Following Family Footsteps in Andrew County, Missouri
In which I describe my visit to Andrew County, Missouri, in October 2022 with my husband Mike, where we to visited the Andrew County Historical Society and Museum in Savannah, met with Genealogist Kathy Ridge to learn more about the Hale and Petree families, walked around downtown Savannah and admired the Courthouse, visited the areas in which the Hales and Petrees lived (including where my great grandmother was born in Rosendale), and found the gravestone for James and Elizabeth Hale, as well as their daughter Amanda, in Fillmore Cemetery
Some Family Members Move West - A Letter from Walla Walla, Washington, 1864
In which I share an excerpt from my nonfiction book, A State Divided, that explains some family history, as well as share a July 1864 letter from Jane Kennedy Hale, now settled in Walla Walla, Washington.
Some Family Members Move West - A Letter from the Oregon Trail in 1862
In which I share more letters from the Oregon Trail, this time from Jane Kennedy Hale, the widowed wife of James’s brother Meshack, who was killed by Confederate sympathizers; Jane, who traveled with the “Kennedy Train” led by her brother, eventually settled with her son William in Walla Walla, Washington.
Some Family Members Move West on the Oregon Trail - A Letter from California in 1858
In which I share a letter from Lewis Hale, the son of James’s brother Charles, who traveled along the Oregon Trail to California in 1858 with his wife and two children, experiencing many crazy adventures along the way and settling in the Petaluma Valley.
Kirksville, Missouri: A Visit to the Cemetery & Some Petree Family History
In which I describe my visit with my parents to two cemeteries in Kirksville where various family members are born and provide some history of the Petrees
Kirksville, Missouri - Home of the Petrees: Missouri State Normal School & Former Petree Houses
In which I describe my visit to Kirksville, Missouri with my parents in April 2022, as well as my visits to the school my great grandmother, Nora Elma Petree Traughber, attended and the house where she grew up
How This Journey Began - The Hales & Petrees of Andrew County, Missouri
In which I discuss how I acquired 50 Civil War letters written by my 3rd Great Grandfather, James Calaway Hale, and 2nd Grand Uncle, Benjamin Petree, as well as other family letters and heirlooms, and started writing a historical fiction novel titled Missouri Daughter