Surname Saturday: WELDEN

WELDEN is the surname of my paternal grandmother's paternal grandmother, Blanche. This is one of my more "typical" American lines that started out in Virginia, moved west to Kentucky, then Missouri, and finally to Oklahoma. I am not sure of their European origins. I have a lot of research to do on this line. Most of my info comes from secondary sources.

Blanche WELDEN

b. 31 Aug 1883 in Coffeysburg, Daviess, Missouri
m. 25 Dec 1907 in Mulhall, Logan, Oklahoma to John Henry MERTENA
d. 05 Feb 1970 in Sulphur, Calcasieu, Louisiana

James William WELDEN

b. 12 Sep 1847 in Canmer, Hart, Kentucky
m. 26 Apr 1875 in Hart County, Kentucky to Henrietta Murl RENFRO
d. 01 May 1922 in Marshall, Logan, Oklahoma

George Dale WELDEN

b. 07 Jan 1815 in Pittsylvania County, Virginia
m. abt 1835 in Hart County, Kentucky to Eliza Jane DAVIS
d. 18 Jan 1858 in Canmer, Hart, Kentucky

Jonathan WELDEN

b. abt 1776 in Pittsylvania County, Virginia
m1. 12 Feb 1797 in Pittsylvania County, Virginia to Sarah Elizabeth MAYES (my line)
m2. 04 Jan 1821 in Pittsylvania County, Virginia to Nancy Hawker BUTT
d. 1844 in Linwood, Grayson, Kentucky

Jonathan WELDEN

b. abt 1731
m. bef. 1760 to Mary Elizabeth HANKS
d. 18 Dec 1781 in Pittsylvania County, Virginia

Who Do You Think These Kids Are Rooting For?

Can you guys tell that it is LSU Day today? I just kept seeing all of my cousins' kids' photos popping up on Facebook today in LSU gear and couldn't resist.

Genealogy Goals for January

Since it's the beginning of a new month in a new year, and I have the CPA exam and the wedding behind me, I am reinstating my monthly genealogy goals posts I started last spring. I think I posted them for two months and then fell behind when the wedding planning got to be too much. I think it's safe to say that 2011 was a big year for me. I passed the CPA exam, got married, quit my job I had for the last three years, and then moved back across the country from North Carolina to Louisiana (after having just moved to NC from Louisiana a year before). Now that the holidays are finally over, it's time for things to get back to "normal." This is why I have hope that I might actually keep up with my goals.

For January, this is what I hope to accomplish:

• Complete the Intro to Genealogy course offered through the National Institute for Genealogical Studies. I started the course on 12/7 and have until 1/29 to take the exam. I am on track so far, assuming I complete the lesson for Week 4 before Wednesday. I have found the work so far to be rather easy. I suppose it's because I'm an intermediate genealogist taking a beginner's course, but it is a prerequisite to taking the more advanced courses. It has been fun reminiscing about my research in my early years of genealogy research.
• Complete the maintenance of cleaning up sources and events for the families of the children of my great-great-grandparents, Lovell and Alvina (Lesperance) Pemberton. I started on this family in December, and have finished with ten of the thirteen children. I am currently working on the family of Leo and Madeline (Pemberton) Carnahan. I have finished cleaning up the sources for them and their children. I am now moving on to cleaning up the Carnahan family sources that I have. I did not do any real research on the Carnahan's beyond Leo's parents and siblings, since they were a collateral line. I do have some info I gathered from online family trees for Leo's grandparents and great-grandparents, so I need to re-evaluate the sources and decide whether or not to delete the connections and move the info to the notes section of my database until I have time or inkling to do the real research. Typically, if an online tree is my only source, I prefer to keep the info in the notes before making a connection in my database. I may be able to find more primary sources in the Michigan collections at FamilySearch and Seeking Michigan. These collections did not exist four years ago when I was doing the Carnahan research. I also need to check cousin Steve's family tree for sources, as he is a Carnahan descendant and has done much more research than I have, since this is more than a collateral line for him.
• I plan to input at least five records from my To Be Entered folder (including my own marriage record!).
• I plan to index at least 500 names with FamilySearch Indexing. I have gotten bad at keeping up with this. 
• I need to write at least four emails to cousins or researchers that have emailed me within the last year about connections, getting together for visits, etc. I am VERY BAD at keeping in touch with people. I need to improve on this.

I think five goals is plenty. I am trying not to be unrealistic with my goals. I should probably have a research goal, but I really want to finish my maintenance project. I will be so happy when my sources are cleaned up in my RootsMagic database. I think I may be happier than when I found out I passed the last part of the CPA exam! I will not be happier than I was on my wedding day, however!