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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