Growing up in the aftermath of the first world war; Grandpa and his siblings didn't have much. His mom stayed home with the children while his father worked long hours; scraping by the best they could -- with no formal education and for the most part only able to understand and speak their native tounge. Grandpa lived in a simpler time. No gameboys, no walkmans, no internet-- they had to use their imaginations to entertain themselves. Grandpa told me about jumping into huge tires and rolling down hills in them; trying in vain to avoid telephone poles and each other. There were stories of he and his friends walking home from school accross the old trussel bridge instead of going the long way around like his parents told him to. If he ended up getting into trouble; he knew what was coming--a belt across his backside and a day of extra chores - which usually had something to do with picking wild blueberries, yard work, or an afternoon watching the younger kids. I was only 13 when Grandpa passed away in late 1981. I didn't realize how important all those stories would be to me until I got older and started searching for my family's roots. In the beginning, I thought it would be simple to trace my entire family tree. But as we all know, as time goes by,things get forgotten. For the most part, early immigrants didn't speak english so when they stated their names the recorder wrote it 'like it sounds'), false information given by the immigrant (outlaws or those wanting to start a new life in America with a new identity, and/or basic laziness/inaccurateness of the person recording the information. Thanks to my mother's help and a little luck of my own--I have gotten more information as time has gone on...however there are still some bits of information I am still in search of -- including (but not limited to)
the
following surnames:
| Original Witcher Cabin |
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Witcher Family Cabin in Pittsylvania County, Virginia
This small cabin was the origninal homestead of the Witcher Family, beginning with Col. William Witcher, his wife Ann Majors & their children. It was in this small cabin that over 5 generations of Witchers were born. This historical cabin was well over 200 years old when it was torn down in the mid 1990's |
|
From a second angle.....
Another view of the Witcher Cabin. The man in the photo is a distant relative (possibly off the Ramsey's line). |
Find your old high school & college friends!
Come on in and meet the whole family......
© 1998
SpeedieG, Inc. & Talk2thehand productions
® 1998 SpeedieG, Inc. & Talk2thehand Productions