To the memory of my favorite aunt, Mary Allen Morgan, who taught me my love of family, despite the hardships she endured. She changed and enriched my life beyond measure.

 

And to the memories of my Revolutionary War ancestors, John McKnitt Alexander and Major John Davidson of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, and John Swords of Upstate South Carolina; and to the memory of my favorite ancestor, Green Berry Holder, born in Lawrenceville, Gwinnett County, Georgia, on 23 December 1843 and died in Rome, Floyd County, Georgia, on 18 June 1914. Each of these people, their spouses, children, descendants, and collateral families has brought history, geography, and genealogical research to life for me. Each and all of them changed my life, and this book will always be a product of the research for them.