The Family Detective

 I like to think of myself as a Family Detective besides being a genealogist. In trying to piece together my Family history I've found I wear many hats...  that of Researcher, Detective, Writer, Mathematician, Analyzer and Historian. I've been researching my family since I was about 16 years old. I'm now in my 40's and have sooo much info that I have trouble organizing it.

My goal started out trying to find out about my Grandpa Manire's family. One of the few times my Sister and I got to talk to him without Grandma nearby, he gave us a starting list of names. He couldn't remember much. He remembered his Grandmas name was Florrie Dozier and that she married a Cavitt. He just barely remembered he had a younger sister named Peggy Marie Manire who was born sometime between his sister Mada and youngest brother Hoople. He remembered the family name Hodges who had a farm. He really couldn't go back too far.

I know I looked for Florrie for years. I tried many different versions of her name. I eventually found her. It's no wonder I couldn't find her... her name was actually Mary Florrie Dozier. She married Richard Andrew Cavitt. 

It took me many more years to find Peggy Marie Manire. I found her birth and death certificates on familysearch.org. She wasn't indexed correctly. She was born in 1930 but only lived for about 21 days. The hole we normally have in our heart in the womb usually closes when we are born. Sometimes it doesn't close. This is what happened in her case. Also add the Flu to that and you have one very sick baby.

I came across the Hodges family connection through a posting by 'Wrazzy" on an Ancestry.com message board. She had my family line all except for my Grandpa. I wrote to her and helped her add him and my line to her research. She was able to help me with the family of Benjamin Franklin Hodges. He was my Great-Grandpa however many generations back. His daughter Willie Mae Hodges married Arthur Cornelius Manire. Arthur was my Grandpa's grandpa.

My goal has changed a bit now... I want to try to connect all the Manire families. I've done a pretty good job so far. Sadly alot of the people who remember the family history are fading away to age and health. Every year we tend to loose a link to the history. We are left trying to piece together what we can from the documents and pictures that have already been preserved.

I really started getting into the Manire family research when I came across Bill Manire and his wife. He shared his research they had done that went back to the early 1700's in Virginia. I have since then added to it and expanded it a bit. He mainly only had his direct line. His family descended from the brother to my ancestor.

I like puzzles and this family is like a big puzzle. I'm currently working on many different family names ... Manire, Dozier, Cavitt, Hodges, Zickafoose, Boling, Renz, Murchison, Waters, Hildebrand, and Batiz to name a few.