From a letter to a friend.....regarding Project KINCAID.........

I did a search on folks named Kincaid....That is my maiden name....I am on facebook as Sharon Lee Kincaid-Wininger and I have been researching people who share my name...of all ilks/ages/from differing countries/races/politics/polity/interests/education/socials mores/cultures etc.

You can check out my facebook page. It has been interesting to see everyone and there is family documentation in my notes there, on some Kincaid history.

I have noticed that we turned out pretty well and that lots of generations are related. I am from the Va branch and descended through Rev Oscar Kincaid of Ky....

I am interested in who we are, what we look like, and since there are over 50 pages of Kincaids plus on facebook, and also on myspace, it has been interesting. Lots of young Kincaids are in college, or graduated from college. Many are veterans as well as college grads...

I know that some black Kincaid's are descendants from African slaves who were the ancestors to the slaves that my great grandfather set free (in Va.) and gave them land to farm and hid them. He was convicted by the teaching of the abolitionists and he was killed (by neighbors who disagreed with his feelings about these issues) for doing so....I am part Cherokee through his widow, who was left to raise 8 children. 

There have only been two Kincaids that are not interested in participating in this project: the rest are pretty proud of themselves, or their families and their accomplishments in life, and rightfully so. They all seem to be fairly good looking and rather interested in seeing one another (I am speaking on your behalf!). They are mildly interested in who they are and how they turned out. They left Scotland (not by choice) after the Battle of Colloden, and some came to the US and took up arms and fought the British in the revolutionary War; some Kincaids were sold into slavery, often times by neighboring tribes, some Kincaids were solds as bond servants for passage to the new world.

I wanted to show my children/grand children what folks named Kincaid looked like and where they went .....as they traveled from Scotland or Africa...This common name that we share marks a connection made by blood/circumstance/adoption/a moment in history ....where we became united in name....I am quite sure that most people who inhabit this earth, no matter what color they are are descended from slaves of some country...Most early cultures shared that ugly social blemish....

What is your families story? I'd love to know.....and anyone is welcome to add info to my facebook notes and pictures. Please look at the pictures and tell me what you think...

So far as I know only the Scottish Highland Clans (The McDonalds, etc) keep records of their members and usually it is something to do withmonies to be made from them, this is just to look at the faces in our famil and see what we look like and who we are descended from and what we have accomplished...as a family.....of whatever spelling....

Yes, we have a tartan, and you can see it and my pictures on both facebook and myspace or google it.

BTW: African history is amazing...if you have not seen Shaka Zulu you have missed a treat. Celtic history is also quite interesting and there are several good documentaries out especially the three part series called the Celts. As is Cherokee history .....and the Kincaids that married into other Aboriginal American Tribes of Native Peoples, who came over the land bridge from Russia from the Mongol tribes people.....

PBS has an excellant documentary called the Joureny of Man where they scientifically track man from Africa (Ethopia) as he settled the planet.....It's amazing.....

My family has wandered all over the planet from the US into Austrailia and New Zealand, the Phillipine Islands, to distant places...In the case of Ireland and England, the .....not so distant....And as you read the stories of the Kincaids you gain respect for their achievements in life and see the beautiful children which are the future heritage of all who share this name...

A few have been rich, a few have been famous, most have been patriots of some sort, many in the military......the rest worked hard to make do during bad times and good.....

Some have shared common diseases...and some of the Scottish Clans are doing DNA projects to help untangle some genetic information to help others live longer/better lives. In the case of black or white Kincaids this can help pick up on some common problems like high blood pressure and diabetes ahead of time...We are different from one another by one/one thousands of one million percent genetically....or some number close to that genetically..............

No matter who we are we are all God's children and beautiful in God's eyes....I'm proud to be a Kincaid, and proud of my family. Nice to hear from you, all! Thanks for writing and sharing your ideas....

Keep posting your pictures and stories. They are wonderful to read and see.....
Go back far enough and we all are.....long lost cousins......But today.....
Count me as a friend.

              ..........McKai ............
(nickname for ........S.L. Kincaid-Wininger)

http://www.facebook.com/Sharon Lee Kincaid Wininger
http://www.Irishabroad.com/mckai

Flying through Ireland
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJo1JY_gAfU

Irish scenes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNxTqAITJD8
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Old Genealogists never die, they just lose their census.

