“Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.” ~ Maya Angelou
Like most Americans, I am descended from a melting pot of immigrants. Take, for example, this line of German ancestors buried at South Fork, Malone, Morgan County, Kentucky. Rebecca (Patrick) and Patrick H. Risner are my great-great grandparents. They raised my grandfather Adams. He was born in Magoffin County, where they also lived (on Puncheon Creek probably). In the early 1900’s, they bought and moved to a farm at Malone very near the cemetery at South Fork. Mom remembers being at their house when she was a little girl. The house is no longer standing, but you could have seen it from the cemetery. I’ve traced Patrick Risner’s line back to Joachim Reissner, born 1620 in Germany. His great-grandson, Hans Michael Reisner, of Gemmingen Germany, came to the U.S. in 1732 aboard the ship Dragon. He landed in Pennsylvania then moved on to Maryland, Virginia, and Tennessee. He died in 1805 presumably in Knox County, Kentucky. It’s suspected that he came to Kentucky because he was moving west to fight Indians after losing all his land and money to supplying Braddock’s failed campaign during the French and Indian War of 1755. Fitting then that one of his grandsons should marry a full-blood Cherokee in Letty “Hatchet Grey” Durham; my 7x great-grandmother. I get a real kick out of genealogy, and this line of ancestors continues to prove interesting.
Barbara
I’ll say the German way spelling Risner would be correct, we Americans like to cut everything short. Ha ha.
Lori Sanford
I know this is completely random but it looks like we are cousins. Patrick and Rebecca are my 3rd great grandparents. I was doing some research on them and stumbled on your blog. My great grandmother was Edna Adams Leggett, your grandfather Orville’s sister. It’s so wonderful to find new family! I would love to speak to you about the family if you were ever interested.
Kopana
WOW! I am so glad to hear from you. We will definitely connect!!!!
january 30, 2018 – the outhouse: where art goes
[…] post from Lori Sanford (center). She found me through an outhouse image that Google indexed of the Patrick and Rebecca Risner headstone. Lori was researching her genealogy. After finding the tombstone, and reading the post, […]
may 27, 2018 – the outhouse: where art goes
[…] cemetery used to belong to my great, great grandparents, Patrick H. and Rebecca Patrick Risner. I talked about them just last year. Their house sat near the curve at the far end of the straight stretch in the photo below. None of […]