Success Story? Not ! Perhaps you can give me one:~~:o)) My ggggrandmother was Elizabeth Ratcliff, wife of Jonas Bradshaw. Elizabeth born 1758, m 1782, died after 1845. This according to pension papers. But who are her parents ? I have no clues. Dorothy Bradshaw [email protected]

In a message dated 9/30/98 4:49:39 PM Eastern Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: << My ggggrandmother was Elizabeth Ratcliff, wife of Jonas Bradshaw. Elizabeth born 1758, m 1782, died after 1845. This according to pension papers. But who are her parents ? I have no clues. Dorothy Bradshaw >> ************************************************** Dorothy, Have you ever visited Donald Ratcliff's home page? It is http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Campus/1719/index.html I have not been researching this name in the Ratcliff family but you may find your Elizabeth listed in Clarence Ratcliff's Book. The book is presented in its entirety, in three parts which are suitable for downloading. I have downloaded this document and discovered that there were quite a few Ratcliffs who settled in Johnston Co., NC near Kinston. Perhaps your Elizabeth was a daughter of one of these men. I also found a listing in Part One, under (1J3B) John Ratcliff which goes as follows: (1J3B) John and family granted certificates of transfer from Contentnea MM to Cane Creek MM, 4 May 1772. (102b) 1 Aug 1772, Cane Creek MM received John Ratcliff from Contentnea MM (102c). 1 Aug 1772, Ann Ratcliff and daughters Sarah, Elizabeth and Ann received on Certificate from Lower Falling Creek MM and transferred to Cane Creek MM (102c). This sounds suspiciously like it could be your Elizabeth. If she were b. in 1758, she would be 14 in 1772 and still living with her parents. As you probably know, these Ratcliffs were Quakers and referred to themselves as "Friends." I don't know where this Friends Meeting House was located but at least it was in NC, somewhere in the vicinity of Kinston. Hope this helps. Frank Trowbridge Dum Spiro Spero!!

So would I! :) However, you needn't limit your success story to Ratliff. If you have found a method that has brought you success in another line, please share it. Sometimes learning a method someone else has had good fortune with, can also lead to success for ourselves! Every last one of us can use a new method/trick/resource or two! Mari At 05:42 PM 9/30/98 -0400, you wrote: :I like Elizabeth would also like a RATCLIFF success story to share with :everyone, but so far no luck. : :Still searching for the parents of William Price Ratcliff, b. c1863 TN. and :later moved to TX. From TX moved to AL. He d. 26 Dec. 1919 in Fairfax, AL : :Patricia Sparkman Ratcliff : : :==== RATLIFF Mailing List ==== :Send NO attachments of any kind to the list. If your email program :automatically generates attachments for coding, please be sure it is :turned off. If you have a document or other file of interest, please :send it to individual addresses rather than to the list. The guideline :also includes the "vcards" attachments. :

At 12:54 PM 9/30/98 -0700, you wrote: >>>:I did not want any one thinking me more nutty than I am already.. <<< Thank you for sharing Kelly....I had to respond to this statement of yours.....(above) To most people, who don't value what genealogical researching can bring a person in so far as getting to know those who have been here before us.....we're ALL nuts! <g> But we have the joy of knowing what made those ancestors "tick", and that gives us deeper understanding of who we are! Mari Listowner Ratliff-L

At wits end trying to locate a branch of my family, I wrote the only funeral parlor in the town of Woodward, Oklahoma. I begged for the funeral paper work of any and all under the name of Wright, (Louisa Ratliff Wright). The director sent me 3 or 4, and one of the most recent had the pallbearers listed. I took a stab at the long shot and wrote to every person in Woodward with the last names listed as pallbearers. I received ONE reply from a fellah, whom I had piqued his interest. I only mentioned that this person (the pallbearer) would have been in Woodward on a particular day and would have known the relative, whose name was on the paperwork... I did not want any one thinking me more nutty than I am already.. I wrote him back with the details, and would you believe it, his gr grand father was the brother of Louisa's husband William. What luck! Now I am in communication with a branch of the family I thought I would never find, as I had only hit brick walls prior to that. They have done much leg work for me and even gone to the cemetery to take photos. Gathered book titles and costs and where to acquire them for me... (thankyou Terry Trego) I say go for the most bizaar method of search, no matter how ridiculous it may seem. Kelly ___________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]

