Finding the family roots

Me and Jessica had dinner with my Dad and my step-mom on Saturday night in Acworth. It was good and we talked lots about the soon to be baby and how Jessica is coming along with all of the changes. We went back to their house for dessert and my dad pulled out some family history stuff he wanted us to have. I now have 2 priceless documents of my family history on his side which take my roots back to mid 18th century France (Pierre Jean LeBon) and Wilkes County Georgia (William Hightower) along the same time.

It is really interesting to see how everything is connected and to know some of the stories about where my family came from. I am hoping to get some more info from my mom's side to complete the picture. It is almost complete but there is lots I can do on the research side to find more details. There are also tons of these geneology sites out there as I think this is why lots of the older folks end up on the internet. I am more intested in building my own DB and front end so that is yet another project to add to the list. don't think it would be that hard but I need to scan these original docs so we can have soft copies incase anything ever happens to these books.

I am originally form Atlanta and it looks like most of my Dad's family has been Georgia based for the last 200 or so years. Generation after generation of people who lived on farms outside of Atlanta in the years prior to and throughout the War between States. One of the most interesting entries goes like this:

"Green Berry Hightower
Born - 10-25-1825
did not marry so far as known. Disappeared as young man while on a trip to Darien with slaves, teams, and lumber. Was never heard from again. His father's will in 1862 shows family then did not know whether he was alive or dead."

How wild is that? This is the reason why I hate modern day entertainment and media outlets. This is real drama from the past and is really interesting and mysterious. I am sure I will dig up all kinds of wild stuff while researching. I am just trying to find a good month where I can maximize a $20 memebership to one of these sites.

On an unrelated note, we have been going through boxes and noxes of old crap we have...mainly my stuff I have carried around forever. I found TONS of old pictures, docs, and all kinds of memories of the past. More on this later but there were many things throw away and shredded in some cases. :)