More about family histories...

[shooter1201]

This past weekend found me taking my 90 year old uncle around to several community cemetaries in the area he grew up in. Imagine my surprise to find 2 grave markers of relatives(Tuckers) that had fought in historic battles/wars.

The first one was born in 1745 and had been a colonel in the Continental Army. The dates on the marker simply said '1745-1783'. The local chapter of the DAR had erected a new marker recently.

The 2nd one had been a Pvt in the Georgia State Militia and had fought in the War of 1812.

It's ONE thing to read about it in a book, etc. It's something ENTIRELY different to read it on a grave marker.

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HEARTS and MINDS

[Mitzi]

This Sunday is my Dad's 80th birthday. We are having a big party for him. He lives about 4 hours away with my mother is has no idea.
My twin sister is the geneaologist in the family and alays has some really interesting stuff when we go around there.
My maternal grandmother was a very hard to get along with and all of us grandkids were scared of her.
My sister was able to find sme stuff about our grandfather and it's no wonder she was mean. He was known as the meanest man in the county!

[GDenman]

I've done a little bit of geneology work on my families but I am amazed at how little my parents wanted to talk about it. When I pressed for my grandparents' sisters' & brothers' names, they said their names but they didn't know who they had married, where they lived, etc. I regret that I didn't have any interest in my family tree when my grandparents were still alive. Now it's very hard to get information from the aunts & uncles.

If you have any elders in your family, tape record them talking about the "old days" & about relatives. It's interesting for one thing, you'll learn a lot, & you won't regret it later.