My Inspiration!

For some time now, I’ve considered writing a book about our family genealogy and the area where many of us began life’s journey. As many of you know, I lost most of my research in a house fire in 2004. Still, as in so many parts of my life, my sister inspired me to regroup and continue. This blog—one I hope to turn into a book someday—is dedicated to my late sister, Dana Robbins. She was my encouragement and inspiration for a lifetime of opportunities. She and her husband, Roy, were my heroes.

A couple of disclaimers: If you believe our family history is lily-white and pure, you may want to avoid this blog. I think you’ll read some information that may surprise you. We certainly have plenty of heroes, including many veterans from the Revolutionary War through the most recent deployments. We also have many ancestors of good character and great perseverance—sometimes the former, sometimes the latter, and sometimes both. Regardless, the characters are interesting.

As you may have read on the homepage, my strengths are mathematics and science. However, our history is so compelling that my first ancestry post will be in story form. I often tell people that, in my academic life, I was very much a “regurgitator.” I don’t create; I only regurgitate. This story may not be great by literary—or even general writing—standards. Still, with the help of many cousins (and two in particular), I was fortunate enough to locate 300 handwritten pages of probate documents for the estate of Reuben Johnson. So, I have plenty of information to share.

To be clear, much of this information is documented in public records. However, this first post should be considered historical fiction and follows one of our family lines from about 1764 to 1845. I’ve tried to place the characters in their proper time in history, including the technology—or lack of it—of their era, and to understand their mindset. Again, please don’t expect a great literary work. But by the end of the next post, you should have a clearer understanding of the players. The names are real, and from time to time I’ll include quotes from public documents when they add to the story of our ancestry.

I hope you enjoy the blog, the discoveries, the ancestry, and the history of Big Gully and the surrounding areas as much as I enjoyed doing the research. Stay safe, and thanks for visiting this site!

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