After word
John Richard Stepp, a cousin of my father, was born Aug 15
1899. And Kenneth Bailey Waller, a cousin of my mother, was born Sept 2, 1945.
A genealogical “tree” shows about 150 cousins and siblings of my parents at the
same “level”, but the individuals are separated by as much as 45 years. Thus I
have contacted living relatives in several “generations” asking for information
and photos. It has been fun and work.
Many family members provided me with the results of their
efforts. One researcher, Margie Waller Walton, told me that she enjoys every
minute that she is able to spend doing family research. I don’t doubt that they
all feel the same way. There must be a feeling of discovery when the name of an
ancestor is found in an old record.
I have not, yet, personally, added any names to the tree of
ancestors. But I did pay to have some research done which has added a few names
to the ancestor tree. I was amazed at the knowledge of my researcher, Mrs.
Jeanne D Mead. She seems to know the name of every little creek that became the
dividing line of newly formed counties from their parent counties in Virginia.
And she knows what records were destroyed by fire or during the Civil War. This
kind of expertise saved me many hours of research fees. And she knows, too,
that men like to look at maps.
My personal effort has been to find family pictures. I
started by wanting to find a picture of every aunt, uncle, and cousin of my
parents. As I found out, that would be about 50 aunts and uncles and about 150
cousins. I did find about half of those pictures and many more interesting
pictures besides. Several dozen family members let me take their pictures in
hand. I returned them all promptly; but I was surprised that they let me take
them away in the first place. Did they trust me because they remembered my dad?
A little history is helpful. The original settlers came to
America between 1650 and 1750. The War of the American Revolution ended about
1781. The War Between the States started barely eighty years later, in 1861.
Thus soldiers of the Revolutionary Army had grandsons in the Confederate States
Army.
A little technical history helps. Photography began to be
common in the US about 1850. Many “Tintypes” of the Civil War era are
available, including participants. The “picture postcard” became common about
the turn of the century and continued until mid-century. “Instant” photographs
were made in the early twentieth century.
I have had to pick and choose. I could not reproduce all the
pictures, stories, information, and documentation that have come into my hands.
The generosity and endeavors of many has provided more than can be put in one
book. I guess that this book contains no more that ten percent of what I have.
I hope that what I have chosen provides the interesting and useful part of what
should to be passed on.
“…for part of my plan has been to pleasantly remind adults
of what they once were themselves…” Mark Twain in his preface to “Tom Sawyer”,
1876.