Genealogy Journal 1/22/09

I accomplished quite a few more things today than I expected to....

I sent out a letter via email to my fellow Godwin researchers who are descended from Elijah Godwin (1801-1884) about our Godwin DNA results. We did a 25-marker test and matched 100% to 6 other Godwin families from NC. (Results) The next step is for our 7 lines to put our heads together and to try to piece together the correct paper trail that accurately maps our lines together. Also we plan to upgrade to a 37 marker test to see just how closely related we are. The statistics for how closely related each tester might be can be found here.

I have not synced my laptop with my external harddrive yet so I didn't have any of my files with me today at work. I pulled out an old thumb drive to see if one of my files was on it and I found pictures that I took at the Forest Park Cemetery in Fort Smith, Sebastian Co., AR. I took the pictures in 2006 but somehow misplaced them. Lucky for me, there they were! Which is good because I did not have time to retake all the pictures last time I visited AR in November. I uploaded all of the pictures to FindAGrave and tonight I will enter them into my family tree database. Two families were inventoried at Forest Park Cemetery: Putmans and Lasiters. The Putmans must have been fairly well-off because their family plot was easy to find. There was a giant stone to greet you as you approached the family plot.

Forest Park Cemetery, Fort Smith, AR, Photo taken by Ginger R. Smith May 5, 2006

The Putmans must have bought a pretty big plot because my great grandparents, Thelma Louise Benson (1912-1996) and James Putman Lasiter (1908-1974), 2nd great grandparents, James F Lasiter (1876-1968) and Rosalie Putman, and 3rd great-grandparents, Thomas Adolphus Putman (1845-1918) and Martha Ann Ward (1850-1924) were all buried here. Rosalie Putman's 3 sisters and their families were also buried in this plot.