Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Turns out, you CAN go home again!

I've just returned from a quick trip to the place of my birth, Thomaston, GA. The main purpose of this trip was to teach my cousin Jane how to do eBay. Oh, my! She's sitting on a gold mine filled with Depression Glass, vintage toys, antique school furnishings, and much more.

In fact, I told her husband that they have enough inventory to open their own Antique store. His reply was, "That sounds like something you'd have to go to every day."

Yeah, I get that. Trying my very best not to have to go SOMEWHERE every day. So far, I'm good until about 2012.

So I truly did enjoy my visit with Jane and family. Also my cousin Kay from the other side of my heritage. It was great to see the old places and get caught up on everyone's children. All of that was part of the reason for going. Here's the part that I didn't expect:



I'm afraid those may be too small to see on the Blog, so here's what they say:

Sallie Profitt 1839-1901 James O. Hoyal 1833-1881

Those would be my grandmother's grandparents. Wow.

Jane and I stood there in that damp cemetery with cold wind whipping around us contemplating those two headstones. We don't know what they looked like. We don't know what their personalities were. Did she like to sing? Was he tall? What attracted them to each other? We will never know. But we do know this profound thing. If not for those two meeting, falling in love, marrying....Jane and I would not exist. (Along with a bunch of other people, but they weren't with us that day.)

I knew about Sallie and James O. Their names are in my great-grandfather's Bible. She's the reason I had Sallie on my baby name list when I was pregnant. Until I found out the baby was a Boy.

Now I have been bitten by the Genealogy bug. I want to know the generation before and the generation before that. Luckily for me, there is a wealth of information out on the Super Cyber Highway. It's just a matter of sorting out the true from the mistakes. But I look forward to the adventure.

Who knows? I could find out I'm related to YOU.

Have a great day,
Susan