A website with some "Ratliff's" in it: Look it over good there are also ratliff's on some of the other pages also..A lot of these are part of my family so can answer a few questions about most.. http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Woods/5564/r-obit.htm

I went to talk to an aunt, when I got interested in genealogy, she gave me a book someone had sent her, and some old letters. One was from Lettie . Lettie was my grandmother's cousin, she was deceased, her son was deceased, and Lettie's letter said "Fred's son Bill and his wife gave me a stewing hen for my birthday." I decided to go to People Find on one of the search engines and look for Bill, I found him, called him up on the phone. He could give me a little family history, but said who you ought to be talking to is Mary Margaret. He gave me her last name, I looked it up in People Find, called several times before I found her home, she gave me lots of information, then said who you ought to talk to is Shirley, my niece, she has it on her computer. She gave me Shirley's phone number, and Shirley sent me the family history she had. These people were all related to me, and I had never heard of any of them. They had information as far as my grandmother, and I had lots of information for them from Grandma on down. We still share information on the Thomas line, and write to each other. My great grandfather Thomas, married Mary Maxedon, the daughter of Nancy J Radcliff. Still would like to find more connections, who was Nancy's parents? What happened to her children she had by William Noblitt? This last week I found two living cousins of my deceased husband, by going to people find. I have called and talked to them, they each have done some genealogy they are willing to share, and this took me back another generation in the McCart family line. Karon Mazie

I haven't been researching all that long compared to many others. I've been online approximately a year. In that year's time, I have connected with six cousins. Three on the my husband's side, three on mine. I think the biggest hurdle was with my husband's paternal lines. I was subscribed to another list, and received a message from a gal on the East Coast. She asked about my Modlin lines. I wrote back and gave her what I had, which was only as far back as 1816 to my husband's GGGrandfather's birth. I knew that he had come from Indiana, but that was all. The information ended there. To make a long story short, it turned out that the name had changed in spelling. It used to be Maudlin! As far as I know, and from what my husband's mother says, no one around here knew of the change of spelling. I now have information dating back to 1670, after getting together with a wonderful lady that lives 70 miles from here. Turns out her GGGrandfather, and my husband's GGGrandfather were brothers. Her information was well documented. If it weren't for the Rootsweb Mailing lists, I'd still be struggling with this one. Not all information is going to be found by way of computers and the internet. But, sometimes there is connections made, and we owe a debt of thanks to those who have made this possible. There's also another message in this.....never leave a stone unturned. Even what seems an impossibility might turn out to be the answer you're looking for! Mari

I went to a Library; yup, darned library, I found A book title( Biographical Sketches and Pictures) I found a ggrand bio I was looking for for a very long time, 1 whole page in fine print. No picture. Great find. I am also doing a study on Jesse Applegate as we have a few ties here too, I found 8 pages narated by him personally. Great find; remote library way out of town, only stopped to cool of on a hot day. Dan ---------- > From: Den&Mari <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > Subject: [RATLIFF-L] New Thread..Success Story > Date: Wednesday, September 30, 1998 9:43 AM > > It looks to me like a good time to start a new thread! > > Send in your story of your most successful genealogical find. Tell us what > it was ie. method, tool, resource, etc., that you feel was the reason that > this success was made possible. We can all use > good tips from time to time. Perhaps someone has had good success > implementing one. Let's hear > all about it! Let's run this till the first of next week. > > There's many on the list that haven't participated much. This will give > everyone a chance to have > an input, hopefully. :) > Mari > Listowner > Ratliff-L Mailing List > > > > ==== RATLIFF Mailing List ==== > Send NO attachments of any kind to the list. If your email program > automatically generates attachments for coding, please be sure it is > turned off. If you have a document or other file of interest, please > send it to individual addresses rather than to the list. The guideline > also includes the "vcards" attachments. >

I like Elizabeth would also like a RATCLIFF success story to share with everyone, but so far no luck. Still searching for the parents of William Price Ratcliff, b. c1863 TN. and later moved to TX. From TX moved to AL. He d. 26 Dec. 1919 in Fairfax, AL Patricia Sparkman Ratcliff

