School Days: Concord School, early 1890’s
Concord School is one of the numerous small school houses that existed in the Armuchee Valley area. It was situated towards the northern end of Concord Road just across the way from Concord Church. Previous Jordan’s Journey contributor Rhonda Locke recently sent me a wonderful “new” photo. Rhonda describes the photo: I was excited to […]
Photo from Concord Methodist Church, Villanow, GA
It’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. For now I’m keeping it online as I think the posts are a valuable archive. People do still visit the site […]
Georgia Backroads: “The Language of History” [Out Now!]
![Georgia Backroads: "The Language of History" [Out Now!]](https://bd-studios.com/journey/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/georgia-backroads-summer-2014-cover-150x150.jpg)
I have a new article out in the current issue (Summer 2014) of Georgia Backroads. The article is titled “The Language of History” and it is an expanded and slightly re-worked 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 […]
Georgia Backroads: “We Are One People” [Out Now!]
![Georgia Backroads: "We Are One People" [Out Now!]](https://bd-studios.com/journey/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/georgia-backroads-autumn-2013-cover-150x150.jpg)
I am very pleased to announce the publication of my latest article in the current (Autumn 2013) issue of Georgia Backroads. “We Are One People” is an exploration of 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, […]
Research and Imagination (& Some Family Photo Fun)
I’ve never written that much about my Jordan family branch on this blog. I guess that’s because I have focused mostly 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 did live […]
Villanow’s Scenic Sites: Johns Mountain, Keown Falls, and The Pocket
It has been almost 15 years since I lived in Georgia. That seems like such a long time ago. All that time away from the place I grew up is actually one of the things that enabled me to make Jordan’s Journey. If I had stayed in the same place, I don’t think I would have been […]
The Language of Genealogy
Learning about family history teaches you a lot about history in general. The obvious areas are things like the Civil War and even World War II. When you connect your family to the collective stories of history, suddenly those grand narratives seem a bit more personal. As a New Yorker I can’t help but wonder […]
Connections: Pretty People at Puryear Woods
The Puryear family is a well known family of the Armuchee Valley area. While I do not descend from the Puryears directly, they do (like the Suttles) connect in my tree through marriage. Nancy Elizabeth Ward is my 3rd great grand aunt and she married Hamilton Young Puryear (1841-1903). Hamilton is a son of William […]
Mad Dogs and Venomous Snakes: The Inconsequential Nature of Everyday Life
Whenever I get the time, I love poring through old newspapers from Chattooga and Walker Counties, searching the bits of news for names of people in my family tree. The Summerville News and Walker County Messenger are littered with my ancestors far and wide. Most of the time when an ancestor is mentioned it seems […]
School Days: Armuchee Valley School, Class of 1991
Today’s entry in the School Days series is quite different. Where as the previous school photos were taken in the 1930’s, today’s school photo was taken in 1990. It is, in fact, my 5th grade class from Armuchee Valley School. I love how this photo is labeled with all the names–making any detective work much […]
Hey There Delila: Mapping An Armuchee Valley Matriarch [Part 1]
![Hey There Delila: Mapping An Armuchee Valley Matriarch [Part 1]](https://bd-studios.com/journey/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/delila-brown-ward-tombstone_20090617_detail-150x150.jpg)
When I was growing up I always thought of the two sides of my family, mom’s side and dad’s side, as being completely segregated. Mom’s family was from Villanow and dad’s family was from Subligna. It seemed like two different places and that people from one place didn’t really know people from the other even though they […]
School Days: Villanow School, circa late 1930’s
Today I have another entry for the School Days series. This time I present a photo from the Villanow School which stood in Villanow at the opposite end of the valley as the Subligna School photo I shared last time. The Villanow school was among the last one room school houses in the area. The […]