| Page Updated: 2023-01-19 |
MyKinFolks.org
Ron Vincent - my children & grandchildren
(click for a larger picture)
(CLICK HERE for my family's photos)
Ron Vincent - my children & grandchildren
(click for a larger picture)
(CLICK HERE for my family's photos)
Introduction
Hello. I'm Ron Vincent. MyKinFolks.org is my website. I created the MyKinfolks website to share my family tree and genealogical research with you. Each page on this website may have many links. This website is a work in progress so some links may not work yet or they may lead to pages that have no content. If you've seen my pedigree page you will have noticed the links.
Each link gives research notes on that family or family line. I created the page you're reading now however, to explain how my father, my mother, and I first got into family research. Scroll down to read how my father got started (or CLICK HERE to jump to that part of this page).
Many of my cousins and I love our kin. We've enjoyed keeping records and oral histories of our ancestors for many decades. This has become especially important since most of those I knew when I was young are now dead (CLICK HERE for a list).
To keep up with the researchers of ancestors, CLICK HERE for a list. Many were researching for a long time. It's interesting to learn how some got involved in family research. Read on to see how I got involved.
Our Family Story
I've been doing family research for over 50 years. My dad began doing family research before I was born (see below).
My father's cousins began doing family research over 100 years ago. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Many families in my church have been doing family research a long time because our church encourages it. That doesn't apply to my family.
My parents never joined the church, neither have any other close family members except my 1st wife's kin and two 1st cousins of my father who are now deceased. My parents' and their relatives interest in family research isn't church related.
Preserving Records
I'm grateful that my dad's family had 100 years worth of research to share. Unfortunately, not all our family's records are on the internet. Many are in private collections or in public or college libraries. Only a few family members know where many of these records are located.
After we're gone, many of these records may be lost if someone doesn't save them to a website such as FamilySearch.org. Records get easily lost if you don't know a little about the people researching them and why they're doing it.
Early Researchers
My dad got interested in family research because of research done by my grandparents' cousins, Maud and Marion Kelly. The Kellys were related to both my father's parents. They corresponded with Ida Vincent, my grandfather's sister, in 1905 asking questions about my Aaron Vincent's family and his father John Vincent's family.
Aaron Vincent was my great-grandfather. I named my 2nd son, David Aaron Vincent, after him. John Vincent was my great-great-grandfather. I named my firstborn after him (as well as after his Uncle John).
Marion Kelly and her little sister Maud began doing family research when they were quite young. Marion was in her early 20s. They continued doing family research their whole lives and left us many stories. Some were written during their lifetimes and some weren't.
Let me share one of those unwritten stories with you.
How My Father Got Introduced to Family Research
It begins with the story of my great-great-grandfather's grave. His grave didn't have a tombstone. His descendants didn't want to forget where it was. Maud Kelly planned to do something about it. Maud knew Aaron's oldest daughter, Ida. Maud's sister corresponded with Ida. Ida had known where the grave was. Sadly, Ida died before she could show it to Maud.
She did the next best thing and contacted Ida's brother, Oakley. Oakley was my grandfather. He was also 1st cousin to Maud Kelly's mother. Oakley's wife, Oma (my grandmother) was also related to Maud through another line.
Many people in the deep south traveled by horse or mule, by railroad, by street car, or by bus until after WWII. My grandparents never owned an automobile. Maud didn't have one either but her brother Richard had a car.
My grandmother, Oma, had visited Maud on November 17, 1942. On Tuesday, November 24th, my grandparents took the train from their home in Calera, Shelby County, AL to Birmingham to meet with Maud's brother, Richard Kelly. From there, they picked up Maud and drove in Richard's car to the cemetery. Oakley Vincent showed them where his grandfather, John Vincent (1787-1871) was buried.
Pawpaw Oakley Vincent was only a year old when his grandfather, John Vincent (1787-1871) died but he knew where the grave was. It was probably shown to him by his father, Aaron.
Aaron had been very close to his sister, Louisa. Aaron's father, John Vincent, had lived with his daughter Louisa after Louisa's mother died. Maud and Richard Kelly were grandchildren of Louisa Catherine Vincent Bledsoe.
Maud wrote her brother Richard about Oma's visit. CLICK HERE to see a copy of Maud's typewritten letter.
There's quite a story about the letter. CLICK HERE to read it.
My Father's Research - The First Discussion
My grandparents always had their children at home for holidays. 1942 was during the World War II. My dad wasn't drafted until June 1944.
He would surely have been at his parents' house for Thanksgiving dinner in 1942. That was the Thanksgiving dinner which was only 2 days after my grandparents helped Maud and Richard Kelly mark John Vincent's grave with a tombstone.
I'm sure my grandparents mentioned the trip to my dad, Wilburn G. "Hap" Vincent (1919-1993). I'm equally sure that's what piqued his interest in family history.
