Jots And Tittles.

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

NO, tittles are not small breasts.

Like the man says, we're cautioned to dot our 'i's,' while Shakespeare was reminded to tittle his.

A jot is a bigger tittle.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I read some of Macaulay's Samuel Johnson bio this morning. Its better than Boswell's effort in that it exposes Johnson's constitutional madness. As COLDDIESEL might say, HE WAS AS MAD AS A CUT SNAKE. Macaulay's observations are like reading about me.

Samuel Johnson LLD is no ancestor of mine, he came along after my Johnson Line was already in America. BUT my Johnson line and Samuel came from the same small town in Staffordshire, Lichfield. I think we share a common ancestor, an earlier Samuel Johnson who was as nutz as Dr. Johnson, and famous, too. Time and place and traits make familial connection possible tho no family tree seems to exist to link Sam's father, Michael Johnson, with my James or Sam Johnson of Lichfield circa 1700.

 

[Desiremakesmeweak]

I think Sam Johnson was autistic. And brilliant.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I think Sam Johnson was autistic. And brilliant.

Those traits pass from generation to generation on my Johnson Line. So I figger Sam's father must be a brother of my ancestor from the same town, his name was Sam Johnson, too.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Found Britney Spears on my family tree. We share 2 ancestors from Alabama, way back when. So we're like 6th cousins or something.

Found another Indian Line from Georgia/Alabama.

 

[lovecraft68]

You better stop before you find out you're related to your wife.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

You better stop before you find out you're related to your wife.

Too late. I have a BERNHARDT Line and she has a BARNHART Line. Same-o, same-o.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

The Christmas books started arriving today. Wanna read THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM first.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Found an ancestor with 10 white children and 10 mulatto children. He kept the black mother and their kids in a different state, but not far away from 'home.' Just across the river, actually.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

After spending 20 years stalking ancestors there are 10 or so who remain AWOL but I made some progress finding their trails this past weekend. Usually they died young or failed to draw much attention to themselves in life. Occasionally theyre closely related to their spouses. Sometimes they were persona non gratta where they lived.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Completed family group sheets for several more ancestral lines. Found some excellent photos of Maidstone Plantation in Calvert County Maryland. My Bond and Benson Lines go back into the 1600s in several Maryland counties.

 

[AzUp4fun]

After spending 20 years stalking ancestors there are 10 or so who remain AWOL but I made some progress finding their trails this past weekend. Usually they died young or failed to draw much attention to themselves in life. Occasionally theyre closely related to their spouses. Sometimes they were persona non gratta where they lived.

Glad to hear of your progress. I've been looking myself for about as long but have hit a brickwall with my line. Shouldn't really complain to loudly as I've pushed it back to about 100 yrs prior to the Revolution and very good leads for another 300 yrs before that. But I hear you on some persona non grata, tough when sometimes all you have are a set of initials.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Glad to hear of your progress. I've been looking myself for about as long but have hit a brickwall with my line. Shouldn't really complain to loudly as I've pushed it back to about 100 yrs prior to the Revolution and very good leads for another 300 yrs before that. But I hear you on some persona non grata, tough when sometimes all you have are a set of initials.

Most of my problem are people who oughta be conspicuous, yet aren't. They just kinda vanish into thin air right under your nose.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

There are interesting stories hidden in the genealogy.

One involved several gun battles, a courts-martial from West Point, and more than a few folks getting outta Dodge while the getting was good.

In 1835 one of my kinsmen was a cadet at West Point. At the end of the summer his father (my 4th great-grandfather) died. His cadet son applied for leave, and was refused. So he took the leave anyway. West Point court-martialed him for dereliction of duty and expelled him from the corps of cadets. Then the 2nd Seminole Indian War erupted, and the governor made him a militia officer to fight the Indians. At the end of their enlistment his troops asked him to petition the colonel for discharge, he did and was shot dead by his immediate superior. So his brother, my ancestor, got involved and challenged the colonel and the captain to duels. Both men refused, and the colonel left town. My ancestor beat the captain with a whip until the man agreed to a gunfight.

The gunfight was at Tallahassee. My ancestors aides were Prince Achilles Murat, Napoleons nephew, and John Randolph, one of Jeffersons grandsons. In the shootout both men were wounded, my ancestor was hit in the right shoulder, the other man was shot in his left arm. A new duel was scheduled after both men healed.

