Cousins, Near and Far

My first cousin once removed, Robin Stice from Virginia and first cousin twice removed, Elizabeth Stice from West Palm Beach, my sister Martha Cabaniss from Bostic, and I from Raleigh visited our second cousins, Jimmy, Shelva and Jerry and second cousin once removed, Donna, in Cleveland County recently. Donna is the family genealogist (I hope I have these relationships described accurately) and Jimmy and Jerry know a lot about the military history of our family on the Hawkins side.

My Cleveland County Cousins (l. to r.: Jimmy Hawkins, Donna Wilson, Shelva Wilson, Jerry Scruggs.)

Hawkins Family Photo (Photo courtesy of Jerry Scruggs.)

Jerry had a family photo of the James B. Hawkins family.  JB was my great grandfather, my grandmother's father. In the photo above, my great grandfather is the gentleman with the white beard, James B. Hawkins.  The woman beside him holding the baby is my Grandmother Greene, Dora Hawkins Greene, JB's daughter. She is holding my Aunt Edith.  Dora's husband, my Grandfather Greene, is the handsome man with the black mustache in the middle of the back row.  My Grandfather Greene had a white mustache when I was a child, and once as a teenager I asked my grandmother if the mustache didn't "tickle" with a kiss. She replied "The blackberries are sweeter when you have to go through the briars to get them." *

This has just whetted my appetite for learning more about our family history.  I have enough hobbies though without taking on genealogy.  Well, I can at least dabble in it.  And I can rely on my Cleveland County cousins as a source for a wealth of information. 

*I've been married for 24 years to a man with a mustache and a beard---my grandmother was right.