Wow! My brain is full!
Friday, July 5, 2013
We left Chattanooga Friday morning (July 5) to head
to Murfreesboro, TN and to begin one of the many reasons for our trip --- family
history research.
Frances and Gene were such gracious hosts it was hard to leave. I'll be back to see the rest, Frances!!!! And, of course she wore red, white and blue so she's a sister!
Our days at Lookout Mountain and Chickamauga were awesome and really helped us understand what our gggrandfathers, Walter Harrison, Rudolph Neff and Benjamin T. Van Cleave along with our gguncle, Carter Harrison, must have faced. See Shirley's blog to get a better understanding of what it looked and felt like to walk through the battlefields. Chickamauga was the first battlefield which allowed monuments from both sides. In 1889 the first reunion of the CSA and the Union Army was held here. The Visitor Center was decorated just as the Reunion Hall was in 1889.
We are trying to mind the signs we see at the National Parks!
We also continue to try to take pictures as we enter a state...it's not working out.
After stopping at the Albert Gore Public History Center
at Middle Tennessee State University for a brief consultation we headed on over
to the Rutherford County Archives. Each visit these last two days have
been marked by the "kindness of strangers" and people "paying it
forward"! Great life lessons!
At the Rutherford County Archives we started our
first task -- sorting out our early Harrison line who came from Westmoreland,
Virginia to Murfreesboro area in late 1790's to take advantage of land grants
due to Revolutionary War service. Sooo -- checking, checking, checking
early tax records, deed abstracts, marriages, cemetery records, etc. to match
up families. With the able help of my sous chef, Sister Shirley, a stack
of quarters, and running shoes for the copy machine, we began documenting our
findings.
There are historical markers everywhere and you must stop and read them and ponder.....and then, act!
There are historical markers everywhere and you must stop and read them and ponder.....and then, act!
And....Rutherford County Archives sent us to Williamson County Archives
in Franklin, TN so off we went! This was an amazing archive but we had a short amount of time before the doors would be locked for the weekend. We read family histories, perused the flat files for The Harrison House (yes, a cousin!) where a Confederate General and a Union General died after the Battle of Franklin. This is another house that was
Saturday, July 6, 2013
Well, we can't say enough about the Williamson County Public Library either! Just as we were about to leave, we were offered a file on the Harrison surname. Bingo!!!! Tons of information on early Harrisons who had moved to this area from North Carolina and Virginia in the late 1790's to obtain land. It will take a while to sort all we xeroxed, notated and discussed! Thanks to their staff for being so interested in our surname and our project. Incidentally, this Special Collection group along with one of their faithful researchers are the folks who helped out Alex Haley in his initial search for his roots and recently provided materials to a television show on some other famous sisters (not us...but, some other famous sisters!).
Tomorrow we visit The Hermitage and learn all about Andrew Jackson! Then, it's on to Music Row in downtown Nashville for an evening before heading to Frankfort, Kentucky and Columbus, Indiana.
See ya! Kay
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