I missed many opportunities for obtaining information about family from elders when I was younger. However I did have older sisters and and first cousins who were more than willing to help me if they could. For example we had the picture of the Grandparents Home. They had fourteen children who lived to adulthood. I had questions about the floorplan for such a house with that many people. I was told that the big house actually had four huge rooms The kitchen had room for two full size beds plus the area for cooking and eating. The parents and the youngest children slept here. The sitting room also had two full size beds as did the other two rooms. I wondered how they cooked for so many people every day. That answer was a little vague but soups and beans and corn bread were involved sometimes. Sometimes supper was a matter of buttermilk and cornbread. The cornbread was often crumbled in a bowl or glass and buttermilk was poured over it. When an elder is speaking about the home and food you can also ask something like How many of the children were born while they lived in this house? You would be surprised how many memories can be released when they begin to think of old times. We need to heed Beulah's advice. It is good. To Billly, you are very wise to the situation in Henderson, TN. I am glad you can attend the reunion. Give us a shout when you get back. I have no research of my own in that area. Tommie Smith

Many of the old folks will tell you they can't tell you anything but if you start looking through their old picture albums it all comes back to them. They may not remember what they had for breakfast (like me) but the old memories are still in there. My uncle told me he didn't know why I brought along a recorder because he didn't know anything. Once he got started he talked for 90 minutes straight. Wonderful old stories! I'm just sorry I didn't have a recorder while my grandma was still telling stories. The day I bought one I went to the nursing home but she thought I was one of her sisters. I couldn't be Carole because I was only 7 years old. It wasn't a complete loss because I did find out she if she went back to the home place she could run the whole ranch by herself. We had a talk about what that involved before she got tired her mind wandered off. One thing....don't start off aking any questions about family secrets or things that might be embarrassing. Once you gain their confidence buy being non-judgemental you will probably learn about more stories than you ever imagined.

and keep it all.. sometimes even the "dumb" things will have a payoff down the line.. my g-grandpa Bemrich was supposedly an illegal immigrant who snuck in from canada.. finally found his arrival.. in the port of new york.. on BOARD the SS Canada out of leHavre.. which made for a handy cross check.. sometimes they get the stories a little diagonal.. but there will be truth in the core somewhere! -----Original Message----- From: reeves-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:reeves-bounces@rootsweb.com]On Behalf Of Carole Hammond Sent: Sunday, July 08, 2007 2:39 PM To: reeves@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [REEVES] Asking for information Many of the old folks will tell you they can't tell you anything but if you start looking through their old picture albums it all comes back to them. They may not remember what they had for breakfast (like me) but the old memories are still in there. My uncle told me he didn't know why I brought along a recorder because he didn't know anything. Once he got started he talked for 90 minutes straight. Wonderful old stories! I'm just sorry I didn't have a recorder while my grandma was still telling stories. The day I bought one I went to the nursing home but she thought I was one of her sisters. I couldn't be Carole because I was only 7 years old. It wasn't a complete loss because I did find out she if she went back to the home place she could run the whole ranch by herself. We had a talk about what that involved before she got tired her mind wandered off. One thing....don't start off aking any questions about family secrets or things that might be embarrassing. Once you gain their confidence buy being non-judgemental you will probably learn about more stories than you ever imagined. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to REEVES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message