Yummie

So I found a pretty cool site that has an endless amount of recipes. You can search by ingredients, course, occasion, cuisine,diet. When you find a recipe that you like you can add it to what they call a cookbook for later reference. They also give you the capabilities to search other members cookbooks.

It is a great place to find ideas for a party or even a romantic dinner. I stumbled across this site while trying to find ideas for a picnic breakfast. I found some great ideas and recipes. So now I think I am hooked and have already started my own cookbook!

Another great feature is it shows you the nutritional values of each recipe. Great for someone like me who is trying to eat healthier and plan healthier meals for me and my significant other. Don't forget you can also search for recipes based on food allergies as well! A friend of mine is Gluten intolerant so this is a great site for her.

So my suggestion is to check it out and see for yourself what you think.
http://www.recipezaar.com/

~Shell

Family Tree Update

Well here I am again, I was not expecting to have an update so soon about the drama I found way back in my family tree. I have actually had “breaking news” for a while but have not had a chance to sit down and write. My adapter died for my lap top so I have been without for a few days. Anyways I am back now and that is what matters.

So I got an email from a fellow distant relative that has been researching the same line as I and was informed that she had found some information about the family member “Drake” who killed another family.

As it turns out it is a true story and it was a little slave girl who turned him in! Can you imagine living with that memory your entire life! The little girl was hiding in a bread box in the kitchen while the murders were taking place. Apparently people were sitting around talking about what had happened and who could have done such a terrible thing and the little girl pointed to Drake and said he did it.

Can you imagine the looks on peoples faces when they heard that! How crazy. I can not imagine sitting there and the guy sitting next to me is pointed out as the killer.

Anyway, I am ranting. I am just going to post the information on here. It is easier then trying to retell the story myself. I think I am going to post the previous information I found as well just so there is more of a background. Then maybe my story will make a little more sense….

Note:
Mathew Drake was hanged for the murders of Jimmie Scott
and family. There was a reported dispute over finances
owed Mr. Scott. It is said that a slave girl who hid in the
Scott residence pointed out Mathew as the assailant.
After Mathews death, wife Mariah took up residence
with William Blythe and had four more children

But wait there is more…..

Had four children with William Blythe, appx. 10 years
her junior. Never married. He lived with her until he
disappeared from So.H Co. census 1870. Children
appeared in 1860 census as “Drakes” and “Blythes”
in 1870 census.

So now I need to find these census records that have both the Drake and the Blythe children listed. Just so I have it for my own personal documentation. I like how the above state that William Disappeared off the census. Uh could that mean he died? Was he in hiding? Military? So it looks like as soon as one mystery is figured out another one begins…..

I have yet to even touch my grandfathers side of the family. We seem to know hardly anything about that side so that will be another grand adventure I am sure.

Family Tree Research

I am sitting here at work on a Friday morning, bored out of my mind!!! Damn it is only 10:35!!!!

This day is going to drag. I am trying to think of a way I can do more research on my family history while I am sitting here.

I have been trying to do my family tree for a few months now. I have actually gotten a lot farther then I originally thought I would thanks to my sister who introduced me to a wonderful program called Family Tree Maker. The program is linked to Ancestry.com which it awesome! I can type in a persons name hit the little globe button and it connects to the internet and searched for records. Easy right?

Well wrong! Yeah you get to search records but the problem is you get about 1,000 or more search results!! So unless you are lucky and the name is at the top you have to go through pages and pages of results. How quickly you will learn how many people in the US there are by that name or some variation of it. However in the case that you do find your beloved family member you can get all kinds of information.

So back to my family tree… I found that on my Grandmothers side we have a guy who apparently murdered a family that he knew. Story has it that he was going to rob them and wound up killing the entire family. A little slave girl was hiding in the wood box and witnessed the event. The slave girl wound up turning him in a few days later and it lead to his conviction and hanging. According to the story he was one a very few white men to ever be hung back then.

According to the story I have, his wife then changed the children’s last name to that of a man who was hired help living in the house at the time. Wait what? You mean I am not actually related to the person we got the family name from??? Well isn’t that wonderful! So after researching the family name and tracing it back to England I read this story that pretty much tells me I am not even related to him!! Instead I learn that I am possibly related to the guy who killed a bunch of people.

So of course learning this new information has only made me try to search more to find out the truth and learn what really happened. So far I have turned up nothing. I did find another person who had posted a blog stating he had heard the same story I described from his aunt multiple times. I guess the aunt’s grandmother was around when it happened.

Great now I am trying to hunt this guy down and find out more about the story. I am starting to feel like a stalker who is becoming obsessed with figuring out this great mystery of the mid 1800’s. Will it ever end? I have however come to the conclusion that the newly widowed wife and her hired help never officially married but did seem to have one child together. Guess what? That child seems to be the one that I am related to! YAY so it seems that I am not actually related to the murder after all. The problem with this excitement is it might be short lived.

So now I am trying to make sure this story is true and find out what really happened and who I am really related to. At this point I have not gotten very far seeing that I am now in school full time. I have been trying to rely on fellow family tree searchers to give me any information they can.

I will keep you posted on my future findings. By the way it is now 1:11pm hehe

~Shell

Grandads words

Yesterday is a canceled check.
Tomorrow is a promisorry note.
Only today is negotiable cash.
Spend it wisely!

Something I found that my grandfather had jotted down in his bible. I am not sure where he got the quote from. Maybe it was something the preacher had said during a sermon.... I did not receive the bible until after he had passed years ago so I guess i will never know the source.

Hello World!

I am an east coast girl living the west coast dream. Just wanted to say hello to the world in my first post. I will write a little later today.