“I’ve got so many kinfolks I can’t hardly keep up with them all.”
Last night’s video: Watermelon Hill.
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“I’ve accomplished a right smart this morning.” ——————- Tipper Overheard: snippets of conversation I overhear in Southern Appalachia
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I had so many kin that I once heard someone say they didn’t know which would take over the county first, the Hutchins’ or the honeysuckle.
IIRC, I have (had, all gone now but one) 23 first cousins just in my Pa’s family. I don’t think I could count all those cousins beyond those of us who shared the same grandfather. On my mother’s side, her father raised 2 large families. I truly don’t know how many first cousins on that side, and we haven’t begun to talk of the cousins on the female side. My guess is that I have more than 40 first cousins, but some were born and died before I was born.
My husband is an Inman and I swear he seems to be related to EVERYBODY around here lol. When we first started dating back in 2008 and I met all of his immediate family members I thought then that he had a big family. He has 3 sisters (2 still living) and 3 brothers. Then I began meeting the extended family…and wow. There’s a passel of em! His dad came from a family of 9 children and his mom has several siblings as well so he has many aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces & nephews. It was a shock for me since I only have 1 brother and 2 nephews, and most of my aunts and uncles only had 1-3 children. After 15 years together I still don’t think I’ve met all the kin folk!
Families were indeed larger back in those days. My daddy was one of ten children so as he would say, we had a lot of kin or kinfolks. Sundays were special because after church we always visited with family. Some of my fondest memories growing up were our Sunday gatherings. Tipper, Watermelon Hill is going to be another great one!
I went to high school with a girl that years later I found out I was kin to. At one job I had I found out, again later, I was kin to a clerk in the office and my boss. You never know, but ultimately we’re all kin; descended from Adam and Eve.
That same thought was in my mind too, all of us are kin, everyone descended from Adam and EVE.
Our yearly reunion keeps all the cousins in touch, and it has always been my favorite event. Although 12 children in both Mom and Dad’s family, there is now only one aunt left of the original families. The nice thing about those huge families is there were young aunts and uncles my age or younger. I miss one uncle, and will forever, as he was my lifelong buddy. We had a kinship of spirit with trapesing through cemeteries and solving genealogical mysteries. We teased each other unmercifully, but we stood up for each other from children. There are literally hundreds of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd cousins, and we stay in touch with many. That is perhaps one of the most favorite parts of my life was having such a huge extended family. FB has made it possible to stay in touch, and I help with a couple of groups. We seek out and hunt down cousins from all over.
Well then there’s kin and there’s blood kin. Matt and the girls are kin to me by blood. Does that mean you and Miss Cindy aren’t my kin? Of course you are! So now then that makes Granny kinfolks too, right? And Steve and Paul!
So far I have over 131,000 people, living and dead, listed as kinfolk. I find more every day. Sometimes right under my nose.
Cousin Ed, that explains why I’ve felt like Tipper and her family were my kin since I first encountered BP&A. Thank you!
My parents and grandparents all come from large families. Sadly, i’ve got so many cousins I couldn’t recognize them if I saw them.
I should have said not only immediate but extended family on both sides of her parents. They would often get together for reunions or other occasions throughout the year. Many of the members have now passed away.
My wife came from a very large family. For some reason I was accepted, loved and treated just like I was blood kin by all of them, even though according to the death certificate she died exactly 2 years ago today, nothing changed, they still treat me the same as when she was living. We had a preacher at our church that would joke and say he had better not make anyone mad at the church, if he did the whole church would be mad at him, it seem like everyone was kin to one another in some way.
That “Overheard” fits most of us I reckon. Since families were generally bigger in the past, that makes for a lot of cousins. As soon as a cousin has a child it starts getting complicated. And that’s without even thinking of Dad’s side or Mom’s side. Before too long you just want to do the Southern thing and say, “Ah heck, we’re all cousins.” As the saying is, that’s good enough to be going on with.
I say kinfolk some times when talking about my people, but they are all related to me. I do sometimes call them by how they are related to me, like calling them niece, nephews, grandparents or cousins, but for the most part I call them either my people or my kinfolk.
Ha ha ha!!! My husband and I can definitely relate to that saying! We both come from large families and I was lucky enough to grow up knowing my second, third and fourth cousins along with great aunts and uncles. Now we have extended family members we don’t know, which is sad.