Howdy, Texas lady,
There was quite a spell when "progress" was worshipped and people were ashamed of their ancestors. My parents were deep into it. This point of view, call it "progressivism", call it the modern plague, call it Leftism, was not yet very fashionable (except back east) in 1880 when my mother's father was born. The attempt to trash the past is mostly a 20th Century thing. Anyway, most family history has been willfully forgotten. Quaint, don't you know, embarrassingly not modern. Likely the generation born after WWI disrespecting their parents, since their parents were so old fashioned.
The records were hazy, the best thing I found were a family bible and some letters from before the WBTS. This stuff does not go back very far, not even 18th Century. That old graveyard opened my eyes.
All that you've dug up and learned about your family makes for really interesting reading. I'm glad you share that with us.
I guess I was more fortunate in that I heard lots of stories as I grew up. Difference may have been that I was raised by grandparents. My grandparents lived near both their mothers who were still living so I also knew my great-grandmothers and loved to listen to their stories.
Those 2 great grandmothers were born in the same year 1889. One was 2nd generation immigrant from Scotland so there were interesting "exotic to me" stories there. The other great g'ma was born from the marriage of a Scots immigrant and a native American. Again - interesting stories there for a kid. Loved it all my life. :-)