And Wow! Family!!!

Contact has been made and the tree builder in Ancestry.com is my first cousin. Her mother is my fathers sister so we have started exchanging email and I look very forward to getting to know her. My mother is an only child so I have never had Aunts and Cousins before. I have given them information that I found about my father. It has been 35 years since I have seen him and I would prefer to let that rest. I wish them success in making contact with him. I kind of like being the link to a brother and sister finding each other, it is just a little helping hand I can be. Nothing like my gift from the man in Michigan. Again, I can’t thank you enough.

Today I added to the collection of computer progams, GenSmart (GenSmart.com). I am not sure what I had done before without it. Thanks Genealogy Guys! Adding some of what I found on my fathers side combined with all I already have on my mothers side, I only have about 2000 things on my “To Do List”. Thanks GenSmart, I think you gave me so much work to do that “putting in for vacation” will never happen! Great program though and thanks to the makers! I will say thinking backwards is not all that easy but I will figure it out. For example, the very top clue is “Tennessee 1880 Census for Tom Cowden”. Then for explanations is the following:

Why?
Researching the Tennessee 1880 Census makes sense because his spouse, Nancy Crewse [467], died in 1878 in , Bradley,
Tennessee, USA and he died in 1884 in Bradley County Tennessee. The 1880 census is important because it contains birthplace
information for parents of the people listed, as well as the relationships between people living in the household.

Missing Data
This suggestion is important because his father’s birth place and mother’s birth place have not been recorded, and you could obtain this
information by researching this record.

Background
Some background on Tom Cowden [540]: He was born in 1780 in NC?, and he died in 1884 in Bradley County Tennessee. He married
Nancy Crewse [467] on 1805 in , Person, North Carolina, USA, and had the following child: James [295] (1805).

The confusing part is that the Tom Cowden on the link given me is 26 years old so someone’s son and once I figure out the relationship, perhaps that will be the clue. It will take time to turn my brain to that thinking but this weekend I seem to be in such an excited state about finding the Stevens link that concentrating on anything is just not going to happen!

Tonight for dinner: Fried Chicken, Garlic Mashed Potatoes with Cheese, Glazed Carrots.