Lee Griner's Basic Genealogy Story

I started working on my family history only a few months ago, in March of 1997. I was very fortunate because both my father and my mother had done extensive research on their respective families. Dad's family, as far as we have the Griners traced back, comes from Hickman County Tennessee, where they migrated from North Carolina about 1803. We don't know much -- I think it's safe to refer to absolutely nothing as "not much" -- about their lives in North Carolina, so Hickman County is the starting point, for now anyway. There is a quite active Hickman County Genealogy circle. I've already made a few contacts there, and they seem like great folks. Mom's family is just going to have to wait on me (yeah, right). If you research the family names of Fair, Easley, or Dodgen, however, I'd love to hear from you. I have some data on those folks, I just haven't made it Web accessible yet.

One of the things that makes family history so interesting is just that: history. Not only the names and dates, but the his stories and her stories that go along with them. Here's a sample what I know about the Griner folks. One note beforehand: Although the oldest ancestor listed here is Robert Evans Grinder I (perhaps you've heard of the Meriwether Lewis story), I consistently spell the last name Griner. You'll see listings for Grinders, though, because I try to use that to differentiate between what I believe are two women named Parthenia Grin/d/er and their families. If I can ever get to the bottom of that little conundrum, we'll see what happens to the spellings then. I also use that difference to try to keep separate one Joshua Grinder, who may have been the father of R.E.G. I, but was probably his brother. I know very little of this branch of the family and would be quite grateful to anyone who could sort it out with reliable information. One other note beforehand: You may also notice that there are a whole slew of dates listed as "unknown" and some others marked "private." The unknown listings I make no bones about. This is a hobby, and I figure "unkown" is better than nothing at all. If you can help fill them in, you'll have my gratitude till we meet in heaven (and after that too probably). The private listings I hope are self-explanatory. These people are alive. They didn't ask to be put on the Web, so I figure the least I can do is try to protect them from shysters and other various losers who might happen by.

These pages were created, or wrought, with a couple of software programs that have been very helpful. The original files were built and converted to GEDCOM files with Family Tree Maker v. 3.4. Then they were converted to HTML files with a registered shareware copy of GED2HTML. Volunteer genealogists who are researching any of the surnames found here are welcomed and encouraged to write me at lgriner@uab.edu. If you run an absolutely free-of-charge genealogical service on the Web (or offer shareware) and would like to link to this page, I'll probably be happy to return the link. If you run a page devoted to any of the surnames listed here, I'd probably be more than happy to link to that. Here are a very few links that may be of interest so far. (Use Caution: Hamsters at Work)