Volume III

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I must confess that it has been difficult for me to find time to write this column. For the past week I have been engrossed in turning the pages of Pine Log Echoes Volume III. Six hundred and eleven pages continuing to commemorate and memorialize the people, places, times and events of our beloved Emanuel County. I learned from Volume I and Volume II that these can’t be read at your usual reading pace. You must take time to devour and savor every story.  Now as I begin Volume III, I look forward to every word, sentence or phrase that will fill my heart with sweet nostalgia. This is my “very own” heritage.  I started by trying to scan page by page, but a name would jump out at me, and I would read in depth.  The index of people and places keeps me scouring the pages. I find many treasures that I had lost in memory. Where else could I have found a title in an index of “The Goat Man” and turn to page 323 to learn that his name was Chester McCartney. I remember him well but never knew his name, or that he was from Iowa and how he became a modern-day Robinson Crusoe who crisscrossed America 15 times between 1937 and 1987. 
Somehow the word seen to spread ahead of him that “the goat man was coming”. We raced to meet him and escort into town. I did see his little son and thought what an exciting life he must have. Volume III is filled with such stories. I realized that my span of time in Emanuel County was short compared to information given us in Pine Log Echoes. Photographs of people, places and even advertisement are priceless. The early history and the many schools are covered. The term “Digging Up Kin” was used at time of Bicentennial. For Twelve years and according to my count, over fifteen hundred pages, Missy Elliott Elder and Mary Ann Scott Smith have been digging and compiling the story of our incredible heritage. I am thankful to have the echoes of our pine logs to pass on to my family who would have never known their roots.
To Missy and Mary Ann, there is no way to thank you enough for this timeless gift to our county and to countless future generations. Your dedication and many hours spent could only have been a labor of love.  Thank you to all who contributed and shared in this work of splendor. Special praise and thanks to George Elder for his beautiful words that cover our history and keep Pine Log Echoes ---forever in our minds. Write to Shirley at sptwiss@gmail.com