To say I'm a hoarder would be unkind and somewhat of a bridge too far. Pack-rat, perhaps. Retired teacher in love with paper, today known as "hard copies"would fit.
Heritage-keeper sounds more akin to who I am. And, quite similar in nature to my mother and her mother who kept items of significance and passed them along to me with the admonition, "Don't lose this."
One of the items traveling the heritage road was a barely-holding-together manila envelope with my father's notations clearly visible. I tucked it away for safe keeping.
Inside that manila envelope of documents related to the Sue Gordon Estate was a smaller envelope with "Important" noting its value, the word with its underline was in my grandmother's handwriting. Therein: Original documents. Paper of worth: in original condition with official seal and beautifully flowing, hand-written land descriptions on multiple document dating to the mid-1800s. The original descriptions are contained on the original Land Grants belonging to Thomas Bullock Gordon, my grandmother's grandfather.
Land Grants west of the Mississippi River meant open opportunity for prosperity, away from the maddening discourse of divisiveness. For Thomas Bullock Gordon and Jane Elizabeth Tooke Gordon the promise of a new day and a new way urged them forward.
Accompanying the couple to Arkansas were her father and her brothers. It is unknown as to why her mother remained in Talbot County, Georgia.
Upon their two children born in Union County, Arkansas, the Gordon heritage in south Arkansas was established: Charles Thomas Gordon and Mary Sue Gordon.
The House on Harrison Street: The Gordon-Ritchie Saga is told as creative non-fiction. It contains stories, conversations, tidbits and morsels to answer lingering questions.
The book will be launched during the Camden Daffodil Festival: March 11-12-13, 2016.
As war drew nigh, both James Franklin Ritchie and George Louis Ritchie enlisted in the Army of the Confederacy.
