Am I Obsessed?

Am I Obsessed?

It began when I was about seven years old. I wanted to know my family history. Only in my fiftieth year did I commence my research. Transcribed records were of no use to me, as some of them tried to tell me my sister's name was Flora L. Another sister was named Jo An according to them. Actually, these sisters were named: Gloria L. and Joan. So I had to see the records and transcribe them myself.

         What started it were the fights my brother and I would have when we were young. He would tease me. "I am named after two grandpas, and you are named after none." Most of the time, I would lose, being the younger by two years. I'd run to Mom. "Honey," she'd say. "He's not the only one." That is the only memory I retained of our conversations about the matter.

         I knew my grandfathers' and grandmothers' names, so I began with Hardin Holloway, my paternal grandfather. At first I used census records, page after page, name after name, paper after paper. Whew! Eventually I determined only one Holloway family lived in Pike County, Kentucky by looking at every page of the entire census of 1870. I followed this family from census to census. Determination or obsession?

         Of course there was a son named Hardin in the family living in Pike County, Kentucky. In 1880 he was nine years old. In 1900 he was listed on the record as J. H. Holloway. The moment I saw this, a memory stuck its face in mine. Honey, he's not the only one.

         Next, I explored the 1910 census. I was exuberant when James H. Holloway stared up at me, along with his wife Sarah, and their four children, among them Willie Holloway who grew up to be my father. Yes, I had an obsession, but personally I don't like the word. From time to time, I still research my extended family.