Wordless Wednesday

Digital Photography Collection  2007 - 2011
Privately Owned by Janice Tracy

"Crossroads"
US Hwy 49 and US Hwy 61
Clarksdale, Mississippi

Gibson Family of Craven County, South Carolina

Yesterday was a "South Carolina Research" day for me.  No, I did not travel to South Carolina.  I simply perused online books available through GoogleBooks (quite a few, I might add) about the history of South Carolina.  And yes, I am still looking for the parents of my great-great-great-grandfather, John P. Gibson, born about 1799 in South Carolina. Thanks to bits and pieces of Gibson family history found in one of those online books, I have now confirmed that Gideon Gibson and Jordan Gibson, born in the 1700s, were brothers. I was unsuccessful, however, in uncovering the names of their parents who had allegedly migrated to Craven County, South Carolina from Virginia.  Next, I plan to research the descendants of these two Gibson brothers, Jordan and Gideon - it stands to reason that John P. Gibson, must be one of them.  

Wordless Wednesday

"White Arches"

Columbus, Mississippi

Photograph by Judy Howles

 Southern Exposures

http://southernexposure.zenfolio.com

This is the Face of Genealogy

  

Margaret Susanna Merriweather Porter and John J. Porter
My Paternal Great-Grandparents
Attala County, Mississippi
Circa 1920

I have posted the photo here in response to an insensitive (to say the least) photo that accompanied a recent article in the LAWeekly announcing the Southern California Genealogical Society's 42nd Annual Genealogy Jamboree. You can see a copy of the photo in question and read the background of what happened here. The outcry from the geneablogging community that began yesterday has been huge, and the photo in question has since been replaced with a photo of the "Jamboree app" on an iphone. 


The more I think about what happened with the LAWeekly, the more I wonder why this incident occurred in the first place. Do some members of the public feel that researching one's family history is some sort of joke and that it is less than a worthy and noble effort? I don't think so. Viewer response to two seasons of  "Who Do You Think You Are" has surely proven otherwise.  What I do know is the LA Weekly now knows first-hand the geneablogging community believes genealogy is a subject that deserves respect.

Wordless Wednesday

Rosedale (c.1856)
Columbus, Mississippi
Photograph by Judy Howle
Southern Exposure

Wordless Wednesday - "Southern Exposures"

"Riverview"
Columbus, Mississippi

Photographed by Judy Howles

 Southern Exposures

http://southernexposure.zenfolio.com

The Mississippi River Flood of 2011

I was born in the Mississippi Delta, and for the first nine years of my life, the Delta was my home.  My father and his parents lived there before I was born.  Fortunately, however, my grandparents and their young son were still living in the hills of Attala County, Mississippi when the most destructive flood in the history of this country wreaked havoc in the vast and fertile farmland known as the "The Delta."  But it did not matter where one lived in Mississippi During the Great Flood of 1927 to remember the tragic event that took the lives of so many and changed forever the lives of others.  Even now, I still recall the stories my grandparents told me about the flood while I was still a child.

My family no longer lives in the Delta, and most of my relatives now live in areas that are likely to remain high and dry.  But my heart goes out to all those in the flood areas throughout the country who have already lost their homes, their crops, and their jobs.  In Tunica County, Mississippi, once the poorest county in what was then the poorest state in the country, the largest employers are casinos that are now closed because of the flood.  Not only are many residents of the area without jobs, but they are also homeless and living in Red Cross shelters until the waters recede.  What happens after that remains yet to be seen. 

It breaks my heart to see the old train station in Vicksburg, a grand and historic landmark, sitting in murky brown flood water.  But as my grandparents and parents, too, told me years ago, the mighty Missisissippi River "giveth and taketh away," facts that are true and often sad. While the river has created thousands of acres of fertile farmland over the years, and has been responsible for the creation of all kinds of jobs for those who live near it, one massive flood like the one this year can destroy everything in its path, including precious human lives.

What happens next to the historic river ports of Mississippi and Louisiana, their residents and their land and livelihoods, still hangs in the balance.  We can only hope and pray for the safety of the people who call these places "home."