For many years, too many to relate, all I knew about my ancestor, Lydia RATCLIFFE, m Dec. 31, 1799 to William Walker in Barnwell Dist., SC was that her father was named SAMUEL. I posted several messages to this list, imploring anyone who had anything about a Lydia Ratcliffe who would have been in SC at this time to please share it with me, all to no avail. About a month ago, Gary Radcliffe enclosed the web address of Donald Ratcliff http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Campus/1719/index.html and said that it contained the most detailed list of Rat(c)liffs he had ever seen. I visited the list and, voila!, I was able to connect my Lydia's Samuel to the mainline Ratcliff stream that flowed back to 1066ad. Boy, has it ever turned my quest around! Now, I feel able to help other Orangeburgh/Barnwell Co.,SC researchers because of my "find". Thank you Gary for pointing me in this direction. Now, since you spell your name with a "d" in it, perhaps you can help me with another Radcliffe descendant who is researching the parentage of one GEORGE RADCLIFFE, b. 1806, who lived in Barnwell District until some time after the 1860 census. I am attempting to help her and am sorta stuck as to his father's name. I think it may have been John and that he died some time after the 1820 census. I found a John Ratcliffe in Orangeburgh Dist. in 1820 who had a son who could have been George's age. He was not listed in the 1830 census. I found a Charlotte Ratcliffe in the 1830 Barnwell Dist. census who lived in the same neighborhood that George lived in the 1850 census. I theorize that John died and his widow's family lived in Barnwell Dist. and she went to live with them. There was one old man in Charlotte's family who could have been her father and a son of the right age group could have been George. Have you possibly ever heard of this family? George had sons, Aaron (b. 1835) and Owen (b. 1837-d.1927) Frank [email protected] Dum Spiro Spero!!!

It looks to me like a good time to start a new thread! Send in your story of your most successful genealogical find. Tell us what it was ie. method, tool, resource, etc., that you feel was the reason that this success was made possible. We can all use good tips from time to time. Perhaps someone has had good success implementing one. Let's hear all about it! Let's run this till the first of next week. There's many on the list that haven't participated much. This will give everyone a chance to have an input, hopefully. :) Mari Listowner Ratliff-L Mailing List

Hi Gang: I need help on finding my Ratliff ancestor. I don't have a first name. In an interview her daughter states that her mother was a Ratliff, but gives no first name. She also fails to state her fathers name. After her marriage she states on the census that both her parents were born in VA. So this is what I have and the only way I know of to find them is a marriage record..... it's a long shot, but here goes: If anyone has a marriage of a male Shreeves/Shrieves to a female Ratliff in VA or Chambers Co.,AL. about 1848 I would like to hear from you. Thanks Becky

Hello, This is my extremely short list of Ratliff's from KY. Peggy Gillespie Descendants of Floria Ratliff 1 Floria Ratliff .. +? Murphy ..... 2 Rebecca Jane Ratliff d: 1930 ......... +Thomas Turner Layne b: 16 November 1882 in KY d: 19 September 1962 in KY ..... 2 Floyd Ratliff ......... +Flora Ellen Layne ..... 2 Jim Ratliff

>Agnes died 8 June 1098 El Paso, TX 8 children: Jas. Elijah (m >Thurman >b 1858 TX), Wm. Albert (b 1865 TX m Thurman), Geo. W. (b 1866 Tx) John > >(b 1860or 1874 TX), Thomas (b1879 Tx m NM) Martha "Mattie" b Nov 1870, > >Mary (died?) b 1870, Julia C. b 1872. > Mother has lots more. If you are interested, please contact. I >will try to continue to type up her notes. Karen Walker Ratcliffe Karen, I have a photo of my grand father Joseph Ratliff, from Texas, Williamson County. He and another young man only listed on the back as THURMAN are in it. Time frame approx. 1890 - 1900 Give or take a couple years on either side of the date. They are dressed up in cowboy gear, leather chaps, 5 gallon hats, pistols on their hips, etc. Interested in a copy? Kelly [email protected] ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]

Karen, these are my lines, I am most definately interested in any information your mother may be willing to share. I can send postage, and copy costs if you are willing to send? Especially copies of original anything. Guilford is my gr gr grand dad. Kelly ___________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]

I'm new to this group and I see a book was printed recently that may be of some help to some of you. It is "Some Descendants of John Ratliff & Charlotte White 1765-1997. John Ratliff is first mentioned in Russell Co, VA tax records of 1787 although he was born in Augusta Co, VA. This has nothing to do with my family nor do I have any interest in the book, just thought I would pass this info along. If you want more into, contact me directly. Bob Troup [email protected]

