Concord School was among the numerous small schoolhouses in the Armuchee Valley area. It was situated towards the northern end of Concord Road, just across from Concord Church.
Previous Jordan’s Journey contributor Rhonda Locke recently sent me an excellent “new” photo.
I’m delighted to announce my latest essay, “A Man of Most Simple and Attractive Manners.” It’s out now in the Autumn 2017 issue of Georgia Backroads. This piece, my fifth for the magazine, has been a long time in the making. I started the research while writing the Jordan’s Journey book. It was a challenging article about a person in my family history with no family memory. John Dawson Pope is a unique figure in my family. You might find his role in the history of Georgia, and even the history of California, quite interesting! I do hope you will check it out.
Since this article required so much research and I scoured the country for information to help me put it together, even traveling to Los Angeles, I’ll share my list of sources with you here since the works cited are not printed in the magazine. So, this serves as an extra supplement. Also, hopefully, it means people doing other research related to these sources might stumble across my post here and lead them to my article.
In other news, I am happy to inform you that Jordan’s Journey will finally become available in a paperback edition. I don’t have an exact date yet, but hopefully very soon.
Read MoreI shared some Halloween memories about growing up in East Armuchee a few years ago. Those are still good memories. I thought I would post a couple more photos to accompany them…
The first photo is of my dad in 1955. The photo was taken at the school in Subligna. He and Judy Scoggins (a distant cousin who I don’t know how fits into the tree yet) were crowned Halloween King & Queen!
Recently, my cousin Christa McWilliams set up a new group on Facebook called Subligna Community Members & Friends. Her idea was to bring people together to share old photos and memories about growing up in the tiny community nestled at the southern end of the East and West Armuchee valleys. It’s the same community where we both grew up–and where our ancestors go back (in a tangled web) for many generations!
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After I published Jordan’s Journey, I always fantasized about doing a volume two sub-titled: The European Edition! Digging deeper into my heritage before my ancestors came to America would be fascinating. While, unfortunately, I don’t think such a book will happen any time soon—for various reasons I won’t get into here—I do intend to explore my international heritage in whatever ways I can. Last summer, I took the first step towards this when I visited Germany to learn more about my Beck ancestors.
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If you’re a Georgia Backroads reader, you already know that I have another new article in the magazine’s current issue. This is my fourth piece with the magazine in as many years. You can learn about my previous Georgia Backroads articles here:
Read MoreIt’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything here at Jordan’s Journey. Life happens, things change, and I just have not had the time to put into creating new content for this blog. I’m keeping it online for now as I think the posts are a valuable archive. People still visit the site, and I am grateful for that, even though I’m not sure when/if I will have the time to pick it back up and update regularly like I did in the beginning. That’s why I’m so thankful when readers want me to help them share information for the greater genealogical good. One such reader is Rhonda Locke.
Rhonda Locke is a fellow researcher of Armuchee Valley families, particularly those associated with Concord Church (on Concord Road in Villanow, GA). As a fellow descendant of the Keown family, she’s also my distant cousin (as I have always said–we’re all connected)! She sent me this wonderful photo and asked me to share it with you.
I have a new article in the current issue (Summer 2014) of Georgia Backroads. Titled “The Language of History,” it is an expanded and slightly reworked version of the post “The Language of Genealogy” that previously appeared here on Jordan’s Journey. I really like the new version of this article, and I think you will too. You can order a copy online, or if you’re in an area that stocks Georgia Backroads, you can check your local newsstands.
This is my third article for Georgia Backroads. My other articles with the magazine are “The Scoggins Family and Subligna Go Way Back” (Winter 2012) and “We Are One People” (Autumn 2013). I have also published “We Are One People” as a limited edition artist multiple under my art name luke kurtis. The We Are One People multiple was part of the INTERSECTION exhibition at Massillon Museum and is available to purchase in the bd Shop.
