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For a number of years I have been wanting to research my family history. In fact, ever since I learned at the age of 10 that my father was born in a log cabin in Brodhead Kentucky in 1926, I have nurtured an interest in learning more about my family history. It was around that same time that our family took a trip to Brodhead to see if we could find the actual cabin where my dad had come into the world some thirty-five years earlier. We found it. It was empty and uninhabitable but still standing. Somewhere in our family archives, buried deep in the bowels of someone’s basement or garage or attic, there is an 8mm, grainy, choppy film of that cabin. I have no idea where that film is.

I am the first-born son of a first-born son. Don’t ask me to explain why, but there is, in family terms, a certain burden that comes with such things. Real or imagined, I carry it.

A few days ago I decided to jump into some serious research on my family tree. So far I have found …

• My 4th Great Grandfather on my Grandpa Weaver’s side, John Hamm, fought in the Revolutionary War.
• My 4th Great Grandfather on my Grandma Weaver’s side, David Owen, fought in the Revolutionary War.
• My 5th Great Grandfather on my Grandma Weaver’s side, Nicholas Coble, fought in the Revolutionary War.
• My 7th Great Grandmother on my Grandma Weaver’s side, Joanna Jennings, was born in 1650 in Virginia.

I have only begun my research. In my early quest though I have also found some other pretty remarkable stories, but am still working on firming up an absolute, lock-tight connection to the people involved. If any of these connections pan out, I will have some remarkable (at least to me) news to report. If not, I have already found some pretty amazing stuff.

Born and raised in Ohio, my immediate family roots take me back to Kentucky. Three of my four grandparents were born there. Seven of my eight great-grandparents were born there.

All but one line of those seven great-grandparents came up into Kentucky from North Carolina. And prior to their moves to North Carolina, those same family lines sprouted in Virginia.

Though born a Buckeye in 1951, I came to live in the Old Dominion in 1971. Long ago I claimed myself as a Virginian and now, with my family history, I have a serious argument to substantiate that claim.

With its rich history, and its prominent role in the founding of our nation, I proudly claim Virginia as my home and now, as my heritage.

Most of my ancestors were pioneers, moving west to make new lives for themselves in sparsely populated parts of the country. They were what we would call “country folk,” living off the land, carving out meager existences by the sweat of their brow and the work of their hands.

As you might suspect from the log cabin story, my dad’s family were poor folks. Dad was the first of eight. The Weavers came to live in Lockland, Ohio, just north of Cincinnati, in the late 1920’s. Their raggedy old house was the tiniest house I had ever seen. Their bathroom had no tub or shower, just a toilet and a sink. And Dad and his seven siblings bathed, one at a time, in a washtub in the living room and shared the same bathwater. They were poor but happy, hammering out their lives in a sooty, dirty, factory town where my grandfather worked for nearly forty years in a paper mill.

Home. I nurture a deep connection to my family history, to their pioneer spirits, and to the land they cultivated. My roots run deep in Virginia, North Carolina, and Kentucky. Even my birthplace and home for twenty years—Ohio—holds to some measure, my heart.

Knowing what I know today, with this fresh—though long suspected—information, I can understand more clearly why I feel a particular burden to defend my home, my country. So far, my family tree can already be traced back at least 363 years on American soil. Not too many today can make that claim. At least three of my ancestors fought in the War for Independence to break free from the tyrant, King George of England. My own family dug their spades and plows into the rich soil of the fertile, colonial land of Virginia. Some, through their military service, played a role in birthing our political liberty.

Can I do less in defending the political liberty they sacrificed to bring about?

Tonight I am at home, in Virginia, doing my best to hold the ground of liberty won by my forbears for those who follow after me.