My brother and I have been trying to trace some of our aunts and uncles, grandparents, cousins and just kinfolk back to their beginnings.
We have decided that when we have gone home, our children and their children’s children will never know their origins unless we search out and find the foundations of our families. 
Some of the names of relatives are most unique and some are beautiful. For instance, one of our grandfathers was named Bascomb; we had uncles named Ercle and Axen. These are names we just do not hear every day. We also have the pleasing names of one of our grandmothers, Louida, Liza Jane and an aunt named Ileta. Some of these names have been passed down to their children and also to ours.
I love to visit the old church cemeteries where my predecessors are buried and find some of the most uncommon names, such as Elvira, Orison, Zadie and Ozlais. Where in the world did these names originate?
We have checked the number of children of our relatives and found that our maternal and paternal grandparents had a total of nine children and 10 children respectively, and each child was two years apart. Our maternal grandmother sadly lost two little boys almost in infancy. Our paternal grandmother’s origin dated back to Ireland and she died at the young age of 43, leaving 10 children, the youngest only two years of age.
We discovered that very few of our close kin ever finished high school, some only elementary grades.
Some of them had multiple spouses and one even had as many as nine marriages to her credit.
We were able to determine their occupations with most of them being farmers in their earlier years.
We found their old home sites and both of us remember visits to these places. We visited near Scoupa Chitta Creek at the Old Strain House with our Daddy’s family. This old house held so many secrets and legends. We were always fascinated with each visit as we discovered another surprise.
The other pair of grandparents lived in Montgomery County with their barn sat straddling the Montgomery and Attala county lines. We would always imagine as we stood with feet spread apart near the old barn that we had one foot in one county and one in another.
We are truly trying our best to record all these memories and findings as we uncover each special remembrance and revelation about our past so that our offspring will always know the wonder and amazement from where they come and why we are so blessed.
We have had an abundance from our watermelon patch this year, so I have looked for ways to use the delicious fruit. Here is one way.
Watermelon Jelly
2 cups watermelon juice
3 T. fresh lemon juice
3 ½ cups of sugar
1 pouch of Certo liquid pectin
Crush 6 cups of chopped melon and crush and strain to remove seeds or pulp.
Combine juice, lemon juice, and sugar and bring to a boil over high heat stirring constantly.
Quickly stir in pectin and return to a rolling boil for 1 minute.
Skim off foam and ladle into hot jars and process in water bath for 7 minutes.
