Thank you Linda. I hope that you have a good time in the hobby. That's what it's for right? Fun, and to preserve it for those small numbers of people who care ....and for those that went before you. Sometimes, you see someone who is really interested in being related to someone like Thomas Edison or George Washington or whoever. Shoot, (can I use that word?), you're already related to the BEST, most interesting people that there were. Aren't you? Sometimes they didn't leave you a trail or something but they didn't know that they were supposed leave you a trail. Think about your guy that had a fight with his neighbor, he's great too because he probably went to court and 'left a trail', especially if he was accused of cheating somebody--or worse. He didn't mean to leave that trail. bye for now and thanks, Linda. Tony Lanagan -----Original Message----- From: Linda Osborne <[email protected]> To: J. A. Lanagan <[email protected]> Date: Friday, August 27, 1999 10:11 PM Subject: Re: hello to the readers of the Shelby site >Tony: > >Thank you for your information on Shelby County. I really enjoyed it. >Linda Osborne >-----Original Message----- >From: J. A. Lanagan <[email protected]> >To: [email protected] <[email protected]> >Date: Friday, August 27, 1999 11:54 AM >Subject: hello to the readers of the Shelby site > > >>I'm Tony Lanagan and am a life long EAST TEXAN and proud of it although I >>have been transplanted to >>Dallas since 1987. I grew up in Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, Nacogdoches, >>Texas, Overton, Texas and Longview, Texas where I went to Pine Tree High >>School. I am a pharmacist and graduate of the University of Texas. >> >>I'm 'kin' to a lot of people in Shelby County or people emulating from >>there. My maternal grandmother, >>'Miss' Onie Nelson was the last of us born in the county December 29, 1887 >>about 2 miles from the Sabine River. In 1901 or 1902, her family of two >>natural parents, five sisters and one brother and one son-in-law moved >>across the Louisiana line to Pelican, De Soto Parish. In her married life, >>she lived 'ACROSS THE BORDER'--as it is known around East Texas--in Sabine >>Parish 3 miles west of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana but she never lost her love >>of Shelby and her aunts, uncles and cousins over there. She transferred >this >>love of Shelby to all of us and I became a genealogist of sorts at the age >>of 8 or 10 years old around 1950 to 1952. I was always 'up' for a good >>story with some family based truth in it and still am. I even went to a >>'singin' held by the Carroll family in Carrolltown in the early 1950's. >> >>It's a dad gum shame that they don't call you in like that anymore. It's a >>detriment to the research of us all. >> >>When I first saw the Carroll Cemetary, it was white sand, picked clean of >>every blade of grass--as was the custom. So were a lot of the yards in >>Carrolltown at the homes of her cousins. >> >>Surprisingly, as young, unmarried people, my grandmother and her sisters >>could go in the buggy >>from Pelican, Louisiana, unchaperoned, but in small groups; spend the night >>near the river at a relative's >>house on the Louisiana side, such as Uncle Malcomb >>Paul's; get up early the next day and go across on Myrick's Ferry to Paul's >>Store, Carrolltown, Strongs, >>or the 'Neck'. Although she said she was born in Shelbyville, she just >said >>it as people who choose to say they're born in a bigger town than they >>were.--and Shelbyville was once famous enough that if you said that, people >>knew where you were born. She was really born in the 'Neck' which is short >>for 'Terrapin Neck' and in no way ashamed of it. This term was used since >>the origin of Shelby County to refer to a particular bend of the Sabine >>River. I have seen it referred to as the 'Neck' as early as 1862 in letters >>from a Shelby County Confederate soldier. >> >>Miss Onie's mother was a Booth; Her grandmother was a Carroll and one of >her >>great grandmothers was a Paul and the other was a McClellan (but not of the >>Shelby County McClellans); What's in a name? For her, it meant that her >>Scots-Irish ancestors, the Carrolls and McClellans of York County, South >>Carolina, had passed down enough heritage that they, years later in Shelby >>County, knew to give her a birth name of 'Iona' for the sacred island off >>the coast of Scotland, said to be the graveyard of the Scottish chieftans, >>including MacBeth. >> >>All of these early Shelby County ancestors lived and died in Shelby County. >>All people descended from these original Shelby County settlers of the >first >>Booth, Paul and Carroll families are related to her including the huge >group >>of Pauls of Sabine Parish, Louisiana who are descended from Burton Paul, >>originally of Shelby County, Texas by way of Jones County, Georgia. >> >>My best researcher 'cousins' are Bill Carroll of Houston, Texas, Frances >>Lapp of Fort Worth, Texas, and Mrs. Mary Hancock of Georgia. I would like >>to publicly thank them. These people have been of invaluable help to me >and >>we still 'consult'. Frances is a Booth and Paul descendant and Bill and >>'Miss Mary' work on the Carrolls. >> >>Fay Dobson, a CASSEL researcher has been of help to me as we have ancestors >>buried in the Cassel Cemetary in Shelby County. >> >>'Miss' Mattie Dellinger of Center, Texas--THE BEST NEWSPAPER COLUMN WRITER >>WE EVER HAD >>has been a great help to me as was Mr. J.B. Sanders who was one of the >first >>to try to save Shelby County's heritage. >> >>I used to spend hours with Mr. Sanders in the 1960's when no one seemed to >>care much about what he was doing. He knew about YOUR ancestors...as well >>as mine. We should all be grateful to him. I never once heard him try to >>tell me about HIS genealogy. He wanted to preserve what you knew and >wanted >>you to tell him what you found out about ANYTHING in the county. Thought >to >>be a little different or 'walking to the beat of a different drummer' by >the >>public, he was intelligent, had the fore thought to use a 4x5 camera to >>photograph documents not connected to him by blood, and then processed the >>film and prints himself in attempt to save it. Most likely, a lot of his >>material was probably destroyed, possibly even by librarians. >> >>I encourage you to work together, help one another, appreciate the people >>who do the "lookups" , and work on the cemetaries, and work on the web >>pages, mail you things without asking for postage re-imbursement, and who >>even do the small thing of taking the time to respond to YOUR e-mail. A lot >>of the people that I write on the web who request that YOU respond to THEIR >>plea won't even write back with a simple "I'm sorry, I'm not connected to >>that family. Good Luck in your search." >> >>And I say to you: Good luck in your search. >> >> Sincerely, >> >> Tony Lanagan >> >> >> >> > > >