Most folks don’t really care if Uncle Osmer really did outwit three county cops driving through Roscoe Tate’s orchard on his John Deere. A few folks might be mildly interested if we found we were descended from one of Betsy Ross’ five daughters. (For those of you who gazed out the window through most of elementary history; Miss Ross is the thrice married upholster who possibly designed the first flag for the United States which netted her a small amount of cash, and her face imprinted upon a US stamp.)
Family history is usually only interesting to its members, the operative word is usually, but not always. Most families are too worried that their family coat of arms may
Be the kind that tie at the back so it’s best to let sleeping dogs lie but there are a few that figure, “Hey, if you have skeletons in that family closet…make them dance.”
Even if their Uncle Clayton is in Witness Protection and their Cousin Sissy married that guy who managed to pick everybody’s pocket at the last reunion, and even though they suspect that some of their relatives actually attend family reunions to find child brides….they may still have hopes that somewhere under a pile of tax records is documentation that proves that they are of the direct line of the Duchess of Llanwrtyd-Wells in Powys, Mid-Wales, so they can name drop at the next fire house corn bread and bean supper, and prove they are descended from the upper classes, as well as be part of a fund raising effort, mixing with the masses.
So when the time arrived when my children casually asked: “So Mum did we ever have anyone important in our family? Mrs. Larkin wants us to write about someone in our family for geography class: Where we came from, and all that.”
I scratched my head and called a few relatives and they gave me  a few bits and bobs of trivia for the kids: birth and death dates. No startling indiscretions were revealed. As my kids duly started to write down the begat’s and began’s; however my curiosity was peaked. After all, the hunt for genealogy passed as cheap entertainment in the seventies, beating out bad television shows. I assiduously gathered facts, spending hours every week in uncomfortable library chairs that caused your polyester pants or denim jeans to bunch up in the butt.
I gazed upon miles of Microfiche for new clues to puzzling questions. I was determined to find a link to Robert Frost, or perhaps some obscure grandmother that would be a cousin to Thomas Edison, or Clara Barton. Perhaps my family would inspire my children; as though their parents and grandparents were not enough when it came to being role models..
Around that time I began to notice that people in my family got a tad bit nervous if I began quizzing them about our family bits and bobs? Did they have concerns that I was soon to question the martial dates of grandparents, or dig out the low down on the truth about cousin William’s flag burning, in the sixties? Did they worry that I had found out  that their little Georgie never graduated from university because of something to do with his exams, or that Aunt Myra, who was working a discount dry cleaners, and if the newspapers were to be believed had recently been busted for possession of some regulated substance? After all, we had all seen Cocaine Madness and knew what loomed ahead for Myra.
Then a few years later a cousin mailed me a package that contained the records of our family back to the year eight hundred something in Scotland, so that was that! While we had our share of patriots, from a variety of wars and skirmishes, family dramas mostly centered around the circumstances of the times. On both sides of the blanket, we were mostly respectable and kept doggedly carrying on with life. All my questions were answered! Or were they?
I was mildly disappointed that we didn’t have any amusing courtroom drama like my friend, Louise: Her Mother’s sister, Louise’s Aunt Lily, was married to Uncle Tim.
He was famous in family annuals for his big Adams apple and extensive body art; everyone remembered his tattoo of a cockroach peeing into his belly button, in bright blues and reds, along with angels holding quotation cards with kitschy sayings like the ones in the store windows that advertised prices. But Uncle Tim was not known for his patience or his sense of humor. Still he was the love of Lily’s life.
During World War Two, when Uncle Tim  returned from Pearl Harbor, he was much changed from the farm boy who had signed up for the Navy, four years earlier.  He had left Lily still living with his widowed mother, at Uncle Tim’s mothers small bungalow. Maybe because they never had children, or maybe because his mother reminded Lily about the other three nice girls that Tim could have married, or maybe the stress of the war years caused Aunt Lily to snap.
One day she had hired men who were out of work to help her paint obscenities upon the house of one of her neighbors, whom she imagined was her husband’s mistress.
The neighbors hauled them into court and the local papers sent out their snappiest reporters to dig up the dirt.
Ultimately, Uncle Tim had Aunt Lily relegated to a nice place where she could do no harm and in time, Uncle Tim moved on to someone else’s family and Aunt Lily stayed in that safe place for all the years that Louise and I knew one another, through Elvis, in and out of folk music, and the Beatles, and finally into golden oldies and soft country..
I imagined Louise’s poor Aunt Lily playing cards until the end of her days accompanied by folks of similar circumstances. Was her hair still coiffed in a victory roll and net? Did she paint her lips dark red, perhaps wearing a lace blouse, with paper violets pinned to her collar? Did she still wear nylons that were attached by garters to a belt that
Lily wore under her long black lace slip? Lily smelled of Evening in Paris and she wore
The same ugly shoes that our teachers wore with thick soles and fat laces.   During those days we had advanced into wearing cologne called Charlie, and wearing panty hose and mini skirts. Our hair that was sprayed to perfection with toxic chemicals, and we listened to Mama Cass, and read our horoscopes.
Now, so many years later,  I’ve often wondered when the government cut out the state support for homes for those who were frail of mind was Lily forced to adapt to a new world of MTV and rap music? I’d ask Louise but she lost a battle with breast cancer ten years ago…  
Recently, my interest in my own family history was once again nurtured by the amount of information on the internet. So I decided to find out about the rest of my family, no matter what continent, they lived upon.
I joined Facebook.com. I put out the word that I was interested in everyone with my last name, no matter what their age, gender, circumstance, color, customs, or country of origin. Along with my children and grandchildren, I have created a virtual family reunion via the internet and I find everyone fascinating!
No matter their age, they seem generous in spirit, friendly and busy! I feel a wee bit like the good Lord, only in that as I look at my far flung relations across the planet and I marvel at their beauty and energy, and feel that I can see into the future.  I look at their faces and read about their lives and I know that somewhere, somehow, way back when, some time ago, we became related, in some way, for some purpose, and that’s good enough for me these days. We are dissimilar and yet we are related.
Their lives are interesting and just like your families and friends: Each of them are wonderful, different from one another, magnificent in their own way, just as each of you are, my friends! The joy of technology fused with grandeur of imagination and opportunity, a chance to be creative, to be one with each other, to observe the mystery of the human spirit! Grace and Peace, to all……..
  From Your Cousin,
       McKai
PS. Lately, I have observed that I dress and look a tad funny….Perhaps it is time for paper violets?

