When I first began this ancestry project I had a stack of really old, mostly unidentified photos and tintypes accompanied by a few anecdotal notes my mother got from Grandpa Major shortly before he died. Some of the comments he made seemed a bit ridiculous to me and I chalked that up to his failing mind. Shame on me. As I have utilized the Ancestry.com webpage and its myriad of record databases, I have made some interesting discoveries that have me apologizing to Major quite frequently. Take this photo as a prime example.
According to Grandpa Major this is Gaston Eubanks, son of his mother's cousin Buddy. He also said that the Eubanks were from the Cayman Islands. What? All of Fannie's people migrated from South Carolina for several generations before settling in Smith Creek, Florida. How could they be from the Caymans, too? Well, thanks to Ancestry, I came across immigration records from the late 1600s and early 1700s that show that many English families sailed to Barbados. Some continued on to North America while others obviously stayed. I imagine the climate was a wonderful change for those used to dreary English weather. I have not yet found the documents on the Eubanks bunch, but I have located the Baptism records for my 9th great grandfather William Speights in Barbados in 1680.
This is all pretty remarkable stuff and I love finding evidence that Major's memory was impeccable and he did know what he was talking about.
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