When you go digging, sometimes you can unearth the unexpected. I was NOT expecting this find.
I’ve decided to not only take a second look at George Askew, but everyone that I have in my family tree so far. I know it is going to be a long process. However, researching history has no finish line. There will always be a new discovery as new information becomes available. When I leave this Earth, I’m sure someone out there will pick up wherever I leave off.
In elementary school, I learned about slavery. It was sugar-coated content. It wasn’t until the age of 15, when Roots (from 1977) was being rebroadcast on TBS that I actually learned of the true atrocities of this practice. Thank you, Alex Haley!
Thirty-four years later, knowing even more of the brutal nature of slavery, I still felt completely gobsmacked after coming face to face with the physical evidence of my ancestry.
Rumors and speculation have always been the most regular and sometimes most humorous events of visits with family. If you come from a large one, you’re almost guaranteed at some point to hear the prompt, “Well, I heard…” or “There was talk…” and my favorite, “Folks was sayin’…” As a child, whenever I heard anyone of those three phrases, my ears would stand up like antennae. Even if I had no idea what they were talking about (old folks liked to speak in code back in the day), I knew it was something I wasn’t supposed to hear; which meant it was forbidden, and forbidden meant juicy gossip!
A gentleman by the name of Ron Peavey reached out to me regarding my blog. I responded, and we have been actively sharing and comparing information for well over a week now. Thoughtful consideration of the information that Ron shared, made me want to take a second look at everything that I’d gathered in the last few months. I’ve made the decision to go back to the beginning and start all over again. There may, perhaps, be details that I’ve overlooked, misinterpreted, or just plain ignored.
After months of almost non-stop research to the point of dreaming about research, I finally found sufficient evidence (by my standards) of Josiah Askew, Sr.’s role in the American Revolution.
