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  1. Mary Plymale
    19th September 2022 @ 19:00

    I am descended from Mary Boylen – funny, my name is Mary Elizabeth, as was my grandmother and her mother. This came from my maternal grandmother, mother of 14 children the wife of a farmer. Imagine my shock when I had the family researched!!! My little southern granny that had 14 children, was a farmer’s wife and tended her milk cows and chickens, tended a huge garden and even worked sometimes in the fields of cotton, with grandpa and family., was descended from “Real royalty”. Now, she had been educated in a girl’s school in early years, but nothing much to brag on nor did she. She was a Farmer’s wife and quite satisfied with exactly that. Many of her kids excelled with their adulthood, but she never changed. She was my “namesake” Mary Elizabeth, but was called”Lizzie “ by all her friends and extended family. Never in a million years would I have imagined her ancestry – just plain old country farming folks that went to church every Sunday.

    Many years after she passed, did I even get into genealogy – and boy when I did was I ever in to the shock of my life. All the way back to the major royalty of Europe – and here was my benefactor the other “Mary Elizabeth”. The farmer’s wife and quiet happily so. A Christian, she read the Bible every morning and night as I knew – most likely her life. Just plain old Southern Baptist. 14 kids and so very many grandkids I lost count years ago. But, my sister, brother and I had the advantage of living with her after our mother’s divorce from our dad. This was off and on for maybe 3 – 4 years, as an aunt would grab one of us here and there as company for our cousins – 14 kids from granny = many cousins and many close to my age. These were short visits in Summer when school was out, but gave Granny a break too.

    Little did I even envision of the heritage/family history of my humble, hard working little granny. She was my namesake “Mary Elizabeth” although all her friends called her “Lizzie”. Grandpa’s was great to in another aspect. Here was Granny with all the royal blood of Europe and Grandpa with incredible history of early colonial times and leading up to the Alamo. What a double edged sword here. Both sides – of course I really did not put this together for many years and now with my 79’th birthday figure I best take some time to do this for our family. So that is my most precious
    Mission at the moment – to put this all together for future generations. The real American Story from the 1600’s to the present.

    So many of us have this same story that needs to be told – just how our precious nation came to be and how so very many contributed to it – something that if know today just might rekindle the old “Patriotism” that we have so seemingly lost” !!

    I hope I can rekindle so much that has seemed to be lost. Big project here!!

    Reply

    • Pour me a glass...
      22nd September 2022 @ 14:24

      What an incredible story! I love the way our families branch out and I love that your grandfather had an equally special story.

      Reply

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