Over the last year, one of my most significant projects was putting together my INTERSECTION photographic art exhibition. I haven’t posted about this side of my work at Jordan’s Journey, as this blog focuses on the genealogy side of things. Of course, the overall Jordan’s Journey project is a multimedia art project of which genealogical research is only one part. So I wanted to be sure to tell you about INTERSECTION. INTERSECTION is my follow-up to Jordan’s Journey. It’s not a sequel but a spiritual successor that takes the most specific art aspects and extracts them into a heritage-influenced art exhibition. The project’s focus is my debut museum exhibition, under my artist name luke kurtis, which opened on March 8th at Massillon Museum in Massillon, OH. I also published a book of photographs and writing that serves as the exhibition catalog.
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Back in 2012, when I did the Jordan’s Journey lectures in Walker and Chattooga Counties (Georgia), Martha Neal Dennis was one of the many people who came out to see me. Mrs. Dennis is a blood cousin of mine–we both grew up in Armuchee Valley and descend from the same Keown family–though I never knew her before that day at my lecture.
Mrs. Dennis attended my lecture after seeing the announcement in the Walker County Messenger. She recognized my name from many years earlier. You see, I participated in a Daughters of the American Revolution ceremony when I was a young boy to honor some of my ancestors. My name had been listed in the program from that ceremony, and Mrs. Dennis, an active DAR member, was also there. The day of my lecture, she brought that program–from some 20 years earlier–to show me.
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Although you wouldn’t know it from updates here at Jordan’s Journey, 2013 has been one of the busiest years of my life! Don’t worry, though–it’s all in a good way. Luckily for you Jordan’s Journey fans, I recently uncovered an almost-finished Jordan’s Journey video I shot in May 2012. I could not polish it off and share it with you for several reasons, and I had almost even forgotten it existed. But when I rediscovered the work in progress, I finally felt compelled to finish it. It’s a bit different from most Jordan’s Journey videos, and because of those differences, it was a more challenging video to shoot and is a bit rough in spots. But still, I’m glad to have made it.
My cousin and friend (we were friends way back before I even knew we were cousins) Christa McWilliams joined me to help document some history about the McWilliams Cemetery in West Armuchee. I couldn’t have done this video without her. It’s our attempt to tell the story about this significant cemetery, which is also a story about our families.
I am delighted to announce the publication of my latest article in the current (Autumn 2013) issue of Georgia Backroads. “We Are One People” explores my ancestral ties to slavery, focusing specifically on the Armuchee Valley and Dirt Town Valley regions. My original photography, as well as antique images I curated, illustrate the piece. So much research and thought went into this article, and I feel this is one of my best pieces ever. Georgia Backroads has done a fantastic job putting together the issue with excellent writing, photography, and design. You can pick up a copy at newsstands or order the issue online.
If you haven’t seen my previous work for Georgia Backroads, check out the Winter 2012 issue as well!
For the other researchers out there, I thought I would share my bibliography for the “We Are One People” article (the sources are not printed in the magazine itself). Enjoy!
Read MoreI’ve never written that much about my Jordan family branch on this blog. I guess that’s because I have focused chiefly on posts related to the Armuchee Valley area of Walker and Chattooga counties, while my Jordan family roots are over in Whitfield County. But my grandfather Earl Jordan and his brother Bill lived in the Villanow area, so it’s high time to give that side of the family a little attention.
My grand uncle Bill Jordan lived right in the heart of Villanow in what used to be the old Love family home. I barely remember the house from when I was a little kid; it was torn down when I was very young. Before Uncle Bill lived in that house, though, he lived in the far eastern part of Walker County. Just before you get to the Whitfield County line, his house was on Joe Roberson Road. My aunt Charlotte can recall going there for Jordan family gatherings.
One such gathering took place in about 1937, probably a Jordan reunion celebration, as the Jordan reunions were usually held around William Brownlow Jordan‘s (my great grandfather) birthday. Here’s a photo from that reunion:
From left to right are Jack Jordan, Kathryn Sue Jordan, Isabell Anderson Jordan in chair, Frances Turner holding Charlotte Jordan, Ernestine Jordan with hands on unknown baby, Mary E. Jordan, Lynn Turner, and Earl Jordan on roof in background.
Read MoreThese posts are archived from the Jordan's Journey project by Jordan M. Scoggins. They have been made available here for continued reference and research purposes.
The original book is available to order from the bd Shop or your favorite bookseller.
For more about the project, visit the Jordan's Journey archive home page.
