Category Archives: Uncategorized

Photos Lot #3 – Unknowns

Posted on by

The individuals in the photos posted below are unknown/unidentified. Considering how (and from whom) I came into possession of these photos, I suspect they are related to the following families and geographical locations: Families – Walker, Hiler, Smithen, Loosier, Sabo, Lassiter, Curl, Hightower …. Locations: Texas, Navarro County, Ellis County, Ennis, Blooming Grove, Corsicana. If you can help me identify any of these individuals, please email me at the address listed on my “Contact” page of this website. If you have any photos you feel are related to these families that you would like posted on this website, please email me.

Unknown06 (Photograph provided by and in the collection of Johnny Taylor, Marshall, TX, 2016)

Unknown06 (Photograph provided by and in the collection of Johnny Taylor, Marshall, TX, 2016)

Unknown07 (Photograph provided by and in the collection of Johnny Taylor, Marshall, TX, 2016)

Unknown07 (Photograph provided by and in the collection of Johnny Taylor, Marshall, TX, 2016)

Unknown08 (Photograph provided by and in the collection of Johnny Taylor, Marshall, TX, 2016)

Unknown08 (Photograph provided by and in the collection of Johnny Taylor, Marshall, TX, 2016)

Unknown09 (Photograph provided by and in the collection of Johnny Taylor, Marshall, TX, 2016)

Unknown09 (Photograph provided by and in the collection of Johnny Taylor, Marshall, TX, 2016)

Unknown010 (Photograph provided by and in the collection of Johnny Taylor, Marshall, TX, 2016)

Unknown010 (Photograph provided by and in the collection of Johnny Taylor, Marshall, TX, 2016)

Release Of Photographs

Posted on by

Dear Cousins,

As some of you may be aware, I have taken a break from genealogy research for most of the past two years due a number of deaths within my immediate family and also demands of my business. Several weeks ago something happened to end my genealogy break …. I unexpectedly came into possession of a cache of family photos which appear to have been originally in the safekeeping of my grand aunt Evie Walker (Loosier) who was the daughter of John Alexander Walker and the grand-daughter of James Berry Walker and his second wife, Sarah Parker (Stills) (Walker). In addition to photos of James Berry and Sarah, the collection includes photos of individuals from these families: Walker, Loosier, Curl, Lassiter, Hightower, Hiler, Smithen, Stockard, Sabo, Seals, and others. Also, there are many photos of unidentified persons.

I plan to share ALL of the photos online … they will be posted on my Ancestry.com tree (where I am username 1jtay) and also my personal genealogy website located at www.genwebsite.com which is a free access site. For way too long many old photos have been withheld from other family members and fellow researchers for various reasons that may have begun with good intentions but still resulted in the photos being kept “hidden”. I hope my gesture of total release of these photos will encourage others to share theirs. Only two stipulations will apply to these photographs …. (#1) You may not rename or relabel any photo … in other words, in your mind & heart you may not believe that that’s a photo of L.D. Walker but you may not change, rename, relabel or otherwise alter that photo in any way … my grand aunt Evie knew her family members names and she wrote them on the photos during her lifetime, 1904-1975. (#2) You should properly cite the source of the photo when and if you reprint it elsewhere. The citation should read, “Photograph provided by and in the collection of Johnny Taylor, Marshall, TX, 2016”.

With all my best wishes,

Johnny Taylor

(Standing L.) Myrtle, James Dewey, Evie. (Seated L.) John Alexander Walker, Mattie, Laura J. Hiler Walker, Clarence. c. 1915-15 (Photograph provided by and in the collection of Johnny Taylor, Marshall, TX, 2016)

(Standing L.) Myrtle, James Dewey, Evie. (Seated L.) John Alexander Walker, Mattie, Laura J. Hiler Walker, Clarence. c. 1915-15 (Photograph provided by and in the collection of Johnny Taylor, Marshall, TX, 2016)

OneWorldTree – Not A Source!

Posted on by

Every so often I write a rant about using valid sources.  Since it is the beginning of a new year I thought it would be a good time for another rant!

To sum it all up in one sentence, “THE ONEWORLDTREE IS NOT A VALID GENEALOGY RESEARCH SOURCE!”

OneWorldTree, owned by Ancestry.com, is simply a huge storehouse of various types of  data … some comes from actual primary sources but most (in my opinion) does not.  Instead, it comes from user-submitted trees and there was no attempt to verify this data before it was published.  This means that you might be copying MISINFORMATION that was submitted by: (a) a child who is writing their family tree based on hearsay and family myth, or (b) a well-meaning family member who is attempting to correct or cover embarrassing information, or (c) someone who is determined to prove that they are related to someone else even if it means fabricating data, or (d) someone like me who publishes information thought to be properly sourced which later proves to be wrong but it is too late to remove it from OneWorldTree …. and the list goes on and on ….

Even Ancestry.com has this to say about their OneWorldTree, “OneWorldTree can give you hints about your family history but not necessarily facts. There are a number of sources consolidated in OneWorldTree and it’s impossible to know if there were errors in member-submitted family trees.”

Please don’t misunderstand the intent of this rant.  OneWorldTree is okay to use as long as you recognize that IT CAN ONLY PROVIDE YOU WITH HINTS BUT NOT NECESSARILY FACTS!!!