Southern Bypass

This chronicle follows the metamorphosis of a segment of early America and my family from the early 1700s to 2011. It winds around time and generations using only material in the family collection of history to weave the trail. My ancestors and I get to be the voices in this retelling of times, and at times, they (my people) may rue the day I became one of theirs, wishing I had kept my mouth shut and their lives, too. They wrote letters, books, and logs of all sorts of trivia and trials, victories and heart-wrenching defeats, the keeping of such, a reminder to any who might ponder whether or not to hold onto penned thoughts or communications. Some of my ancestors gave much forethought to the benefits of saving many documents, and decided for posterity, and/or out of pride, they should keep a record of the somewhat public part of their lives. While I cannot take credit or responsibility for the way they acted, what they accomplished, or what they said, I can be held accountable for presenting them in this chronicle. I am opposed to some of the views expressed here, but my account is primarily an attempt to present history truthfully. I honor them for their desire to push forward under complicated circumstances, to lean in, to get involved. They are just one voice on a long path through time. The women are the threads weaving this book, but the men along the way with them, their partners, their friends, or family, or lovers, are essential to the fabric. Many of the males were the earliest settlers, governors, statesmen, doctors, officers, judges, in Kentucky, Virginia, Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama. The letters, journals, poems tell the stories of the earliest struggles and pleasures in our country; the trivial disputes some chose to obsessively pursue; the offers and refusals of kindness; the admonitions and the adorations of and for the South. These documents collectively paint an historical mural of the pioneer days, the Civil War era, the Reconstruction of the South, the early days of many southern towns, the role of women during these periods, and the transitions between the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. My ancestors are just one voice on a long path through time, but they are the voice of my roots and routes that led to the Southern Bypass.