If any of you have tried to ferret out information about your ancestors in the U.S. Appalachians (Hillbilly country), you have already learned that those Scotch-Irish ancestors of ours brought all that reserve, suspicion, and ATTITUDE with them and it is still alive and well in those mountains. About ten years ago, my daughter and I attended a family reunion in West Virginia for people who descended from my Dad's S-I immigrant ancestor. We wanted to see personally the mountains where this colonist ancestor had settled and the famed "oid stone house" his son had built. We learned we were related to these folks only through research - the last time anyone in my line had contact with the family was four generations ago. On that first visit, there were about 7 new people from other states in attendance, a few from adjoining states plus varying numbers of people who lived in the home county and had volunteered as guides. Nearly all those who attended already knew one another, or knew about one another, and we Californians were definitely outsiders. We were welcomed very politely, but that "sizing-you-up" attitude stuck out like a sore thumb. After four days of "togetherness" -- sharing information, researching local archives, visiting graves, ancestral homes and historical sites and having lunch & dinner together every day -- they were satisfied that we were, indeed, cousins, and I guess we passed some sort of kinship worthiness test. The air grew noticeably warmer during the final two days, and at the closing dinner we were both given warm and sincere invitations to return the following year. We did return and, since we were now certified kin, they rolled out the red carpet! I still keep in touch with several cousins I met there. Virginia -----Original Message----- From: scotch-irish-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:scotch-irish-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of AnnL7777@aol.com Sent: Monday, December 12, 2011 3:37 PM To: scotch-irish@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [S-I] Thoughts on replying to an American/ Canadian/ Australian/ New Zea Linde, I did "get it " and thought it was amusing and I am sure many more did as well, perhaps because we have had the same experiences ourselves. Thank you for the thorough explanation, though, because it added a lot to the discussion, and the more we share about this sort of thing the more we learn. It was great. Ann In a message dated 12/12/2011 4:51:44 A.M. Pacific Standard Time, scotch Lunney Family <jglunney@eircom.net writes: I've had a couple of emails about this message which have made me think that in trying to be amusing, I didn't manage to strike the notes I meant to. I wanted to say to descendants that if they don't always get a reply to an initial contact, there might be several reasons why, and to point out that things might look different from this side of the Atlantic ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to SCOTCH-IRISH-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message