Everything but the kitchen sink.

Okay, let’s do a quick wrap-up here…

The PARK family has descendency ties to Robert E. Lee; his ancestor who was George Washington’s wife (maiden name CUSTIS); PARK/PARKE/PARKS descendants are connected to the Burchfields — the Burchfields via the Park line (somewhere) are kin to the Gustafsson/Justice family originally from Sweden; and how did I get here (this time)?

Tracing the Davis-Smathers connection of Aunt Betty Davis (married – Jack Abernathy) — trying to learn about her father’s family.

The other point of interest is the ties to a Cherokee Chief Oowahooskie (various spellings found). His ‘wife’ had been captured from a white settlement/group when she was about six years old. They had three sons; she and the sons were later released — they lived as white men, and were land-holders. This made for Cherokee heritage claims with US courts unsuccessful — but the Indian connection seems valid from research/sources found online, now.

There is also a connection between the PARK family and a CHANDLER line in Georgia…will follow this up later.

Another connection exist between the DAVIS line and the CARPENTER (ZIMMERMAN) families from North Carolina — this warrants further research, since my mother and my father’s ancestral line include connection to the CARPENTER (ZIMMERMAN) lines from the Carolinas.

NO direct Patey/PATE/PATTY connections — but have found AYERS/AYRES, PAYNE, and McClellan connections in the Carolina regions (where my husbands family were from)…The PAYNE connection may link up with the TEAGUE, SPEER, PERRY, OWEN or other related families who later migrated to NE Alabama (near Ft. Payne).

With the research from the past three days — “We are all kin” has more meaning then is previously did, for me.

Each friend I have helped with their family tree research, I have also found something that fit with prior research for my own complicated ancestral lines.

Are your ancestors included in this tangle of kinfolks?

Contact me with a bit of your grandparents vital statics (dates, location, family members) — I will see what I can find.

– Cathy Ann Abernathy

weavercat@gmail.com

Sephardic Jews have lived in the state for more than 300 years,(*) (*) (*) especially in and around Charleston (*). Until about 1830, South Carolina had the largest population of Jews in North America. Many of South Carolina’s Jews have assimilated into Christian society, shrinking Judaism down to less than 1% of the total religious makeup. In addition, Roman Catholicism is growing in South Carolina due to immigration from the North.

[...much MORE]

via South Carolina: Facts, Discussion Forum, and Encyclopedia Article.

Descendants of Rev. William Speer (1652-?) of Aryshire, Scotland

Entries: 6801 Updated: Wed Jan 10 03:15:49 2001 Contact: Ed Speer Home Page: William Speer Family

compiled 9 Jan 2001 by Wade Edward Speer 34 Clear Creek Road, Marion, NC 28752-9423

# ID: I6410

# Name: Henry Boughton Teague

# Sex: M

# Death: 1999

Father: Henry Crawford Teague b: 1882

Mother: Mary Martha Elizabeth Talitha Cumie Speer b: 1887

Marriage 1 Living Goodman

via RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project: Descendants of Rev. William Speer (1652-?) of Aryshire, Scotland.

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Some of Randy Owen’s maternal ancestors.

– Cathy Abernathy

weavercat@gmail.com

Read an Excerpt

“Born Country”

How Faith, Family, and Music Brought Me Home

Chapter One
Home

Round Ole Baugh Road,
Is a great place for kids to grow
Some grow up and move away
Most of us decide to stay
Round Ole Baugh Road.
The neighborhood still looks the same
just new kids with the same old names
My Baugh Road’s in a Southern state
Yours may be anywhere, USA
Look around for your Baugh Road.

“Ole Baugh Road” by Randy Owen

My daddy’s name is Gladstone Yeuell Owen. My middle name is Yeuell, and so is my son, Heath’s. Why his parents gave him such an unusual name, I have no idea. His brothers had more familiar names like Johnny, Albert, Virgil, Riley, and Grady. Mama and some of Daddy’s close relatives always called him Gladsten, but the rest of the world just shortened it to G.Y. It made life a whole lot simpler.

via Born Country, Randy Owen, Book – Barnes & Noble.
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From this short excerpt I have learned quite a bit that I did not know.
Plus with little investigation on Rootsweb, I find that Randy and I are (distant) kin/cousins — via our SPEER ancestors…

I will be researching this matter further.

My initial research began when I was trying to find another couple of Randy’s relatives that he mentioned in one of his stories; when he spoke during the “One The Brink” Writer’s Conference (at Jacksonville State University, March 28, 2009).

– Cathy Ann Abernathy
weavercat@gmail.com

Randy Owen, lead singer for country supergroup Alabama, knows the importance of an education. Now he’s made sure other students get the same chance at college that he did by donating $21,000 to Jacksonville State University, his alma mater.

Owen announced the gift at Saturday’s On the Brink writer’s conference at JSU, where as speaker he relived some campus experiences and told stories about his days in the band.

Owen, the son of sharecroppers on Lookout Mountain, was determined to get a college education even though he had to work hard to pay his tuition. Owen donated the money to help other students from “falling through the cracks,” which he said might have happened to him if not for the teachers at the university.

The money will be used to establish scholarships, said Rebecca Turner, vice president for academic and student affairs, and JSU President Bill Meehan.

“He’s a genuine person who cares deeply about our students here and cares about their future,” said Meehan. “Randy knows scholarships are something that can change students’ lives.”

Owen was at the conference discussing his autobiography, Born Country.

via Randy Owen donates $21,000 to JSU | AnnistonStar.com.

March 27, 2009 — “I’ll speak my Southern English as natural as can be”: So said Randy Owen in “My Home’s In Alabama,” the song that started a groundbreaking career that eventually landed Alabama in the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Randy attended Jacksonville State University before the band made its mark, and one particular creative writing class gave him license to let his roots come through in his songs.

“It helped me understand that a kid who was very poor and grew up in the sticks — that it’s OK to speak your vernacular,” Randy told The Anniston Star of northeast Alabama. “It makes your communication unique.”

Randy did OK in the communication department. He wrote more than 15 of Alabama’s hits, including “Mountain Music,” “How Do You Fall In Love,” “Tennessee River” and “Feels So Right,” which defied songwriting conventions by not having much of a rhyme scheme. His latest writing adventure came with his autobiography, Born Country, which was released in November. He tried to keep all of his songs — and the book — as natural as can be.

“I was never one about correct English,” he said. “It was about local expressions. It’s what I know about. I don’t know about the streets of New York City or the south side of Chicago. I’ve played there, but the music that took me there was the local expressions and the experience of northern Alabama.”

The book takes Randy back to Jacksonville this weekend. He’s speaking at his alma mater Saturday during the university’s annual conference on Southern writers.

via News : Headlines : Randy Owen’s Home Still in Alabama : Great American Country.