I knew very little about my family genealogy and frankly had no interest in it. I was a busy nurse, and in a midlife crisis of not knowing what to do next. I had moved into a home to care for my dear friend's mother, Carolyn. Carolyn was a gently raised North Carolina Belle. She was caring, dry-witted and, when I met her, fragile. She had been diagnosed with Stage 4 Ovarian cancer. It wasn't too long after I met Carolyn that she expressed her concern about me joining the household. I received a text from my friend the next day "my mother wants to know what your people did in the Civil War". It took me by surprise and we both had a great laugh over the question, but it set me on a unexpected journey through documents, bibles, narratives and deeds.
It opened my eyes and heart and I began diligently searching for the family we had lost and the family we had divided. It sent me through dusty books, heart-breaking anecdotes and over the wall 0f 1870 as I searched for the Griffin children, Horace, Hagar, George and little Cherry Ann.
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