William "Terry" Thornton - July 26, 1939 - August 9, 2010

Remembrance Card Design by footnoteMaven

Dr. William Terrance "Terry" Thornton (1939 - 2010)

A precious one from us is gone,

A voice we loved is stilled;

A place is vacant in our midst

Which can be never filled.

God in His wisdom has called home

The one His love had given

And though the body slumbers here,

His soul is safe in Heaven.

William Terrance "Terry" Thornton was the author of The Hill Country of Monroe County Blog. Terry was also the author of a "Hill Country" column at the Monroe Journal, a Monroe County Mississippi newspaper, and a "Graveyard Rabbit" column at the digital magazine, Shades of the Departed.

New Year's Day Article in MCHerald

Yesterday, New Year's Day 2009, an article introducing The Graveyard Rabbit of Madison County to the Greater Jackson area appeared on the front page of the MCHerald, a section of the Clarion-Ledger devoted to news and events in Madison County, Mississippi. My special thanks go out to Lucy Weber, Staff Writer for the MCHerald, who wrote the very nice article that provided an overview of the Madison County blog as well as The Association of Graveyard Rabbits. The parent organization was founded by Terry Thornton, of Fulton, Mississippi, and his co-founder who writes under the name, footnoteMaven. A link to yesterday's article is provided below.

http://www.mcherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090101/NEWS/901010312/1001

Attala County Roots Are Spread Worldwide

The year 2008 has been a fantastic year for bloggers worldwide. Not only did our country endure an election, complete with all the subject matter that makes political bloggers think they have died and gone to heaven, but we saw the election of a new President of the United States.

Political bloggers, however, were not the only ones who had an abundance of material to blog about. The year 2008 saw the beginning of an organization for geneabloggers like me, with the inception of a group named "Genea-bloggers on Facebook." Just this past October, Terry Thornton, a native Mississippian, along with another geneablogger known as footnoteMaven, established an organization known as "The Association of Graveyard Rabbits." Members of that organization are geneabloggers who write about all things cemetery-related, including the preservation of cemeteries, unique and different gravestones, the symbols on gravestones, burying traditions, and funeral customs. I am a Charter Member of that organization, as well, and I write three graveyard rabbit blogs, The Graveyard Rabbit of Attala County, The Graveyard Rabbit of Holmes County, and The Graveyard Rabbit of Madison County, sister blogs to Attala County Memories. For me, 2008 has been "The Year of the Blog."

The year 2008 must have been a good year for researching one's family roots. I base this in part on traffic to the Attala County Memories blog. Since I began posting here on July 24, 2008, I have had over 3400 visitors. Some of these visitors were likely just curious, but I believe many of them were seriously searching for information about their ancestors. As I expected, a majority of the blog's readers have come from the eastern portion of the United States, since early residents of Mississippi migrated from the northeast and the southeast. But many other readers are still arriving from all over the United States, and a fair number of readers even live outside the U. S. Our international economy has caused so many people to live in places far distant from their native county, state, or even country, but the common thread remains: they want to know about their roots. Those who continue to search for ancestors who lived in Attala County, Mississippi, prove that Attala County, like so many other early counties in the state, was only one of many places these pioneers called home as they traveled the path we call life.

Today, I thought it might be interesting for those of you who read this blog to see some of the locations of others who read it, as well. This is not an inclusive list, but it is still amazing to me that some locations are so far removed from the State of Mississippi and Attala County. And I continue to be amazed every day.

Readers of this blog are located in: Birmingham, AL, Richmond, VA, Mountain View, CA, Delhi, India, Meridian, MS, Hudson, NC, Albany, NY, Memphis, TN, Nashville, TN, Rome, GA, Cedartown, GA, Tillatoba, MS, Marietta, GA, Doddridge, AR, Bentonville, AR, Rochester, NY, Sunset Beach, CA, Jackson, MS, Tokyo, Japan, San Antonio, TX, Las Cruces, NM, Milton, FL, Gulfport, MS, Miami, FL, Wheeling, WVA, Milwaukee, WI, Humble, TX, Fredericksburg, VA, Louisville, KY, Hawaii, HI, Bogalusa, LA, Sheffield, UK, Austin, TX, Greenville, NC, Houston, TX, Biloxi, MS, Lambert, MS, Montreal, Canada, Des Moines, IA, Loire, France, Portland, OR, Seattle, WA, Bremerton, WA, Ogden, UT, Provo, UT, Palatine, IL, Josplin, MO, Cincinnati, OH, Aberdeen, MS, Louisville, KY, Itta Bena, MS, Charleston, SC, Bangkok,Thailand, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Jakarta, Micronesia, Brandon, MS, New Orleans, LA, College Station, TX, Bryan, TX, Natchez, MS, Doddridge, AR, Fort Rucker, AL, Vaughn, MS, Falls Church, VA, Lexington, MS, Burlington, NJ, Kansas City, MO, Philadelphia, MS, Bryan, TX, Bellafontaine, MS, Belleville, NJ, Rotherham, UK, Evansville, IN, Bremen, Germany, Sunnyvale, CA, Wasilla, AK, Madison, MS, Honolulu, HI, Surrey, British Columbia, Papua, New Guinea, Falkville, AL, Mobile, AL, Sarasota, FL, Flagstaff, AZ, Albuquerque, NM, Denver, CO, Melbourne, Australia, Romulus, MI, St. Paul, MN, El Paso, TX, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, and Paris, France.

Thank you, Readers, wherever you are, for stopping here for a while. Thank you for your comments, and thanks to several of you who sent Christmas cards. I wish for you all a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year in 2009, and I do hope you will stop by again next year.

New Graveyard Rabbit Blog for Holmes County, MS

Today I am announcing the birth of another "Graveyard Rabbit," a new addition to a now international group or "bury" of rabbits known as "The Association of Graveyard Rabbits" founded by Terry Thornton, another Mississippian, and a fellow blogger who writes "Shades of the Departed" under the name "footNote Maven." Terry also writes his own blog, "The Graveyard Rabbit of Hill Country." The Association was formed in October of this year, and already it has bloggers who write from many states in the U.S., from Canada, and from England, Australia, New Zealand, and the Netherlands.

On the new blogspot, "The Graveyard Rabbit of Holmes County," I will be writing about old graveyards located in Holmes County, Mississippi, Attala County's neighbor to the west. I hope that you will join me on this journey in search of my ancestors. Maybe you will find some of your ancestors, too, as we travel to cemeteries located in Lexington, Tchula, Coxburg, Ebenezer, and other communities throughout Holmes County.

Welcome to the "rabbit trail!"