Hello out there! Other people on this list have expressed an interest in this get together. I, for one, sent a note and said that I'm interested and gave a few suggestions and said that I would be willing to represent the POLLARD family (families). One of my suggestions was if someone would volunteer to do a webpage for this event, with periodic postings (having a link to the website) to the Johnston Co list so they would know how it is progressing and where to go for further info. A very nice lady, Meredith Page volunteered to do such a website. I can't speak for her, who I did thank for being willing to undertake the job of a website, but I for one, never got any respond back on my reply concerning the get together. Diane Keiser P.S.: Hi Warren, haven't spoken to you in awhile. Take care! Ann Massengill/John Evans wrote: > With the usual apologies to the list manager and list members not > interested.... > > Warren, > > Thanks for getting back to me. I thought you were mad at me! Yes, the > week of July 4th, 2001. It seems as good a time as any to kick this thing > off... we could schedule it for July 4th week, 2005, and all that would > happen between now and then is that we'd just get older... if we're lucky! > > I've had to drop out for a couple of weeks. My aunt died unexpectedly, > leaving us to go "home", track down my wandering mother's spare door-key > (apparently everyone in town knows where she keeps it!), and open her home > to "receive" while simultaneously trying to track her down -- she was off > elderhosteling, studying some combination of the Tango and Mississippi > Mud... and what a dance do they do, eh? > > So, it would be good to re-group. I hope you can access through some > search function all the "Amens" we have gotten so far. I had been trying > to keep a list, and these are the people on it: Shelby Crocker Smith, John > Hobby of AR (who can't come but needs for us to find him a Hobby while > we're there!), Pearl Weaver, Edward A. Black Sr., Betty Stancil, Vicki > Canipe, my mother and me. You make nine! All we need for a successful > event is an even dozen. I'm very sure there are others I meant to make > note of, but life has been too hectic to get them on my list. If ALL Y'ALL > WOULD KINDLY CHECK IN AGAIN, I'd appreciate it. Indicate your family > name(s)and whether you are volunteering to represent your family/families > on some kind of unofficial, as yet unorganized "steering committee". If we > work this right, you do not HAVE to be present to win, but it would be nice! > > About the meeting place: I'm thinking the Skinner House, the Heritage > Center or some similar facility could be a "headquarters" for the > gathering. All we need is working restrooms for road-weary travelers, a > couple of telephone lines there and a bulletin board; I don't expect they > have an actual "staff" to spare, so members of the "steering committee" can > man this headquarters. In this place, wherever it is, I see us registering > people all week long, updating and providing printed information -- > scheduled events can and may change each day as people strike out and find > "interesting things" others may want to see the next day -- and giving them > OFFICIAL JOHNSTON COUNTY HERITAGE DAY/WEEK NAMETAGS! That way we can track > who is there and get home addresses, phone numbers, etc., as well an some > idea of where to contact them in an emergency. Probably the only thing we > must have is reasonable parking space. We'll put up a few directional > posters on utility poles -- if we require a permit for that, we'll pay for > it out of the communal fund. The poster-printing, too. > > The committee will need to have access to a computer, a printer and a > copier; each evening we will make a revised list of "what's happening now", > and people can come pick it up the next day. I expect as word gets around, > a number of people will contact us suggesting people to drop by the "old > Smith family farm" or meet interested people with family and county stories > to tell at the library. (How many branches of the county library have > meeting rooms? Can we tentatively reserve them all? That shouldn't be a > hugely busy week! Do they have overhead projectors, slide projectors, etc.?) > > At some point, we will set the date, time and place for the community > lemonade party with whatever food is available locally -- and there may be > more than one such gathering. Maybe one for each section of the county on > different days. That way the people who come for "Bentonville Heritage > Day" but cannot stick around for "Selma Heritage Day" can still meet some > others. We should assume we will be met with open arms and yet not be > disappointed if we all pass each other like ships in the night. (I'll be > the ship wearing the cotton-chopping hat with the blue silk flower! My > mother, if she can make it, will be wearing a T-shirt that reads: > Elderhostel ROCKS!!! I'll be pretending not to know her. Especially if > she brings her "train set".) > > This is, of course, open to (much) discussion -- I am thinking that simple > is better and that the greatest need for any traveler, as I've said before, > is an emergency phone number to give the folks back home! There may well > be one or more motels with facilities that we could use instead, but I > personally would prefer to use this opportunity to become familiar with > some of the local places. Anybody can meet in the bar at a Holiday Inn! > > HINT: We have a lot of bustours through Historic Georgetown. The women of > our parish fill their Lent boxes by hostessing authentic Southern mimosa > parties for 10 to 40 people for 30 minutes in their old historic morning > rooms at $2 a