Thanksgiving is upon us, and we have lots to be thankful for, even  in these turmoiltuous times.  I do thank
  God for all you  wonderful kinfolks, my immediate family,  all the love that folks are sharing, and for the in-
  ternet and e-mail.   A new addition to  my  family,  a baby granddaughter,  McKenzie Brooke Holmes was
  born October 31, 2001, and for her beauty and health, I especially thank God.

  I hope you have recuperated from the reunion, and are ready for the holidays.   I'm never ready for the holi-
  days  I'm always a  few weeks,  months, or years  behind on  everything :)    But I manage .. guess  that's
  what counts.

  I had a  pretty good response to the reunion  newsletter  I sent out last  month,  and was glad  that you all 
  enjoyed the reunion, and are happy with Camp Wesley Pines. 

  Luther sent me a note about next years reunion:

  Please  mark your  calendars now, and  put in for  leave time from  your jobs so  that you can be with us.
  If any of you are interested in  paying  in advance with your credit cards for your reservations, please con-
  tact me personally, I think I can take care of that with my Pay-Pal account.  The money's will then be for-
  warded  to our  treasurer,  John Barlow of Clinton Mississippi, and  he will  keep the records and  pay the 
  camp at the proper time.  These transactions take between 1 and 2 weeks to process, so these will have
  to be done at least  3-4 weeks in  advance to  be sure they are completed.   Write to me for complete de-
  tails if you are interested.

  So  now, lots of  you responded to  the newsletter, with  your likes and dislikes, most of the "guys" didn't 
  care for any of the games .. they didn't want to be forced to talk :)    We will figure out a way to get us all 
  introduced, and will decide closer to the time how that will be done. 

  Thus far,  Lora Beth has volunteered, or was volunteered as our Barlow historian, and I'm hoping Carol will 
  take the responsibility for the  Hilton family.  Their jobs will be to  take care of collecting new family mem-
  bers and new information found throughout the year and passing it along to me for publication, and to pre- 
  pare family trees charts  for posting at the reunion.   So  any of  you having  new births, deaths, weddings
  etc.  in the family,  if you can pass that new  information to either  Lora Beth or Carol,  Lora Beth is better 
  organized than I for  keeping some semblance of order to them, and her family tree is in a lot better shape
  than mine is.   I assume Carol is also,  most people are.    They will also be able to  help us organize into
  family lines for introduction and picture taking.   That way you can see who your closest kinfolk are:

  As for  this past year's photo's, Kenneth Hilton has sent me quite a  few, I will download them asap, I am
  waiting for Lora Beth to send hers, and I haven't even developed mine yet!     If others of you took pictures
  and  would like to share,  I'd be happy to have  them, as I am sure most folks are.   Those that we cannot
  identify  should be able to be identified once they are posted.

  I  will take care of getting the newsletters and reunion notices out, I am hoping that Jewel Bland & Ardeth
  will  volunteer to put out local notices in the newspapers,  and if anyone has other suggestions as to how 
  to get the news out, I'd be glad to hear from you. 

  What we need now,  is someone to volunteer to see that  photos of every  person at the coming reunions 
  will be made and labeled, group pictures, perhaps of family groupings, and winners of  the oldest, young-
  est, who came the farthest, etc.  You  don't  have to be a professional, & your film and developing can be
  paid for from  funds collected.  If  you need to borrow a camera, I'm sure that can be  taken care of.  I will
  then download the photos to  the website where you can all  print  them out,  or save to disk,  if you want
  and those who do  not have access to  the website may  purchase a set for the cost of that set.  Anyone
  want to volunteer? 

  I believe we all liked the idea of having family reunion t-shirts, and Lora Beth especially liked the idea that
  we use the yellow t-shirts with  the photo from  Barlow Kinfolks on  it...  and not to date them, so that we
  can use them from year to year, and continue to sell them at future reunions. Perhaps at some later date
  or future reunion, we can elect a new logo and make a new one.   A  few folks have volunteered  to get an
  approximate cost of having the shirts made, and when I  find out, I will forward the information to all of you
  and let you know if it is feasible.   Is this acceptable to all of you? 
 