As Info: In 1942, my dad was 23 years old. That was about the same age Maud's sister Marion was when she began documenting her research in 1905. I was about the same age when I began doing family research over 50 years ago.
After my father served in WWII, he took advantage of the G.I. Bill and went to college a couple of years. That was in the late 1940s. During those years, he began documenting his family history.
Many years later my dad took me to visit Maud Kelly. I was just a kid at the time and don't remember much about the visit except that I was impressed with her office library shelves full of family research notebooks and other records.
Maud McLure Kelly 1970
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My dad would often show us the pedigree chart he had created in his college drafting class.
He got some of his information from his mother but most of his information came from Maud Kelly. He spoke of her whenever he showed me his pedigree. Those experiences piqued my interest in family research.
My Research Story
When I was a young sergeant in the U.S. Air Force I was stationed at Castle AFB in California. I attended the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' Atwater Ward in the Fresno Stake. Church members sometimes mentioned keeping family records.
Jim Brey
My Air Force buddy Jim Brey and I were invited to attend a genealogy class at church one Sunday afternoon in June 1970.
Jim Brey 1970
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We were both interested in genealogy. Jim and I have remained interested in family research ever since and we still keep in touch. Although we've only seen each other once since 1970, we often discuss family research when we call or email.
Letter From Home
In the genealogy class we were each given a pedigree chart and family group sheet to fill out. The instructor asked us to put the names, birthdates, and so forth of each of our parents, grandparents, and so on back as far as we knew. She told us to put our own names as parents on the family group sheet if we had children or put our names as children if we didn't. I was hooked!
Because I lived in a place with no housing and only had a few months left in the military, my wife Susie and I lived apart. I wrote her back home in Alabama and asked her to talk to my parents about my ancestors. I included blank group sheets and a pedigree chart for her to return to me. She did and wrote a nice long letter in response.
Susie got lots of information from my parents. Here's a portion of her letter to me.
My First Research Log
Susie's full letter can be downloaded as a printable file with explanations from THIS LINK. The filesize is 4.2MB.
Two years after I returned home, Susie, my mother, and I were able to visit mother's Aunt Lillie who was her mom's sister. Aunt Lillie could tell us more about her sister, Oney Blake, who was my mother's mother.
She could also tell us about my mom's dad because Aunt Lillie's husband, Sam Warren, was his brother. Two brothers, Sam and Grover Warren, had married two sisters, Lillie and Oney Blake. Uncle Sam had unfortunately died one month before I was discharged.
Susie was our scribe and wrote everything in a little, yellow Steno Notebook. I still have it. I call it "Research Log #1. Here's the cover:
I didn't really know the best way to keep research notes back then. Whenever Susie, my parents, or I went somewhere to interview a relative, I failed to write down the date for many years. There's no way of knowing the exact year we got some of that earliest information but we usually wrote down who it came from. I've managed to transcribe the pages.
CLICK HERE to go to my Research Log #1 transcription pages.
My First Book
With the information in Research Log #1 and other sources, I was able to write a book about my dad's family. I started with my dad's grandfather, Aaron Vincent. My son David is named after him. It included all of Aaron Vincent's known descendants who were born prior to 1990. The book's title is:
A Brief History Of The Family Of Aaron Vincent
CLICK HERE to go to my Aaron Vincent page on MyKinfolks.org or CLICK HERE to go to my publications page to download the books I've written.
You can also CLICK HERE to go to Aaron Vincent's page at VincentFamily.org.
My initial research and Research Log #1 contain all the research I shared and received except for correspondence. Back then, my correspondence was mostly in the form of letters -- snail mail. However, there were some photos, phone calls, and such that helped me preserve what others shared with me.
My Second Research Log
The little notebook in which I kept my first family research was filled up by the 1988 so I started another, larger one. I call it "Research Log #2. Here's the cover:
CLICK HERE to go to my Research Log #2 transcription pages.
My Second Book
In Research Log #2, I recorded lots and lots of interviews and other correspondence from relatives. With this information and other research, I was able to write a book about my mom's maternal family (her mother's mother's family, the Blakes). Like my first book, my second book was a descendancy of Marion Alonzo Blake (1848-1942).
The title is: A History of the Family of Marion Alonzo Blake.
Marion Blake was my mother's great-grandfather. I wrote about his known descendants up until 1991.
My second book is also available on my publications page. CLICK HERE to download it.
Conclusion
Of course there's been another 30 years of research since the 1990s. I plan to add more to this page later.
~ not the END I hope (see below) ~
P.S. Now that you've read about my research history, go back to the Pedigree to view my other relatives and ancestors' pages.
From the pedigree, click the links for Susie Little and Linda Logue. Also, read the pages I created for both my parents, my 4 grandparents, and my 8 great-grandparents.
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