Are We Related?

1920 Haynes 12-cylinder, 4-door Roadster (Photo credit: dok1)

In my studies of successful aging, I have come to value the history and the memories of individuals.  Not all memories are true to history.  Sometimes we remember things as better or worse, more devastating or more romantic than they were when they were experienced.  The things that are provable like where our ancestors lived are the framework against which those other stories are set. The ones that are a wisp of smoke or mist are the meanings we put on the stories. They may become a moving tribute or an agonizing loss in retelling.

For the next year or so I am going to use this blog to explore and analyze some of the stories of my family.  I may choose to do those of my husband's family since that's the Family Reunion I will share this information with, but I also want to recount some of the stories of my side of the tree.

I'll probably send notices out to family members to see if they want to add to or correct my information.  I'll start with the Haynes, Alexander, and Lightsey families. who lived in Georgia and came to East Texas  before 1910. These three families are related by the fact that one of the Alexander daughters married a Haynes and one of them married a Lightsey. The family reunion I referred to is called the H-A-L Reunion, Haynes, Alexander, Lightsey. In genealogy research this is a pretty short time. We can follow the Alexander, Haynes, and Lightsey families through at least 200 to 300 years and find interaction with other families and historical events.

It is tempting to try to identify someone in your history and follow the trail to yourself, but genealogy doesn't work that way.  You have to identify your connections in the other direction beginning with yourself and .working backward to idenify those who came before you.