Family history does not only exist in the form of oral histories and tall tales passed down from generation to generation, but it also exists in the form of photographs. The people, places, scenes, and memorable moments cannot be better remembered than in the form of a visual format such as photography or film. Many families do not know the treasures which rest in boxes and trunks in their attics, basements, and garages. Such photographic processes as the daguerreotype, ambrotype, and tintype deteriorate while being exposed to extreme levels of humidity, temperature, toxic fumes, and dust. They can be preserved in a clean sturdy archival box stored on a shelf in a closet in the house. Once the people in these pictures are identified and connected to a family tree, legend, and history, the significance of that picture becomes so much more valuable to the overall meaning of family.

Having recently found seven pieces of the earliest forms of photography in my own family collection, I have also rediscovered the meaning of family and history. A few of the faces in the ambrotypes and tintype I have found has been identified. One is Colonel John H. Grider of the Union Army. Another is Tom Gorin. The women remain unidentified, but I hope to soon discover their names and relation to me. After finding a face to go with a name, and then seeing where they belong on my family tree, I begin to feel a connection to this person. A deeper sense of personal history arises. After finding out some of the details about an individual of the past, I feel a sense of place. I could go to Bowling Green, Kentucky, and find the historic sites where Colonel Grider was once known. I could track down the paths of other familiar individuals in my family tree. Each familiar link traces more into my own collective being.

Family history is important to me because it gives me a sense of place, belonging, identity, and personality. Each one of these individuals is connected to me in some way, and most of them have affected me either indirectly or directly. My aunts and uncles, my grandparents, my great grandparents... all these people give and build a history.

The mission of this particular project is to collect images of individuals of my collective family, include them on this website, and post along-side them the stories that coincides with the images. The stories and pictures will provide the present and the future with an idea of this family's collective history and what it means to be in this family.

Part of this project is yet to come. The interview part was not able to take place yet because people's schedules have been too busy. The aim is to sit down with my mother, Emily Kay Shropshire Heller, and with my grandmother, Emilie Elizabeth Payne Shropshire, with the photo albums and a tape recorder and interview the stories behind each photo. These stories will be transcribed and posted beside the picture on these pages. I also have a relative in Kentucky, John Gorin I believe is his name, who will also provide any information and pictures he can offer once I have this up and running enough to satisfy me to send to him. The other benefit to scanning all these pictures is that I will also provide every member in my family with a CD of digital image of these photos organized by name. This also comes with the promise of upgrading the CD to the next best quality as technology changes in the following years. Hopefully this will gaurantee or help continue to preserve these images in this format even after the orginals have degraded. The originals have been removed from acidic photo albums and pages. These pictures have been placed into archival quality sheet sleeves and photo pages. They have been reorganized by individual and chronological order as best as I could determine. This project will continue to grow and prosper. The younger generations will be added to the website in the following months. These will include: Emily Elizabeth Heller Newby, Laura Anne Heller, Jill Shropshire, Jan Shropshire Harper, Amanda Jo Shropshire, Adam Wesley Harvey, Jimmy Williams, Jacob Ryland Newby, Gregg Newby, and Charlie Harper.

It is also my goal and ambition to continue adding pictures, names, and information to this site so that the genealogical background of this family can expand and grow. I am most appreciative to any information, corrections, and suggestions which readers would like to send me, and these can be emailed to me at this address: lauraheller@hotmail.com