My generation is the fifth of my family to live in Alabama. The early settlers from our family tree helped establish Calhoun, Cherokee, Clay, Coosa, Franklin, Jefferson, Randolph, Talladega, and Tallapoosa counties of Alabama in the early 1800s around the time that statehood was attained.

Our family roots go back to England, Ireland, and Scotland with occasional Welsh ancestry. From the European mainland, there has also been occasional German and Scandinavian contributions to the ancestry of our family tree. Since immigration to the New World, there have been several instances of Native American and western African input into the gene pool of my family tree.

Ancestors from my family tree immigrated to the American mainland through various ports from Massachusetts to South Carolina with eventual migration to diverse points South and West in addition to Alabama including Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, a major contribution to the state of Texas, and Virginia. On my mother's side, the family trail begins with the Dunns, Stewarts, Porters, and Martins; while my father's trail begins with the Carrolls, Popes, Coans, and Blackburns.

My ancestors participated in every major world military conflict dating back to the crusades. Thankfully, most of my ancestors survived their military service. However, two exceptions of note are Sir Robert VI de Brus, Earl of Carrick, Sixth Lord of Annandale and my 21st great grandfather, who died April 4, 1304, on route from Palestine to Annandale, Dumfriesshire, Scotland; and Robert Henry Dunn, an uncle I never had the pleasure to meet, who died at age 22 years in the South of France on August 20, 1944.

My generation is the fifth of my family to live in Alabama. The early settlers from our family tree helped establish Calhoun, Cherokee, Clay, Coosa, Franklin, Jefferson, Randolph, Talladega, and Tallapoosa counties of Alabama in the early 1800s around the time that statehood was attained.

Our family roots go back to England, Ireland, and Scotland with occasional Welsh ancestry. From the European mainland, there has also been occasional German and Scandinavian contributions to the ancestry of our family tree. Since immigration to the New World, there have been several instances of Native American and western African input into the gene pool of my family tree.

Ancestors from my family tree immigrated to the American mainland through various ports from Massachusetts to South Carolina with eventual migration to diverse points South and West in addition to Alabama including Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, a major contribution to the state of Texas, and Virginia. On my mother's side, the family trail begins with the Dunns, Stewarts, Porters, and Martins; while my father's trail begins with the Carrolls, Popes, Coans, and Blackburns.

My ancestors participated in every major world military conflict dating back to the crusades. Thankfully, most of my ancestors survived their military service. However, two exceptions of note are Sir Robert VI de Brus, Earl of Carrick, Sixth Lord of Annandale and my 21st great grandfather, who died April 4, 1304, on route from Palestine to Annandale, Dumfriesshire, Scotland; and Robert Henry Dunn, an uncle I never had the pleasure to meet, who died at age 22 years in the South of France on August 20, 1944.