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Archiver > WVJACKSO > 2004-05 > 1086022143


From: "Pat Balser" <>
Subject: Re: [WVJackson] Memorial Day
Date: Mon, 31 May 2004 12:52:06 -0400
References: <40BB5ED3.8090600@earthlink.net>


Betty, I think you have helped me before. Do you know the names
of the cemeteries in Ravenswood, WV? I think my GGrandfather
William Davis B. 1863, D. 1994 is buried there. His middle initial
may be T. His mother and dad are Abraham & Hester.

Thanks,
Pat
----- Original Message -----
From: "Betty Briggs" <>
To: <>
Sent: Monday, May 31, 2004 12:35 PM
Subject: [WVJackson] Memorial Day


> Today is Memorial Day, a day to take some time to remember. And we
> genealogists have so many to remember. We may have a child or a spouse
> who have gone before us, maybe a sibing and probably a parent, surely a
> grandparent or two at least and it is a rare lucky one who still has a
> great-grandparent around to hug and question about the 'olden days'. The
> loss of one last week or last year is still fresh and hurting but I can
> remember those I never knew and hardly shed a tear. In my mind's eye, I
> see William landing on Plymouth Rock, James fighting the British, Edward
> leading a horse laden with all their household goods, up over the
> mountains into a land that will be called West Virginia, Sally leaving
> the comfort of her eastern Virginia home and following Charles,
> Valentine scouting in the un-Civil War, and John - always a John going,
> doing, moving on and seeing new lands.
>
> When I look through my family charts, I don't see just names. I picture
> each doing something. What did it feel like to leave a settled home in
> England to sail on a tiny ship across that dark ocean into who-knew-what
> was waiting? Family was left behind, and there was sure knowledge that
> they would never be seen again. How many of our grandmothers died in
> childbirth, knowing the anguish that they would not see their other
> children grow up? Think of all those who died of the cold and hunger in
> this new land! Remember the Indian raids that almost wiped out Virginia
> when Massachusetts was just getting started? Try to imagine moving
> westward, with no roads or much knowledge of what was before you. Were
> the men excited and the women terrified? Was it love or lunacy that made
> her follow him? Think about the Virginia plantations for a moment. How
> few generations inherited them intact and how many younger sons had to
> leave because there wasn't enough left for them? How many went west with
> one or two slaves and how were they treated? I picture most of them as
> servants, not as slaves, all sharing the hardships and dangers. I can't
> imagine very many spoiled belles being willing to face briars and snakes
> and sleeping on the cold hard ground! Do you remember the last time you
> worked in the yard? Imagine clearing land that was full of trees so you
> could plant a few hills of corn and beans. And how much of that food was
> eaten by wild animals? Do you hate going to the ER with an injured
> child? Remember all the children who were snakebit or kicked by horses
> or fell victim to a childhood disease for which there was no motrin, no
> antibiotics, no doctor to stitch or set a broken bone and feel the pain
> the parents felt when they buried the first, second or third of their
> loved little ones, maybe in a shallow unmarked grave on the path to a
> new home. Does it hurt more or less to have a stone with their name on
> it in a cemetery today?
>
> Today as I look at my charts, I am still amazed that the Scotch-Irish
> and the Germans finally merged, that the 'old Virginia' families sent
> their younger ones westward and that the melding of them all created
> this land we call West Virginia. And today, I say a Thank you to them
> all as I remember. Thank you for braving the unknown, thank you for
> fighting to win and preserve our freedom, thank you for staying home and
> keeping those homefires lit.
>
> Betty
>
>
>
> ==== WVJACKSO Mailing List ====
> If you have made a list of burials of any Jackson County cemetary, you can
send them to to have them added to the Jackson County
WVGenWeb pages.
>


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