Our Adventures

This is not a memoir or an attempt at an autobiography but it is rather an effort to share in our adventures as individuals that brought us together as a family.  We, Mindy and I, have unique perspectives and stories that make us who we are and things that God uses to further His Kingdom.  This is the first installment of Our Adventures.

First things are first and we must clear the air before we get off on the wrong foot.  I am a Hillbilly, a Mountaineer, or a Ridge Runner if you prefer.  My family has a long history of residing in the Mountains or their foothills dating back to the Revolutionary War Era in South Western Virginia.  Not only are we hillbillies but for the most part they were and are  coal miners.

My Great Great Grandpa Jack and His brothers would homestead what would become known as Kayford Mountain in Central WV in the late 1800′s.  It was a trying life filled with hardships and dangers not known to us today.  Disease, poverty, and illiteracy were common and so were large families: To ensure the furtherance of the gene pool and to provide a cheap workforce.  Grandpa Jack and Grandma Ella had 17 kids that survived and at one count there were five thousand direct descendants from those two.

Stories of hound dogs and black bears, feuds and fighting, courting and marriage are told with gusto at family gatherings.  Keeping up with names and dates is a mind numbing experience that should require a team of secretaries and stenographers.

Moonshining was a common and lucrative past-time in the Mountains even before Prohibition became law .  Stories of painting glass milk jugs white to evade revenuers and gunshots when evasion was impossible are told around reunion campfires.  There have been cousins who ” did time ” for making shine and few hold that against them.

There is much to share-to much to do so here-so I hope you check back in and get to know us better.

Thanks and God bless

Luther Wesley

Tags: Grandpa Jack, Hillbilly, Stanley

This entry was posted on July 22, 2011 at 1:30 am and is filed under West Virginia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.