52 Ancestors - Week 7 - Immigration

Boy, there is a lot I could talk about concerning immigration, but I decided to post about John Slaughter, since he was the first of my Slaughter ancestors to immigrate to America.

John Slaughter, my 10th great grandfather, was born in 1585 in England.  I'm not exactly sure where he was born but he was baptized in 1596 in Kent, England, as noted in the Tyler Index of Parish Registry (1538-1874)

According to the Passenger & Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s, he arrived in Virgina in 1617.  He is actually the farthest Slaughter I have been able to go back to, which is pretty far, I must say.  I haven't been able to properly identify his parents, although I did identify his wife, Catherine Finnis.

I am not 100% sure of his death date.  Some of my research indicates 1620, but I have found a lot of evidence recently that he most like died during the Jamestown Massacre in 1622. However, other information indicates that his brother William actually died during the Massacre, perhaps both did? 

At any rate, I'm so proud of my 10th great grandfather for leaving England and selling to Virginia, approximately 160 years before America became its own country and gained its independence from England.

It's incredible to believe that my ancestors and family have been on this land for that long!! It kind of blows my mind when I think about it.

52 Ancestors - Week 6 - Earning a Living

The timing of this particular week is rather perfect.  I just so happened upon an article about my great-uncle James Monroe Slaughter, who was known by Monroe.  This article discussed how he earned his living, along with my cousin's grandfather, Fletcher Ward, Sr.

It seems my great uncle and my cousin's grandfather had a nice, little moonshine business going on.  This really wasn't a surprise to me, as my dad had told me about how his Uncle Monroe, as well as his daddy, my grandfather had both spent time in prison for moonshining.  It seems to have been quite a family business...I am SO glad my dad chose a different path and never went down that road.

However, I know that not only my grandfather and some great uncles were in the business of moonshining, so was my dad's mom - my grandma.  This was way before I came along.  But my daddy would say she'd stand on the back porch and sell the moonshine.  Often pocketing and hiding some of the money from her husband. 

I guess back then, it was easier for them to take a chance of earning a living by making moonshine than spending all day out in the hot Florida sun farming.

52 Ancestors - Week 5 - Influencer

I have gotten a little behind in my 52 Week Ancestor project.  Surprise, surprise, right?

So I am going to try to catch up this week by posting one a day.

So this week's prompt is "Influencer"

This one is a little tough for me, but I guess the first person that comes to my mind is my maternal grandmother, Jewel Cassada Mims.

My grandmother influenced, not only her 6 girls, but also her 18 grandchildren.  Saturday, I attended the memorial service of my first cousin and while there, I was looking around the room at all of my grandmother's dependents...I mean so, so many grandchildren, great grandchildren, great-great grandchildren and even great-great-great grandchildren...It reminded me of Kind David and how God told him that he would have as so many decedents that they'd be as countless as the stars!

I bet my grandmother would have never known how many stars she would leave behind and it made me happy thinking of this, to think how a little part of her will live on and on and how so many of my cousins and 2nd cousins and all the little children running around were all there because of this wonderful lady.  I mean none of them would exist if it were not for her! How incredible is that?

My grandma was a praying lady! She fasted and prayed, and she was continually praying for her family. I have always been a worrier and one day, I remember my grandma pulling me aside to talk to me and 

she said "Look at this old face of mine, you see all these wrinkles?"

I said "Yes ma'am"

Grandma: "You know how I got these wrinkles?"

Me "No ma'am"

Grandma: "I got them from worrying. Every one of them is because I worried about something and I don't want you to grow up with wrinkles like me, so you need to stop worrying. Besides that, I know that whatever you are worrying about, the Lord will take care of it and I can promise you that"

She set such a wonderful, Godly example for all of us.  She was truly an Influncer.

Prayer Shawl

While I shared this shawl, while I was working on it, I didn't share it here once it was finished, even though I kind of did in my Project Life pages.  

I really, really enjoyed making this shawl.  If you don't know, when you are knitting or crocheting a shawl for someone who needs prayer, you are praying over the shawl as you make it.  I always pray when I pick it up to work on it, when I set it down to pause from working on it and about every 10 rows. So I am praying for the recipient of the shawl the whole time I am making it.

Often, when you are making a prayer shawl, you know who you are going to give it to and can be more specific during your prayers.  However, we have a general prayer shawl ministry at our church, so I don't know who will end up with my shawl, so I just pray for healing, be it emotional, physical or both.

I had never worked with this yarn before, Lion Brand Scarfie, but I really liked it, it was so soft and the color was just lovely.  It wasn't a color (Charcoal/Aqua) I probably would have normally picked, but it was on clearance and with my Michael's rewards coupon, I got it for free! I wish you could feel how soft and squishy it is.

I used a pattern simply called "Shell Shawl" and it basically was a 2 row repeat of shells and v-stitches. It was a fun pattern, simple but not boring and I liked how quickly it worked up (that is when there wasn't a kitty cat wanting attention instead).

Project Life - January 2024

After I had already downloaded these from the Project Life App, I went back and changed the border of the page, I guess you can see that next month.

I decided to keep it super simple this year and I made a template that has the week number and the days of the week - simple and easy.  I am happy with the look.

So...this month I did some thing very unusual...I went to a Star Wars Burlesque show! It was weird but so fun! We had a blast! 

Also, the Indigo Girls did a benefit show and we went to that too.  The show was so good, even though the venue was Standing Room Only - ugh!

Also...I saw Hamilton again - it was technically in February, but part of Week 5 so it's included here - what a fantastic show!  

You can click on the photo to enlarge.