Out On A Limb With Jean

LA RUE is the origin of our surname; it is a French word meaning “the Street.”   I have found multiple spellings of the name in early records; one factor is that the individual may have been illiterate and the spelling is left up to the interpretation of the record keeper.   Another factor is that spelling was more haphazard, and the same person might spell their own name differently at different times.   I do not know who our immigrant ancestor was.   I am wondering if our ancestors were Huguenots – Protestant Christians, who came to America to escape persecution from the Catholic church and the Catholic rulers of France.   The earliest individual in my LAREW family tree is Frances LARREW (1753-?), but I know very little about him.  He appears in the 1776 census of Maryland, p. 74:   Frederick County, North West Hundred LARREW, Frances           23 (born- 1753)           ...

         My  CHURCHWELL Family Tree Maker file is significantly larger than any of my other family genealogies.   For instance, there are 538 individuals in my Larew family tree, while my Churchwell tree contains 2,004 names!   Our family is very fortunate to have several amateur genealogists who worked diligently to put our family tree together; most notably are Shirley E. VAWTER BYLER (1909-2001), who authored “Churchwell and Allied Families,” (Dogwood Printing, 1989 – well before home computers and internet access!).   Shirley’s gathered family histories from several lines of the family including my uncle, Harold William CHURCHWELL (1915-1997), my grandparent’s second child.   She assembled the data into very organized sections in her 447-page book.   My cousin, Glenda SHERMAN LANDRUM (1942-2004), and I also shared our genealogical research with one another.   The Churchwell tree goes back to my 9x great-grandfather, Dr. J...

When I got my first edition of Family Tree Maker genealogy software, it said when creating a family tree, you should start with yourself.   So, applying that advice to my blog, I’ll start with my story.   I’m the youngest child of Kermit Winfred Larew and Mildred Elizabeth Churchwell Larew.   I was born June 10, 1957 in Denver, Colorado.   My dad was 41 when I was born, my mom had turned 34 two days prior.   My brother Kermit Dean was almost 12, my sister Kimberly Mildred was 9.   My mom had delivered a stillborn baby boy in August, 1954.   He is buried in Babyland at Crown Hill Cemetery in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.     1957 - Kimmie, Kermit, Willa Jean & Dean I had a good, Christian upbringing.   My dad knew the Bible better than some pastors.   My mom – like her mom before her – was a prayer warrior.    My dad was a carpenter, and my mom was a nurse’s aide in the n...