head. (The church also accepts donations of champagne, > orange juice and sugar mints!) We figure that works out to about 75 cents > per magnolia-dripping "Hey, how y'all?". It eases the pain of having to > put on make-up and undergarments. PLUS, if you do "bus duty", you don't > have to put your house on the Historic Tour of Homes but every 10 years! > > FUTURE GOAL: a Heritage Visiting Program modelled after the AARP's > house-swapping vacation program: distant relative wants to attend; JCNC > relative offers lodging at his home (initially at a fair price with no > exotic meals!); distant relative returns to wherever home is and invites > JCNC relative to spend a few days with his family. They become friends and > exchange seasonal greetings and also get to travel and see the country. > All learn to cook decent (yellow) grits and properly fry up delicious > Johnson County ham! > > I asked you if you would receive and disburse "voluntary dues" to cover > communal expenses. Here I wish to repeat the proviso that you will not be > asked to account for this money and you have the express permission of all > who send money to you to take it and run off to some tropical island. Send > a copy of this to your CPA and watch her do double backflips! The last > thing I want to spend my precious time in JCNC doing is listening to a damn > boring treasurer's report! I will spend more this winter buying band > booster club candy from schools I can't even locate and "church dinners" > from people I don't know whose food I would never eat than this Heritage > Day thing could ever cost! (And so will all y'all!) > > Once you say "OK" and give us a snail-mail address, I suggest we who are > interested each send you $10. That should cover some basic expenses, and > if it doesn't, say so and we'll send another $10. Maybe you should > regularly e-acknowledge receiving checks so we'll know nobody has e-robbed > us. Another proviso: everybody should be compensated for his expenses, > period!, and his time if possible. This isn't a charitable organization, > and we're not out begging money to find a cure for Ancestor-Worship! All > things not paid for this way will be paid for by participants. > > I also want an opinion from you, the "steering committee", and the Heritage > Center staff as to the best way to subdivide the county. It seems to me > that the families are so intertwined that it would be impossible to attempt > any organization by family name alone. I've been wrong before, so this > wouldn't be the first -- or last -- time. {Most recently, I wrongly > assumed that we would never, ever get 10 inches of rain in 3 hours on a > flowing tide!) There may be a way to organize by location, dividing the > county into its natural geographic areas AND THEN identify these areas by > current and historic names. > > EXAMPLE: To me, Four Oaks is a recognizable community with places I want to > drag my kids at gunpoint to see and photograph. That area would include, > if only anybody would locate them for me, Blackman's X-road where my > grandfather was born; Hannah Creek and the Juniper Swamp, place names which > occur in family deeds and wills; and such cemeteries as those apparently > located (by Roberta Walker Butler) all over the area near Bud Massengill's > house. Bud Massengill is dead, so I propose that it would be a function of > the "steering committee" to find out who now lives there and tell > him/her/them about our plans in hopes that total strangers unexpectedly > found tromping through in search of these old cemeteries will not be shot > and might even be allowed to use the "facilities" and eat a picnic lunch > under a tree. Each area of the county can be defined in some similar terms > as being of interest to each family easier than each family can be assigned > to an appropriate area of the County, where the "historic sites" are. > > It also seems that each interested rootswebber should be able to be get > basic information from the knowledgeable people in JCNC. The Heritage > Center staff already knows these people; they probably call them "board > members". Can the staff identify the "home boys" and make the interested > rootsweb members' e-mail addresses available? Can they assist in > initiating contact? > > EXAMPLE: HC staff knows that Mrs. Johnston County Smith is interested in > Heritage Day/Week activities of particular interest to the Dallas Texas > Smiths, who plan to attend. She knows where all the bodies are buried and > can give directions, but Mrs. Smith does not "do" e-mail. The staff can > offer to receive mail addressed to her from interested rootswebbers, and > she can answer those that interest her. This is ONLY about plans to attend > the Heritage Day/Week, and Mrs. J.C. Smith's sole commitment, unless she > wishes to do more, is to help the staff write an e-mail message which gives > her suggestions on places to go, people to see, etc. This is probably all > the safeguarding we need to do for consenting adults, but it does buffer > Mrs. J.C. Smith from feeling obliged to have every single Smith relation > who ever passes through Smithfield over for dinner! [And if I were Mrs. > Smith, I would attend the festivities wearing a nametag which says "Hi! I'm > MRS. JONES FROM WEST ORANGE POPCICLE, MONTANA!] > > Well, it's Wednesday, and I have a script to write and a drama class to teach. > > Life is good. annie > > > > > > ==== NCJOHNST Mailing List ==== > Johnston County, North Carolina NCGenWeb > http://www.rootsweb.com/~ncjohnst/index.htm > > ============================== > Join the RootsWeb WorldConnect Project: > Linking the world, one GEDCOM at a time. > http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com