My name is Regena Faye Campbell Dawson. Starting in January of 2016 my friend, Lauren, helped me to start my new adventure. Little did I know that she was starting an addiction. She was kind enough to start my tree using her account since I knew absolutely nothing about ancestry.com nor about genealogy in general. Within six months, she had transferred the tree to me, as I now had an ancestry account of my own. Not only that, I did my DNA and the results came back in July of 2016. The DNA was like a Christmas present that just kept on giving. Then there was the application to DAR for Jonathan Fitch which was accepted in November of 2016. There was also the application to the Mayflower Society for William Bradford going through Jonathan Fitch. This application is still pending as of February of 2017, but hopefully is close to being accepted.
I am Northern by birth but Southern by blood - or so I always thought. It turns out I come from all over. I just thought I came from poor, hardworking farmers on both sides of my family. My Father's family (Campbell & Hess) from New Market, Madison County, AL and my Mother's family (Wynn & Bean) from Stevenson, Jackson County, AL. Both of my parents left Alabama and went to Harvey, IL in the 1950s. They both followed brothers up there to leave the farm and find work. They happened to meet there, fall in love, get married and start a family. They lived there for 26 years until my Dad's job as an ice truck driver / ice deliverer went away because everyone had their own freezers. He could have stayed there and worked on the railroad with his brother, Tom. He chose to come home to Alabama even though he didn't have a job.
We came back in 1972 and rented a house in Bridgeport, AL for my 5th grade year until my Father found work in Scottsboro, Jackson County, AL. I lived there until I married my husband in 1986. We moved to Huntsville, Madison County, AL and started our lives together. We now have 2 sons, 2 dogs and 1 cat. We are getting older now and are both looking into our ancestry. Me more than him.
Anyway, before my family was poor, uneducated farmers, they were many other things and from many other places further back. This has all been a revelation to me as I thought I would find a few generations, maybe a few names and that would be it. I have found out some really incredible things. Putting the pieces of the puzzle together has become my newest past time. This is where I hope to share the information I find.
