Well, the new millenium has begun.  I am expecting  this  to  be  the  break- through  year  in which we can locate our family origins, in my case, the goal is  to find where  John Barlow came to America from, and if Lydia was indeed a Bryant. Also  to  prove  or  disprove that Flora Anne, wife of  George Wash-  ington  Barlow, was a Byrd or a Hilton, or perhaps some other name I haven't even researched  as  yet.    Stranger things have  happened.

I  hope that  you all  had  a  wonderful Christmas, and better weather than we have had in Arkansas ... the ice storms this  year has  been hard on the entire state,  but  thankfully,  my  home  was only  without  power  for 3  days.   The worst  thing  that  happened to  me, is that  my  son,  Dustin,  who  is  a  law student in Boston, Massachusetts, flew home  for Christmas, but  was "iced" in almost  immediately  at  his  in-laws ... and  I never  got  to see  him  on  this trip.  It  had been a year since our last visit ...  and I guess it  will be another year  yet.   My  'almost'  four  year  old grandson,  Tyler  was  iced in with  his mother,  but Santa Claus came,  and  I had bought all the food for a feast, but nobody could get to my house to eat it.  So Tyler had Christmas, which was the most  important  part for me... and we have our health and a new year of prosperity to look forward to.

As promised, this month I will concentrate on  the  Hilton  family..........The research has  been  contributed  by many, as  you will  see  on the Hilton page. 

On yet another subject, Lora Beth as some of you know, has been working with Charlotte Barlow Farthing in Hazlehurst, Mississippi to take the steps necessary to have the Old Pleasant Valley Cemetery cleaned up, it has long ago been abandoned.  I went there myself with Lora Beth and Charlotte after our family reunion in October, and it is a mess...I wandered around a bit and could see a few tombstones, but was afraid of snakes so I didn't hang around long.

Following is a letter I just received from Lora Beth, and I noted she has sent out the same letter to some of  you also, but I am adding it to this newsletter so that other interested parties might have a chance to contribute, as well as sending a copy to the Mississippi genealogy mailing list.

Lora Beth BARLOW Wright  Dated 01 January 2001 I received a phone call from Charlotte Barlow Farthing in Hazlehurst, Mississippi today. Several of us have tried to check the markers at the Old Pleasant Valley Cemetery recently and it is so grown up until we could not find the markers.  (This is not the cemetery behind Old Pleasant Valley Church. It is in the woods off Highway 28.)  I went there in 1994 and was able to wade through the bushes and find some graves.  There is markers for Millsaps, Barlow, Wright, Cranfield, Sessions, Matthews, Strahan, McLaurin, and other families there. We learned there is a law in Mississippi that allows the Board of Supervisors to keep up old, no longer used cemeteries.  Charlotte has contacted the proper authorities and has filled out an application.  The man has been to the cemetery with Charlotte and her husband to see the situation. The man stated that he sees no reason why the cemetery would not be accepted under this law. Charlotte asks that as many persons that will, to write a letter to the Copiah County Board of Supervisors stating why we think the cemetery should be accepted under this law.  Most of us have family connections there and it is no longer possible to even find the markers because the growth of trees and underbrush. We would greatly appreciate your help in this matter. The mailing address is: Copiah County Board of Supervisors Perry Hood P. O. Box 551 Hazlehurst, Mississippi 39083 Best regards, Lora Beth Barlow Wright

Lora Beth has mentioned the "known" surnames of our kinfolk buried there, but all of us should take an interest preserving the past, regardless of the surnames, if it is in our power.  I pray you will all take the time to write a letter and mail it to the proper authorities.  Below is a rough draft of a letter prepared by Ben Sessions, you might use as a guide to writing  your own.

Dear Mr. Hood & Copiah Co Board of Supervisors,  A few years ago, I was researching my ancestry in  your George W. Covington Memorial Library. I found the list of who is buried in the Old Pleasant ValleyCemetery which also gave a general location  Cemetery Bible Records Mississippi Genealogy Society Vol 1, 1954 222459 G929.376/ Mis I am a descendant of the SESSIONS, WRIGHTs, and MILLSAPS on the list.  I understand that after the church was moved,the old cemetery was kept up for years but eventually was abandoned. With the help of some parishioners of the Pleasant Valley Church, I succeeded in locating the cemetery.  It was so grown up with weeds, vines and trees that if you were standing five feet from it,  you wouldn't know  a cemetery was there.  It was so thick that it was impenetrable. I had to go to Wal Mart, buy a machete, and hack a path into the cemetery.  I eventually succeeded in finding about fifteen of the thirty graves listed which included my Great Grandfather, Francis Marion SESSIONS; and my Great  Great Grandfather, Kendale Wright, as well as other relatives. It would certainly be appreciated by the ancestors of those souls resting in The Old Pleasant Valley Cemetery if the Copiah County Board of Supervisors could see to it that it was maintained so that we could pay our respects. Thank you and Blessings, Benjamin S. SESSIONS

I haven't heard from many of you during this busy holiday season, with news of family..but I did hear from Lora Beth that her mother spent a couple of days in the hospital over the Christmas holidays, and is still not doing real well, Lora Beth has gone to spend a few days with her at this time.

