Texas – Family Locket

Texas Migration Patterns and DNA Connect Lucinda Wright Rinker to Her Father

Feb 22, 2025

Last week, we were fortunate to host Cathy Duncan for an enlightening webinar on her genealogical research combining Texas migration patterns and DNA analysis. Cathy, a member of our Research Like a Pro study group, shared her journey to connect Lucinda Wright Rinker to her father using a methodical approach that integrates traditional and genetic genealogy methods. This blog post summarizes the key insights from her presentation. This blog post was written by Claude Sonnet...

RLP 302: Examining Family Lore: Was Eliza Isenhour a Cherokee?

Apr 22, 2024

Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about the story of Eliza Ann Isenhour (1850-1898) and the family lore that claims she was a full-blooded Cherokee. The conversation starts with the 1884 incident that left Eliza a widow with four young children and another on the way after her husband, William Henderson Shults, died following an accident. Faced with the challenges of widowhood, Eliza remarries Jacob Meek, and they eventually move to Indian Territory,...

RLP 256: Alford/Johnson Research – Interview with James Johnson

Jun 5, 2023

Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is an interview with James Wesley Johnson, author of A Horse, A Gunfight, And The Law: A Historical Account of Our Alfords in Texas, and a client of Family Locket Genealogists. He hired us to help verify his family research that uncovered a family secret kept for over 100 years. Join us for a discussion of southern roots, horse thieves, gunfights, the law, and how documentary evidence and...

The Ancestor I’d Like To Meet: Ettie Belle Harris

Jan 8, 2023

Do you find yourself wanting to write more about your ancestors but needing some motivation? It can seem challenging to write a full history or biography, but what about small bites? If you could write a little each week, at the end of a year, you’d have 52 small bites. This year I’m committing to the 52 Ancestors in 52 weeks yearly challenge.1 Each week brings a new prompt and an opportunity to explore...

RLP 226: Using the FANs to Find a Female Ancestor’s Father

Nov 7, 2022

Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about Diana’s research project on Clemsy Cline, her third-great-grandmother. Clemsy was born about 1817 in Alabama and married Henderson Weatherford. We discuss the first steps in the research like a pro process to decide on an objective, gather and analyze known information, and create a timeline. Transcript Nicole (1s): This is Research Like a Pro episode 226, using the fans to find a female ancestors’ Father. Welcome...

Adding Historical Context to Writing: The Four Winds by Kristen Hannah

Sep 22, 2022

Reading historical fiction can provides ideas on how to add historical context to our work. Researching the world of our ancestors allows us to write with more authenticity when telling their stories. Kristen Hannah’s recent novel, The Four Winds, takes us on a journey to the Dust Bowl of the 1930s in Texas and the hardships “Okies” encountered when fleeing the unforgiving land for California. My ancestors followed this same migration in the 1930s, so...

RLP 196: Texas Land Grants – Republic and Statehood

Apr 11, 2022

Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about how the Republic of Texas and State of Texas issued land to the thousands of settlers that poured in after independence from Mexico in 1836. We discuss the land application process, headright grants, colony grants, Texas statehood and changes in governance, preemption grants, and military land grants. We also discuss the Texas land survey system and how to find Texas land grant records. Transcript Nicole (1s):...

RLP 195: Texas Land Grants – Mexican Era

Apr 4, 2022

Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about the era of Mexican rule over Texas and the Mexican colonization policy through the empresario system. We discuss Austin’s colony and the three indexes for finding colonists – the original Register of Families, the Index to Land [Applications] compiled by George W. Glass, and the Villamae Williams translated/typed index which is available on Ancestry.com. We discuss character certificates and DeLeon’s colony as well. Transcript Nicole (1s):...

RLP 194: Texas Land Grants – Spanish Era

Mar 28, 2022

Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about the Texas land grant system. This is the first part in a series of Texas land grant episodes based on Diana’s blog post series. We talk about the history of Texas from the Spanish period to the Mexican period and beyond. This particular episode focuses on the Spanish period and the lasting influence they had on Texas’s unique land grant system. Transcript Nicole (1s): This is...