Re: Robert Rutherford and Margaret Vawter
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In reply to:
Re: Robert Rutherford and Margaret Vawter
Georgene Jurgensen 11/01/02
For fifteen years, my father's coucsin, Clara, sought evidence that my gggrandfather, William, was the son of John Couch, Jr., of Greene County, TN. We had literally hundreds of original documents about the family, visited my gggrandfather's grave and read the inscription (four hundred miles to look at a grave???)but there was no "proof" of the relationship.Clara spent weeks and months in TN, but to no avail.I had read the documents, perhaps, a thousand times, and, one day, I told her that if we never found anything, that we already knew, beyond any reasonable (to me) doubt that John was the father of Bill.One day, the head librarian at Greenville, TN., sent me a Bible found on the city landfill.It was the family Bible of John's daughter, Hiley Jane.Listed were her parent's, and all her brothers and sisters.There, at the bottom of the list was grandpa Bill, complete with birthdate.Clara was estatic, but, in actuality, we had nothing new.Both of us had already known that John was the parent, and the particulars of all the family, and the birthdate only proved that the engraver of his headstone hadn't been wrong.To whom were we proving anything?I have always been of the opinion that what can't be proven must be deduced.The process of deduction is more fun than the proof.We can never be certain, in any case.I have a certificate that says that I am the son of Jack Couch. In fact, that is more a statement of trust in Mom than it is a proof.Our "proofs" are, in fact, only a reflection of our willingness to believe them.You are absolutely right.It is a lot of fun!!!Enjoy!I appreciate your reply.
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Re: Robert Rutherford and Margaret Vawter
Georgene Jurgensen 11/03/02