MY INSPIRATION
| Having never known any of my
grandfathers or great grandmothers, the significant adult
figure in my life has always been my grandmother. Being
raised up in a matriarch family here in the north, which
consisted of my grandmother (A3IIId.B) Violetter VanHoose
and her 5 children, I do have faint memories of visiting
people in Alabama, but I really wasn't able to recall
exactly who they were and how they may have been related
to me. All my life, I've only known those family members
who have either lived here in Rochester or have come to
visit for a short time and I was briefly told they were
related to me. It seems to me, every Afro-American with southern background have a nickname.I've only known my family members by theirs: Phoont, Plug, toog, mump, cornbread etc. I never imagined there were over 1000 of us spanning 9 generations, living all over the United States. It was not only very hard to conceive how I was not told about them, but how could our paths not have crossed in all my now 33 years of life. Because I felt confused after having been introduced to people by their nicknames of whom I've never known before, I started searching for some clarification of not just WHO they were, but exactly HOW were they related to me. My curiosity began getting the best of me as I got older and I became brave enough to really want to know how they were related to me, I started asking family members what appeared to be a simple question. "Who is that? " They each responded with what had no clarification or understanding what so ever to me: "Oh, that's ya cuzin !! " And having been even more curious, I bravely asked the next typical question to a response like that "How? " I expected an answer of which my family should've easily been able to explain that I hoped would've shed some light of just how this stranger, whom I've never met before, was truly related to me. If your family is like mine, they responded by saying something like " That's Brother. Momma's sister son, Little man, married Little Momma, and that's Little Momma's son. You don't know Brother? !! Well, after many, many, many years of being tortured with these types of answers, by my mother, grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins, I decided to write it all down on paper. And so from February 1997 to February 1998, this has gone from a creation of my " Family Tree " (the documenting of one's family members), to what I'd like to call " Our Family Forest ". This book is a summary of the steps I have taken in the course of 360 days to create my Family Tree. Though there are many, many, many publications on not only the " How To's " and the " Where to Looks ", when creating one's family tree, I have yet to see a document of someone's Journey and the step by step encounters they experienced while attempting the trek of Genealogy. It is my hope that this book is not only an educational reference tool for any Afro-American wishing to begin their family tree, but it will be the inspiration to any and everyone of all races to start documenting the family members of your family tree. ONE LEAF AT A TIME!! Sincerely, (A3IIId.B2I) Delbra Barr |
