``There is no end to this,'' Janice said as she added family pages to the computer database. Indeed, let us hope that there is no sudden end to the family and relationships. The major part of our story ends with the family coming through the Great Economic Depression and Social Reformation of the 1930's and the following World War II. The fifth generation of George and Catherine Tabler Watlingtons in West Tennessee were now scattered and it was a new epoch.
Though the story cannot all be told in one volume, we can point to the future by naming some of the younger generation and some of the allied families which their marriages have brought. With an increased interest in genealogy for scientific and health purposes, the interconnections of past and future families is of increasing importance. Better governmental records and public collections will make it easier to check on specific persons. At the same time, the wide scattering of the children of even the fifth generation makes the common knowledge of kinship patterns more difficult. Unless someone in the family intentionally and conscientiously works to make known the kinship patterns the relationships will be lost to coming generations. Therefore every generation must tell its own story and circulate it as it sees fit. Family reunions will also help restore relationships.
An attempt is made here to point the way to relationships of the
sixth, seventh and eighth generations in West Tennessee of the
Watlington families. In the collected family pages
there is much more
information on other allied families for the studious. The family
pages have many blank places which can be filled in by relatives as
more information is shared. We have been limited by the lack of more
details but even the ``connections'' will prove valuable. A name, a
place, and a date as offered in the family pages will send many off in
search for more data about persons and relationships. Enjoy the
search!!