It Begins

I have taken an interest in knowing who I am and who I come from, since I was a child.  In approximately 2003, I found out about ancestry.com and promptly became a member.  In 2004, in my first trip to Georgia as an adult, I was introduced to the National and State Archives in Morrow, GA.  This is the time when I truly began to take a serious interest in genealogy.

Since then, I have made multiple trips back to the archives, and have documented and transcribed oral histories from elders in my family.  I and my mother have also taken DNA tests which give us greater insight on our ancestry, although it ultimately left me with more questions than answers.

I begin this blog to as a storehouse of clues while I try to piece together the past, and hopefully collaborate with other family members and genealogists!

I am blessed to have multiple other historians in my family who have begun the work of tracking down the truth, and the benefit of technology and altruists who've lain a foundation for my research.

All research begins with questions, and "Who am I?" and "Where do I come from?" are to broad.  So I've decided to limit my parameters by asking more specific questions:

Appling Family
1)Who was Millie Cochran? How did she come to be enslaved on the Johnson plantation?
2) Who fathered Millie's daughter Katie?  And who fathered Katie's children, William and Henry Appling?
3) What happened to William Appling, Katie's son?  Where is he buried? How did he get to Michigan/Canada?  Did he father any other children?
4) Did Katie have a brother named Joe?

Walton Family
1) Who was Harriet Appling?
2) What are Chris Walton's origins?

Laws/Price Family
1) Who were Richard Laws' owners?   Where were the rest of Richard Laws' family enslaved before Spaulding county?  What happened to David Laws' land?
2) How did Annie Price come to Georgia

Martin/Young
1) Who were Cora Young's parents?
2) What happened to Cora's sister, Helen?
3) What happened to Sandy Martin's mother, Jeany/Dorothy Clarke?

Smith Family
1) Who were William Smith (grandfather)'s family? Did William Smith II have any brothers and sisters?


DNA Relatives
I am hoping that I can find the connections with the majority of my DNA cousins...I'm especially hoping that triangulation can help us figure out the shared ancestors, uncover the family secrets, and ultimately lead to us discovering our heritage.  I would love to be able to trace my ancestry back to particular villages/towns/ethnic groups...from America, to Africa, to Europe...