To those on the rootsweb lists, this is a genealogy related request for support to email your state senators and the members of the Senate Appropriates Committe who will vote on National Park monies THIS FRIDAY. Even if none of your states or families of origin are involved, your support may help correct what others, including my family see as a tremendous wrong. Everything is explained in detail. Feel free to cross post or contact me with any comments. Thank you for your time. Ok Gang: Here's the final product of a letter I constructed to hopefully, turn the heads & hearts and the Senate Appropriations Committe. Here's what I (we) request you do. Send an individual email to each of the dozen folks in the committee AND your states' Senators. Don't know your states' names? Check out www.senate.gov. Check the directory. REAL easy to find. All you need is their last name. The basic address for ALL is: www.senate.gov/~name i.e. www.senate.gov/~stevens I ask that you send each as a seperate, individualized/personalized email, not a mass mailing to each all at once. Will be more eye-catching, and I intend, will have more of an impact to get it individually instead of being part of a mass mailing. Add a short blurb after Dear Senate Blank saying something like: I know you will be receiving this letter from my Nicholson cousin, Crystal A. Bingham. I send this in full support of the points covered in her letter. Add your name. (To rootsweb folks, please 'blurb' whatever you feel is correct.) Once you've added your blurb, delete everything above "Dear Senator" in this message. To cut the time needed to send these to nearly a micro-second each, leave your cursor in the body of the letter, click Edit, click Select; click Edit again, click Copy. Then for each message click Edit, click Paste, add the senator's address in the Send to line, and his/her name in the Dear Senator line, and it's ready to go. Here are the committee members: Ted Stevens, AK, Chairman Slade Gorton, WA Thad Cochran, MS Conrad Burns MT Arlen Specter, PA Mitch McConnell KY Pete Domenici, NM Richard Shelby AL Christopher Bond, MO Judd Gregg NH Robert Bennett UT Ben Nighthorse Campbell CO Larry Craig ID Kay Bailey Hutchinson TX Jon Kyl AZ Thanks for your support. Crystal Cousin and Instigator Dear Senator [fill in] Knowing the Appropriations vote for the Park Service budget is this Friday, I ask that you fund an Archivist for the Shenandoah National Park. This issue affects the local and national economy, the lives of those living in the area, and thousands of their American relatives across the country. I am one of those relatives. Background Shenandoah National Park was created the 1930s by the forcible eviction of hundreds of families that lived and owned land in what is now the nearly 197,000 acre park. Many of the Nicholson family from which I descend, and related families including Corbins, Cubbages, and Jenkins, were forced from their homes on the eastern slope of the park in Madison County, Virginia. These families' presence dates to the 1730s when our progenator, English ship's captain Thomas Nicholson secured a 1000 acre land grant. The evictions were at the time supported publically through a campaign of prejudice (cultureless hillbillies), lies (claimed squatters despite the existance of over 200 land deeds in my family alone), cultural misunderstanding and ignorance (deemed an island to themselves, Nicholson men voted and fought in every U.S. war), and lack of comprehension of the effects of the Great Depression and recent agricultural catastrophies (chestnut tree blight). This low opinion of my family in particular existed for generations through a derogatory kiosh on park grounds until a fellow cousin's two year campaign effected it's removal. Current Issues Following this letter is a reprint of ANGER IN APPALACHIA, yesterday's Washington Post article that outlines the current dispute reagarding the park: from these evictions, 360,000 records including family histories, artifacts, and property records were acquired and is in park officals' hands. The Park Service states there is no allotment of the $50,000 per year needed for an archivist to catalog, protect, and control the documents should the public have access. Why the Park Service possesses so many items of my & others' ancestors, much less the rights to control access is beyond me, but that is another issue. Possessing the collection results in a responsibility for its care and use. A yearly budget item for an archivist and mandates for it's use for public access would satisfy me. Economic Benefits Kindled by Alex Haley's ROOTS mini-series in the 1970s, Genealogy is now a thriving global business supported by millions of family-hunters in the U.S. and the world. Using Internet sources (i.e. Rootsweb.com, Familytreemaker.com, Ancestry.com) software programs (Familytreemaker, Ultimate Family Tree, Personal Ancestry File, etc.), establishing local library genealogy galleries, visiting Family History Centers, hiring professional researchers, writing and publishing new materials, purchasing new, used, and reissued materials, making use of the U.S. Postal service, Fed-X, and UPS, and countless other industries shows that the economic effect on the U.S. and the global economy is large and GROWING. On-site research and family reunions offer major economic advantages to even the SMALLEST community visited. I myself have conducted numerous sites research in Minnesota, Iowa, Florida, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Virginia. My Nicholson 2nd Annual Reunion is in Luray, Virginia in May. Relations will congretate from Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Texas, Florida, Kansas, Arizona, Wisc., Nebraska, Wash. State, New Jersey, North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, California, Illinois, and New York. What we spend in air flights, car rentals, 3-4 days