Mr. Postman, Please deliver this letter to Mr. & Mrs.

ROSE, LEDBETTER, DALE, SWEET , BATES, OVERSTREET, CARDWELL , GREGORY, OLDHAM, JONES, SMITH, HARRIS, McGEE, WOODARD, VIOLETT, RIX, VADEN, CAMEL, DAVIS, LUCKEY, BAKER, WILLIAMS, CARTER, BROWN, BUTLER, SALMON, WALKER, WILLIAMSON, LEDSINGER, MASON, PIERCEY, McCONNELL, SMITH, HATFIELD, BARNETT, GABLE, SLACK, LOVE, MCKENZIE, MCDONALD, JOHNSON, WEST, FUQUA, SIRCY/SEARCY, BELL, GIVENS, DILLIHAY/DILLEHAY, DRAPER, HOLLADAY, KEMP, McCORMICK, RAMSEY, RUSSELL, WADE. HUNT, MOORE, MORROW, EDINGTON, OSBORN, LEBOW, ALLISON, AVERILL, BLACK, BEAM, CARPENTER, CLARK, GILLETTE, HARGROVE, HARRIS, HARRISON, JONES, JENKINS, KENNEDY, KISER, LOCKHART, LUTZ, MARTIN, MAUNEY, MERCER, MERRIMAN, MOSS, PEARSON, RANDLE, ROBERTS, SELLERS, SNEED, STROUPE, WHITWORTH, WILKISON, FARGUSON/FERGUSON, BRITTON, WILSON, GOLDSTON, ROBINSON, WHEELER, BURTON, SAMPSON, SHEPPARD/SHEPARD, MASON, FULLER , COX , MINK, AGEE, CHEEK, FOUTCH, WEST, GENTRY, NEIGHBORS/NABORS, THOMAS, LANKFORD, SNODDY, PULLY, McCORMICK-McCORMACK, KNIGHT, ROBINSON, ROBERTSON, ELSTON, ELISTON, DICKENS, DYER, CLARDY/CLARIDY, EVETTS/EBITS/EVITS/EVITTS, GOULD, EMERSON, KENT, HINES, PETTY, MOORE, MULLENS, HART, PIPER, LOVELADY, GOAD, DRIVER, WITCHER, PACK, HACKETT, MONTAGUE, WOODSON, ETHRIDGE, ETHRIGE, ETHERIDGE

December 1st, 1999

Dear Grandma and Grandpa,

It's been a long time since we have communticated. The holiday's are coming up and we thought we would take this opportunity to drop you a line and let you know where we are now. We have traveled quite a distance since you settle in Tennessee. Seems just like yesterday that we were sittin and listen to all the stories of where you traveled from and the many generations before you. There were some real great-grandpa's and great-grandma's back then. We've been writing all that stuff down too, so we don't forget and so our youngin's will know when and where everyone was born and how your life was. We have misplaced some of your family records and some have been lost to us forever probably but we'll keep searchin and try our best to find them.

Our mode of transportation is faster now so it doesn't take us as long to get where we want to go. We don't have to walk or ride that old horse for miles anymore. Our wagon's have the power of several horses now, some of them still have convertible tops though so we can still remove the top like you did. We even have these really super fast wagons that can take us thousand of miles in just hours and they can just get off the ground and go through the air. I bet you never envisioned that all those years ago when you decided you wanted a new adventure and had to travel for months until you found that one spot you decided to call your new home.

We have a lot more time for leisure these days but somehow we just don't seem to take the time out to relax. You know our youngin's just don't seem to work as hard as yours did. Most of us don't have near as many youngin's as you did. All those mouths to feed, we just don't know how you managed so well. We have more doctors now for just about any ailment you can imagine and better medicine so we don't have to part with as many of our folks as soon you did back then.

Most of us don't even grow our own food anymore unless we want to. We have so many trading posts now and they are so big that they have everything you could imagine and probably a lot of things you can't. We can be just about anything we want now days. Oh, some of us still have your same adventurous spirit and decide we want to leave our family and friends and explore some unknown territory. We have so many ways to communicate now that we can still stay in close touch with everyone even if we are thousands of miles apart.

One of the reasons we wanted to write to you was to let you know about these new fangled things we have called computers. They are all hooked up on this thing called the Internet and a bunch of us have gotten together on this thing called the TNSMITH list. That means it's is a mailing list for Smith County, Tennessee where you and some of your kin lived. Some of your kin never moved from Tennessee, we guess they liked it so much they decided to stay. We don't have to wait a long time for our mail anymore and we can answer in just a few minutes. Well, we go on this thing and just start talkin about all the stuff you use to tell us and before you know it someone says "Yea, I know who that is and I know all about that person. Do you want to know what I know about them?" And you know what Grandma and Grandpa sometimes we find some of your kin, so we have all kinds of new cousins we didn't know about. A lot of times these new cousins have copies of the records that you gave us that got misplaced. Then they share the information and then we write it all down in our memory books and put it in a safe place so we don't lose it again.

I bet when you left Tennessee you never thought that there were so many places to travel. It would take us a very long time to tell you all of the stories behind where we have traveled and how we got there. We have traveled through almost all 50 states in our union and some of us have even gone back across the waters for a time. Yep, that big vast territory that you and your kin charted has turned into fifty states now, bet you never envisioned that either. We are going to tell you in a minute where we all are now. But we just wanted to thank you first for giving us our start in life. Well I guess we will say goodbye for now. We need to get this letter sent and you won't have to wait for it anytime at all before it reaches you.

From your many grandchildren that gather at the Smith County Mailing list:

James Wallace in China, MI

Charles Gregory in Antioch, TN

Olive in OK

Teri Carter Ellis in MN

Marie-Paulette-Smith in MA

Joanne Clarida Shrout in Independence, MO

Leland Lankford in IA

Billye Patrice Davis in OK

Pat R. near San Franciso, CA

Carol Jean Wilkison Lockhart in CA

Kay Cockrell Kazmir in Austin, TX

Cindy Knight Klemola in Windham Co., CT

Joy Wright King in Pawleys Island, SC

Anne Pyle in AR

Peggy in IL

Melba in Antioch, TN

Bobbie Mowrey Hollister in SC

Charlene Oliver Williams in Lucasville, OH

Marie in MO

Allison Dickens Butler in WI

Linda L. Clements Dayton, NV.

Patty Larson

Bobby L. West, ID

Michael Schuyler, WA

Patti Sedillo, CO

Mary Knight, IL

Ron Burl IA

Bob

Dick

Nancy Keathley

Katheryne Cowan

Karen Moore Waugh, Tampa, FL

Vada Sutton, TX

Robert~Merle's, Auburn California