In my search of genealogy, I find that the most interesting part is to find the histories, journals, and life stories of my ancestors. When you find a story or a history of a family or person, it means so much more than just a name. You can connect the name to the person and they become a real person, not just a name.
Perhaps the most precious and interesting thing that I have found in my genealogy research is the life story of my grandmother on my father's side, Georgia Ann Horton Jack. I knew my grandmother so well as she lived close by when I was a little girl and I saw her every day until she died 27 Feb. 1927. We called her "Glassy Grandma" because she wore eye glasses and they were rare in those days. Long after she died, we found her life written in the first person, but there are no paragraphs, no capitals, commas or punctuation; but it is beautifully told. After knowing my grandmother all those years, I never realized that she had such a colorful background. She was born in DeKalb County Alabama 30 May 1841 and her parents were apparently well-to-do. They had slaves and lived on a plantation and were prosperous. Grandmother married a northern man, James Hazelett Jack, who was a spy for the Union Army. Her story tells about the Confederate rebels and hard it was to have opposing factions within the family. She told about how grandfather was wounded and had to flee to save his life. So after the war, the family immigrated to southern Colorado where they settled and where all my people helped pioneer that part of the state.
We also found that our people were prominent people and leaders in the Revolutionary war as my grandmother states in her story that my great-great grandfather, James Jack helped form the Mecklenberg Declaration of Independence from Mecklenberg, North Carolina to Philadelphia. This happened in 1775 and this document is believed to be the fore-runner or pattern for the Philadelphia Declaration of Independence in 1776.
The Jack family were also prominent leaders in the Civil War. My grandmother often related to me the story of how my grandfather took my father, Robert Jack, who was then six years old, with him on one of his spy missions. He swam a river with my father on his back, received important papers from General Morgan Le Smith's headquarters and started back. He swam the river again with my father on his back, holding the papers up out of the water to keep them dry. As they neared the bank, the rebels started shooting at them and hit my grandfather in the back. He somehow scrambled to shore, sent my father on home with the papers and told him not to let anyone but grandmother have them. This happened at night and was a frightening experience for a little six year old boy. Grandfather then hid himself in a hollow tree. Grandmother found him in the tree, dressed his wounds, but had to leave him all cramped up in that tree as the rebels vowed to track him down and kill him. He remained in this cramped position for several days until some Union supporters helped get him into Union territory. He had stayed in this cramped up position for so long that he could never again straighten up. And this bent over position is how we remember him in his later years in Colorado.
There are so many stories and experiences told in this life story of my Grandmother Jack. I can read between the lines and tell of hardships she experienced and of her love for her family, and for the appreciation for the freedom in this country. I vowed I would write my life story so my children and grandchildren can know my inner feelings. A story of one's life is one of the most beautiful heritages anyone can leave for their children.
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This was taken from a photocopy of a manuscript in the possession of Larue Bingham Lawson.
