A great posting Tootsie. I have never understood why some think we are going to be held accountable for the "sins" and errors of our ancestors. And if those same people believe our "sins" and errors will cause our ancestors to be cast from paradise? Gonna be a mighty empty space if these two beliefs are true. When I first began my search, one elderly aunt said to me, "You'd better leave well enough alone. You might find something we ought not to know." It was not too long into the search I think I stumbled on what she meant. Back a few generations, there was a marriage in May with the first child arriving in November. The chances of a baby that premature surving in the remote area where they lived and at that time were slim. Should I have altered the marriage date and the birth date? Did that fact change my opinion of them as good and decent people whose very existence and marriage resulted in my being here? No, it did not and only causes me to repeat as I learn the truth about all, "I am here because they were here. And if they sinned, 'there but for rhe grace of God, go I.' " Mike Foreman ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tootsie" <thelmamarie55@earthlink.net> To: <WVHAMPSH-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, January 05, 2004 8:37 PM Subject: [WVHAMPSH-L] Family "stories" murder, suicides, etc > I have followed this discussion and I have uncovered 3 murders (so far), > a couple suicides, and a father putting 6 daughters in the childrens > home without the mother's knowledge, threatening and hurting his wife > and walking away. All goes in my family history as without it seems I > would be re-writing history and white washing the family. All of the > above and what happens to our ancestors growing up blends together and > makes us who we are today. I understand my Mom so much better today > than I ever did before I began this search for Jesse. > > I am sorry about the deaths no matter how they happened. But I am more > upset with the actions of my grandfather who left his 6 daughters in the > childrens home and walked away with out a backward glance it seems. I > wouldn't be here if my Grandma hadn't been pregnant with my Mom and most > likely didn't know it when the above took place. > > The strangest thing about this is I knew more than my Aunt's children. > I knew my/our Grandma, they wouldn't give her a chance due to reasons I > can almost understand now. I never heard Grandma say one bad thing > about my Mom's Dad. BUT my cousins of Mom's sisters have him a white > knight on a white horse and Grandma the villain. Unfortunately they > don't believe any of the documents even post cards written by Grandma to > her Mom 1910 describing what may have been the last time she saw "ole" > Jess. My Mom was 10 months old at that time and Grandma gave her to a > family to take care of her so she wouldn't end up in the childrens > home. Unfortunately I can't find anyone alive that remembers anything > about the people Mom stayed with. > > It doesn't end here as my husband learned he was adopted by his father > at the age of 55 so now we don't have a clue "who" we are. His > biological Mom kept him at birth. Not a word of this was spoken when he > was young and I feel I would be wrong not to include this tiny little > face saving fact his mother didn't tell. > > Tootsie Shoemaker > -- > "Lord, keep your arm around my shoulders....and your hand over my > mouth." > > > >

Just so you know, there waa a time past when ministers were so rare in some parts of the country, that families allowed "marriages" to occur without benefit of ceremony until the next circuit riding preacher came around to make it "legal" - sometimes not until the next spring or summer. I suspect that more than a few of these marriages occurred in the hills of what is now WV and more than a few children were probably born "early" relative to the official marriage date. A second point - an ancestor of mine, the last of 4 children, weighed only a couple of lbs. when he was born, presumably quite early. He was so small that his father could hold him in the palm of his hand, with just his feet dangling off. He was not expected to live, but his grandmother kept him in a little box on the open door of the wood stove oven and, with his mother's milk, nourished him to health, almost willing him to live. So don't automatically assume that all those 6- or 7-mo. babies were conceived "behind the woodshed" - they may have just been lucky preemies! Lucky for us, too, if they were our direct ancestors! --- Michael Foreman <vforeman@shentel.net> wrote: > A great posting Tootsie. > > I have never understood why some think we are > going to be held accountable > for the "sins" and errors of our ancestors. > And if those same people > believe our "sins" and errors will cause our > ancestors to be cast from > paradise? Gonna be a mighty empty space if > these two beliefs are true. > > When I first began my search, one elderly aunt > said to me, "You'd better > leave well enough alone. You might find > something we ought not to know." > > It was not too long into the search I think I > stumbled on what she meant. > Back a few generations, there was a marriage in > May with the first child > arriving in November. The chances of a baby > that premature surving in the > remote area where they lived and at that time > were slim. > > Should I have altered the marriage date and the > birth date? Did that fact > change my opinion of them as good and decent > people whose very existence and > marriage resulted in my being here? No, it did > not and only causes me to > repeat as I learn the truth about all, "I am > here because they were here. > And if they sinned, 'there but for rhe grace of > God, go I.' " __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Hotjobs: Enter the "Signing Bonus" Sweepstakes http://hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/signingbonus