  I need some idea's on what we might have for the young folks to do to keep them entertained at the reun- 
  ion.   We  have quite a few babies,  as well as teens,  who are by  no  means  interested  in all of us "old
  folks", but perhaps they will grow to love genealogy and keeping track of family history as many of us do,
  just from being around it. Suggestions?  I'd particularly like to have a young person volunteer to take care 
  of that end of it.  I was never a child, so it is hard for me to know what might be done.  I was born old :) 
 

  Lora Beth has already began her job  as "historian", she has sent me two notices of deaths in  the family
  this week. I hate to hear of deaths, but it is inevitable, and I'm sure these folks are in a much better place
  now.  For those of you who are closest to these  folks,  send my sympathies, and  may God be with you 
  in your time of grief. 
 

  In other news, Luther tells me he and  he has a new doctor at the Veteran's Hospital who are a Godsend, 
  and they are helping him so much,  especially with the use of  his leg braces.   Lora Beth is doing better, 
  except complains of  weight gain due to water retention.    I am fine, back on chemo, but walking, driving,
  and threw away the boot! 
 

  New family found us this last few weeks via the website:

  Becky Carr  < gnbcarr@netdoor.com>  has sent the following letter:

  I am a descendant of Henry "Buck" Barlow &  Charity Millsaps through  Emaline Barlow and Albert Bufkin
  line. I went to the Antioch Cemetery a few years back and got grave pics etc. but could not find out where
  Charity was buried or when she actually died.    As you can tell, you have  done quite a bit more research
  on this than I have, but if I have anything that will add toyour records, let me know, would be glad to share. 
  Do you have pictures? 

   A note from  Debbie Sims told  me her husband  was the  great grandson of Darius Charles and Cornelia
  Catherine  Robertson Barlow, but she knew very  little about the family.    I sent a genealogy report of her
  family who she knew very little about, and this is her response:

  Debby Sims   Valrico, Florida  <sims@tampabay.rr.com>  responded:

  This is  better than I could have ever  hoped for.   My husband's family won't believe their eyes!  I have for- 
  warded  your document regarding  the  descendants of  Henry Zair Barlow to them -  as well as the link to 
  your Barlow website.

  Here are some additional dates that you  may want to fill in if you don't have them .... (I didn't see them in
  your document).

  Lula Jane Barlow (daughter of Darius and Cornelia) - married Marvin Holliday Sims 12/31/1920 and moved 
  to East St. Louis the very next day.   Lula died in  East St. Louis  on  August 15, 1982  at the age of  85. 
  Marvin  Holliday Sims  (son of  Mary  Jane Norton and  John Carr Sims)   born September 16, 1892, died 
  January 17, 1975 in East St. Louis at the age of 82.  Lula and Marvin's children are:
  Jane Lavenia Sims Jenkins - born in East St. Louis - August 5, 1928 - (still living)
  John Charles Sims - born in East St. Louis - Feb 13, 1931 - (still living)
  My husband Tom is John Charles Sims' son!

  Again,  I cannot believe all the work and wonderful notes that you have out on the web - this stuff is price- 
  less. I'm finding a wealth of knowledge about my own ancestors. All this time I though I was just a "mutt"
  or just another Kentucky "hillbilly"- but what I am rapidly learning that I HAVE ROOTS THAT RUN DEEP.
  We have been here since dirt, haven't we?   Makes you have a totally different perspective on things.....

  By the way, the story  that I have from Jane Jenkins and John Sims is that Henry Hercules Barlow (Lula's
  brother)  was the postmaster of  the  Barlow area and that Sally Mae Barlow  (Lula's sister) was the post- 
  mistress.  Henry started out delivering mail by horse and wagon..... only getting a car around the  time of 
  WWI.   Sally ran the postoffice in the back of one of the two stores in town. Can you verify this? Any arti-
  cles or documents that  talk about this?

