{So I may be California born and bred, but my heart and gene pool are right there in Tennessee (my gene pool having been diluted by the TVA project, no doubt).} Dear Jim: Your story touched me deeply and I want to respond with-- Bless Your Little Heart. Keep in Touch.! Connie At 01:27 AM 9/27/1999 -0400, you wrote: >Dear Cousins, > I truly do enjoy the kind of string the list is on now. Sometimes you >need to give the names, dates and data a rest. Talking about the incidentals >is what gives our ancestors flesh and a context. > I am a transplant, a born Californian, I admit with some fear and >trembling. My Union County ancestors moved to the Ozarks of Arkansas, for >goodness sakes. That makes me a double hillbilly. And my Ozark daddy married >an Okie! > So I may be California born and bred, but my heart and gene pool are >right there in Tennessee (my gene pool having been diluted by the TVA >project, no doubt). > I'm adopted, so it's only been in the last five years or so that I've >known of this wonderful heritage. And yet, God in his mercy allowed me taste >it even before I knew the legacy was truly mine. I joined a Southern Baptist >church where everyone spoke "y'all." I picked it up pretty quickly. I'm now, >I swan to goodness, bilingual. My closest friends were children of the Dust >Bowl migrants and I was drawn to all things Southern. I gotta admit County >music has been an off and on thing for me. I like that most versatile of >foods, grits. > I once dated a girl whose one ambition in life was to some day go to >Nashville and visit the Southern Baptist Convention's Sunday School building >headquarters. > So I've been drawn like the proverbial moth to the flame to my Tennessee >roots and everything that goes along with them: RC cola, Moon Pies. We have >all of those treasures in California. Used to have Piggly Wiggly markets here >too, but no more. No mystery lights, though. Bummer. > Jim > > >==== TNUNION Mailing List ==== >If you live in Union County why not pitch in. Take a day and write down the >tombstones in the nearest cemetery. Send it to us for others to use. You >could be helping a cousin. Go to the courthouse and copy some early marriage >records. Anything helps. >