I decided around Christmas time to start a family book for my kids. I wanted them to know about their grandparents and great-grandparents and beyond. I wanted them to know how their Great-Grandmother Sylvia raised two kids by herself and worked long hours to provide for them and never once did she complain. I wanted them to know about how great Mama Francis was and I wanted them to know all about their great-grandfather Billie, who passed away in April of 2010. When we lost him to Alzheimer’s, I realized that his stories and memories might be lost. So I started with him and then it developed into a family tree. I wanted my kids to know about their heritage and try to learn about each person as much as we could.
So we now have a really big tree and stories. I wrote about my grandparents, I wrote about the facts. I wrote about their hobbies and interests and funny stories. I added pictures and through this I worked through my grief about my grandfather, as crazy as that sounds. I learned more about his parents and siblings. I am the proud owner of a bunch of old family photos of my grandfather as a little boy and a huge framed photo of my great-grandmother Bertha and her brothers. I found a newspaper article of my great-grandfather Oliver. I have pictures of tombtstones of people I will never met but are responsible for me being here.
Surprising relations so far have been The Batts Family of Robertson County TN and Alice ( Helia), Countess of Burgundy (who gives me ties to Hugh Capet and Robert King of France) and Geoffrey Boleyn. There is also the connection to the Strauss Family of Austria. It’s been a surprising find.
I hope to use this blog to highlight people in my family tree and share stories about them. Maybe someone will find the missing link in their own tree. Maybe someone will be able to help me figure out something about the freaking Cavender family of Tennessee!
