Roots and Rabbit Trails

Everyone needs roots.  In my case, those roots were established early.  I grew up in a family that was impressive in it's way, due to longevity of so many relatives.  When I was growing up, I was more than fortunate.   I grew up knowing a great grandfather, two great grandmothers, a great great great aunt, a bevy of great aunts and uncles and two sets of grandparents.  All those elderly people who belong to you gives you a strong sense of belonging.

While we didn't spend all of our time with family, we did visit frequently and I can say quite sincerely that I 'knew' these people of my past.   My paternal grandfather often recited his family history to me.   There were mentions of things from my maternal grandmother and my mother that nestled into my memory and years later were recalled.

A few years ago, I received the family research my father had done, a copy of research a cousin on my mother's side had done and then two boxes of photos from my mother that she'd found among my granny's things.  Curiosity finally got the better of me.  I wanted to know more about my family.  So I started with an internet search.

I began with a great great great grandfather, John Poole of Culloden, Georgia.  Searching family roots brought forth my love of history, my sense of belonging in this county where I am settled, and many a lovely rabbit trail that had nothing at all to do with  direct family lines but frequently led to some obscure fact.  I want to preserve the information I've found, to better lay out my findings for future researchers and to tell my portion of the family stories so that these people can continue to live through the shared history of future generations.

As nearly as I can make it at this time, the information is correct.  As a new genealogist I often failed to cite my sources.   As I can, I will update information with those citations, but you'll note that my first posts here will often have those missing.     I try to be sure of dates long before any item makes it into my notebook.  I've seen too many mangled up family lines that have obvious errors (a father born 100 years after his son for instance) and so I was careful to not list information that might well not be correct.  I'll leave off information rather than post obviously wrong info.  

As I have time and where I can I will add any documents and photos to share as well.  I hope that someone who is starting out will find some needful and helpful information here among my pages.  Happy Rabbit Trails!