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Well, I started this endeavor in 2000. I knew nothing about message boards or family searching. With the help of all of you guys, librarians, archives, other people searching for their links, and lot of prayers(!), I found my missing link back to TN.
I have been in Nashville, TN for a solid week!! I did not see the sights, that will be for another time. My husband, Larry, gave to me as a 40th wedding anniversary gift, a trip to the State Archives to go back in time and read newspapers.
We started on Tuesday, January 15th. Side-by-side Larry and I stayed in those chairs until lunch, and back in them after lunch until closing time at 6:00 pm. The ladies there at the archives knew what we endeavored to do. All throughout the days to come they would ask us if we were finding anything.
After our second day of reading papers, I turned my reel over to him. In two days he had read through an entire reel of newspapers editions. I had gone through 26 days on my reel. He had to take off his glasses to read, I had to put mine on and pump up the magnification! I went on to deeds, marriages, and suits.
He is the best of the best of husbands, and is very good at reading and finding treasure troves in books and film. By Thursday I asked him if he wanted to take a break and see the sights of Nashville. He loves history and is very well read on the Civil War conflict. But he said let's keep going. We were determined to find this incident and he chose to forgo all the historical landmarks of Nashville make this dream of mine to find out my real name a reality! We had already decided to go back in June and begin where we left off in January!
The very next day, at 12:15 pm, Larry came across the article that my whole extended family wondered if we would ever find. Three and one-half days of reading old newspapers and bloodshot eyes from the dust coming off the reels of film paid off. Anita Coursey, an employee at the State Library, was as thrilled as we were that we found it. She was passing this story of ours on to each of her colleagues all the rest of Friday. She told me that she really did not believe that we would find what we were looking for!
Larry found what my father, new found relatives of his whom I just met this summer, aunts and uncles who have all passed on, all of us cousins in Texas, and now the next generations, my children and grandchildren had heard and wanted to know all of our lives. After talking with this new group of relatives who carried this family lore as well, I heard them asking our old question, "what is our real name? We have all wanted to know the fact from the fiction. Was this family lore of ours a true and correct fact of history? Today we know the fact. A fact that brings with it a touch of shame and hurt. My name is Dabbs. I do have a family beyond the 1870 Texas census!
I will be posting my line for all of you who would like to put it in you databases. I am now beginning the process of putting factual documents together to prove my line. I really don't have a clue how to do this, but I know I can find out by asking questions. That's how I found out how to find my ancestors.
It has been so much fun and rewarding doing genealogy. Meeting people online who are the most friendliest and generous people on the face of this earth. All of you started me in the right direction and helped me avoid a lot of pitfalls! I say thanks.
I am now back home and will begin to bring all of the information together from the pile of 161 pages (I counted) that I copied from the archives. When the flood gates opened, I was finding links and connections galore!
I will get back to you all and give you my line and who these people are that seemed to just disappear off the face of the earth!
Dale
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