Family Genealogy Package

Yesterday, I received my genealogy package in the mail from my Aunt Evelyn! I was so excited to open it, that it was like opening a birthday gift except there wasn't any frilly bows or paper to unwrap. In this package came two thick stacks of family history, stapled together, one for Lucia Cornett, (my grandmother's side of the family) and another packet of information for Walter Cornett's side of the family, (my grandfather). 


One packet was labeled, "The Family of Stuart Marvin Cornett and Gincy Malinda Long Cornett" which contains names, birth and death dates, marriages and the children's information, etc and there was even a few photos included in each of the documents, a couple of newspaper articles, one which was a 50th wedding anniversary article, another article titled, "Three Couples From Cornett Family Celebrate 50th Wedding Anniversaries" (Gazette, Galax, VA, Monday, December 9, 1991) How exciting to have three different couples, all in the Cornett family to celebrate such a momentous occasion at one time! The other packet was labeled as "The Descendants of David and Feby (Phoebe) Sutherland Cornett.


The package also included a death certificate for Walter and a birth certificate for Lucia, two different Honorable Discharge papers for Walter's WW II military service, a press release regarding his service in the Army Air Forces and a story titled, "Roberts Cove" which was written by Pat Miles Burris and Anna J. Woods and included a photocopy of the George Parks homestead which is posted below.

George Parks Homestead

(Notice that there are three front doors)

In the above photo, the back side reads: George Parks and Vinnie Testerment- 
Izora's Mom & Dad- (Walter's grandparents on mother's side)
Date Unknown
'
The Homestead Photo has writing also- "Old George Parks Homestead"
Date Unknown

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A Rough Week

So, it has been a rough week for research. I have hit many brick walls when it comes to searching for my elusive ancestor, Alexander Sutherland. I may have to try a different avenue, other than the online searches I have been doing. As a member of Ancestry.co.uk, I still have been unable to get an exact match as far as retrieving any documentation on him. I have tried Scotland's People, Family Search and many other genealogical sites, and sad to say, have come up empty handed!

I have been making new contacts and sending out emails all week. My most recent email was to a Dr. Fenwick of Scotland, a researcher that covers all of Scotland. He has expertise in gentry, historical research, legal texts/document searches, parish records, and wills. He was very helpful and has offered to send me an informational packet regarding current research procedures, especially that pertaining to the wide range of relevant off-line and un-indexed Scottish records which I may now need an introduction to. I can't wait to see what this packet will include! I am ready to climb this brick wall already!


I wish there was a site out there somewhere that offered everything you needed such as documents for BMD, military records and the like. Maybe there is and I just haven't found it yet! I just dislike subscribing to multiple sites where you keep having to pay, as it is not in my budget! But it seems to me that the ones you do pay for, are the ones that give you the information you seek! When I researched in the past, most but not all of the links would lead me right back to Ancestry.com; so I decided to try it and now am paying for the worldwide membership. But there seems to be another site that is interesting me also, its called FMP, Find My Past. Maybe a 14 day free trial is in order, just so I can see what this site has to offer before I decide whether or not to become a member!


I hope you all have had better luck this week than I have :) 

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