Digging

Hi There. As an introduction, welcome to the Digging Up Old Bones blog. This blog is dedicated to discovering the family history of my husband, Gregory Simmons. It consists of 4 trees - The Simmons, The Coe's, The Dotson's and the Martin's.  

The Simmons Family is largely based in Georgia and Tennessee with roots believed to be from France and Europe. The Simmons Family tree will start with Gregg and move to his father, Sammy Simmons of Jackson, Georgia.

The Coe Family is largely based in Georgia and Alabama and will start with Bernice Carol Coe, Gregg's mother.

The Dotson's are related by way of Gregg's grandmother, Nancy Dotson Simmons. 

The Martin's are related by way of Gregg's grandmother, Betty Ernestine Holloway Coe. There will likely be some Holloway research as well, but in all honesty, we are not positive that she was biologically a Holloway based on family stories, recorded birth dates and census records. 

The foundation of research that has begun has already uncovered a lot of unknown information and a lot of references that still remain to be validated. There are references to Dukes and Earls from France and Barrons from Germany, records that indicate Gregg is a direct descendent of a Captain in the French & Indian War, a Major in the American Revolution and the 8th great grandson of America's first immigrant family from Germany - the Stalnakers. There is a State Park in Virginia (Hungry Mother's State Park) where folklore claims it was named after what could possibly turn out to be his 8th great grandmother. Its all very exciting and interesting but all hypothetical until we can validate the data in between now and the early 1700's. 

If you have read all that and still with us - welcome! We are excited to be on this journey and are looking forward to sharing what we find, pictures, documents and information for all!

Feel free to leave comments or message at any time. I will be trying to update each week with new findings. And would love feedback or ideas to make this more interesting an engaging. 

Until the next time...we will be digging up old bones!