ANCESTORS WANT TO BE FOUND by Annette Roebuck [email protected]

Not having been raised by my family but in foster care, at 42 I began my quest of finding family. My grandparents all were dead by the time I was six years old. I learned I was living within 50 miles of relatives I never knew and that my grandmother GINN's maiden name was BUTTS.

I was researching in a small genealogical library in Lenoir County, North Carolina. As I walked down an aisle, I noticed a small paperback book that was almost pulled out on the bottom shelf. I reached down to push it in, but a silent, warm force pulled it out instead. Its title was THE BUTTS CEMETERY RECORD. Not only was my grandmother BUTTS mentioned, but also listed were her parents and all their children. I learned that the baby of that family had died just a year before. I know that my grandmother took hold of my hand and helped me pull the book out instead of push it in.

I called the funeral home and asked for a sibling of my great aunt, gave him my phone number, and asked if she would call me. Within two weeks I found another branch of the family and got a picture of great-great-grandmother VAUGHN and her husband and my great-great-grandfather BUTTS. Doing research on my husband's family, I found VAUGHN in that line and learned that my husband's brother's wife and I are third cousins. If you really, really want to find them, they will help you. It may take time, but they want to be found.