The search for personal identity leads to a search for knowledge concerning our family ancestry and history. We cannot effectively disassociate ourselves from our family. It is one of the ``givens'' of life. We can search our family lineage and history to try to understand ourselves better and to understand them but this search is never solitary nor accomplished alone. It is a family project and more especially when our family consists of several siblings and recognized intergenerational contacts. It also involves a study of the communities in which they lived.
Disturbed by the lack of any written records of the family ancestry on our father's side of the family I began early to write down what I could learn about them. Some ancestral charts of the Hale-Hammond-Jameson connections on the Hammond side of the family encouraged me. Professor Arthur D. Oxley at Lambuth College introduced me to values in family information for health concerns. However, the most important impulse was a move to Wisconsin in 1951 and the realization that I didn't know much about our ancestors and was away from sources of information. The ``far country'' made me more diligent in writing down some bits of family history for reference. Twenty years in Perú accented the need for written records. While my search for information was sporadic the desire to get our story together never wavered.
Our search was not limited to Watlington-Hammond interest but included my wife's Threadgill-Latham families and made her a partner in the search. With her secretarial skills she helped me in innumerable ways to organize my materials and duplicate it for sharing with the family. Our daughter, Mary Emma Watlington, accepted the challenge to do a Lambuth College interim project in genealogy in January, 1975, which involved bringing together our Watlington family genealogy and history for the first time. By that time much of the research on the immediate lineage had been accomplished, but very little on the allied families. So Janice Threadgill Watlington and Mary Watlington Sieger were early allies in this project.
Many references are made herein to the help of James L. Watlington, Sr. and Mary Watlington Wolford in the search for Watlington ancestors in Virginia, Bermuda and England. Mary Wolford's book on Watlingtons in Dinwiddie Co., Virginia and Madison Co., Tenn. freed me up to focus on the descendents of George W. and Catherine Tabler Watlington in West Tennessee. The search continues for roots prior to 1761 in Virginia.
The help and encouragement of friends at the Mid-West Tennessee Genealogical Society and the Tennessee Genealogical Society must be acknowledged. Their accumulated materials have helped greatly but their personal encouragement and suggestions have been motivational factors. The financial contributions of my siblings, especially Mack and Sam, have encouraged us also. Our cousin, Albert Edwin Watlington, and many others have also encouraged us through their expressed interest and financial contributions.
Despite all of the encouragement along the way the very human ``procrastination'' is my own. In recent months we have realized that what we do must be done quickly so we go to press with what we have. Much of our genealogical material is available for distribution through other channels. We express our appreciation to John Andrew Watlington for many hours of preparation for printing, and to Hubert and Betty Watlington Williams for working on publication and distribution. Kenneth, Evelyn Black and Betty Williams brought together the picture section for us, which enriches our memories.
-- Elton and Janice Watlington
October 1997