I have always been impressed by the number of family histories our small
library has. As I sit here looking toward that section, I count five
bookcases of four shelves each. These contain hundreds of family histories,
each lovingly put together by a family member proud of his or her family no
matter how grand or humble they were.
Today I’ve pulled out the first of three volumes dedicated to the Green
family and written by Harold Wayne GREEN. In a folksy way, Mr. Green offers
suggestions about research and how to go about it. He also offers the
information that in school his least favorite subjects were English,
history, and geography. The less here is “work hard at all your subject,
young people, you never know what you might need as you grow older.”
In addition to researching his family, Mr. Green put out a quarterly
newsletter. In it he wrote of Clay County history, had a quarterly quiz,
updated information, and in general wrote in a “flow of consciousness”
manner. It is very readable.
In the July of 2001 edition of his newsletter, Mr. Green said he had 17,006
names of family members in his file. Many of the names are familiar to Clay
Countians. In addition to the Greens he researched MILLIGAN, WOOLF, KINGERY,
MUNCIE, MYERS, POLLOM, LUMSDON, and probably many more I haven’t had the
patience to pull out of the many pages of research.
In addition to bare bone facts, the volumes contain pictures of various
family members, short stories from relatives including Grandpa Muncie’s
jokes, and now and then a smiley face to break the concentration.
Mr. GREEN was born August 2, 1931, in Center Point, Indiana.
Titles of the three volumes are as follows:
Vol. I. Newsletters
Book #1 The Families of Irivie Irwin GREEN and Leona MUNCIE
Book #2 The Families of My Great Grandparents and Some of their
Descendants—Nathaniel GREEN—Charlotte WOOLF—Sylvester MILLIGAN—Mary E.
POLLOM VONCANNON—Michael MYERS (H4)—Lavina KINGERY