Virginia Sanders  Mylius

<gmylius@charter.net>   ·
Birmingham, AL    



Complete notes and sources available upon request.

Our Southern Cousins - a website

"People who never look backward to their ancestors will never look forward to posterity."

THE ANCESTORS OF ROBERT McCLURE
     
From my grandfather Robert McClure’s side of the family I am a Battle, Bostick, Fitzpatrick, Hampton,  Hardin, McClure, Perkins, Pillow, Washington, Wright  descendant, and others.         
    

THE ANCESTORS OF HELEN JACKSON McCLURE

From my grandmother Helen Jackson McClure’s side of the family I am a DeLaigle, Claiborne, Hopkins, Jackson, Balch, Robison, Walton, Watkins descendant, and others.

I have met so many dear friends and relatives who have generously shared their knowledge.   I thank each and every one!     

I post this for all of my family.    For the younger generation:  if you want to know which are your ancestors, and can’t tell from this... just email me!    I’ll tell you more than you probably want to hear!    It is wonderful to to be able to share.   
        
The families contained herein are the ancestors of either my grandmother Helen Virginia Jackson (1899 Augusta, GA-1974 Birmingham, AL), or my grandfather Robert McClure (1894 Lewisburg, TN-1955 Birmingham, AL), parents of my mother, Jeanne McClure Sanders (1921-1999 Birmingham, AL).     Not all of my ancestor’s various families are contained here,  yet!       

I also post this website in the hopes of hearing from other long “lost” members of the family.   If you are related, please let us hear from you!

The problem with posting this sort of thing, is that you also need to be vigilant in correcting it or adding to it, as necessary.    I have the best intentions to do so!    And certainly not all of the information I have may be posted in this format.     This is a work-in-progress!    

I try never to disclose information about living generations, unless it be about myself and my immediate family - at my discretion.   If any of my family members want me to post information, or are not opposed to it, they need to contact me first.

The information contained herein about any particular individual will only be a synopsis.   There is not enough room to include more in this format, although I try to post pdf files with all of my notes.  but I will gladly share further information with anyone who is interested.    Keep in mind that my notes contain anything I have ever seen of interest.   They shouldn’t mislead, but I never get rid of anything!   

Naturally, there are many families related to these that I either would love to know more about, or might have information on.   Please consider sharing if you have any information on related families or individuals.   Please feel free to contact me privately if you have any questions or problems with anything posted here.   

Though we all must choose
our own paths in life
and the journey may
sometimes seem far,
If we learn from our
ancestors' struggle and strife,
we will be better yet
than we are.
Our grandfathers etching
our history in stone
and grandmothers with
silken threads weaving,
Empowered us with
the will to be strong
and succeed if we
keep on believing.
------------------------------

"For the sons become the fathers, and the daughters will be wives, as
the torch is passed from hand to hand
and we struggle through our lives.
Though the generations wonder, the lineage survives.
And all of us from dust to dust will all become forefathers
by and by.."

Dan Fogelberg

"She's crazy, you know.... she's obsessed with her family tree!"

“The pride of ancestry increases in the ratio of distance.” – Jane Austin


ON BEING AN ANCESTRESS
(To My Great-great Grandchildren)
(Author unknown)

I shall not care for it, I’m sure,
The being dead, you know, my dears,
And hanging primly on a wall-
Just looking on for years and years!

Ah, no, I’m sure I shall not like
To be imprisoned there in paint;
I, who love being up-to date,
Shall never like just being... quaint!

Of course I’ll do the proper thing,
And hang serenely in my place
Beside your great-great grandpapa –
A wifely smile upon my face!

And you will all look up to me _
Believe, no doubt, I was a saint,
For all my faults, of course will be
Quite blotted out by time and… paint!

No doubt your honored parents, dears,
Will point my portrait out and say:
“Your great-great granny would be shocked -
Things were so different in her day!”

And I’ll not say a word, nor smile -
I’ll look demure, show no surprise –
But, dears, if you seek sympathy,
I think you’ll find it in my eyes!

