View source for User:Gloriaannclark

= ''[[Image:Clark, Gloria.jpg|left|180x200px|Clark, Gloria.jpg]]Biography:''  =

=== How I Became a Genealogist  ===

In my family, the collecting&nbsp;of family&nbsp;history and genealogy began with me, sparked by my Grandma Mae's storytelling.&nbsp; Although she was only one-quarter Cherokee,&nbsp;Mae looked like&nbsp;an Indian princess with jet black hair and a&nbsp;serenity that would serve her well through&nbsp;all her trials.&nbsp;&nbsp;Grandma's faith in&nbsp;her&nbsp;Savior was unshakable and spoke&nbsp;of her upbringing&nbsp;by her paternal grandparents, "Maw", half-Cherokee, and&nbsp;"Paw", a farmer who labored&nbsp;deep in the hills of Iredell County, North Carolina.&nbsp; 

Grandma&nbsp;remembered&nbsp;everything&nbsp;except her own mother who died (probably of what we now call toxemia).&nbsp;&nbsp;Emma Genelia passed two weeks after the birth of her first born, Mae,&nbsp;who&nbsp;lay on a layer of cotton in a primitive incubator, a shoebox&nbsp;sitting by the wood stove to keep&nbsp;her warm.&nbsp;&nbsp;In 1895, one assumed that&nbsp;a tiny, two-pound baby would&nbsp;soon follow her mother to the grave.&nbsp; As a sign of her indomitable spirit, Mae lived. 

As a teenager, I learned of her Aunt Mag, the youngest of Maw and Paw's children, who was more like a surrogate mother than an aunt to Mae.&nbsp;&nbsp;Soon after I was&nbsp;married, I&nbsp;met my second-great aunt, Aunt Mag, for the first and last time in Gastonia, North Carolina,&nbsp;where she stayed with her daughter.&nbsp; She was 92 years of age, legally blind and nearly deaf, but her memory was formidable.&nbsp; I was amazed as she revealed precise names and dates&nbsp;for all twelve of her brothers and sisters, taking me back several generation with information that would prove to be completely accurate.&nbsp; I was hooked! 

At moments like that, I tend to forget the long hours of research.&nbsp; Those moments of discovery have&nbsp;been&nbsp;inspiring.&nbsp; I have been miraculously connected with&nbsp;distant cousins&nbsp;who have written books, or in one case,&nbsp;with a sexton who knew Grandma Mae's 4th cousin, W. T. Pennell of Alexander County, North Carolina.&nbsp;&nbsp;It was W. T. who&nbsp;provided our connection to Annie White,&nbsp;Mae's great-grandma, through his private&nbsp;genealogical collections.&nbsp; W. T. told me that he had known his cousin Mae's grandpa Mack Pennell, an old&nbsp;Civil War Veteran who&nbsp;would spit into the frying pan, hanging over the fire in his old log cabin, to see if it&nbsp;was hot&nbsp;enough to&nbsp;cook his cornbread.&nbsp; Young W. T. was impressed. 

Then as I visited the log cabin perched high on the hill where Mae was born, I found her mother's grave.&nbsp;&nbsp;A few years later,&nbsp;upon inquiring across the street from where the log house had been, I discovered Annie White looking directly at me from a shoebox filled with old pictures that had been loosely stored in the attic of the pre-Civil War log house.&nbsp; Annie, with a knowing little smile on her lips, peered up at me&nbsp;as if to say calmly, "I know you; do you remember me?"&nbsp;&nbsp;("Oh yes, Annie.&nbsp; You are Grandma Mae's great-grandma!")&nbsp; In her lap was&nbsp;Mae's grandfather, Mack Pennell,&nbsp;as a young toddler.&nbsp;&nbsp;When my&nbsp;distant cousin, Elsie Bentley, asked if I would like the picture, I accepted graciously as the self-appointed family&nbsp;historian for&nbsp;Grandma Mae's family. 

Miracles do happen in family history and genealogical research. 

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=== <br>Professional Experience  ===

I taught English and Reading on the high school level for 15 years mostly to struggling students. 

=== <br>Talents and mission:  ===

I absolutely love teaching and applying my skills as often as possible to the&nbsp;work of&nbsp;FamilySearch to bring families together.&nbsp;&nbsp;Learning to work within the wiki&nbsp;community has been a joy.&nbsp; I will promote&nbsp;the FamilySearch:Research Wiki. &nbsp;I will teach the use of Family Tree, Photos, and Stories (first released in April, 2013) to preserve our own and the world's family history. &nbsp;I desire that my children, and my grandchildren for generations to come, will gain a richer sense of who they are and of the sacrifices their ancestors have made for them. &nbsp;My mission is to encourage the spirit of family history research for the rest of my life whereever I go. &nbsp;<br> 

&nbsp; 

=== Family Research lines:  ===

My paternal lines&nbsp;are German (Lehrscholl) and Scots Irish (McCartney, Whitehurst, Chadwick). 

My maternal lines are English (Smith, Crowell), Cherokee and Shawnee and more English (Pennell, Sharpe).&nbsp;