Clara Mae Barlow Gray, the youngest daughter of George Washington Barlow, Jr. and Minerva Hilton died December 21, 2000.   She was 98.  I believe she lived in Texas, and have searched the internet for an obituary, but without success.  Perhaps one of you have a copy of it that I might post. 

Luther Hart writes of his health:  I went to my back surgeon yesterday and he said my healing process was at least 2 months ahead of what he was expecting, but still take care.....

He also sends an update to the family record:
Noel Barlow and Daisy Brassell Barlow's daughter, Jackie, is a new grandmother, and mother-in-law.  Son, Thomas "Paul" Edmonson married to Angie Brown in his hometown of  Star, Mississippi on November 20, 2000.  Paul is a dentist for the Air Force in the Carolina's, and Angie is a medical researcher.  Son, John, and his wife, Heather Craft, have a new daughter, Lydia Rene' Edmonson, born on November 03, 2000. For those of you who are lost, Noel was the son of  Robert Luther "Buck" Barlow, who in turn was the son of Narvle Barlow and Elizabeth Byrd.  That leads us back to the Hilton's, as Robert's first wife was Carrie Candy Hilton, daughter of  Thomas Norvell Hilton and Louisa Elizabeth Bridges.  Noel came from Robert's second marriage to Annie Carolyn Muse Walker, whom he married after Carrie's death. 

Thank you all for voting for our site, I was a bit late in the asking, but we go on.  Remember to vote every month by clicking on the Vote button on the homepage, so that we are eligible for the monthly award.

The Barlow Clearinghouse was just accepted in the American Local History Network's Surname Sites.  I think that is quite an honor.  As we progress with the Mississippi Kinfolks site, I will submit an application to have that added to the proper category.    As you wander thru the web and find sites that can have submissions made, think of the Clearinghouse and add our URL in the proper categories.  We need to get as many folks involved as possible, and find our family.

On another note, it always gets me excited when someone writes to tell me they found their families because of information posted on the Clearinghouse, most of whom are already deceased, but I was just informed by a woman in Virginia that she has found her 4 sisters, all separated and put up for adoption as children...simply because of her postings on the Clearinghouse.  The sad part is that the mother of the children just recently passed away, and did not get to meet any of her children.

I have several photos to add to the pages, mostly of tombstones that I have photographed over the past few years, but at present, I can't get my scanner to work, so I will get them up when possible. I do hope you all enjoy this month's issue, which concentrate's on the Hilton family.  I could work for months on this, and have not posted all I have yet, but time is not on my side at present.  So, I will add more as I can.  Most of what I have are cemetery records, etc.  A wealth of information can be found just by researching cemetery records, I have updated the Hilton lineage considerably just by doing that.  I did cheat a bit in that I used the Hilton book to supply the information on the Solomon A. Hilton family, as I did not have any information other than that he was a son of  William Isaac Hilton.

I have made up a folder of current newsletters and the pages of lineage included with each and sent it to Ardeth Barlow in Florence Mississippi, and asked that she will put it in the library at Simpson Co so that other's might find us. I will send the new letters each month and have asked her to add them.

So .... enjoy the Hilton's, and please, don't be shy, or afraid of hurting my feelings by letting me know where information is incorrect, and if you can add more, or if you have any documents, ie .. marriage license, census pages, pensions, will's, etc..., for any of the families intermarried into the Barlow and allied families, they would certainly be appreciated.  One thing I would dearly love to have are the older photographs, even if you can't identify them all.  Someone may be able to. Go thru Mom's and Grandma's photo albums and see what you might come up with.  I only wish I had family up here on my father's side so that I could do that.  While they're alive, see if they can still identify some of those unmarked photographs, and label them for the future.  I did retrieve copies of pictures at our last reunion from Frances Barlow Berry, and have will have them available at some point on the Clearinghouse, when I can get the scanner to work again.   Any computer guru's out there?

One of our "Burt" cousin's recently sent me this...and it sure brought back memories, I wanted to share it with my children, and then realized, they won't have a clue what it's about, so instead, I will pass it on to those of you who can appreciate it as much as I did.  Oh, if  I could just go back!