In 1998, I published a compilation of stories about my grandparents, and ten aunts and uncles on my father's side of the family. The project took me ten years to complete and could not have been done without the careful and painstaking penning of memories by my cousins, Monteen Council Hayman, Omie Gilreath Baker, Patricia Daharsh, Vivian Gant, Kathryn Council Buckingham and Mary, her daughter. My mother's memories shared with me over the years were vital to this book as were my father's stories of his youth.
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| Two of my Council cousins Monteen Council Hayman and Charlie Council |
In this book, we tell the family history of Tom and Sallie Council who lived in Wakulla County, Florida and raised their kids on a farm. Life was hard, but like most of the people in that community, they enjoyed family gatherings and accepted the work that kept them housed and fed. They hunted deer and other wild animals for meat and grew vegetables in gardens. They were self-sufficient in the late 1800s and early 1900s. To buy other necessities Tom and his sons hauled farm goods to Tallahassee, Florida and sold them to merchants. The trip from the farm was usually an overnight venture by horse and wagon.
Each of Tom's and Sallie's children have stories, but that of John Henry, the oldest boy, was short. He died when he was only fourteen years old. Still, he has his chapter, and we learn what kind of young man he was.
I wanted the book to include facts of birth, location and death, but also I wanted this book to be entertaining. For the basic facts, I included the genealogy of the family, the complete names, birth dates and place, marriages and divorces, and the children of each of my aunts and uncles. The genealogy was researched for proof, but the stories of the people come from memories and oral accounts passed down through generations.
No family is perfect, no person is perfect, and no life is perfect. Nine of the Council children grew up and married, moved away from home which had become Pelham, Georgia at the turn of the century. Tom Council died and left Sarah a widow with children at home. The older brother, Charlie, became a father figure for the younger siblings and helped his sisters and his younger brother, my father, Coy Lee Council during very hard times.
Both Charlie and his brother Horace took active parts in the first world war.
Family photographs were shared by my cousins and are included throughout the book. I treasure those images and often thumb through the book just to look at them.
Family photographs were shared by my cousins and are included throughout the book. I treasure those images and often thumb through the book just to look at them.
I fell in love with this family of hard working, determined and persistent men and women who never gave up. They cared for their families and never stopped even when life knocked them to their knees. I saw what love can do when it seems there is no hope. The children of these ten brothers and sisters grew up with the same values of their parents and grandparents. I am proud to be a descendant of Tom and Sallie Council, Coy and Lois Council and grateful I grew up with the love of family and appreciation for my ancestors.
The family history book, Profiles and Pedigrees; The Descendants of Thomas Charles Council (1858 - 1911) is a hard back book compiled by Glenda Council Beall in 1998, published by Genealogy Publishing Service, Franklin, NC.
The book can be purchased by contacting me, Glenda Beall, gcbmountaingirl@gmail.com. I am offering discounts. It regularly sells for $35.00 but at this time: $20.00 plus shipping costs.
Have you researched your family history or written about your grandparents and their struggles and successes? What do you actually know?
I know next to nothing about my family history.
ReplyDeleteBoth my parents came to Australia as migrants and had no contact with their families.
My father was a German Jew and we suspect he had no family left to contact. Sadly my mother was not truthful about her background. We grew up believing that we had no relatives and that her only sibling had died before she came to Australia. After her death my (half) brother did some investigation. Her brother was indeed dead - but he died after she did, and I have cousins I have not met half a world away.
EC, I think you have a most interesting family history. I would want to research your parents and grandparents to learn their stories. Did your father talk about his laugh before coming to Australia? You have a half brother. Have you talked to him about family history and is he interested in researching? In today's world, with the Internet we can learn about our ancestry and find some great stories there. My cousins helped me so much to learn about my family. You have to reach out to them and I'm sure they would respond.
ReplyDeleteMy father made an oyster look taciturn. He didn't talk AT ALL about his family. My mother was married twice and my only siblings are from her first marriage. Her first husband died not long after the family arrived in Australia. leaving her in a strange country with three children under six, the youngest very unwell. Mind you, as a ten year old I punched the girl next door when she told me that they were only 'half brothers' and didn't count.
ReplyDeleteI think you are very fortunate to have such good connection to your ancestors. It's very different in my case, since I never really knew three of my four grandparents, and we are all scattered and never got a chance to have family histories survive.
ReplyDelete