of hotels, meals, gifts, gasoline, special park services costs (picnic grounds, room rentals, ranger fees), and other purchases will contribute to the local economy and to communities along our individual routes. There are thousands (no exaggeration) of Nicholson descendants alone. Some of our members having been researching this family for 30 years. Our members are not unique in desiring to learn our history. It makes life more sweet. I find it appalling that so much family history is moldering in park offices instead of contributing to the collective knowledge of the area and it's economy. If you have never had the opportunity to experience the particular and fabulous sensation in walking where others of your family lived, loved, and died, I invite you to join our hike of Nicholson Hollow near Skyline Resort, Shenandoah National Park, May 20th. Until then, please, I beseech you, restore the rights of the countless families of the Shenandoah National Park; establish and maintain an archivist at Shenandoah National Park. Thanking you in advance of your prompt consideration in this matter, I am, Sincerely yours, Crystal A. Bingham Sources: Lambert, Darwin. The Undying Past of Shenandoah National Park. Roberts Rheinhart Inc. 1989. Pollock, George Freeman. Skyland The Heart of the Shenandoah Naitonal Park. Stuart E. Brown, Jr., Editor. Chesapeake Book Company. 1960. Reeder, Carolyn & Jack. Shenandoah Secrets The Story of the Prak's Hidden Past, Revised. The Potomac Appalachian Trail Club, 1998. Reeder, Carolyn & Jack. Shenandoah Heritage The Story of the People Before the Park. 5th Ed. The Potomac Appalachian Trail Club, 1995. Washington Post, March 6, 2000 Anger in Appalachia By Leef Smith Monday , March 6, 2000 ; B01 MADISON, Va. –– The government forced Harold Woodward Jr.'s grandparents from their mountain cabin in Virginia's Blue Ridge. Like hundreds of other families rooted in the land that was to become Shenandoah National Park, the Woodwards were ordered off their 198-year-old farm in the 1930s to make way for the new tourist destination. Most visitors to the sprawling 196,800-acre park are unaware of the pain and resentment caused by its creation. Families that could prove ownership of their property were paid an average of $6 an acre and were unceremoniously moved off the mountain, their houses and chestnut cabins burned or torn down to make sure no one returned. The few who declined to leave were dragged from their homes, according to newspaper accounts. For 60 years, memories of the controversial resettlement have haunted the foothills of the Blue Ridge. The lingering enmity might have died with the last of the aging mountain folk but for a simmering dispute over access to the park's historical archives. That feud has reawakened the grief of a community that has long distrusted government and sees this latest battle as another trampling of its rights. "It's awkward and it's sad," said anthropologist Nancy Martin-Perdue, a scholar in residence at the University of Virginia who, with her husband, Charles, has spent two decades researching the Shenandoah resettlement. "There is so much anger and bitterness. Anything that happens seems part of this ongoing struggle--first over land, and now over history." At issue is a collection of more than 360,000 items--property records, personal histories and artifacts--from the park's earliest days. For decades the collection languished in boxes stored around the park and at its Luray, Va., headquarters. Most of the material was available to the public, but the files were disorganized, impeding research. Worried that the material was disappearing and being damaged by careless, unsupervised users, park officials cut off public access in 1997 and began cataloging each item in a formal archive kept in Luray. Today, 38 months later, the archive remains closed. Lacking $50,000 a year for a full-time archivist, the park has not set an opening date for the archive, and officials concede it could be years away. That doesn't sit well with some scholars and people whose history is tied to the mountains. They argue that the public is being denied access to an important historical collection and are demanding that it be reopened immediately. Woodward, for one, thinks park officials have a less-pure motive in keeping the lid on the archive: He thinks they are trying to limit what is written about the park's origin and who writes it. Park officials disagree, arguing that the restored archive eventually will give the public better access to the park's history. Park Superintendent Douglas Morris says he's sympathetic to the "anger and emotions of the past," but said the park would be vulnerable to even more criticism if it allowed access to the materials without proper safeguards. Over the years, about 10 percent of the collection has been lost or stolen, he said. "This is a very legitimate concern on [the public's] part," said Morris. "But the greater concern is that that archives be preserved and be used in an appropriate way." Since the files were declared off-limits, Morris said, staff has made copies of documents for those with simple requests. Woodward, the owner of a sporting goods store and a former Madison County supervisor, stumbled into the archives roadblock a year ago while researching a book on his and three other mountain families. The author of four Civil War histories believes that park officials want to suppress new narratives on how people were forced off the land to create the park. Woodward, 40, visited 11 libraries and courthouse record depositories--including the National Archives in College Park--and three historical societies before tackling the Shenandoah archives, where he planned to spend several days browsing through documents and photos of the mountain families. But, like others before him, he was denied access to the collection until it's in order. When that