Alice (Muir) Jennings' Genealogy Notebook

My grandmother, Alice (Muir) Jennings, kept a notebook full of 39 pages of genealogical information about the families of James Muir and Margaret Semple. She must have begun asking questions when her grandmother, Margaret (Semple) Muir, was still alive. She worked often with her cousin Robert (Caswell) Fullerton and was able to connect with cousins in Scotland, whom she visited in the 1970s when her son, Marvin Edward Jennings, Jr., was stationed in Europe.

I believe Grandma got her thirst for family history because her mother died when she was three years old and she was raised by her grandmother. She knew very little about her brother's life or that of her half siblings. She always wanted to know more.

Before Grandma died in 1993 her son and my father, Charles Theodore Jennings, began researching the Muir and Riggin families. He was able to find out a great deal about the Riggin family, who came to the U.S. from Ireland in the 1640s. However, the Muir family remained a mystery because it was not possible for him to access Scottish records before the Internet.

I promised Dad when his health and mental capacity made researching impossible that I would take over his 30+-year effort. I have enjoyed every minute of the time I have spent learning more about Dad's Scottish Muir family. I have many descendants to thank for the information included in this blog and book. To a person they have all been very open and helpful. Many of them are as curious as I am to learn more about the Muir family. Without their help, I would never have been as successful as I have been to date.

As an example, this is the sum total of information my Grandma had about her brother, Henry "Jack" Muir, Sr.

Page 9 of Grandma's Genealogy Notebook, the sum total I knew about her brother when
I started researching the Muir family; from my personal collection

I believe there are still many gaps in our combined knowledge and ask that anyone who reads this contact me using the contact form on this blog to provide any information they feel comfortable sharing.

_______________
'Alice (Muir) Jennings Genealogy Notebook, page 9,' Personal collection