Where I Come From

Inspired by Amanda.

Firstly and mostly, I consider myself Southern. I am true blue, dyed in the wool Southern and proud of it. Most people from the rest of the country see the south as dirty, backwards, and racist. They don't know the true south.

Originally, my Papa came from Quitman, Georgia. It's a tiny town in the very bottom of Georgia, located only miles from the Florida border. (Actually, my family's association with The South goes back to Lord Ashley Cooper, my ancestor, who funded the colony of Charleston, SC. Interesting that my family should make it back there eventually.) Segregation was still in fact back then but neither Papa nor my Grandma were taught to be racist. They loved and respected all people. Papa grew up poor as dirt. In the summertime, the only time he wore shoes was to church. He'd play in that red Georgian clay all day wearing only overalls and a t-shirt. His mother divorced when he was young--a big social faux pas for the Bible Belt--and moved in with her mother. He called them Little Mama and Big Mama, respectively, and to this day I have a hard time remembering what their real names were. Papa grew up in the Church and I am, in fact, 7th generation Southern Mormon. While Little Mama worked, Big Mama taught Papa about Christ and His Gospel, which Papa introduced to his soon-to-be wife, Mary Beth Lewis. The missionaries married them in the foyer of Big Mama's house on a cold winter's day. Well, cold for the South. Some time and four kids later, Papa moved his family to the big city--Charleston, SC. Charleston has all of the charm and sophistication you imagine of the south. There, they bought a modest home that Grandma still lives in to this day and began a legacy with 7 kids, 28 grandkids, and over 15 great grand kids, so far.
The South to me is black water cypress swamps, buzzing locusts, humidity, the marsh, "I'll be over directly" "cut the lights" and "get on back now, y'here?", oak trees and spanish moss, shrimp and grits, the citrus-y smell of blossoming magnolia flowers, Georgia's red clay, hunting and fishing, walks on the beach, hush puppies, and the deservedly famous Southern hospitality. It is my home.

However, I also consider myself to be half Western, specifically Idahoan. My mom (Hatch by birth) grew up there as well as her parents and most of their families. In Driggs, ID, there's a street named Hatch Corner. That side of the family find its roots in the Church in Ira Stearns Hatch. Ira's brother read the Book of Mormon and was ready to be baptized but Ira still had some work to do. He wanted to meet this Joseph Smith. He put some money in his pocket and walked three days. On the third day, he saw a man chopping wood. He walked over to this man and asked where he could find Joseph Smith. The man stood, I imagine wiped off his sweaty brow, and took Ira by the hand. "Ira," he said, "I am Joseph Smith and that money in your pocket is going to help build an altar for the Church." Ira was baptized not long after. He went West with Brigham Young. He accepted the calling for plural marriage, marrying two women and having 20 children. All (or nearly all) Hatches in this country come from this one man.
Eventually, the family went up to Idaho. My grandpa married my grandma, and first my mom lived in Sunset, UT. They relocated to Driggs when my mom was in 8th grade. My mom had an aunt and uncle who loved each other dearly but could not live with each other. So, they built two houses right next door to each other and each lived in one. Everyday, my my great uncle would shovel my aunt's snow or mow her lawn, and every evening she'd cook him dinner. Driggs was a quiet town which only in recent history got its first traffic light. My grandpa was a basketball coach and dairy farmer. Every morning he and my two uncles would get up at 4 am to milk their 200 cows. Every morning. Cows don't get a vacation from milk production and neither do farmers. My grandpa's family were all farmers. Farmers work until they die. My grandma's dad was a banker and well known in Burly, ID, for his honesty and hard work. He was great at his job and wrote several rules and practices for his bank. Grandma has said she was sad to give up her maiden name--Starley--because she was so proud to be recognized as her father's daughter.

Beyond that, my ancestors come from the United Kingdom--England, Wales, Ireland, Cornwall, and Scotland; Scandinavia--Sweden, the Nederlands, and Norway; Germany; France; Belgium; Holland; and the Americas--Cherokee Indian. I am proud of who I am and where I come from.