Welcome to the Mathias ARDIS Sept
INTRODUCTION
As
a child I remember making a yearly pilgrimage known as the family reunion. We
would get up early, pack up the picnic baskets, grab the photo albums, and hit
the road. When we arrived at the selected location, usually a church or schoolhouse
near the old family place, cousins, aunts, uncles, and other relations that we
would probably see only that one time each year would greet us.
During
those gatherings my only thoughts were of playing with the other kids and of
eating all that good country cooking. I wish that I had known then what I know
now. I wish that I had taken the time to talk to all those “old people”, to ask
them what they knew of our family heritage. I wish that I had asked about the
unknown people in those family photos. I wish that I had listened more closely
to the stories that were told.
I
remember when I was first taken with the genealogy bug. We had made our yearly
trip to the cemetery where my maternal grandfather’s people were buried.
Standing over my great- great- grandfather’s grave I started wondering who he
really was… what kind of life he lived…. wondering what were the joys and
hardships that had made up his life? I wanted to know more, not just about him,
but of all the people whose lives had been lived… so that I could be here.
My
name is Pam Lassiter Jones and I have been “doing genealogy” for about twelve
years. I live in Mobile, Alabama USA, a.k.a. “The Heart of Dixie”. I think it
is important for people to be interested in their family heritage. I, myself, have
always been intrigued by history, but only more recently by the history of my
own family.
I
sometimes think about my ancestors, and how the modern highways that we take for granted,
would appear like a "wonder of the world" to their eyes from 100 years ago. When
I take a simple aspirin, I think of how they would consider it a wonder
drug. I think of all those ancestors, rich and poor, farmers and preachers,
with families large and small, who made their contribution to this thing we
call “life”… and have thereby brought us to the point we are in it.
I
hope that the information presented on these pages will help you to reach
a new understanding of the past… that it will enrich your present… with the
knowledge of just one family’s progress. I look forward to sharing with you the
story of one of my own family lines, The Mathias Ardis Family, and their allied
lines. It is an interesting story, indeed.
I
welcome all comments, additions, and corrections.
