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Pull Up a Chair, and Enjoy a Story or Two

 

Every family has a story beyond the cold facts and figures of their existence. Here I have assembled stories to the best of my ability from a variety of sources. Much comes from the recollections of older generations.

 

One of my greatest sources here was a woman named Dorothea Louise (Earle) McGowan (b. 1910). To me, she is a half-cousin, twice removed from the Nash branch. Sometime in the 1990s, she decided to sit down and privately publish a small collection of family stories in a small stapled book. In it, she recalled how her grandparents looked, stories she heard when she was young, and what day-to-day life was like in the 1910s and 1920s. Someone Xeroxed in some photos (most of which I would have never known about if not for this booklet), and then set about making dozens of copies, mailing them out to various branches of the family. Dorothea gave us an invaluable gift. If she had not so thoughtfully written down all of those stories and details, they would be forever lost to time by now.

 

I have taken stories, including those from Dorothea, and have compiled them here for your enjoyment. Some other details have been filled in by virtue of circumstance--peculiar dates and timing for certain events, and stories we can infer from historical records. Please, read and enjoy. Do so with the understanding that, especially given the somewhat theatrical nature of much of our family, none of these stories are guaranteed to be accurate. Dates may be wrong. And one has to wonder if gypsies really did kidnap Great-Great Grandpa when he was a child.

 

With your grains of salt ready, please enjoy the reading. You can view each family's story by hovering over the "Family Story" tab above, and selecting each family's story. Or, for more detailed reading, you can investigate each family member's profile.

 

If you are a (verifiable) member of this family and have stories to contribute, please contact me via the email address at the bottom of this page. 

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