Where Did It All Start & Will It Ever Be Finished?

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Chapter 1
The Beginning

Sometimes it seems like I've done family research forever and sometimes it seems like I just got started!!  I was raised going to cemetery workings, church & school homecomings, "fifth Sunday meetings," and family reunions. It was fun to have someplace to go just about every weekend and there were always lots of kids to play with. As I became a teenager my interest turned to other things. Then I graduated, married and started a family of my own. I started thinking about being interested in about 1973, but like a lot of people, thinking you're interested doesn't get the job done. My uncle gave me a packet of stuff some fellow gathered on my grandpaw's family. But I must admit, I really didn't appriciate what goes into researching a family history. A lot of people say, "I wish I knew more about my ancestors, but......." Well, back then, most people didn't have computers, only the big business' had them. I wrote down the simple stuff, like who my parents and grandparents are and a few other things. It wasn't until 1977 that I really got the "bug."  After my grandmother on my dad's side passed away, and the family started going through her things, we discovered that she must have been a genealogist. Now, I don't mean what we think of as a genealogist today. She was one of those people who was always talking about her kinfolks. She couldn't go anywhere without running into "Cousin-so-and-so." In fact, she talked about her kin so much that most of the time we really didn't pay any attention. I just assumed that she was kin to everybody. I really do regret that I didn't sit down with her and let her tell all about them. Not only would it have made it a whole lot easier but I think she would have been so proud for some of her children and grandchildren to be as proud of her family as she was. Even though I haven't found any presidents, millionaires, great scholars, etc. that she would have known about, you could just hear the pride in her little voice when she spoke of her family.

She would ponder over the local paper and make comments about "uncle-so-and-so's sister-in-law dying" or that "cousin Joe's daughter was getting married." If only I had really listened!! Being young back then, I couldn't possibly see that it would ever seem important to me.

As the family was cleaning out her things they came across a old cookie jar. In fact it was a cookie jar I made and gave her when I was in junior high. Inside that jar was hundreds of obituary columns that she had been cutting out of the paper for years. Some of them dated back to the 30's & 40's. Then in her china cabinet, we found glasses, cups and pitchers stuffed with obituaries, wedding notices, divorce & marriage licence listings, and birth announcements. She had made notes on the edges like, "Cousin Hattie's daughter." A lot of them even had the date that they were in the paper.

You know how it is when you're having to clean out the contents of a persons lifetime. It's impossible to save everything, so there was a barrell for burning trash out in the back yard and everything that nobody wanted ended up getting burned. To this day I cannot explain it, but when nobody else wanted to save all that paper and it was about to end up being burned, it was like a cold wind blew through the house. I don't think anyone but me felt it. I knew I couldn't let them burn those papers. But I didn't know why I felt that way. Then in one of the bedrooms we discovered boxes and boxes of cards and things that people had sent my grandmother. There were graduation and birth announcements, wedding invitations, thank you notes and letters from all kinds of people. I don't think she ever threw anything away.

Well, when I walked in my house with all that "stuff," my husband said, "What are you gonna do with all that? Your just gonna put it in the closet and somebody is gonna have to go through it again when you die." And I said, "No I'm not!! I'm gonna find out who all these people are." 

I went to the store, bought a big pack of notebook paper, and started going through those obituaries one by one. I'd put the name of the person that died on the top line. If it was a female I put it on the right and if it was a male I'd put it on the left. Then under that I'd put (b), (d), (bur). In the middle, up at the top, you know, where all that white space is for a heading I put (m). Then down below I would list any children that were mentioned in the obituary. Hell, I didn't know I was reinventing the family group sheet. I didn't even know they existed.

Four big, big packs of notebook paper, and hundreds of hours later I had the beginnings of the Collier & Horn family genealogy. Now how in the world my grandmother kept all that family connection stuff straight in her little head I'll never know. She didn't have all that notebook paper or two fancy computers to keep it all straight!!

That was the real beginning. Now stay tuned for the rest of the story!!

Chapter 2
Me and The Hysterical Society

After a couple of years shuffling what seemed like a million sheets of notebook paper between a half-a-dozen big notebooks I thought to myself, "There's gotta be better way! I was reading the newspaper one day and saw a notice about some Society meeting in the next town and the guest speaker was going to talk about "Ancestors in Georgia." Now I want to tell you right here and now, I ain't no High Society Dame. I don't even know how to play Bridge and I can't stand the taste of hot tea. In my minds-eye I could just see a bunch of rich old ladies, dripping in diamonds & furs, that didn't have anything better to do with their time or their money, than to figure out where the heck they came from. The morning of the meeting I thought to myself, "Well, I don't care who they are or how much money they got, cause I know that some of my ancestors came from around Alabama and Georgia! I want to hear what that speakers' got to say, even if I do have to force myself to drink that bitter tea." I spent half the morning trying to figure out how to make a pair of bluejeans and a tee-shirt look presentable. Then I decided I'd wear my funeral dress. 

When I walked in the door of the Nederland City Hall, there was probably about twenty-five men and women already there. Some of them had briefcases and notebooks. I thought to myself, "I got notebooks, why didn't I bring one so at least I'd look like I knew what I was doing?" To my surprise, most of them people wasn't over dressed, in fact I could've worn my bluejeans. I was the one who looked like I was going to a funeral. Everybody was just standing around talking to one another. I heard one of them say something about "The Colonial Dames" and I thought that must be some of their "High Society" members.

The meeting was called to order, and a man got up and talked about how many books they had donated to a "Tyrrell Historical Library." Then the guest speaker gave a talk about where to look to find information if your ancestors ever lived in Georgia. It was a good talk, but a lot of what he was talking about went right over my head. When he got finished, another lady thanked everybody for coming and ask if there were any first time visitors and if so for them to please stand up and tell their SIRNAMES. I sure was glad she pointed to the other side of the room to start. I first thought it was gonna be. "Hi, I'm Sir So-And-So." Well, after three or four people introduced themselves and called off a list of last names, I finally got the hang of it. When it was my turn, I stood up, threw my shoulders back and said, "Hi, I'm Barbara Yancey Dore, and my surnames are Yancey, Clark, Lane, Collier, Horn, Williams & Smith." Everybody in the room just sort of chuckled. I didn't know for sure if they were making fun of me or not. Then the lady invited everyone back to the next meeting and said that refreshments would be served. Oh, no!!

People started leaving their seats and three or four started coming over toward me. I first thought they were going to ask me to leave the building. At least I wouldn't have to drink that stuff! To my surprise, they asked, were my COLLIER's from Tyler County? When I said yes, they told me that we must be kinfolks. I almost missed the refreshments because before I got out that building I found out I was kin to three of them people. I sure was relieved when the refreshments turned out to be cookies & coffee.

I became active in the society and wouldn't hardly miss a meeting. When the children were young and if anybody called for me while I was attending they would just say, "Mama's gone to the Hysterical meeting."

DON'T GO AWAY FOR TOO LONG, Chapter 3 coming up!!

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Barbara Yancey Dore (aka) RootsLady (E-Mail:RootsLady@msn.com)
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Revised: 28 Jun 2004 21:40:15 -0500