I was born in September, 1953 on the Dahomey Plantation in Bolivar County, Mississippi and attended school in Washington County, Mississippi. Thus, my roots began in the heart of the flat, fertile Mississippi Delta. However, my paternal great-grandparents, Delana BARNETT and David COLBURN, were joined together in Perry County, Alabama. One of their sons, Andrew Jackson (Jack) COLBURN, rushed home one day and abruptly announced to his young wife, "Get our stuff together. We're getting out of here." With those words, mysteriously, under cover of night, Jack moved his family in an ox-drawn wagon to the rural, hill country of Calhoun County, Mississippi in the late 1800s. With the move, the family temporarily assumed the use of the surname COLMAN or COLEMAN. It was only after Jack's death that the family resumed the use of their true surname, COLBURN. Family members left behind in Alabama and stories of life in Perry County before the sudden move to Mississippi were never discussed. Who, what, when, where--suspense, intrigue, mystery--such is the addicting attraction of genealogy!

I was born in September, 1953 on the Dahomey Plantation in Bolivar County, Mississippi and attended school in Washington County, Mississippi. Thus, my roots began in the heart of the flat, fertile Mississippi Delta. However, my paternal great-grandparents, Delana BARNETT and David COLBURN, were joined together in Perry County, Alabama. One of their sons, Andrew Jackson (Jack) COLBURN, rushed home one day and abruptly announced to his young wife, "Get our stuff together. We're getting out of here." With those words, mysteriously, under cover of night, Jack moved his family in an ox-drawn wagon to the rural, hill country of Calhoun County, Mississippi in the late 1800s. With the move, the family temporarily assumed the use of the surname COLMAN or COLEMAN. It was only after Jack's death that the family resumed the use of their true surname, COLBURN. Family members left behind in Alabama and stories of life in Perry County before the sudden move to Mississippi were never discussed. Who, what, when, where--suspense, intrigue, mystery--such is the addicting attraction of genealogy!