Then the other guy got into a gunfight with the militia general, the general killed him. The other guys brother then murdered the general and fled to Texas. In Texas a mob murdered the brother.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

THE FRUIT NEVER FALLS FAR FROM THE TREE.

I'm stalking ancestors since the middle of December. For two solid weeks I've stalked the BOND family of Suffolk County England. An old article in the Colonial Dames Magazine pointed me there, but most of them emigrated to Massachusetts, and were Puritans; my line went to Maryland, and were Quakers from around London.

So I followed the London Bonds back to 1350, and they look like the right people, tho I cant yet connect my ancestor to that family. And I'll invest 2 weeks to make the linkup, if there is one.

 

[patientlee]

Oops again.

 

[patientlee]

Oops.

 

[Acktion]

NO, tittles are not small breasts.

Like the man says, we're cautioned to dot our 'i's,' while Shakespeare was reminded to tittle his.

A jot is a bigger tittle.

I thought the jot was the crossbar on the t and the tiddle was the dot over the i ?

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I thought the jot was the crossbar on the t and the tiddle was the dot over the i ?

The way I heard it is, a jot is the smallest letter in the alphabet, and the tittle is the T or the DOT on it.

 

[Acktion]

The way I heard it is, a jot is the smallest letter in the alphabet, and the tittle is the T or the DOT on it.

You are absolutely correct and I stand corrected.

"Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven."
Matthew 5:17-19

"Jots and tittles are signs given by Moses in the text of the Torah that are not translated, but every scribe copies them precisely in every Torah scroll. Jots are exactly as they say – jots or dots put above letters in the text. Four times Moses did this – twice in Genesis, once in Numbers and once in Deuteronomy. Tittles are a class of other kinds of markings in the text. They include enlarged letters (bolded letters), letters made smaller (subscripted), gaps in the text (intentional spacings), and letters drawn in unique ways (elongated and reversed). As I said before, none of these are translated or even noted in English translations." - Monte Judah

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Found some interesting kinsmen today. William Weyman was the publisher of the New York GAZETTE in the 1700s, and Edward Weyman (Williams brother) was an American officer at Charleston SC during the Revolution.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Made a fortuitous discovery this morning.

I have 100s of photos in my genealogy collection. Some remain unidentified, but occasionally I put a name to a picture, and I did that today.

I have photos of the womans daughter, aunt, grandmother, father, and a few female cousins, plus I have a description of her I got from an old diary. Laying it all out on the kitchen table, with a magnifying glass, she's a good match between her father and daughter and aunt.

 

[patientlee]

Made a fortuitous discovery this morning.

I have 100s of photos in my genealogy collection. Some remain unidentified, but occasionally I put a name to a picture, and I did that today.

I have photos of the womans daughter, aunt, grandmother, father, and a few female cousins, plus I have a description of her I got from an old diary. Laying it all out on the kitchen table, with a magnifying glass, she's a good match between her father and daughter and aunt.

I'd never be able to match people like that. Sometimes I can't tell which baby picture goes with which kid.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I'd never be able to match people like that. Sometimes I can't tell which baby picture goes with which kid.

Its one of the few, very few, talents I have. Twenty years ago I deciphered old documents no one could make heads or tails of...mildewed, filthy, crap that had spent a century or more in the basement of the state historical society. That said, the records were no loss, as almost all of them were trifles like modern phone messages. But its fun to bring them back to life, then throw them away. A few historians sent me old letters to decipher, the hand-writing was feeble scrawls. Some of it was relevant and obscure....like lost place names for fords and creeks and towns.

Occasionally you get a gem. Like a quote from Thomas Eldridge the commissary officer of the Florida Brigade at Gettysburg. Till Gettyburg he couldn't get men to help collect food, forage, or nuthin for the brigade, it was a chronic problem; On July 4th he wrote the division commander, General Anderson, that he no longer needed men, that the men he had were adequate. The battle wrecked the Florida Brigade. 750 went up Cemetery Ridge, and 200 came back. The letter is, at best, a nightmare of scrawl. But the one sentence made a dandy chapter heading in a book about the results of the battle.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Identified another Revolutionary War ancestor today. Benjamin Darby. Private in the South Carolina Militia around Barnwell SC. I quit counting around 45, so Darby is like #50.