  Thank you for sharing your fantastic heritage with all your cousins!   If there is anything you need from me
  please don't hesitate to ask.....

  Sherry James Brown    <Mammybrn@aol.com>

  I was visiting your website today,  and discovered the Ainsworth family were connected with the Barlow's.
  I am a descendent of James and Elizabeth Mangum Ainsworth.  My father's family all settled in that area.
  But  most of them are gone now.   My surnames are  Ainsworth,  Norton,  Mangum,  Touchstone,  Wise,
  Smith, Parker, and my maiden name James.   If you  need anything  from what I have,  I would be glad to
  share.   I still live in the Hazlehurst area, and know some of your relatives. I once cleaned Antioch church.
  Keep up the good work! 

  Mattie Turner    <MattieTurner@aol.com> 

  Your site is great.  I would like to know what information you may have on Elizabeth Rebecca / Rebecca
  Elizabeth Herrington.   I believe she is the daughter of Samuel S. Herrington.  I picked up her  siblings as
  Darling H., James Madison, Jefferson, Rhoda, Sarah and Martha.  The Rebecca that I am looking for was
  born  approximately 1823  and married  James Madison Allday approximately 1841.   She filed for divorce
  from him in 1855 in Paulding Mississippi (records burned) She was living with him in Monroe Co Alabama
  when she died in 1880.   Shortly  after  her death  there is a  Mary Herrington living in the  household with
  James Madison and his children by Rebecca, and she stated she was a cousin (she  was  born approxi- 
  mately 1846)   Much later in life and when  James Madison was approximately 80 yearsrs old he married
  this  Mary and  she applied for his pension from the  Civil War and stated her father was Thomas Herring-
  ton of Monroe Co Alabama.

  I know that James Madison Alldays, father Richard Allday lived in Clarke Co Mississippi and he lived near
  some of the Herringtons there.   My Allday family is also mixed up with the Barlows.

  The  death record  of  Rebecca  Herrington  shows  her  birth place as Mississippi.   The  Bible of Samuel
  Thomas Allday of  Laurel Mississippi  confirms this date and shows  her  name as  Rebecca Elizabeth or 
  Elizabeth Rebecca.   The  deceased of  Samuel  Thomas thought  this was the  death  date of  one of his
  children.  How happy I  was to see this date as it was the same as her death date in Monroe Co AL.  Any
  help you could give me would be greatly appreciated. 

  I do not have Rebecca / Elizabeth in my FTM, and I passed along Sherry Herrington's email to her...if any
  of you can help her, I am sure she would appreciate it.  Curiously, I do know that some of the Barlow's in 
  Georgia / Alabama  married into the  Allday family....in particular,  Morgan Tillmon Barlow.   Could this be
  yet another hint into our connection with the Robeson Co Barlow's?

  Since  my return home  from the reunion,  I have spent the majority of my time  working on the  Mahaffey
  family, which has been quite a job.  Realizing that genealogy never ends, I finally had to make a stopping
  point  so that I  could get on with my other work, the Barlow Clearinghouse is far behind in updates that I
  have been sent.    And too, the Mahaffey genealogy has brought new findings into the Hilton, Barlow, and 
  Douglass family,  thus a  need for updating those  pages are in order in the near future.  The research, as
  always  is  not all  mine, I  added to other folks work, and  gathered new family members from census re-
  cords, cemetery, and  marriage  records, etc.  Not all is proven, but hopefully the internet pages will draw
  new researchers that can prove, verify, add, disprove, etc.. and continue the family lineage's. 

  See the Mahaffey family at:

  I  have often wanted to do a more thorough research of  the Byrd family, but so many folks have tried and
  none have yet to prove our  Byrd's lineage, and  I for  sure don't have time to take on  another  project.  A
  while back, I was granted permission from the daughters and authors of Robert Earl Byrd's book, "A Byrd
  Family History,"  to  transcribe the book for the internet.   With my current ontakings, it might be the year
  2050 before I get around to that, but I do have an original copy of  the book, and would love to have some-
  one volunteer to  transcribe that book.  Any takers?