And if you stand and look at me,
And, wistful, wonder if I knew
The pain, the passion and the stress
Of life, as they are felt by you,

Come closer, dears, and never tell –
To you a secret I’ll entrust:
Your flaming hearts have caught their fire
From your great-great grandmother’s dust!   

Our history is shrouded in mystery, missing years block our path. Each generation passes with ‘secrets’, stories, tales of bliss and woe. Yes, honor the oral tradition, but remember the written word, it’s a key to information's store.  Honor our pioneers, the ancestors who’ve gone before, through, for, and by them we exist.....HONOR YOUR LEGACY !!


"Remember as you view the information of those listed in this website, and if you are a direct descendant of these people, they are the greatest people you will ever read about. If any one of them had not of existed, you would not either. Honor them and their lives for they still live in you. Your blood, eyes, hair, and every part of you, has some part of them. They are our past, and we are their present."

A dear friend, Steve Beaty, shared the above two quotes with me, and I think them very appropriate.   

There is a passage in Octavia Walton LeVert’s  journal, titled “The Pride of Birth,”

that Kevin de l’Aigle, my cousin, found, and I think it’s lovely:    

    “I frankly confess that I have a respect for Family Pride.

     If  it be a prejudice, it is a prejudice in its most picturesque shape; but I hold that it is connected with some of the noblest feelings in our nature. Is it nothing to be connected with the history of this Country, and to feel

    The name of every noble ancestor

    A bond upon your soul against disgrace!

   No one who, admits the rule, can deny its exceptions, but I believe the pride of blood to have a beneficial influence. It is much to feel, that the high, and honorable belong to a name that is pledged to the Present, by recollections of the Past.”                      O.W.L.

Naming Patterns among the Scots/Irish:

One of those things we Scots/Irish keep in mind when doing research is the naming pattern they usually followed when naming their children.   It is:

“Basic” Celtic (Irish, Scottish, Welsh) Naming Traditions:
--- Oldest Son: named after the Father’s father
--- 2nd Son: named after the Mother’s father
--- 3rd Son: named after the Father
--- 4th Son: named after the Father’s oldest brother

--- Oldest Daughter: named after the Mother’s mother
--- 2nd Daughter: named after the Father’s mother
--- 3rd Daughter: named after the Mother
--- 4th Daughter: named after the Mother’s oldest sister

--- 2nd Wife’s Oldest Daughter: usually named after the first wife, using her full name
(often follows for subsequent husbands too)

The Gregorian Calendar:   Another  thing we must keep in mind was the change in the calendar on September 2, 1752.   And if it’s frustrating to us, imagine how frustrating it was to our ancestors!   On that day:

The day following September 2, 1752 was September 14. This was done to correct a minor error in the Julian Calendar that left untended would eventually shift the calendar in relation to the seasons.

Proposed by an Italian physician, Aloysius Lilius, and perfected by Christoph Clavius, the Gregorian Calendar (from Pope Gregory) was adopted by Italy, Spain, and Portugal in February, 1582 by a Papal Bull. Catholic German States changed from the Julian to Gregorian calendar in 1583. Lutherans in Germany did not adopt the new calendar until 1699. Other states took longer: England, who adopted the calendar in 1752; Sweden, 1753; Japan, 1873; China, 1912; and Greece, 1923.

The Julian calendar, which had been introduced 45 years before Christ, was a refinement of earlier Roman calendars. Interestingly, the Gregorian Calendar does have a flaw, but this only accounts for one day every 4000 years.

This website is not complete.   Many other families will be added, as time permits.   Also posted are pdf files of all of my notes, and/or some family trees, especially for persons of interest, or as a means of providing copies of notes that are too large to post here.   

Site never complete.  It’s a work in progress!

Virginia Sanders-Mylius
2112 Haden Street
Birmingham, AL  35226

2010
To my sweet and precious grandchildren:  Savannah and William