I drove to West Virginia for Memorial Day and Gunnoe Family Reunion in Racine, Boone County. I drove my 81 year old mother, my 78 year old aunt and my 75 year old uncle, all Gunnoes, there from Florida. It was great. Since their mother is Clara May DOLIN, I insisted we drive to Camp Creek from Drawdy and we were searching for the cemetery. We spotted it, down the hill, but I couldn't stop on the narrow, curving road. I turned around and went up a road, thinking it would lead to the lower part of the cemetery and we could ascend the hill. A nice looking blonde, blue-eyed man asked me if he could be of assistance, and then directed me to a parking spot. I asked him his surname and it was HARLESS. Then, I asked him his mother's maiden name and it was EPLIN, two of my ancestors' names. I told him we are kin and told him I have come to believe that ALL of us are kin! He got a big smile on his face. My mother, aunt and uncle have been just astounded at the surnames of our ancestors and are a little embarrassed, I think, to believe we are all kin. I, however, relish it and think it is GREAT! Sharon Lee GATES Indian Rocks Beach, FL GUNNOE, CLENDENIN, MC NEELEY, MC KINNEY, DOLIN, PAYNE, BALLARD, MORAN/MORNEN, CHRISTIAN, KESSINGER, FILLINGER, SNODGRASS, BARKER, WORKMAN, EPLIN, HARLESS, HICKS, CHRISTIAN in southern WV GATES, RAND, PINES, CALDWELL, in Charleston, WV area HUME, MC MILLION, PALMER, KNIGHT, GAY, JOHNSTON, HILL, SMITH, EWING in Greenbrier/Pocahontas, WV GATES, HASKELL, BALTZER in Gallipolis and Marietta, OH WARE in Morgantown, WV BROWNE, GIBSON, ERRINGTON, HUTCHINSON, HART, JACKSON, GATES in Massachusetts

Sharon.. That's a great story. I remember when I was looking for the Plumley cemetery in Lincoln Co. There was an old gentleman walking along the road and I asked him if he knew where the cemetery was. He pointed it to me and found out he was a Plumley as well. Laura -----Original Message----- From: SGates1949@aol.com [mailto:SGates1949@aol.com] Sent: Thursday, June 01, 2006 2:20 PM To: WVLOGAN-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [WVLOGAN] It's All Relative I drove to West Virginia for Memorial Day and Gunnoe Family Reunion in Racine, Boone County. I drove my 81 year old mother, my 78 year old aunt and my 75 year old uncle, all Gunnoes, there from Florida. It was great. Since their mother is Clara May DOLIN, I insisted we drive to Camp Creek from Drawdy and we were searching for the cemetery. We spotted it, down the hill, but I couldn't stop on the narrow, curving road. I turned around and went up a road, thinking it would lead to the lower part of the cemetery and we could ascend the hill. A nice looking blonde, blue-eyed man asked me if he could be of assistance, and then directed me to a parking spot. I asked him his surname and it was HARLESS. Then, I asked him his mother's maiden name and it was EPLIN, two of my ancestors' names. I told him we are kin and told him I have come to believe that ALL of us are kin! He got a big smile on his face. My mother, aunt and uncle have been just astounded at the surnames of our ancestors and are a little embarrassed, I think, to believe we are all kin. I, however, relish it and think it is GREAT! Sharon Lee GATES Indian Rocks Beach, FL GUNNOE, CLENDENIN, MC NEELEY, MC KINNEY, DOLIN, PAYNE, BALLARD, MORAN/MORNEN, CHRISTIAN, KESSINGER, FILLINGER, SNODGRASS, BARKER, WORKMAN, EPLIN, HARLESS, HICKS, CHRISTIAN in southern WV GATES, RAND, PINES, CALDWELL, in Charleston, WV area HUME, MC MILLION, PALMER, KNIGHT, GAY, JOHNSTON, HILL, SMITH, EWING in Greenbrier/Pocahontas, WV GATES, HASKELL, BALTZER in Gallipolis and Marietta, OH WARE in Morgantown, WV BROWNE, GIBSON, ERRINGTON, HUTCHINSON, HART, JACKSON, GATES in Massachusetts ============================== View and search Historical Newspapers. Read about your ancestors, find marriage announcements and more. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13969/rd.ashx

>>I asked him if he knew where the cemetery was. He pointed it to me and >>found out he was a Plumley as well.<< The same thing happened to my cousin and I in the mountains of NH several years ago. We were on a two week search of our ancestors and had left our college aged kids at home in Oregon with lots of peanut butter and tuna fish . We got to the top of a steep hill and there was the town hall and the church and nothing else. It seemed that the buildings on the hilltop kept burning down and they finally rebuilt the rest of the town in the valley. We stopped at the church as people were going in and Marj asked where we could find the old cemeteries. A nice couple gave us directions and we went on our way. After tromping through cemeteries for a couple of hours we accidently found a road named for one of her families. At the top was an old house from the late 1700s. I was sure that her ancestors had lived there and I had to practically push her out of the car to ask. Who should answer the door but the nice people from the church. They confirmed that it was a house built for one of the daughters of the original land owner. They ended up giving us a tour of the house and fixing us lunch. They showed us a board in the kitchen ceiling that had "Cram 1782" hacked on it with a hatchet. This was in the "new" part of the house. The old part was just two rooms and was much older. The kind man even drove over hill and dale and borrowed a 3 inch thick history book that was full of Marj's ancestors. That was one very exciting day!