  We have a lot of families interconnected with ours, and  there is just no way I can get around to them all,
  if any of you have done work on a particular family, I would be happy to post them to our Mississippi Kin- 
  folk site for others to find & connect, and intermingle with all of us. I especially love old photos and family
  stories  handed  down, even  though we know that many of  them have  grown out of proportion  over  the
  years.  I  won't publish any trash  that  might upset  someone,  but fun stuff.   We  have our share of bad 
  seeds, I am sure, and  some of the stories are fun to tell, but if they are bad stories, it would probably be
  better to tell those stories in private.  I hold no grudges over the things that have happened in the past, &
  find humor in many of them now, though, I'm sure others might not see them my way. I look for the good
  in things,  such as with John  and Lydia's divorce,  I  like to think that  Lydia's strength is  what made we 
  Barlow women strong & independent.  I excuse John with the fact that he must have worked very hard all
  of his life to gain the wealth he seemed to have,  and having grown to an old age, he was senile, and per-
  haps had a touch of  althziemers,  though those things were not known  in their day.  It's the present day
  bad  seeds  I do not  care to  discuss at all.  We all have one!   They are better left for our future descen-
  dants to uncover as we have with ours.  The  Matthews-Wheeler story was  a bit  unsettling, but still very
  interesting, and I would hold no grudges against today's Wheeler family unless they held the same views
  and tried to pressure them on  me.  I try to  stay out  of politics in  genealogy where it is possible.  I love
  the story  of "Wolf Hair"  in Lora Beth's  book, as well as  the  other stories  handed  down by CC Barlow.
  Darling  was a rounder; today,  we probably would not  like him,  but now,  he sure holds our fascination.
  I  would love to follow his migrations throughout the years.

  Well,  the time is growing late,  as is this newsletter.   Please put some thought into  ideas for future re-
  unions, and PLEASE consider volunteering  to help.  The job is just too much for only a few people.  We
  need  someone to  organize fund raisers, and to collect  the items for those, someone to decide how the
  gifts will be done;  I particularly liked the idea that  Elizabeth Jordan  had  in bringing the basket she pre-
  pared of her native home's cooking spices, etc.  But someone needs to  put it all together and then I can
  publish it to the entire group when it is all decided.    If anyone has  crafts to donate  for raffles, auctions,
  etc.. those would be so  fun, and we  could own another piece of our  heritage to pass down  through the
  years,  not to mention, to fund the things that could be done.  One  in  particular on my mind now is  the
  cleaning of the Old Pleasant Valley Cemetery, which as I stated before will cost between  $75 -100 each 
  time, and will need to be done at least twice a year.  If any of you would like to donate  funds at any time 
  you  can  do so by e-mailing John Barlow,  <bar711@bellsouth.net>  he  will give you  his home address
  privately so  that you can  make arrangements  for that.   If you have a particular  use that you would like
  your donation to be used for,  let him  know so that he can appropriate it  accordingly.   I still have all the 
  money from  this years  reunion tucked away, I have not yet remembered to take it to  the bank so that I
  can send a check to John.   But rest  assured, I have it all,  still tucked inside  my camera case, where I 
  put it when I left the reunion. 

  Getting  back to the  OPV, the cemetery  was last cleaned about June of this  past year, and is surely in 
  dire need of another, what are your thoughts on using a  portion of this money for  that, if Charlotte Farth-
  ing is  able to make  those arrangements ... I really need your  input before it  can done  though,  I do not 
  want to make all the decisions.   Perhaps  we might contact some of the Millsaps descendants for contri- 
  butions for that endeavor.

  Love to you all, and I hope you have the best Thanksgiving yet.   We have so much to be thankful for. 
  Susan