Persecution of the Protestant French Huguenots The Bartholomew’s Day Massacre “The St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre (French: Massacre de la Saint-Barthélemy) in 1572 was a targeted group of assassinations and a wave of Catholic mob violence, directed against the Huguenots (French Calvinist Protestants) during the French Wars of Religion. Traditionally believed to have been instigated by…
Category: Jacki Kellum Memoir
My Family’s Connection to the Lowther Castle in Cumbria in the Lake Distrct Part of England
About 1,000 years ago, my family married into the Lowther Family, who were landed gentry in the Cumbria part of England. Frances Claiborn (Lowther) married my ancestor Thomas Cleborne [Claiborne] Thomas Cleborne, 1574 – 1640 Thomas Cleborne was born in 1574, in birth place. Thomas had 7 siblings: Agnes Clairbourne, Dorothy Clairbourne and 5 other siblings. Thomas married Frances Cleborne (born LOWTHER) on month day 1594, at age…
The Whitaker Family Tree from England to Virginia to Southeast Missouri
Robert Sr. Whitaker [His grandson immigrated to America] Birth: circa 1604 Padiham, Lancashire, England 2. Robert Whitaker, Il MP Birth: March 29, 1637 North Yorkshire, England Death: February 6, 1741 (103) Grindletown, York, England Immediate Family: Son of Robert Sr. Whitaker Husband of Margaret Whitaker 3. Joshua Whitaker, Sr. MP Immigrated to America Birth: December 22, 1675 London, Middlesex, England…
My Family’s Connection to Pocahontas
My ancestor Samuel Duval’s first wife was Margaret Sheppard, but Margaret died in 1786′. Afterward, he married Anne Everard Bolling, whose descendant was the John Rolfe who married Pocahontas. Therefore, in a round-about way, I could say that Pocahontas is my step-ancestor. Pocahontas plays heavily in the history of Jamestown, and my direct ancestor William…
Thanking God for the Sun, the Rain, and the Apple Seeds: Thanking God for Nature
During the month of September, I like to celebrate the birthday of a man who, centuries ago, carried his Bible and a sack of apple seeds across parts of the unsettled northeast and shared them there. That man’s name was John Chapman, but because he planted apple trees everywhere that he traveled, folks called him…
Petey the Circus Dog Who Loved My Grandma’s Church
My dad was a great storyteller, and most of his stories were about his childhood during the Great Depression. Largely because my grandfather was one of the few men who kept a job during the Depression, my dad’s childhood was colorful, and he could afford many things that most of the other kids could not….
Septembers, School Days, and Coming Back Home
It is September, and schools across the USA are back in session now. Fifty-five Septembers ago, I left my rural farmland to attend college at the University of Mississippi. In terms of the seasons of the year, that was early autumn. In terms of the seasons of my life, it was early summer. You see,…
6 Words: Memoir Challenge – Exercise 2 – Write to Beat Writer’s Block
Ok. Yesterday, you should have listed 6 concrete words that signify yourself in some way. Today, we have a short writing exercise. 6 Words: Memoir Challenge – Exercise 2: For each of the 6 words that you listed, write one simple paragraph to express the way the word is significant to you. Write is an…
6 Words: Memoir Challenge – Exercise 1 – Beat Writer’s Block
For many years, autumn has been the time of year that I do most of my writing, and during the month of October, I am hosting a Memoir Writing Challenge: Harvest Your Past. I have decided to throw in an extra memoir-writing challenge before October, to help you prime your writing pump. Bottom Line: The…