This is the foreword to the book "Southern Pioneer Families The Descendents of John Herrell Sr. and John Fox Sr. Written by J.C.F. Herrell , B.L. Did you ever stop to think of the desolate like conditions this world would be in were it not for man? Man ~ that part of created things to receive God’ s superlative creative genius ~ the embodiment of His transcendent glory. The great oak of the primeval forest is a towering uprightness of natural beauty because we know it as an Oak ~ appreciate it as such, and not just another object upon which to gaze. Thousands of tourists in America who cross the continent have a deep seated admiration for the Mississippi River because history has revealed to them what the discovery of DeSoto means to farm life, the factory, to transportation, and to the home life of it’s peoples. The grain of wheat in itself is not so attractive to the onlooker. But when sown and allowed to germinate and grow into a beautiful plant, furnish labor to thousands, and becomes the staff of life to earth’s multiplied millions, we adore it. People that have failed to keep authentic records of their forebears and transmit them to unborn leaders and to their fellowmen, have faded from the pages of history as a once aggressive clan and live only as some contemporary historian brings them into prominence. Many have been the hours spent by fathers and grandfathers of our country relating orally war time deeds enacted by Indian warfare, or depredations perpetrated during our own Civil War days in which their immediate families participated. Then just, "As the sun in the south at Meridian is the beauty and glory of the day," so should we before noon time take advantage of our mature youthfulness and vigor and gather and pass to unborn kinsmen the paths we have trodden, the hardships we have encountered, and the achievements we have made. Then if this is done for ourselves and for those who brought us into being, their solicitude may not work a dejection of their hopes and aspirations. The home has ever been the hub of our civilization. The home properly and progressively is constituted by three closely interwoven units ~ Father-Mother-Children, To be unable to reveal genealogy to ones offspring is an ignorance that has no well-founded alibi. Inability to transmit ancestral identity or a lack of a desire to do so by parents was often my lot to observe as a Teacher. Hence the assembling of what may be found in these pages is one positive result burned into my being from having been a Knox County pedagogue for 33 years. Many times I have asked my students to name their paternal or maternal grand-parents. Perhaps it is true to say that through the years there were more negative than positive answers to the question. There is one and only one solution to prevent parents from falling victims to such a predicament ~ TEACH. No teacher has that power to command the respect of and make lasting impressions on the young mind, as does DAD. Therefore if he can’t teach Latin, algebra, or Physics, he can or should teach genealogy. Home teaching is, has been, and will continue to be, the bedrock of human rights ~ the bedrock of justice.