A Journey Back In Time

This is the time of year when we want to be back with friends and family, to enjoy the holidays together, and to catch up on what everybody else has been doing this summer. We have doctor and dental appointments and we want to be home to vote in this important election. We need some time to relax and rejuvenate these road-weary bodies. Besides, it is cold here—38 degrees when we got up this morning and the weatherman said it felt like 34. So we are headed south to Nashville.

Our first stop will be near Columbus, Ohio where Gene spent a few childhood years. He still has family members in the area we want to visit. Our next stop as we head south will be somewhere near Cincinnati where Gene’s father’s people were from. Last stop—Nashville where we will be until the end of the year.

Over the past several years I have poked around in my family history, primarily my mother’s people, the Lancasters and Harpers. While going through my mother-in-laws things after she passed away, I found some genealogy stuff which piqued my interest in Gene’s family histories, the Curps, Ashcrafts, and Reids. Also among my mother-in-laws things were several unidentified photos. As time passes, so do the people and the memories that can help us fill in the gaps in our family trees. So this journey home for the holidays is also a journey back in time to explore our pasts.

This will not be a travel journal like the others I have done, but it will be the story of where our families came from and how and why they came to this part of the country. I’ll share the family stories that I feel would be of interest, and for those of you who know my family you know that can be a real trip in itself. I think it will be fun and I am looking forward to it. I hope you will stay with us and enjoy the journey.