H.O.G.S. blogger No. 1 takes on a new challenge

I’m proud to say that I’m an H.O.G.S. blogger.

I was inducted into that privileged group a while back by Terry Thornton, the innovative and prolific Mississippi blogger who coined the term. Terry explains the acronym like this: “a little History, a few Observations, a tad of Genealogy, and a lot of Stories to present and preserve local history.”

Terry, a retired university professor who calls Fulton, Mississippi, home, is the creator and author of the excellent Hill Country of Monroe County Mississippi blog. Although he’s been recovering from eye surgery the past few weeks, he’s been as busy as ever, adding blogs at a dizzying rate.

His latest project is the Book of the Dead for Monroe County.  With links to 28 chapters already, Terry’s goal is to index all of the area’s cemeteries into a single list. Pictures, tombstone inscriptions and other information will be included in the indices and Terry welcomes volunteer help to collect and input the information.

This is a daunting task that is in capable hands. Without people like Terry, much local (and personal) history would be inaccessible at best, possibly even lost.

Writing prompt of the day: Call your local historical society and volunteer to help create or work on a project similar to Terry’s Book of the Dead.

Larry Lehmer is a professional personal historian who helps people preserve their family histories. To learn more, visit his web site, send him an e-mail or follow him on Twitter.

Comments

[Terry Thornton]

Thanks, Larry, for being a HOGS blogger! I appreciate your kind words, but most of all, I appreciate your endorsement and call for volunteers to help preserve and record local history.

Today here in Mississippi I had the pleasure of meeting a couple (he is in his 80s) from Maryville Tennessee who, a few years ago, "adopted" one of the Hill Country's remote and abandoned cemeteries. They have restored the grounds, fenced the cemetery, recorded the burials, and they come annually from Tennessee to clean and do more restoration on this small historic cemetery. We need more folks such as the Stanford Downs family of Maryville. The 95+ degree heat didn't slow them down one bit mowing and weeding and cleaning.

Again, thanks for your continuing help in preserving local family history.

Regards,
Terry Thornton
Fulton, Mississippi
HILL COUNTRY OF MONROE COUNTY MISSISSIPPI