Our Ancestors, Their Past

Standing Under A Tree, June 2012, Personal Collection

What do we really know about our ancestors and their past lives? After researching this past week, I became so overwhelmed with all this new knowledge of the many different Cornett ancestors in my direct line. This is where I became confused; I recently posted two separate blog articles, one in regards to a Partition and the other was just written up this morning, a Last Will and Testament, where I transcribed the text within. I get a multitude of emails on a daily basis, so I try to keep up with all of those and as I read through them, I learn something new. In the articles I recently wrote about, the confusion began with two separate men in my line who are both grandfathers of mine, with the same first name.

A little background first so you understand, my 4th great grandfather was David “Blue” Cornett who married Phoebe “Feby” Sutherland on February 22, 1826 in Climes Branch, Grayson County, Virginia. David “Blue” Cornett’s grandfather was also named David; the spelling of his last name changed in relation to David Blue, whereas David Blue was Cornett in the many documents that I have seen, but when it comes to his grandfather David Cornutt, the spelling was slightly different.

David Cornutt was my 6th great grandfather and I am still amazed to this day that I have his Will and Testament on my blog so I can always go back and look at it, to be able to read it, understand the wording and eventually transcribe his words. What else can a document like this tell me? It listed his children for starters, and told me who inherited his property and belongings when he passed away. It shows the date of when the Will was written and his presumed death date at the bottom. I also know what his signature looked like! How exciting to know this much and not really know him personally is truly amazing to me. I still, even after a few bouts of confusion, and an email that was hastily sent to Grayson County Heritage Foundation, (I remedied that situation by the way)and I still find myself fully engrossed in the history of my Cornett family.

So my question to you, how would you compile all the information you have on any one given person in your family tree so as not to cause any confusion like I had, in the future? How do you keep this information separate from others in your tree? Software programs maybe? Please enlighten me and tell me how you like to keep your research more organized. Who knows, you might have the perfect solution to my current headache!