Oh, those Headricks, Dunns, and Caylors...

Oh, those Headricks, Dunns, and Caylors... why won't they go away and leave me be? These names are part of a big old clan that moved in large, tight-knotted clumps from Blount County, Tennessee, to Bradley and Polk County, Tennessee; and going on down en masse to settle in Walker County, Catoosa County, and Murray County, Georgia. The Headricks and Dunns intermarried as if it were written on stone by Moses that it must be thus. Caylors, too. Then, each and every family had 40-11 children, giving all of them pretty much the same names: Rhoda, Levi, Jacob, Daniel, William, Eli, Elizabeth, the ever-lovin', ever-present Polly, and an occasional oddball, like Braxton, Rosecrans, or Sidney (female of course). They loved tribute. Frederick Emert Headrick, Emert Headrick, William Headrick Emert. And for some odd reason, perhaps by prior arrangement as with Briscoe Darlin's hillbilly clan on TV, they loved to pair off in very similar arrangements: William Headrick marrying Ann Dunn, or William Caylor marrying Rhoda Dunn, generation after generation, picking out the same namesakes. (You'll know it's different couples, because they'll be twenty years apart and have a slightly different mix of Eli-Levi-Jacob-Liz offspring; but the kids will be close enough to each other in age that you can't be completely sure which is which without fifteen separate pieces of documentation, each of which conflicts only slightly with the next one). Why do we do it? I, myself, try to let this obsession go. I go cold turkey for awhile. Not a Levi or Rhoda one tapping against my brain cells. Then, as luck would have it, here comes some coincidence ~ not too extraordinary, in a county filled with Headricks, Caylors, and Dunns that you'd run into one. And, here we go again. Ah, well. Obsession. FamilySearch.org has worked out well ~ actual records, not just fake-offs linking to Ancestry. Also, in today's knocking around on the Internet, I've run across a fellow obsessor. This one has a pretty nice, original blog, so I thought I'd put it here to remember it.

Tonya's Roots
http://www.toniasroots.net/

Headrick Family Tree

The Headrick family tree has been a project of nearly twenty-five years of research. Over the years, the Southern Muse archives has collected quite a few photos, marriage licenses, death certificates, and photos of tombstones. These are all grist to the genealogist's mill! I have written up various brief stories about the family and printed reports; but, I haven't yet done the complete, all-inclusive book of Headricks. I have uploaded some of my Headrick photos, marriage licenses, and other documents, though. That might make it a little easier for the next generation. Scanning is slow, so I still have a long way to go ~ but this is a start...

Photos and Documents: Headrick Family of Murray County, Georgia

ABOVE: Alice Headrick Burns and Drusilla Headrick Grigsby