Response to Geneameme

My response to the Geneameme from Jill Ball at: http://geniaus.blogspot.com/

The list should be annotated in the following manner:
Things you have already done or found: bold face type
Things you would like to do or find: italicize (colour optional)
Things you haven’t done or found and don’t care to: plain type
You are encouraged to add extra comments in brackets after each item

Which of these apply to you?

1. Can name my 16 great-great-grandparents [yes, and then the brickwalls start after that]

2. Can name over 50 direct ancestors [yes]

3. Have photographs or portraits of my 8 great-grandparents

4. Have an ancestor who was married more than three times

5. Have an ancestor who was a bigamist

6. Met all four of my grandparents [yes, but met one at age one, so no memory of it.]

7. Met one or more of my great-grandparents

8. Named a child after an ancestor [game him my maiden name as middle name – does that count?]

9. Bear an ancestor's given name/s

10. Have an ancestor from Great Britain or Ireland [both]

11. Have an ancestor from Asia

12. Have an ancestor from Continental Europe [yes]

13. Have an ancestor from Africa [don’t we all? not in recent genealogical history though – mtDNA]

14. Have an ancestor who was an agricultural labourer [Virginia & Kentucky tobacco farmers]

15. Have an ancestor who had large land holdings [Kentucky & Virginia]

16. Have an ancestor who was a holy man – minister, priest, rabbi [preacher]

17. Have an ancestor who was a midwife

18. Have an ancestor who was an author

19. Have an ancestor with the surname Smith, Murphy or Jones [ oh yes]

20. Have an ancestor with the surname Wong, Kim, Suzuki or Ng

21. Have an ancestor with a surname beginning with X

22. Have an ancestor with a forename beginning with Z [Zachariah & on with middle name Zara]

23. Have an ancestor born on 25th December

24. Have an ancestor born on New Year's Day

25. Have blue blood in your family lines

26. Have a parent who was born in a country different from my country of birth

27. Have a grandparent who was born in a country different from my country of birth

28. Can trace a direct family line back to the eighteenth century [ yes]

29. Can trace a direct family line back to the seventeenth century or earlier [ yes, my Salem witch family]

30. Have seen copies of the signatures of some of my great-grandparents [yes]

31. Have ancestors who signed their marriage certificate with an X

32. Have a grandparent or earlier ancestor who went to university

33. Have an ancestor who was convicted of a criminal offence [Salem witches gggggg aunts; not direct]

34. Have an ancestor who was a victim of crime [ again, Salem witches – this was actually crime against THEM]

35. Have shared an ancestor's story online or in a magazine (Tell us where) [blog & website:

http://www.nhalaw.com/debbie/ and http://debs-midlife.blogspot.com/

36. Have published a family history online or in print (Details please)

http://www.nhalaw.com/debbie/

37. Have visited an ancestor's home from the 19th or earlier centuries

38. Still have an ancestor's home from the 19th or earlier centuries in the family

39. Have a family bible from the 19th Century

40. Have a pre-19th century family bible

Heritage and Family Get-Togethers

Families are interesting. You have his relatives, her relatives, his kids, her kids, their kids, assorted spouses, partners, grandkids, step kids, all with different backgrounds and expectations. My family, from five, six or maybe more generations has been in Kentucky (arrived between 1797 – 1835). Kentucky was not “technically” a southern state, but my relatives in western Kentucky considered themselves that. They were sharecroppers, coopers, bricklayers, farmers, shopkeepers, preachers, keepers of the poor house, soldiers, tobacco growers, prison guards, and politicians. They came to Kentucky from South Carolina, Virginia, Ohio, Vermont, New Jersey, Maryland, and Tennessee. My husband’s family has been in the south just as long. They were in Tennessee before 1800. His family ended up in Tennessee, Arkansas and Texas. They came from Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, New Jersey, West Virginia, Missouri, and Mississippi. His family members were farmers, mechanics, ministers, millers, soldiers and railroad engineers. My family was more rural. His family held more “city dwellers”.

What you call your parents or grandparents might be a regional thing or it might just be something that started because of what the first grandkid called the grandparents. My niece’s sons differentiate between their grandmother and great grandmother by calling one “cat mawmaw” and the other “dog mawmaw” because one has cats and the other dogs. My cousin was called “Dolly” (real name Mary Francis) all her life because her sister thought she was a doll the first time she saw her. One aunt has always been Aunt Shorty (real name Mary Agnes). I’ve never asked why on that one, but she IS fairly short. With blended families it can get interesting too. His kids call him Dad. Her kids call him Dave. Their baby calls him Dave instead of Dad (usually) because that’s what she hears her sisters, living in the same house, calling him most often. The first grandkids called me Mawmaw and the step grandkids are torn between calling me the same thing and adapting to a more non-southern name. I’ll still be Mawmaw on cards and in speaking about myself, since that’s how the “first” grandkids named me. I called my grandmother Mamma and grandfather was Papa. Other cousins called them Mamma Gray and Papa Gray. My kids called their grandparents Mawmaw and Pawpaw (they still do). I hear others calling grandparents Nanna, Nonnie, Grandma, Grandmother. I hear parents called Mom, Mother, Dad, Daddy, Papa. Where you live plays a part in these things too.

I’m proud of our heritage and our family. We smile and speak to strangers on the street. We take cookies to new neighbors. We say ya’ll. It’s our way of life. Folks should learn there’s a difference between southern and redneck; a difference between slow and laid back; between humor and sarcasm; between taking yourself too seriously and laughing with the crowd. Our family is very well represented with intelligence, education and opinions. There aren’t many afraid to express their opinions, but they all respect the others by listening to those opinions and then by expressing their own. We have very lively conversations. It’s so much fun to watch the younger generations find their place in those discussions. I like to think that those same discussions were going on around an oil lamp in Kentucky (or Texas) farm houses one hundred and fifty years ago as they debated the issues over the civil war or crops, just as we debate wars, economy, education and every other topic now.

Everything is always changing. We incorporate all these new visions and heritages into our family, and they bend and change as they blend in to the existing family structure. It makes everything very interesting.

1935 Buggy Picture

R.C. Gray and Ernestine Davis Gray. Not sure what year this was taken. They were married May 4, 1935, so I would guess it was around that time.

1955 Homemaker Training

Practicing to be the ideal little homemaker I am - NOT. February 1955

I've made it to the playroom

VHS tapes galore. All those old Disney VHS movies from when my kids were small. I guess I'll call Goodwill and see if people are even interested in those. All those happy meal toys. How many cute little butterfly hair clips could one girl own? A box of wallets and makeup holder bags. Old cassette players. More stuffed bears and stuffed bunnies. They're so cute. I hope someone will enjoy those. We got rid of all the teenage mutant ninja turtles, transformers, GI Joe's and Star War things a few years ago. Now it's mostly girl stuff from the last one to leave home - Barbies (which she wants); Polly Pockets (which she wants); all the pretend play food and dishes; old jewelry; ribbons; clothes; shoes.... eventually I'll dig my way out of this room... sigggggghhhhhhhh.