man…. but, my gut has been wrong before, not often, but it has.

Much Love from Michigan, Sherry

I believe poetry & writing flows deep within our families roots.  I know that my mother, Ruth Ann wrote, her mother Edit (Webster) wrote, and Edith’s father Bert wrote poetry.  I am contemplating Father’s day & wanted to share a poem I wrote for my father.  I wrote this shortly after his death in 2008.  This is to all the Father’s who are no longer with us.

A Poem for my Daddy

More than a father,
more than a friend,
our love has no limit,
our friendship no end.

Although I cannot see you,
I known I’m not alone….
‘Cause my daddy’s always with me,
Even though we are apart,
I know because you told me,
you’ll forever be in my heart.

Sometimes when I close my eyes,
I see you sitting there in your chair
and I climb on your lap and lay my head on your shoulder…
and I am a child again.

You can learn more about my dad, Mickey Vincent on my Blog, Sherita’s World

Much love from Michigan, Sherry

Good afternoon family.  I compiled a list of research resources that I use online… please comment to share some in your state or some that are your favorites.

Research Resources

Much Love from Michigan!

Hello all… I wanted to let you know that my original blog Sherita’s Genealogy Blog, I’m gonna faze out of.  I have decided to switch my personal/genealogy blog here on word press.  It will just make communicating with those on this board so much easier!  I wont put word for word, what I do here, at least try not to… but when something good comes out I may share it on both blogs.

Sherita’s World

Much love from Michigan, Sherry

“One after another the links which have bound the North and the South together, have been severed…”

~A quote by a Mississippi Newspaper editor.

In the early morning hours of April 12, 1861, at an American fort called, Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor, Confederate soldiers attacked. This started what is considered “the bloodiest war in America’s history,” The American Civil War.

The Civil War was a life-changing event. No sphere of life was untouched. Few Americans understood what they were getting into when the war began. The onset of hostilities sparked patriotic sentiments, optimistic speeches and joyous ceremonies in both North and South. On July 21, 1861, at the first battle of the Civil War at Bull Run, Americans learned that “Fighting Means Killing!”

The Soldier’s War

 Military service entirely changed the lives of ordinary soldiers. Enlistment took young men from their homes and submerged them in a large organization whose military discipline disregarded their individuality. Army life meant tiresome, physical hardship, and separation from loved ones. Soldiers in battle confronted fear and danger, and the risk of death from wounds or disease was very high. Many soldiers formed, in the midst of war, a bond with their fellow soldiers, and a connection to a noble purpose that they cherished for years afterward.

Soldiers had to endure many hardships. From low supplies of blankets and clothing to vermin and lice, and unsafe water supplies that cause, among other diseases, dysentery. Few had seen violent death before, but war soon exposed them to the blasted bodies of their friends and enemies. Many men died gallantly; there were innumerable striking displays of courage. But far more often soldiers gave up their lives in the mass, as part of a commonplace sacrifice.  It is to the Soldier that I dedicate this page to.

Tell us about your Barkhamsted Lighthouse Ancestor who served in or during  the American Civil War.

 Much Love from Michigan, Sherry