A Day of Internet Research

We woke up to a very brisk day this morning.  Although our thermometer registered about 38, it must have been at least freezing because the left over ice that wouldn’t fit in the cooler was still frozen this morning on the picnic table.

After our walk, I settled into a day of research in an effort to find any information about my great grandparents (my mother’s mother’s parents).  My grandmother was a Harper—a very common name.  When I was a child, she often told me that she was part Native American.  She didn’t know how exactly, but she had always been told that.  In reading many, many entries on the Harper Genealogy Forum, I have discovered that apparently every Harper has been told the same story.  There was even one writer who suggested that Harper was a tribal family name.

I did find, however, one Annah Downing was a full-blooded Cherokee.  Annah married a Harper (no first name was given) and they had about 10 children.  One of those children was a daughter named Anna who married Archibald Connelly.  Anna and Archibald lived for a number of years between about 1820 and 1840 in Hickman County.  It is possible we could be related to Anna Harper (one-half Cherokee) and Archibald Connelly.  As yet, I have not found a connection.

Carroll and Susan Daily

My grandmother’s mother was Mary Etta Daily Harper.  The Daily’s have always been a mystery to me.  I know that my great grandfather was Carroll Dock Daily and his was married to Susan McCaig, both born in Perry Co.  I had never been able to find any other information about that family.  Today, I got a real break at the Perry Co GenWeb site.  In the past couple years, the volunteers there have really made some improvements in the site and added a tremendous amount of data.  One of the things they’ve added is the 1860 census. Carroll’s name popped up on that census and I was able to learn the name of my great-great-great grandfather—John Daily.  Plus there was a list of 8 other siblings.  That made an all day session with the internet worthwhile.  Another thing that the Perry Co GenWeb site has added is cemetery records.  It appears they have every cemetery in the county listed with it’s location, and tombstone information.  The Daily cemetery was listed along with the 4 tombstones there including Carroll Dock, Susan, and Mary Etta Harper.  I haven’t completed my search through all the cemeteries listed, but so far I have not found a tombstone for John Daily or his wife Sarah.

John Dee and Mary Etta Daily Harper

If we can get the refrigerator fixed tomorrow, then Friday we will make a trip to Hickman County.  The first order of business is the refrigerator, so that is what we will be dealing with tomorrow.