My name is Jo. Through the years I have spent much time in researching the ancestors of my children. In doing this I have learned many interesting stories that I wish to share with you. I will begin with a brief story of my life. I received my education in North Carolina. My parents eventually became tobacco farmers when I was about 12 years old. We lived in a log house, cool in the summer and also cool in the winter. It was heated by wood stoves. I remember my mom heating black irons on the stove, wrapping them in towels and placing them at the foot of the bed in the winter time so my sister and I could warm our cold feet. Life on the farm in the late 40's was hard. Water had to be wound from a well. There was no indoor plumbing which meant we normally did not take in a lot of liquids before retiring at night. Food for the table was raised in the gardens and my Mom canned what was eaten in the winter months along with the cured hams, other pork and occasionally some beef that a peddler would bring by. The only food items bought at a store were flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt, pepper and lots of Karo syrup. My sister ,my Dad and I loved mom's big hot biscuits with butter and Karo syrup. After completing my schooling I went to work Western Electric (a subsidiary of AT&T) and met my husband there. We were married in April of 1954 and in 1959 we moved with our children into a home we had built in Pfafftown, NC. By 1984 both of us had retired from our jobs and began traveling across this great nation and all the Canadian Provinces. God has been exceedingly good to me during my life. He gave me great parents, and very loving grandparents. He brought a wonderful, loving and caring husband into my life and blessed me with two lovely, healthy and strong children. I thank Him every day. It is because of my family research that I have written this brief sketch of the story of my life. I hope I have not lived in vain. I hope that along the way, I have had some impact on others that proved a blessing for them. Hopefully one hundred years from now, someone will enjoy reading about me and the fact that I did live, love and laugh a lot. There is much more to add to this story later.