Voices from Appalachia

As a child, I'd always been under the impression that I was here in West Virginia for no particular reason. Neither of my parents was from here originally- My dad was born in Providence, R.I. and my mom in Jersey City, N.J. My mother came here to attend college (she was the first of her family to live anywhere near Appalachia, so I needn’t do any research into the West Virginian connections on her side of my gene pool), and my father's family moved here from Rhode Island when he was eight or so. It alluded me as to why both would choose to come here of all places, but I later learned that, for my mom, it had to do with the affordability of West Virginia University, and  for my father’s family, it had to do with heritage.

Both grandparents on my father’s side were born in the state. Unfortunately, both died before I came into this world so I never got to know them personally, nor do I know much of anything about them at all. My mother’s side is full of family-historians, meticulously recounting all of the clan’s goings on since they left the homeland (Ireland), but that person seems to be absent on my father’s side; no one’s keeping track, and I fear that their history will soon be lost.

Here’s what I know: my grandfather, James, was adopted. He was raised by a family in South Charleston, whose fairly uncommon surname can be encountered all over the state. That surname is mine, as well, but I know barely any of the people who share it with me; we don’t keep in touch. My grandfather’s mother’s maiden name (whoa, that’s a mouthful) is equally common in the area, and with a Google search I found that her relatives lived here in the 18^th century, looking very much like the notorious, rugged mountain people that I find so fascinating.

            I was unable to find anything regarding my father’s mother, who was born and raised in Hurricane, as she has the most common last name in the country, which could make a successful Google search quite impossible.
            Perhaps I’ll just take it upon myself to be the historian for my father’s side and interview the living members of my family. I’d enjoy that, and I’m sure there’s an excellent story or two to be told.      

                                                                                                  --Emma