As a 7th generation Texan on my paternal side, I heard family stories from that grandmother, about the Gates family ancestors who arrived in 1821 as scouts for Stephen F. Austin's First Colony. We visited the tiny Gates/Perry Family Cemetery in rural Washington County, Texas, where their farm was settled. My maternal grandmother's oral history of her life in Galveston, its 1900 Storm, and stories of her Maryland and Texas forebears from the 1840's, sparked 50 years of genealogy searches. As a retired Social Worker, there's now time to dig into courthouse records, cemeteries and libraries - and history comes alive.

The more we learn of our ancestors' lives and their own complex times, the more relevant they become to us in our own. We honor them by having their challenges. struggles and lessons accessible to future generations. It's been gratifying to help our ancestors speak to us from the past.

I'm researching lines (Stump, Whitaker, Scott, Morriss, Gates, Mills) in Virginia, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Mississippi and Texas. Also welcome connecting with families of Bristol and Birdsall in New York and Texas, to fill out their bios!