Beasley III, Benjamin Taylor
Description
MYSTERY AND MONEY. Power and poverty. Soil and soul. And hidden in the dust and shadows of time, the unspoken and unspeakable.
How about a profound an
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d singular love, then, with eternal promise? Strong women and munificent men. Free-spirited youth standing alone for principles or purpose. Patriots, on both sides, dying for their causes. Sacrifice and survival. Tragic failure amid terrific success.
Who were these people, and whence came they? Their stories and histories swirl about us. A vision of our future illumined their prospect, just as faltering footsteps shadowed their past. Yet their struggle to survive, their search for significance, define our identity and inspire our destiny.
They are our forebears—yours, mine—that make up our magnificent parentage. Hence their history; whence our heritage. It’s all there. What? Did you think our family boring?
Well then, consider this:
Who appeared at his mother’s door like a ghostly skeleton—after he was declared dead?
What woman protected herself and her daughter by shooting at an intruder through her bed clothes?
What man overcame the bad habits of youth to found a town, establish a university, and be come its first president?
What newlywed young woman housed and fed between 50 and 100 mouths every day, in her home?
What widow ran a large plantation—as a teenager?
Who escaped Sherman’s army through a passage, submerging himself into icy, tannic-acid waters of a factory while it burned, afraid he might be parboiled?
What young mother escaped the Great Fire of Atlanta carrying her infant son while her husband was absent, leaving their home in the jaws of the raging conflagration?
Blood of our blood and bone of our bones, they are our family. They make up who we are.
Come, meet your ancestors….
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