Discovering My Heritage Through Genealogy
Introduction
I’m certain that many of you who are browsing this web site possess a far greater talent for writing than I do. However, it is my belief that my family of ancestors would like for me, in my own way, to pass on their wonderful stories along with their travels and in some instances, their reasons for travel. Therefore, with that said, the stories and histories of my ancestors found throughout this site are from my fifteen years of researching literally thousands of records found throughout the southeastern United States and from interviews of a multitude of family members or friends of family members.
So! Who were our ancestors? Where did they come from? Why did they first leave their homes? What was the legacy they wanted to pass on to us, their descendants? These are only a few of the questions that I asked myself when I first set out to research my heritage. I soon learned that the answers were not that easily available. Most of the family members who I interviewed had the same questions. Presented here are the answers to many of these questions for only a handful of our ancestors.
The results that appear on this web site are from more than fifteen years of research, several thousand miles of travel, and more motel rooms than I care to remember. Finally yet importantly, there are the wonderful stories about our ancestors passed-on to me from the many interviews of newfound relatives and friends. You will find many of them re-told throughout this site. Please be aware, a number of the anecdotes, and tales passed on to me by relatives over the past several years were so interesting that they are being included in this Web Site without any verification, so if they seem hard to believe, please regard them as “stories,” and not “history.”
In the early days of my research, I often wondered about the lives of our ancestors. What were their likes and dislikes, what kind of life did they live, what kind of hardships did they endure during their lifetime. Could I actually live up to the hardships they must have faced? I tried many times to put my thoughts about the answer to these questions to paper and each time failed miserably. Then quite by accident while attempting to verify some questionable data, I pulled a book from my personal library and began reading. I was well into the preface and to my great surprise; I found the very words that have so long evaded me. The books title is Pioneers of Wiregrass Georgia Volume 1, compiled, and published in 1951 by Mr. Folks Huxford of Hommerville, Georgia. The book is a biographical account of some of the early settlers of a portion of Wiregrass Georgia.
At the time of publication, Mr. Huxford had been engaged in historical and genealogical work for over thirty-five years. His collections included thousands of family records dealing with old pioneer families of Georgia.
So that you might gain an understanding of what kind of people our ancestors were, here are Mr. Huxford’s thoughts on those pioneers that braved the journey south.
“The men and women who came to this uncharted wilderness country 125 years or more ago, left kindred and friends and home-ties far behind to brave the wilds and dangers of a new country, to make for themselves and their children a new home. They braved dangers untold, endured hardships and suffered privations without end, lived under the most primitive conditions; made a way where there was no way; learned by the hard way the great lessons in life of hard work, thrift, frugality, self-reliance, resourcefulness, courage, independence and faith in God. Their experiences worked in them great firmness of character. Among the graces these lessons in life inculcated, were those of hospitality, kindness, patience and neighborliness. They were for the most part, poor but a more honorable generation the world has never known. Measured by present-day ideas, they were crude and illiterate but they knew more about the essentials of life than this generation will ever learn. They were too plain both in speech and dress, to be counted cultured and refined as we count such things today. We would not say they were perfect, but they were all honest, God-fearing, brave, and hard working, and they had no use for those who were not. Drones and dudes they despised, and undesirables soon found it healthier to seek other climates. To be a descendant of these hardy, God-fearing men and women is indeed an honor, and to share in their ideals is a privilege.”
If you are at all interested in how our ancestors might have lived is a small northern Florida community, I have included in another section of this site, a story sent to me by Thomas Webb, a cousin. The story, written by Thomas Burton Webb III (now deceased), is about his great grandfather the Rev. Thomas Mitchell Webb and his family. Thomas Mitchell Webb was the husband of my great grandaunt Amanda Jones. The story represents most rural families of North Florida in the nineteenth century and is printed with the kind permission of Thomas Burton Webb Jr., father of Thomas Burton Webb III.
Click here to link to his story
Although by birthright, I carry the Chancey surname; I am also a descendent of a great many other surname families such as Severance, Brooking and Brookins, Walker, Osteen, Williams, Wright and the list goes on. Each family, I found, had an equally fascinating history to discover and I’m certain that each family contributed to what I consider my proud “Southern Heritage.”