Good Things

Sometimes good things take time. Mark and I journeyed to Mountain City, TN, today where my grandmother, Mary Blanche, was born. My grandmother was adopted from an orphanage in Nashville, TN, in 1918, and the only information she was ever made aware of, about her adoption, was where she was born (Mountain City) and her surname (Shepherd). Today, with the application of DNA matching and some good old fashioned sleuthing, our family finally knows a little bit more about her biological beginning. From what we can piece together, Blanche’s mother’s name was Biner Shepherd. I won’t pretend to know the narrative of Biner’s life but it appears she was poor, never married and struggled with her health. She lived out her life with two sisters, some nieces and nephews and a son named Jesse. She had two daughters, in addition to my grandmother, who both ended up being adopted. I won’t go into the details of each adoption but for Mary Blanche it seems probable that at 18 months of age my Nan was transported by train to Nashville where she was eventually adopted, when she was four, by an older couple who couldn’t have children of their own. She was loved by Mary and Daddy Jim and had a wonderful life. Biner died, within months of Blanche arriving in Nashville leaving her sister, Crettie to look after 12 year old Jesse. A cousin, I found through Ancestry, shared the only picture we know that exists of Biner and her little boy. The other picture I’ve included is of my Nan and her adoptive parents made soon after her adoption.

Mark and I felt like we traveled back in time today. We found the small family cemetery where Biner was buried, high on a mountainside in the middle of a horse pasture. I’ve always known my grandmother’s life started someplace else. Her story for me was always like a beautiful book with the first chapter missing. Today, it felt like I got a more complete picture of that book. Today was good. Sometimes good things take time.







 

Comments

  1. BabaMay 15, 2024 at 1:28 PM

    A beautiful place !! So glad you found the grave.

    ReplyDelete

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