Family Line – Dare to Discover

Joplin Hollow

November 4, 2025July 3, 2020 by admin

I’m really fortunate that my father decided to document stories about his family. Over a period of about 8 years, he wrote the stories, and I put together the finished product. Joplin Hollow is the result, a collection of family stories, personal memories, and music. We printed about 50 hard copies for family and friends, … Read more

Mystery Great-Great-Grandmother

December 30, 2017 by admin

This photo of a young woman standing by a chair is believed to be my great-great-grandmother. The problem is that I don’t know whether it is through the Jameson line, or the Rigg line.

Escape to Her Grandfather’s Ferry

September 8, 2016 by admin

This photo is from “Album of Virginia, Plate 26, Kanawha Fall. Edward Beyer, 1858” – the time period is very close to the time of this story, which refers to a period between 1847 (Nancy Montgomery Rigg’s birth) and 1852 (the death of her grandfather Henry Montgomery). Frances Folsom Farley (1886-1076), known as “Aunt Aggie” to … Read more

Basketball in the Family

June 6, 2016 by admin

Today is my paternal grandmother’s birthday; Audrey Vellence Hale was born on June 6, 1908. In this really fabulous photo, she is posing in her basketball uniform for Winding Gulf High School. Family lore is that she is turned to the side to hide a shiner received in a game a day or two preceding this picture.

Thomas Hardeman

December 29, 2016May 29, 2016 by admin

Thomas Hardeman (1750 – 1833) was born in Virginia and served in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. He moved his family to Tennessee where he served as the first county clerk. Hardeman County is named after him. He later moved to Georgia and other locales, eventually settling in Texas with his family, where he … Read more