FAMILY BACKGROUND AND GRUBBS REUNION
by SHIRLEY MARGUERITE W. BENNETT
AFTER SEARCHING FOR YEARS FOR MY GRANDFATHER'S NAME ON THE INTERNET, I WAS FINALLY PUT IN TOUCH WITH A BILLY GRUBBS EMAIL ADDRESS. I WROTE BILLY THE LITTLE BACKGROUND I KNEW FROM MY MOTHER AND HER SISTER, NETTIE WATSON LEWIS. HE WROTE BACK AND TOLD ME I HAD THE CORRECT GRUBBS FAMILY AND THAT WE WERE COUSINS. HE PUT ME IN CONTACT WITH EMMA WHO INFORMED ME WE HAD THE SAME GREAT GRANDFATHER.
WARREN AND I ARE NOW IN THE PROCESS OF ATTENDING A GRUBBS FAMILY REUNION IN JACKSON, GEORGIA. EN ROUTE, WE TRAVELED OF INT. 75 TO SYLVESTER, GA TO SEE THE OLD HOME PLACE WHERE MY MOTHER AND HER SISTER, NETTIE, HAD GROWN UP. THEY WERE RAISED BY RHODAE AND HUGH BOONE DUE TO THE FACT THEIR MOTHER DIED WHEN BOTH WERE YOUNG GIRLS. MY GRANDFATHER TOOK MY MOTHER, MARGUERITE, AND NETTIE (HER YOUNGER SISTER) TO LIVE WITH AUNT RHODAE (MY GRANDFATHER'S SISTER), AND HE TOOK HIS SON, JACK GRUBBS, TO LIVE WITH ANOTHER SISTER. AFTER THEY WERE SETTLED WITH HIS SISTERS, MY GRANDFATHER TRAVELED TO CALIFORNIA AND WASHINGTON TO BEGIN A NEW LIFE. I ONLY HAD THE WONDERFUL OPPORTUNITY OF MEETING MY GRANDFATHER ONE TIME. HE TRAVELED TO TALLAHASSEE TO VISIT MY MOTHER WHEN I WAS ABOUT TEN YEARS OLD. THAT IS THE ONLY TIME I EVER MET HIM. HE REMARRIED IN THE WEST, BUT I DO NOT, AT THIS TIME, KNOW ANY OF THAT PART OF HIS LIFE.
MORE WILL BE PUBLISHED AFTER THE REUNION THIS WEEKEND, OCTOBER 3, 2009.