Sunday, October 4, 2009

How did I get here?

I have been trying to check into my ancestors. Not to see if I'm from some famous king or anything. I'm just asking my aunts and uncles, Mom and Dad, and Grandpa, what they remember about their childhood and the people in it.

For example, I found out that my Great Grandma Lawhun was an Indian princess from the Cherokee nation. My Great Grandpa, whose name I still don't know, traded goods to her father for her hand in marriage. From what I can gather, she was very young when he done this. Grandma always held a grudge toward Grandpa for taking her away from her family. I can say, I don't blame her.

Another thing I have found out about my family, is that my Dad's side of the family is from London England. But,(and here's the kicker) they were caught doing something illegal and was given the choice of moving to Wales or moving to the "New World" as indentured servants. My ancestors picked the later. They decided to go to the "New World." But, once their feet hit the soil, they took off for the hills of Appalachia. That is how we came to be here. For years the family would travel from one homestead to the next. They would clean the land and basically get it ready for the real owner. Then they would move to the next homestead that needed cleaned. It wasn't until later, when my dad had been born, did they buy land and settle on it. That land is still in the family today.

I still have more digging to do. It's amazing what you can find if you do a little bit of talking and listening to older relatives. Just ask them about what they remember about their family when they were growing up.

So until next time....

Small Farm Girl, royalty or convict, you decide.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

You certainly learned a lot in one siting. That's great. My Great Great Granfather, who was half Indian, married an Indian from the Algonquin Tribe. They were located in the New York area and Novia Scotia. He taught my sister and I when we were young how to play checkers. They owned a chicken farm. That was from my mom's side. My dad's side came from Virginia. It's fun to gather information. You might go online and find out more info. Neat post...debbie

Faith said...

Great stories. My mom does genealogy and has some stories to tell. What I'd really love to do is have the time to record all the memories from childhood that my parents have, and maybe my brother and sisters, too. Ah well, I've always been a bit on the nostalgic side.

~Faith

Angie said...

Just out of curiosity, what is the family's name that came from England and settled in Appalachia? I am curious because I have family that came from the London, England area and came here as indentured servants and settled in that area too. AND, there is rumors of Cherokee marrying into the family. Hmm, are we long distance cousins?

granny said...

My ancestors came to Australia from the UK,on a convict ship called "The Fanny" in the early 1800's , Banished from his homeland for life,in a penal colony near Sydney for stealing a pair of pants and a jacket from a Tavern!The Brits werent very forgiving in those days.He married another convict,that was transported with her 2 children(only one survived the journey)Im not sure what she did...must look into that :0)

Jennifer said...

Very interesting! I dipped into the genealogy researching a few years back and it was a lot of fun. I need to pick up where I left off and keep going with it.

Tracey said...

So cool. I love genealogy. My family came over from England in the 1630's so we have been here a long time. My g-g-g-g-g-g-grandpa was the first president of Yale Univeristy and there is a statue of him on one of the campuses. I love history so of course genealogy fits right in.