My Goal in writing Our Family Heritage
As a researcher, I speak for those who cannot; by telling their story.
Growing up, I was interested in my family history and sat at the feet of my parents and grandparents as they told and retold our verbal heritage. This I did long before I knew that one day I would write these stories, as well as the ancestry of my predecessors for my own children and grandchildren.
“The Waltons of Hempstead County” © was the first of what will become a four book series for my children. I began with the paternal heritage of my husband Dwight Walton JR and it was published a year before his death in 2013. This particular Walton / Rider heritage had not been previously researched or written prior to my own which began in 2002. In complete ignorance; I began with Dwight’s heritage as my first book, thinking it would be the easiest to complete due to his family having been the longest in residence in one primary location. Little did I know that due to the heritage left behind; as referenced in the book, that a decade would be required to discover that history.
After eight arduous years of travel, research, phone calls to his long since scattered relatives, and an additional two years of writing and compiling endless notes; the book was completed and rushed to printing so that copies could be available for the upcoming Christmas season. Cousins of my husband were wishing to gift to their own children copies of the book.
This book was never written for open public distribution; however, was provided to my husband’s close and distant family; using my husband as the primary person in relation to our own children and grandchildren. I wanted them to know ‘Their Walton / Rider Story’; a lost heritage and how in each branch of this family how their ancestors had come from all parts of Europe and how they merged into the person that would one day be called their father and grandfather (Pop).
I have and continue to be amazed, as I continue to write our, mine and my husband’s heritage, how much I understand how we became the people we are via those who proceeded us in this life. I find that I better understand my deceased parents and grandparents; now that I know their whole story. In this same manner; my children and grandchildren will better understand my husband and myself, for we are an accumulation of the people who have influenced us, the course of our lives.
After spending endless research hours in the Southwest Arkansas Regional Archives (SARA), in Hempstead County, Arkansas; I was asked to consider gifting a copy of my work to them after it was completed. Upon completion, I had gifted a copy to SARA, another to the Brackett Library on the Harding Campus; and a third book to an elderly distant relative, who became my much needed Walton answer-person to the forgotten past. As an alumnus of Harding, as are my children; I wished copies of my book(s) to be on file once my grandchildren are in attendance. They each own a copy and will future books as well; however, wanted them to have copies available on campus, should they be needed for reference in their studies.
When their high school studies of American and World History take them to historical events; I often send to them information of the part in which their direct ancestor(s) played in that particular history. History comes alive in their studies, when they have the knowledge of how their many times great grandparents escaped the guillotine as French Aristocratic Huguenots, how six direct ancestral grandfathers were signers of the Mayflower Compact, which grandfather(s) served directly under General George Washington, an enormous list of ancestral Patriots, signer(s) of the Declaration of Independents, etc. The list based on the four separate ancestral trees of both my husband’s and my own grandparents is endless.
Of course I wish my grandchildren to know their current heritage and remember their loving Pop; however, knowing from whom we are descended, their accomplishments in the face of defeat, will continue to build character in the generations yet unborn in our lineage.
My few words have grown to many, in an attempt to convey my need to allow this written heritage, as the means of a ‘Legacy’ for my four grandchildren; ‘Their Story’ which has been rediscovered by their adoring Nana.
Emma Leah Chitty Walton
02 Jun 2014

I am currently working toward the completion of my maternal Lemmon / Haley heritage book, now that I am retired from Harding University. The COVID-19 pandemic motivates me to complete this 4-book series for this hard-earned knowledge to remain for future generations.
Emma Leah Chitty Walton
13 Apr 2020

My Goal in writing Our Family Heritage
As a researcher, I speak for those who cannot; by telling their story.
Growing up, I was interested in my family history and sat at the feet of my parents and grandparents as they told and retold our verbal heritage. This I did long before I knew that one day I would write these stories, as well as the ancestry of my predecessors for my own children and grandchildren.
“The Waltons of Hempstead County” © was the first of what will become a four book series for my children. I began with the paternal heritage of my husband Dwight Walton JR and it was published a year before his death in 2013. This particular Walton / Rider heritage had not been previously researched or written prior to my own which began in 2002. In complete ignorance; I began with Dwight’s heritage as my first book, thinking it would be the easiest to complete due to his family having been the longest in residence in one primary location. Little did I know that due to the heritage left behind; as referenced in the book, that a decade would be required to discover that history.
After eight arduous years of travel, research, phone calls to his long since scattered relatives, and an additional two years of writing and compiling endless notes; the book was completed and rushed to printing so that copies could be available for the upcoming Christmas season. Cousins of my husband were wishing to gift to their own children copies of the book.
This book was never written for open public distribution; however, was provided to my husband’s close and distant family; using my husband as the primary person in relation to our own children and grandchildren. I wanted them to know ‘Their Walton / Rider Story’; a lost heritage and how in each branch of this family how their ancestors had come from all parts of Europe and how they merged into the person that would one day be called their father and grandfather (Pop).
I have and continue to be amazed, as I continue to write our, mine and my husband’s heritage, how much I understand how we became the people we are via those who proceeded us in this life. I find that I better understand my deceased parents and grandparents; now that I know their whole story. In this same manner; my children and grandchildren will better understand my husband and myself, for we are an accumulation of the people who have influenced us, the course of our lives.
After spending endless research hours in the Southwest Arkansas Regional Archives (SARA), in Hempstead County, Arkansas; I was asked to consider gifting a copy of my work to them after it was completed. Upon completion, I had gifted a copy to SARA, another to the Brackett Library on the Harding Campus; and a third book to an elderly distant relative, who became my much needed Walton answer-person to the forgotten past. As an alumnus of Harding, as are my children; I wished copies of my book(s) to be on file once my grandchildren are in attendance. They each own a copy and will future books as well; however, wanted them to have copies available on campus, should they be needed for reference in their studies.
When their high school studies of American and World History take them to historical events; I often send to them information of the part in which their direct ancestor(s) played in that particular history. History comes alive in their studies, when they have the knowledge of how their many times great grandparents escaped the guillotine as French Aristocratic Huguenots, how six direct ancestral grandfathers were signers of the Mayflower Compact, which grandfather(s) served directly under General George Washington, an enormous list of ancestral Patriots, signer(s) of the Declaration of Independents, etc. The list based on the four separate ancestral trees of both my husband’s and my own grandparents is endless.
Of course I wish my grandchildren to know their current heritage and remember their loving Pop; however, knowing from whom we are descended, their accomplishments in the face of defeat, will continue to build character in the generations yet unborn in our lineage.
My few words have grown to many, in an attempt to convey my need to allow this written heritage, as the means of a ‘Legacy’ for my four grandchildren; ‘Their Story’ which has been rediscovered by their adoring Nana.
Emma Leah Chitty Walton
02 Jun 2014

I am currently working toward the completion of my maternal Lemmon / Haley heritage book, now that I am retired from Harding University. The COVID-19 pandemic motivates me to complete this 4-book series for this hard-earned knowledge to remain for future generations.
Emma Leah Chitty Walton
13 Apr 2020