Someone once defined the word genealogy as "tracing yourself back to better people" and that is certainly true in my case. I took my mother out to decorate the graves of her family in the Cunningham cemetery. This yearly outing gives her a chance to remind me of my roots from her side of the family. The Rowlands were from Montgomery county, Arkansas (Bear and Mt. Ida) and were almost to a person connected with construction (carpenters, brick layers, sheet rockers, etc.). I can just barely remember my grandfather, but my grandmother lived with us until I married and moved away from home. They were a hardworking people who survived many tragedies and obstacles in the backwoods of rural Arkansas. Had they not been so resourceful and determined, I would not be here today. I only wished they had been around longer and I would have paid more attention to their stories. However, as Thomas Jefferson said, our ancestors possessed a right, that nature has given to all men, of departing from the country in which chance, not choice placed them.
Mom looking over her parent's freshly cleaned tombstone.
We hung the wreath mom made for the occasion.
Mom had three brothers that were born dead. They could not afford tombstones and the graves are only marked by stones, but Mom's crosses look nice.
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