My mother has research she did years ago on the Ratcliff who came to Texas and on Guilford Ratliff and Thompson Ratliff. The 1893 History of Texas, Biographical History of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee & Burleson Counties was indexed in 1977 by Jean Halden Walker and her family. This is a quote "John O. Frink, a real-estate dealer and farmer of Taylor, was born in Columbus county, North Carolina, in 1843, a son of John and Annie J. (GORE) FRINK, natives also of that county. The Frink family came to this country from Scotland previous to the war of Independence. John Frink dies in his native State in 1891, and his wife departed this life when our subject was quite small. They were the parents of ten children, all of whom lived to years of maturity. One was killed in the Confederate army, and another also died during the war. Our subject and one brother were the only ones of the family to come to Texas, and the father afterward returned to Georgia, leaving John O. the only representaative. The latter attended the common schools of North Carolina, but his education was interrupted by the breaking out of the late war. In 1861 he joined Company H, Eighteenth North Carolina Infantry, under Colonel (James D.) Ratcliffe." Ratliff - Williamson Co, TX probates Delila, Job, Mary (minors) 31 Jan 1859 orphans of Guilford; Martha, Mary & Sarah (minors) 13 Dec 1859; Job, dec'd, 13 Dec 1869; Caroline & James, dec'd 20 Aug 1883; Maryretta (minor) 2 June 1882; Thompson, dec'd 20 Aug 1883; Charles, Ellen, Fannie & Henry (minors) - 21 Aug 1884; Caroline, Emma & mary Alix (minors) 7 Nov 1884. Ratliff, Agnes b 1834 or 1835 AK Crawf co dau of James B Ratliff b 1806 d 1886 & Catherine d 1863 b 1806 KY. Agnes m 7 Feb 1858 Williamson Co, TX Andrew J Chapman (b 1834,5 TN)(son of Elijah & Mariuam H) d 16 Jan 1921 Austin TX CSA to San Saba Co then Calahan Co TX then N.Mex. Agnes died 8 June 1098 El Paso, TX 8 children: Jas. Elijah (m Thurman b 1858 TX), Wm. Albert (b 1865 TX m Thurman), Geo. W. (b 1866 Tx) John (b 1860or 1874 TX), Thomas (b1879 Tx m NM) Martha "Mattie" b Nov 1870, Mary (died?) b 1870, Julia C. b 1872. Mother has lots more. If you are interested, please contact. I will try to continue to type up her notes. Karen Walker Ratcliffe ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

As a follow-up to my posting of Sunday re the use of deed records in genealogical research, here is the address of a site which explains much about land acquisition, etc.: http://www.ultranet.com/~deeds/landref.htm Best to all, Pip

Hello Ratliff/Ratcliff/Ratcliffe researchers..... I have uncovered a treasure trove for anyone researching the following families from Richland County, Illinois, Olney area, in the late 1850's to the 1910's, including an old bible with birth, marriage, and some death dates, a newspaper clipping from 1894 giving immegration and historical information on Thomas Ratcliff(e) and Catherine Raustead, and a great deal of photographs of family members from the 1870's to the 1950's: RAUSTEAD, (Catherine, spouse of Thomas Ratcliff(e)) LUCAS, (Emma, spouse of Luther Ratcliff(e)) RATCLIFF(E), (Thomas, Luther, Claude, Paul, Carl) MCFARLAND, (Edgar, spouse of Florence Ratcliff(e)) SURRELLS, (Oscar, spouse of Maude Ratcliff(e)) WEAVER, (Louis, spouse of Ida Ratcliff(e)) BOHNSTEDT,(Chris, spouse of Eunice Ratcliff(e)) JONES, (Bessie, spouse of Claude Ratcliff(e)) SCHIAAR(sp?), (Dorothy, spouse of Carl Ratcliff(e)) MALONE, (Mamie, spouse of Paul Ratcliff(e)) I have some pictures of children, yet identified, including the mysterious LeVena Frances Ratcliff(e), whose name is written on the back, yet no one knows who she belongs to. In the beginning of the bible, the family name is spelled RATCLIFF, however the later entries, (and family tradition as we know it), spells it RATCLIFFE, when and why the change.... no one knows. If anyone is researching any of these families, or knows of any information relating to these families, or even knows of anyone who MIGHT be looking into these families, I would appreciate hearing from them. Happy researching!! Scott Burow Hannibal, Missouri [email protected]