My Southern Heritage

My heritage is very important to me. I have a very strong belief that if you don't know about the past, you don't know anything at all about the future.

On my Daddy's side of the family his parents were first generation Americans whose parents had immigrated in the early 1900's from Italy. My Daddy doesn't even know the names of his grandparents. The earliest record we have of our family is when they enter Ellis Island. So that side of my family is a dead end. 

But my Moma's side, we can track all the way back to before the American Revolution. I even know that one of my great-grandfathers fought in the American Revolution. Most of my Moma's family settled in the south, in the Carolinas and in Georgia mostly. My great-great-great grandfather, Colonel Robert Bowen fought in the Confederate army, and was a founding trustee of Clemson University. My family knows all of this because of a book, The Bowen Family of Georges Creek. 

The Bowens were the original ancestors that came from England before the American Revolution. The Bowen book is the entire story of my family from the first people from England to the most recent generation. I think that my southern heritage is so important because I was named after my grandfather (and yes I do have a boys name) who died almost fifteen years before I was born, and I never got to know who he was. My Nana and Moma tell me that I am a lot like him, and really wish that he would have stopped smoking before he had a heart attack. 

Most people don't even know who their great-grandmother was, but I do. So I suggest to everyone, ask the older generations about who they are and have them tell you some stories. You never know, one day your children will ask you to tell your stories and about your grandparents, and you won't have any if you don't write them down. 

So everyone can make their own family tree. 

Your Faithful Prepster, 

mSv