My grandmother loves to reminisce on her childhood and endlessly tells the legends of the hardworking farmers of our past. Based on my research for this project, I realized the majority of my family tree on both sides had “farmer” listed as their occupation according to census records. My ancestors’ lives were centered on farming and taking care of livestock. In order to maintain the farm, most of the time my ancestors had five or more children so they had free labor to aid in harvesting crops. There is no record of anyone throughout my family history that had a college education until my grandfather, and some only had a seventh grade education and were unable to read and write. My family can proudly say today that my mother, my two brothers, and I have a college education or are on the path to graduation.
My ancestors’ farming background influences the way my family lives today. The Harper side moved to the Arab, Alabama area because they were promised more land if they moved down south to farm. Therefore, today my parents live on the inherite
d acreage and have livestock surrounding us. My grandparents also have ample land and have their own cattle business. The breaks we get off school are scheduled for a certain time of year for a reason. My grandmother tells stories of picking cotton until her and her sisters’ hands would bleed or until dark; she explains the reason we now can enjoy a fall break is so that they would have a week off of school so they could help their parents pick cotton during the prime harvest season. We can thank our ancestors for the little breaks we can enjoy today. The picture to the right shows my 3rd great grandfather and grandmother, James Madison Solley and Mary Ellen Mize. They were the first of my family to travel from Georgia to the Marshall County area where my family is located today.
The struggle my family went through in the past has served as a motivation for my siblings and me to get a college education. My grandfather spent some of his college at The University of Alabama, my mother followed suit and graduated with a business degree, my oldest brother is working on his Masters in business at the university, and my middle brother and I are currently pursuing our undergraduate degrees from Alabama. Considering the fact that our great grandparents did not receive past a middle school education, my family is proud of the progress of our education. My grandfather got married early and struggled through night classes to get an electrical engineering degree while he had a wife and daughter at home. He knew he wanted a better opportunity for his family, and now he gets to see the rewards from his hard work.
The picture to the right shows my great great grandfather, Sterling Bud Sol
ley, doing business – most likely selling crops and livestock – with a “fancy” wagon. A nice horse-drawn wagon was a big ordeal for the time. The picture below is a close up of William Solley. Although my family was extremely poor, my ancestors always tried to better their families and make the most of their farming ability. My grandfather followed this example and decided to get physics degree; he became an engineer and retired as a farmer.
During this ancestry research, I discovered my family was difficult to find information about because we slipped under the radar of newspapers and important events. However, I am proud to come from my lineage because my ancestors struggled through many events in history such as the Great Depression and made sure their families survived. The work ethic and fight to survive has trick
led down through the many generations of my family.
