How did you the members of Gather, Gather... where did you come from ... who brought you to this place and time... who are your foremothers and forefathers?

Matthew, what a wonderful, incredibly beautiful idea for a group. i will join. You and I have had amazing synchronicity here tonight, too...creating complementary works with the other in mind, without realizing it.

I came here from an article in The Boston Globe, that was published on January 14. I joined the short story contest on January 15, my first day on Gather.

I've not slept normally since.

Thanks for the invite Matthew and I do believe I will enjoy this group. When I have a little free time, I will tell you a short history of my family and where they came from.

Short or long Please write it as an article to the new group. And everyone invite all on your contact lists to this new group becouse it is ment to be about all of them.

Lets share the stories that made us who we are... that they might inspire us all...

I'll have to work on this, I've got some crazy stuff in my family, mafia, FBI, CIA, secret societies, Army Rangers, 101st S.E., and I'm just an all-around normal person. The rest of my family creeps me out nowadays.

I'll get crackin' on mine in a few days when I gather more information about it all

um wonderful eliot.... feel free to leave anything out that will get you killed if you post it to us.... (no joke...)

Thanks for supporting the idea.

Matthew T. is my Husband. =+)

That makes sense, Leslie..You both have the same last names, (T)...

Well as a fifth generation Californian on my dad's side and my great grand dad worked his way out to California as a surveyor on what became known as the Union Pacific railroad just after the civil war. He met a woman he liked that was born in Donner pass in a wagon on their way into the fields in central California. Of yeah Pop was born in Redlands California and we all had the same first grade teacher except my younger brother.

My other great grand dad on pop's side was a school teacher for a bunch of Indian kids in Riverside California, his folks came out west from Mansfield Ohio. Then Grandma was born a bit later, don't know much about that leg of the family.

On Mom's side, she was born in Santa Paula California along with a total of five kids. Grandma couldn't afford to raise them and gave one away and had another adopted out, and later remarried Archie. I remember when Mom said that she liked it living in Watts California as there was always a sea breeze but it was far enough away from the ocean that things didn't mildew.

Mom and pop came together up in Salinas California where pop was working with Oz and Beck. Oz was around seventeen and already running a crew of Migrant farm workers, Beck who was married to Nan, mom's sister, was working in the packaging and preparation for trucking of the stuff.

So Mom and Pop got married and had us kids.

I married a woman that was born in Kelly Lake, now a part of Hibbing Minnesota. We were living in LA county and I had 25 years in where I worked at Kaiser Permante in basically the Southern California area, and the smog was not good for my health, and kids were being killed at the Jr High School where our kid would be going soon, and there were too many Earthquakes and there were too many gangs. So I moved her , the kid and I to Minnesota and we wound up in the Albany and St. Cloud area of Minnesota where we're still at. The kid now has the Albany house that we first got and he also has a couple of kids of his own, and we live in the St. Cloud house.

I was forced into Gather by my participation in the forum that Minnesota Public Radio had. And as MPR shut down that forum we were told of the Gather forum.

So here I am and I wouldn't have missed the trip for the world.

Richard with your permision (well without but if you don't like It I will undo it) I am copying the comment into it's own article. and Posting it to the group... ok?

Matthew

'tis ok

But Anthony My Brother,

Be not dismayed, for this was and is an opportunity for even those Israelites, Jew or otherwise to share there story of how they came to be... This would help your list as well because it would help build an understanding of what Israel was and is from a certain perspective. This i true for all histories, they tell so much and give us all the opportunity to see what the foundations others are built upon.

And Yes I am a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and a member of the Tribe of Ephraim son of Joseph who was sold into Egypt, thus a son of Israel the Man.

Anthony,

I am writing up a full response and will post it as a new article to your group as well as a few others. I have first copied your questions as to our Governments support of Israel as well as the scripture reference. But I wan to give the discussion it's sue and not just type an answer without some though as to the whole issue.

Will that Suffice?

I have an idea about sharing some of my genealogy. Not all the begets on the records pages, of which I have plenty, lol, being of the same ancestry as Matthew (though a different current practice), but I have some ideas, which might be interesting...

Have a few tough days at work and getting my son off to college, to mix in with all my toGathering.

Wonderful Kathryn,

Please make it 's own article and we will feature it becouse I know it will be interesting...

My Family most of mine comes from Florida and Georgia.My mothers side has Indian and Irish and Italin I think.My fathers I haven't really asked about.But they are both whit american families.My parents got divored almost over 10 years ago.My father got remarried.About me I have ms a diease of the central nervous system which can cause problems in your brian and spine.I just found out over 4 years ago. Except my nerologist says I have had it in my spine for many years longer then they can tell.It's ok though anyone in the world can have ms.It's nothing you catch from anyone it just happens.Anyhow.I was married once for not even a year when my husband told me he could not deal with me anymore.It was just a excuse to leave me.My younger sister has two childern and boy and a girl .My neice is almost 4 and my nephew just turned one.Anyhow that is enough about me.Except I have brown hair and hazel eyes.

My mother came to this country at the age of 14 from Sweden. She learned English, worked as a maid to support herself while finishing high school, then married and raised 3 daughters. My father was mostly Dutch, English, Irish, and German, with a little French thrown in. I have some of his genealogy (and mine) traced back 15 generations. Some of my ancesters fought in the Revolution and Civil War. There is one area of MI (Ortonville) where dozens of my ancesters are buried. They used to own a lot of land there and there are roads, a lake, and other places named after them. Their history is in the history books and library files in the area. My great-grandmother was the hostess and chef of a fine restaurant that still exists in the area, plus she raised canaries as a hobby. My grandfather started his own factory besides farming and buying and selling real estate. He was a collector of steam engines and frequented steam engine shows. Most of my relatives owned their own businesses, including my father, who died when I was 16. Most of my ancesters have passed on now except for my sisters and I and our children and grandchildren. All of my relatives are Latter Day Saints except for me and I am a Baptist in a Spanish speaking church. My husband and I have 6 children and 8 grandchildren and another grandbaby on the way. My husband is retired from GM. His relatives were from the south but previous generations came from Ireland. So, that's my story.

great idea here Emmet, I will post our stories later.