I have been trying to unpack the boxes in the garage after our move from Maryland to Florida back in October. On Thursday I emptied two more tubs. Inside one of them I found several envelopes of papers. Whoa, Dude. They were filled with notes and papers and documents that my mom and I had been gathering when we first began researching the family tree…in 1999. Goodness, has it been that long?
Well, it was centuries in the making, so I guess that really isn’t all that much time. Back then we were working pretty hard, library trips, trying to figure out that new-fangled Internet thingy, etc. We got a lot done, but not much of it actually got put into a program.
Karen (Jones) Syed and Eugenia Jones – sisters
the only pic of us together.
I was trying to remember why I got involved. As I recall, it had something to do with trying to find out if my dad’s ancestors were slaves. My dad (George Jones) was born in Memphis, TN in 1921 (how odd that he was the same age as my mother’s parents. At any rate, dad’s people were mostly from TN, as far as I could tell, but now it is looking like they might have hopped over from Mississippi (do you remember how much fun it was to spell Mississippi when you were a kid? M-i-s-s-i-p-p-in your i. – sorry I digress.) It wasn’t until recently (about a year ago) I was contacted by someone on Ancestry.com who is somehow related on my dad’s side. I have not weeded out that connection yet, but I will.
I think one of the other reasons I got involved in this is because I was not able to know my dad’s relative’s. For some reason they wanted nothing to do with me. I have half-siblings I didn’t get to know-with the exception of one weekend in the 90s when I did meet and spend time with my sister. I often feel robbed of having that sibling interaction and the chance to get to know his family. I often wonder why they refused to get to know me. Now, most of them are gone, and I will probably never know. I don’t even know what my brother looks like.
This is something I have always been curious about, so I guess that is what planted the genealogy seed.
I’d love to know that side of the family, the cousins, the nieces and nephews, everyone. They are a huge part of why I am.
Journey of the Heart 