When I started learning how to use Ancestry.com, I quickly sought the help of google and youtube for picking up hints and tricks. By far, the most helpful instruction I found and still keep up with on a regular basis are the videos posted on youtube by Crista Cowan, "The Barefoot Genealogist." She is an employee of Ancestry in Utah. You can find her videos on the official Ancestry youtube channel HERE You have to scroll past the commercials and other froufrou to find her videos but they are worth it. She knows her stuff.
Some time after I took the DNA test, I was scrolling through my cousin matches and noticed Crista Cowan's name near the end of the list. She was a cousin! Very distant, but interesting nonetheless! Her profile picture was a close up of bare feet. Had to be the same Crista Cowan. Ancestry did not recognize our common ancestor, but it didn't take long for me to find Kuykendall's in her tree. I messaged her but never heard back. I'm sure she gets 1000 messages a day.
Months later, they refined the algorithm used to define DNA cousin matches and she dropped off my list. I guess the amount of matching DNA was too small. I need to check Beth and Annie's list to see if she matches one of them.
This week, I was reminded of our kinship with the Barefoot Genealogist. Christa's video features her 6th great grandfather, Abraham Kuykendall. A little annoyingly Crista doesn't pronounce the hidden "r" in Kuykendall. :-) Abraham is a younger brother of Peter Westfall Kuykendall, our 5th great grandfather (Mom's 4th). That makes Crista our 6th cousin once removed. You can watch her video with the Kuykendall reference HERE.
Crista's grandfather and our grandfather were born in New York to a family of at least 6 children. The brothers moved to the Carolinas some time before 1744. That was the year our 4th great grandfather Adam was born in North Carolina. I know that both Abraham and Peter served in the Revolutionary War. In the video, Crista shows where her Abraham has a DAR chapter named for him in North Carolina. This got me interested in finding out more about Peter's service. That will take more digging. I have a bit on him including his will and some land records, but not much on his service. I have more info on his son Adam who was a true pioneer. Marshall Kuykendall's book has a good bit on him.
Adam married Margaret, the daughter of Revolutionary patriot, Colonel Joseph Hardin. The young family moved west through Sumner county Tennessee, Kentucky and finally by about 1808, Arkansas. They were very early settlers of the Cadron settlement near what is Conway today. Adam had several sons. Three became heros of Texas. Members of Stephen F Austin's Old Three Hundred. One brother was Abner who was especially close to Austin. He was Commander of Austin's militia and a confidant. There is little doubt Abner would have died at the Alamo had he not been murdered a little over a year prior. Stabbed in the back. His murderer is said to be the first person legally hung in Texas.
Other sons of Adam included Peter and Adam Jr. (Adam Jr. is our 3rd great grandfather, husband of Falby Goza). I found Peter and Adam in the roster of a unit called up out of Conway County in 1836 "for the protection of the Sabine Frontier" by President Andrew Jackson. The Sabine frontier seems to have encompassed the area of northeastern Texas, southeast Oklahoma and southwest Arkansas. Peter is listed as 2nd Lieutenant of Company A of the 1st Arkansas Mounted Gunmen. This was a cavalry unit. Adam was in the same company. Records show Adam started out as a 3rd Sergeant but was demoted to Private by 1837. Interesting! Another story to dig up.
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