We accompanied my parents to the beach in May - the same weekend as the major flood hit Nashville and just after the oil spill in the Gulf. Fortunately, we had no damage. On our way back from Gulf Shores, I'd done some research in my family's genealogy record and realized we'd be passing right through Fort Deposit, AL - my family's ancestral place, at least here in the US. I won't bore you with the details, but something like my 5th, 4th, and 2nd great-grandfathers from my Mother's side are all here. We found the church and its little cemetery and began to explore, when an elderly couple arrived. It was the day after Decoration Day, and she was cleaning up the flowers and such from the graves from the previous day. As fate would have it, the man was the de facto area historian and knew a whole lot about my family! We followed him around the area for a good while retracing their steps. It was a great time, and I am so grateful to have done it and to have been able to do it due to the diligent research of a distant cousin several years ago which culminated in our genealogy book, The Descendants of Valentine Kirkpatrick (my sixth great grandfather!)
Little Sandy Ridge Presbyterian Church - our family played a role in the establishment of this congregation and very distant relatives are apparently still active!
A great-grand, with a newer headstone, it seems! And he was a postman! Apparently, too, a relative made it to the major leagues in baseball.
Another great or grand... wow, I really should have done this sooner so it would be fresh on my mind! Gotta go back to the book at some point, I guess...
Along the highway - apparently there once was acres of hardwood known as the "Junie Kirkpatrick Woods" that he would harvest and sell - very well known in the area.
Finally, the man took us to a place where an old homestead once was - my family's place! And all that is left is this sign commemorating the area - "I Make Sure" was something of a family motto. I really don't have the smart aleck comment you'd think I would to follow that up with.
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