I was born in Texas during WWII to a Texan mother and Mississippi father. I have searched graves from Virginia to Texas exploring their families and those of my Claiborne/Taylor/Lyle husband from Tennessee. I'm currently active with my Tynes, Rogers, Pounds, Williams, Robison folks from Mississippi, Arkansas and Texas, and would like to learn more about the Weatherman and Guynn families in Virginia and North Carolina, (families of my daughter-in-law).

To me, the people I search are more than dates on stone - they are family waiting for someone to tell their stories. I enjoy linking them to their parents and children. Like a family reunion for the dead.
When I was a girl, my Dad's big Mississippi family had "decoration day" once a year. My grandmother would make crepe paper flowers on wire stems and dip them in hot wax. The day began with men burning off old stone piles, clearing weeds and then mowing. The women would set the table with chicken, potato salad and every kind of cake in a recipe book. Lemonade in washtubs with ice and lemons floating. And they would tell us the stories of the family. Stories that THEIR grandfolks had told THEM. Sometimes a politician would show up on the back of a flat bed truck and campaign. I'm so sorry for folks who grew up without experiencing this kind of family reunion with their dead.

I am not able now to travel and search cemeteries myself, and therefore I am extremely pleased to see other volunteers finding my family. They are real heroes to me. I am always happy to transfer family members to more direct descendants. But I will not transfer to a "Society" for genealogical purposes only. They deserve to be honored by their own family.

I am currently seeking help to restore and preserve the LYLE CEMETERY north of Winder, Georgia, with the grave of Revolutionary War Pvt Maher Shallal Hashbaz Lyle. Too long neglected, this cemetery has trees growing up through the broken vaults; saplings, seedlings and brush sprouted between visits. It is too much for me and the two Lyle cousins who have been working because we are in our seventies with bad backs and knees etc. and the younger folks who are proud of their Lyle lineage should take this job over.

UPDATE: Several Lyle family members have volunteered to help clean up the Lyle Cemetery. Trees have been felled and brush cleared. A wonderful granite stone has been erected by the land owner marking Lyle Cemetery.

I was born in Texas during WWII to a Texan mother and Mississippi father. I have searched graves from Virginia to Texas exploring their families and those of my Claiborne/Taylor/Lyle husband from Tennessee. I'm currently active with my Tynes, Rogers, Pounds, Williams, Robison folks from Mississippi, Arkansas and Texas, and would like to learn more about the Weatherman and Guynn families in Virginia and North Carolina, (families of my daughter-in-law).

To me, the people I search are more than dates on stone - they are family waiting for someone to tell their stories. I enjoy linking them to their parents and children. Like a family reunion for the dead.
When I was a girl, my Dad's big Mississippi family had "decoration day" once a year. My grandmother would make crepe paper flowers on wire stems and dip them in hot wax. The day began with men burning off old stone piles, clearing weeds and then mowing. The women would set the table with chicken, potato salad and every kind of cake in a recipe book. Lemonade in washtubs with ice and lemons floating. And they would tell us the stories of the family. Stories that THEIR grandfolks had told THEM. Sometimes a politician would show up on the back of a flat bed truck and campaign. I'm so sorry for folks who grew up without experiencing this kind of family reunion with their dead.

I am not able now to travel and search cemeteries myself, and therefore I am extremely pleased to see other volunteers finding my family. They are real heroes to me. I am always happy to transfer family members to more direct descendants. But I will not transfer to a "Society" for genealogical purposes only. They deserve to be honored by their own family.

I am currently seeking help to restore and preserve the LYLE CEMETERY north of Winder, Georgia, with the grave of Revolutionary War Pvt Maher Shallal Hashbaz Lyle. Too long neglected, this cemetery has trees growing up through the broken vaults; saplings, seedlings and brush sprouted between visits. It is too much for me and the two Lyle cousins who have been working because we are in our seventies with bad backs and knees etc. and the younger folks who are proud of their Lyle lineage should take this job over.

UPDATE: Several Lyle family members have volunteered to help clean up the Lyle Cemetery. Trees have been felled and brush cleared. A wonderful granite stone has been erected by the land owner marking Lyle Cemetery.