WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE? by Phillip Roberts, [email protected]

I spent the entire month of July in Kentucky and Virginia searching for my elusive great-great-great-great-grandfather Roberts. One day, while in Clay County, Kentucky, I decided to try to find the grave of Captain Adoniram Allen, a great-great- great-great-grandfather on my mother's side. I had my trusty "Kentucky County Maps" book with me, and had marked the Laurel Grove Cemetery where he is buried. I had been there once before, but had not been back in nearly 30 years. I stopped at several houses to ask directions but no one was familiar with the site I was looking for.

Just when things looked hopeless, I spotted an old faded and dusty car approaching with a flashing yellow light on top. I just knew my luck had taken a turn for the better when I discovered it was a rural mailman making his rounds. Surely he would know the area well. I told him I was looking for some old Allen relatives of mine and asked, "Do you know where the Laurel Grove Cemetery is?"

He finished putting the mail in the box, told me that Laurel Grove was up the next "holler," and continued, "but none of the Allens live up that way anymore." Then he looked at my Texas plates, conferred with the lady who had walked down to the mailbox, and asked me, "Are you armed?"

Taken aback, I told him, "No, but should I be?"

He said "it wouldn't hurt," and then told me marijuana growing was pretty common in that area, that none of the old Allen family lived around there anymore, and that the families that did might not be too happy with strangers wanting to wander over their property.

The cemetery I was looking for was on private property. I had no intention of wandering over anyone's land without permission. My son and I decided that old Captain Allen should continue to rest in peace.