When the descendants of the families who moved Wayne County from Gilmer County 80 years ago get together next weekend, two comments will be heard frequently: "I didn't know your family was from Gilmer County!" and "Why did your family move here?" Many of us had no idea of all the others in our school classes, our church pewmates, and among our neighbors in general who share this common heritage. And, with families of over 50 different surnames making the trek, there are a lot of descendants by now. There's a chance that I may be the only "stranger" in the group, but I doubt I will be, even though my family came toward the end of the migration and I was born relatively late. More importantly, my family didn't become farmers in the Empire Community, as so many did. The headline answers part of the second comment: they came looking for greener pastures. At the Gilmer Gathering, I hope to learn something of the conditions in Gilmer County which caused them to look elsewhere for their livings. Both my daddy and his cousin, Morris McClurd, have told me one big draw was Sea Island cotton. Daddy said it grew so hardy and big that a child could climb up the stalks. Morris said the cotton was bringing a dollar a pound, but, he noted, "It soon went to a nickel a pound, and we all had to go out and get real jobs!" (Not much has changed for farmers in 80 years.) Malvia Tootle is as much responsible for the Gilmer Gathering as I am; we can no longer remember who hatched the idea. She's not a Gilmer descendant, but she has an abiding interest in Wayne County history. She has been scanning old issues of The Jesup Sentinel and picking out relevant obituaries. She has a binder full of the "born in Gilmer County" obituaries available for copying. Another question I hope to answer is who was the first to come from the mountains. It is relatively easy to understand that additional relatives and neighbors would follow suit, but who was the first, the brave one? Through Malvia's searching through the obituaries, we have tentatively determined that the first Gilmer-to-Wayne pioneer was John Y. Wells. When he died in 1934, his obituary said, "He was a native of Gilmer County, Georgia, but he came to Wayne County 28 years ago to make his home here. He was a member of Old Bethel Baptist Church and one of the county's leading and progressive citizens." In another case of "I didn't know...," Ray Wells and I graduated in the same high school class, but until last winter I didn't know that he too was a Gilmer descendant. Shortly after Malvia and I had started scheming, I ran into Ray in town (he lives in Lithonia) and mentioned the idea to him, based on Malvia's listing of the Wells family among our group. Yes, he said, "Grand-daddy came in a covered wagon pulled by a team of oxen." If your family is among those that came from Gilmer County (or from the neighboring counties of Murray, Fannin, Union, and Towns) you will want to be at the Gilmer Gathering to help forge this link to our past. Please pass the word to anyone who you know is connected; the more, the merrier. We hear that a group may be coming from Ellijay! We want you to bring scrapbooks, family histories and genealogies, photos, old family bibles, and other historical documents. We will have copiers and scanners to duplicate photos and documents so families can share memorabilia. Copies will also be made to add to the local history collection in the Wayne County Library. The Gilmer Gathering will begin at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 5, in the cafeteria of the Arthur Williams Middle School on U.S. Hwy. 301 South in Jesup. We will have a short formal program, starting at 3 p.m., including the presentation of a resolution of commendation from the Wayne County Commissioners. See you at the Gilmer Gathering, Troy Fore