would be, park cultural resource specialist Reed Engle couldn't say. Engle has since come under criticism from scholars who say he is using the archives for his articles and books while denying others access. Morris, Engle's boss, said writing books is part of Engle's job and also raises money for the park. After being denied access, Woodward contacted a lawyer, who suggested he file a Freedom of Information request with the park. The reply was swift: He was told he could have what he wanted from the archive, but it would cost him $92,000. Months of wrangling followed. Eventually, the park agreed to provide 88 pages, a fraction of what Woodward sought. He's now redrafting his request. Standing behind the counter of his cluttered shop here, where hunting knives and fishing lures are displayed alongside the violins and handmade dulcimers that are his passion, Woodward walks a visitor through the thick file he keeps on his dealings with park officials. Every phone conversation. Every letter. Every thought, noted in his neat script. "The park wants to wipe out the memory of these people," he said in his heavy Virginia twang. "They're afraid I'll shed a bad light on the way people were treated." Martin-Perdue agrees: "I think the Park Service does have things to fear from tales . . . about how people were treated. A first-person story is always more powerful." Engle dismisses Woodward's claim, noting that he has been critical of the resettlement himself and that he has called the government's actions "deplorable." And he insists he wants to open the archives as quickly as possible. "I am not trying to whitewash history. Frankly, I could sign the petition [to reopen the archives] myself," he said. "The park staff are not happy the archives are not open." Over the years, several scholarly texts have been published on the resettlement. Woodward said his book will be different, focusing on the people who suffered the ordeal. Time is crucial to him because every year their number grows smaller. Woodward grew up listening to the tales of his grandfather and other relatives, and he feels compelled to pass on their stories, from their European origins to their arrival in Virginia in the 1700s and their eviction from the mountain. Like many such families, the Woodwards settled into pioneer life, raising just enough food for themselves and a few animals. They had no electricity, phone, running water or privy. At the time of the evictions, the government portrayed the mountain people as poor, ignorant moonshiners who benefited from relocation, historians said. In fact, they said the families represented a range of economic classes: A few lived in large homes with electricity and phones, cars were not unheard of, most children went to school and most adults could read and write. In 1938 the government moved Woodward's grandparents and five children off Haywood Mountain to a farm near Madison. They were resettled in a four-room cottage on 40 acres, with a barn and a chicken coop. The catch was a mortgage and responsibilities they'd never known before. In debt, the family lost its second home in 1946. Claude A. Woodward, Harold's second cousin and the oldest of 12, was 14 when his branch of the family was forced from the mountain and resettled in two houses in Wolftown. Despite the space and relative luxury, they were miserable, said Claude, now 75. "We would have been better off staying on the mountain. It was so hard to adjust. My granddaddy never got over it. It hurt bad." Since the park's archive was closed three years ago, a few people other than Engle have been granted access, among them an archaeologist on contract with the park and a mapmaker who threatened to get his congressman involved if he were kept away. "It's not cricket that you can withhold public information paid for by taxes," said mapmaker Eugene Scheel, whose work has appeared in The Washington Post. "It's creating rather bad blood." That's what led Jack and Carolyn Reeder, husband-and-wife authors who have published several books about the Blue Ridge and its people, to spearhead the petition drive to reopen the archive, or at least those documents--some 200,000--that have been catalogued so far. Engle says he'd like to do that but won't. "It's a vicious cycle. If I open to the public, I can't be cataloging, and then we never get anywhere. We need the staff, and Park Service budgets are not very cooperative on that issue right now." So far, he said, nearly $500,000 has been dedicated to cataloging and storing the collection. Cathryn Knupfer of the Rappahannock Historical Society said: "There are a good many people whose land was part of the park" who are upset they can't see the records. "It's really not fair they should have to [relive] the trauma." By 1937 most of the people were gone from the mountains. The government let the elderly stay and live out their years there if they so chose. The last of them died in 1976. Today, thick vegetation grows where cabins once stood, and weekend hikers climb the steep, rocky slopes. Walking up Haywood Mountain on a muddy footpath one recent afternoon, Harold Woodward veered into the brush, stopping just short of the crumbled remains of his great-uncle Nebraska Woodward's two-story cabin. Tourists pass by the site regularly, he said, but few stop to consider what people had to give up for the park. "I'm not trying to grind any axes," he said. "I just want to tell the truth." http://washingtonpost.com/cgi-bin/gx.cgi/AppLogic+FTContentServer?pagenam e=wpni/print&articleid=A15321-2000Mar5 Crystal A. Bingham Manhattan, KS Vizslas: Denali Gold & Peaches 'n Cream; cats" Bojangles and Nuisance Kitty Res Motto: To understand the living you must commune with the dead. Crystal A. Bingham Manhattan, KS Vizslas: Denali Gold & Peaches 'n Cream; cats" Bojangles and Nuisance Kitty Res Motto: To understand the living you must commune with the dead.