First day blogging

So this is my venture into documenting and sharing my research and the process of uncovering information regarding our family history.  Specifically with current family members and little ones that might find the information interesting in the future, and those whom we may learn are connected through our ancestors including family friends that might be simply interested in the research and the process.  My initial focus to follow our Styner family name and find confirming documentation to make the link to Samuel K Barlow a well known pioneer of the Oregon Trail and the Barlow Road.  I have never really had an interest in genealogy and this research into my family's history had just all come about earlier this summer after a fun weekend at our family beach house in Tokeland at the north end of Willapa Bay with our neighbor friends the Merz's.

Bringing friends to the Tokeland peninsula that are not from the area it's always very easy to get into some conversation about the history of the area, the amazing erosion that has occurred at Washaway Beach, the many different stages and stories about the beach house, and also our family history ties to Aberdeen, Astoria and back to the Oregon Trail itself.  It is that discussion that prompted me upon returning home to get on the computer and do a simple Google search of a name that has been passed down and understood for years as our 4th great grandfather, Samuel Kimbrough Barlow, and that simple act brought about both more information but also some serious questions as well.   

Looking a little further into Samuel K Barlow I learned that a good deal of research had been done about him and the Barlow surname, and that further there was really a lot more about this compelling man that I had not fully understood.  Yes, he was a well known Oregon pioneer that had a trail named after him but beyond that I new little.  Like Samuel's father William Henry Harrison Barlow following the trail of 'Danial Boone' into the wilds of Kentucky or Samuel's open challenge to British authority prior to the Revolutionary War was fascinating to learn.  Although I'll admit I was very drawn in when I read that Samuel was personal friends of statesman Henry Clay the former Congressman, House Speaker, Senator, and Secretary of State that was a presidential candidate in 1844, and that Samuel reportedly took to the stump in support of.  Although when Clay lost the election to James K Polk it was the deciding factor for Samuel to declare his intention of never living under his administration in which he immediately offered his farm for sale and decided to head west "where at least the isolation and obscurity of it would be some palliation for the offence under which he and his party were suffering."

So my quest to both learn more and also properly document this passed down assumption of a family lineage to Samuel Kimbrough Barlow had begun.  Little did I know there was so much more to learn beyond S.K. Barlow.   A very simple family tree had been jotted down onto some note paper years ago but it wasn't fully complete and certainly didn't provide any documentation that is so amazingly accessible today via the internet.  So this journey began; to learn, to verify and document our family history starting with our link to S.K. Barlow.  So far it has brought some frustration when road blocks occur but absolute exhilaration when a new research tactic has uncovered more documentation of our family history.

My first real genealogy challenge was when looking at this very basic family tree that I had been given, was understanding who the heck 'Ellie' Barlow was.  Listed as a 2nd great grandmother, why were there no records of her anywhere?  Or any records linking her to us or the Barlow family.  Was this just a tall tale that we'd bought into?  The research began in earnest.