Memories

Late Summer in the Appalachians..  One or my favorinte times.

My new favorite song

A great song....

As much as I am Appalachian.. I am also Southern..... This song just speaks to me...

You go Tim McGraw!!!!!

Time... well who has it

I don't seem to find the time to post as often as I would like... Even my primary blog suffers... Facebook, Ravelry, Blogging here and at THE KNITTING WAHOO and then well Life it's self... we have definately become a digital world...

I have just finished my first foray into Historical knitting. I made this scarf.. and could imagine at least some of my ancestors wearing it.

Since my last post.. I have found many more Ancestors who fought for the Confederacy... I currently am the Vice President of a local Daughters of the Confederacy [UDC] group and have 6 supplementals as well as my primary ancestor. Earlier this month I submitted my 7th supplemental on another of my Litchford ancestors and I plan to submit on two of my Mason uncles and yet another Litchford in the coming months... Then I will be getting back to Tazewell County with the Brooks, Bowlings and whoever else I can "dig up".... I had often wondered why some of the women in my family are so "strong willed".. well when I learned how many had lost there husbands and had to raise their children alone.. I got a better idea of why many of the women in my family were raised to stand up for themselves.

A Few Thoughts On The New Year

It is hard to believe 2008 is here... I can remember as a child thinking that 1996 was what seemed to be forever away... Time does pass quickly.

I have been doing a great deal of research on my family in the past months.... I have found several relatives I did not know of, have found several who fought in the WBTS [War Between the States] on the CSA [Confederate States of America] side... and even found some graves that I was previously unaware of...... Most recently however I had contact with the Tennessee State Archives and found proof of my Great Grandfather Bowling's marriage... This was rather miraculous for me as I was under the impression that the courthouse had burned and all records with it..... Well...now I have all the pieces together to add Grandpa Bowling to my UDC [United Daughters of the Confederacy] Supplemental... with the exception of where and when his wife [Grandma] died... I think this was in Big Creek, WV and I am now on a mission to locate this info.... I have been waiting for the holidays to end as this year in particular had a lot of closings of various businesses and government office... but starting tomorrow I am on task for this one.. it has been nearly 30 years in coming.. and I am a little too excited..... I think however the Internet has been indispensable in this matter as I would never have thought to contact the Tennessee Archives....or to have known to look in WV

My plans for this blog are to have do biographical pages for some of my ancestors as well as to talk of my genealogical research........ One of my two primary hobbies/passions.....

My Appalachian Heritage

I continue to research my Appalachian heritage. I recently joined the United Daughters of the Confederacy [UDC] under one of my Appalachian Ancestors ---- Samuel Augustus Billips. He was in Company H of the 8th Virginia Calvary. He was a Teamster for the Calvary and was active the entire war. He is my Great-Grandfather.

I will post his photo when I can get the format right... I don't have time at present to fight my computer about it... I will also be posting info on my other ancestors, so if you are at all interested feel free to check back.

Is there anywhere immune???

It seems these days that there is nowhere immune to senseless violence.

Today there was a massive massacre at Virginia Tech which is located in Virginia on the eastern side of the Appalachians....

A few years ago it was the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, VA... [in the heart of the coalfields].

Gunmen and death... senseless death..... I suppose we are no longer isolated in these hills... while there are good benefits..... the way our society is changing, the uncertainty of it all... is rather overwhelming...

Spring on the Appalachian Plateau

I was thinking today about spring and things my aunt used to say about it... There was a tree that when she saw it blooming she would get excited.. she called it SARVICE.. it is actually the Downy Serviceberry. It is indiginous to appalachia. It blooms in the spring [white] and is one of the first great bloomers.

According to what I have read about it, this tree was used years ago to decorate graves of those who had passed during the winter months....... It is definately a beautiful tree

http://www.cnr.vt.edu/DENDRO/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=9