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Welcome to the Cullen C. Smith, Sr. Genealogy Website.
Here you will be able to find information on the SMITH, BRUCE, CRAIG, SEANEY, COWARD, surnames along with many others.
These are families that live mainly in RANKIN and SCOTT counties of Central Mississippi, although other families in other areas of the state, and also out of state areas are listed.
Included, of course, is the genealogy of my lovely wife�s family, with surnames of GINGER, STOMBERG, and many others.
We are building a database with digital images taken at the actual gravesites of our lost and forgotten family members. We have tracked down gravesites that are off up in the deep woods! If you are related and would like to see some of these images then feel free to contact me through my e-mail link. I will mail you a 3.5 disk of images if you want.
It is quite interesting doing research into family history. We enjoy getting out and visiting long lost relatives and picking their memories for information. Some folks turn on the "Southern Charm" and invite you in for dinner or supper, others treat you like your an old time revenuer and refuse to talk to you at all!
We double check "memories" with other recorded and documented evidence to ensure that the information is correct. Many times people are, or where, known by their "middle" name or "nickname" and we have found genealogy websites with incorrect information due to this. We do not look down on people who post such information because sometimes you have to have a crack in the door to see through to the other side.
An example of this is a deceased relative of mine known as "Uncle Cullen". His last name is Craig so if you ask families about him they tell you about Uncle Cullen or Uncle Cullen Craig. I have found three genealogy websites so far, that have him listed as Cullen Craig. My wife and I went and visited Nigel Craig, Cullen�s son, and he along with his wife Mary, volunteered to take us out to the gravesite. When we arrived there Nigel pointed out a tombstone and said, "That�s my daddy there." As we went around to the front of the stone my wife said, "This says James Cullen Craig!" Nigel says, "It does? I didn�t know that. He was called Cullen by everyone I knew."
We left there and went to another gravesite to find some more relatives. While there, my wife asked Nigel where his granddad was buried at. Nigel and Mary replied that he was supposed to be buried at a church cemetery down the road but they had not been able to find Nigel�s grandfather in it. We went down to the church cemetery and I found, not only, Nigel�s grandfather and his wife, but his great grandfather along with his wife!
Of course during all these cemetery visits I was taking pictures and my wife was taking notes.
When we got back to Nigel�s house Mary served us a huge 7 course meal and that doesn�t include the desert!
So, as you can see, it pays to do genealogy research!
We would also like to thank the folks that work at the Mississippi Department of Achieves and History. Located in the William F. Winter Archives and History Building on the corner of Amite St. and North St.
Our state gets a lot of flack about how "backwards" we are, but I can tell you that no other state has the amount of records on file readily available to the public that Mississippi has. They have marriage, death, cemetery, civil war records, and much more, including newspapers from way back yonder! They have the most friendly and helpful staff of any government agency I have dealt with. If you ask, they can, and will, make it possible for you to find the information you are looking for. In the offhand chance that they do not have what you are looking for, then they will refer you to proper place!
An example: I was able to confirm that my great-grandfathers name was Sam, that he lived in the Pisgah area and he was a farmer, by a 1918 draft card that was filled out by grandfather in his own hand at the age of 19.
Here are some of my favorite websites:
Ms. Dept. of Archives & History ()
Find A Grave (http://www.findagrave.com/index.html)
Slay Family (http://www.slayfamily.com/index.html)