Check out this video: The Beauty Of The West - County Clare Summer 2006 By ElenB

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I was here...I loved County Clare, Ireland..But you may want to turn the sound down on this video, if it's not to your taste................

The lyrics are rowdy....good fun!!!!

Re: Baby Polar Bears: Don't ask...I just saw the cartoon and.........

Description: momma bear explaining life to baby bear...so funny/but not Disney

polar bears in the zoo

Check out: http://www.librarything.com/
 
Piece of Cake Dept:

By the way: Here is my model for the best Book club in the world: The Mills River, North Carolina, Book Club (PC-USA)....It came about because of several sad book club experiences. Our book club is into its fourth year and we have a waiting list for people who want to join...So go forth and start your own...Heres how:

1. Find 12-14 people who like to read and are interesting. They do not all have to belong to the same organization....Surely, you all have 12 friends who would be interested......
2. Meet once a month-same day each month.
3. No dues.
4. All meetings are in private homes of the members. 
5. Everybody brings a sandwich to each meeting and the host/hostess provides chips, drinks and dessert. Everybody takes turns....
6. Everybody brings books to share and sets them out on a table...books are not limited to content, can be new or used but must be returned to their owner in good shape, within four months.
7. Talk books all you like but no one is forced to read the same book every month, or even read anything if you are too busy to read. No guilt! The person who has the next meeting is in charge of leftovers......
8. Designate a person who will make reminder calls and change of date calls.
9. All unclaimed/unwanted books will be donated to the local library for their book sales, unless there is a name on the inside.
10. You will be surprised how many new and interesting books start to cover up the table and every meeting is full of surprises. I discovered that Pearl S. Buck reads as well now, as she did fifty years ago....And it is interesting to pass around coffee table books...instead of their just gathering dust...And to introduce your friends to new authors.
11. Once a year, or so, have a lunch out day and visit some new and used book stores.
12. If you are going to charge for anything, donate any money raised, to your local elementary schools for kids who cannot afford to buy books of their own.
 
Our book club is for those folks who like to read, like to laugh, love to dish and argue over what, and who, they are reading. We discover new authors and take turns with the  hottest books but it encourages all of us to buy or donate books for book club, and frees up library shelf space.......
Have fun! My book club members are my best buddies....If you have an evening book club and include wine, be sure to have a designated driver in the group!
                       McKai
P.S.For a list of my favorite authors: Check out my profile or look at book reviews at librarything.com

http://www.jibjab.com/starring_you/receipt/1303733
Okay, so I don't have all of the bits and bobs figured out yet!!!!