Post by Brian on Jul 16, 2009 23:47:59 GMT -5
03/02/07 at 11:17 PM
douglasboulding
Dear capshsb.
If you know the truth I want you to tell me. I am so tired of waiting for what you have to say. If what you have to say is true then tell me as one who knows. I have been there all my life. I am so tired of people saying they know it all. Well if you do then tell it. Stop playing. I really want to know what you know about uncle Marion, what you think he took from you and your family. You might better stop and look closer at your own. Do you know what you think you know about your own? Look close. All is not as it seems.
keneth d boulding
03/03/07 at 02:53 AM
ecalhoun
Dear Family Members and Friends,
I hope that by now you see what we are about on this forum as a community. Overwhelmingly, this is made up of people who are sympathetic, respectful, and care about the families then and now. No matter what actually happened back then, we aren't judging. Lord knows, all our families have skeletons hiding back there.
My great-grandpa battled alcoholism and fell from grace as the town sheriff back in a little german town in texas, and was kicked out of office in the early '50's. He got himself good and drunk, and his replacement had to lock him in jail to cool off. Great-grandma came down to the jail house, but instead of bailing him out and taking him home, she cussed him and left him there to sober up. But as soon as they'd let him out, he went out to the family ranch and killed himself with the pistol he used to use to uphold the law. Great-grandma felt so bad, she sold off the ranch even though it had been in the family since before the Civil War, and lots of the family blamed her for his death, were mad about the land sale, or both, and by the time my mom and her generation grew up, nobody talked about it - but it sure didn't go away. I don't know if the new owners ever saw a lonely sheriff wandering that west Texas scrub land, but it haunted our family. Our family just didn't quite make sense, and you never understood why some people were mad and didn't talk or visit, and it had been that way all my life. It wasn't until my cousin kept asking great-grandma what really happened to her husband (we knew, generations later, that something wasn't right) that the story came out and there was some forgiveness before the old folks passed on.
Now there are a lot of reasons why people want to keep things secret, and some of those reasons might be good ones. But, no matter how good that reason may be, I think it's real clear that it's thru the process of learning, sharing, and airing out the laundry that we heal. And if we don't talk about this stuff, it makes a real difference in the lives of our kin folk, both alive now and those yet to come.
I'm a southern boy, and I know how it works: there is one story to tell outsiders, and another to tell your people. To the Lawson's, Manring's, Bibey's and the rest - if this forum still is too public and full of outsiders, please do connect and share with your kin folk, and listen without judging. It'll make a difference in a lot of lives now and to come.
I made a post in the "What brought us here" thread, and told about going to Esther and Pat's Lawson program and getting baptized in this story. I was supposed to interview people walking out of the program, despite my woeful ignorance, and I was moved to pretty much ask 2 questions of every family members: 1) how has this story split your family apart, and 2) how has this story brought you closer together. I was really moved hearing how the genealogy programs had brought so many people together who wouldn't have met, both family and friends, and we wanted from the very start for family healing, and making new friends to come directly from making the movie. It's all part of, as Matt says, using history as a tool to build a better future.
Sincerely,
Eric Calhoun
Break of Dawn Productions
ecalhoun
03/04/07 at 08:04 AM
Maria
I have to say I agree and identify with Doug on this. It's frustrating to me to have someone say we do not know the truth of what happened with the Lawson family that long ago day nor the reason it happened but that "they" know the truth, yet refuse for whatever reason to reveal what they claim to know. I am not a member of the Lawson family, so if it's frustrating to me, I can only imagine how much more so it is for Doug who is related to the Lawsons. As Eric said, in the south we have one story we share with the family and a different one for outsiders. But Doug is not an outsider. He is part of that family line as is Sissy, Bobby Wayne, and several others in the forum. They deserve to be told the truth if the truth is not what they already have. Especially by those who claim they hove proof contrary to what Doug has. If not here in the public forum then at least in a private email or private message.
Maria
03/04/07 at 07:11 PM
douglasboulding
Dear Maria, you are so right. If anyone can dear the name of Charlie then it must be told, why hide the truth if what they say is the truth. I think I have heard every story on earth about the Lawson family, so anything that is said now wont surprise me anymore. Have a great day. Doug
keneth d boulding
03/05/07 at 05:34 PM
linda
I do agree with everyone who have answered this post. I do believe that Arthur's family knew or know's what really happened in this family and they hold the key to the murder's and why maybe it took place. In time may they find it in their hearts to tell and finally find peace with in.
linda smith
douglasboulding
Dear capshsb.
If you know the truth I want you to tell me. I am so tired of waiting for what you have to say. If what you have to say is true then tell me as one who knows. I have been there all my life. I am so tired of people saying they know it all. Well if you do then tell it. Stop playing. I really want to know what you know about uncle Marion, what you think he took from you and your family. You might better stop and look closer at your own. Do you know what you think you know about your own? Look close. All is not as it seems.
keneth d boulding
03/03/07 at 02:53 AM
ecalhoun
Dear Family Members and Friends,
I hope that by now you see what we are about on this forum as a community. Overwhelmingly, this is made up of people who are sympathetic, respectful, and care about the families then and now. No matter what actually happened back then, we aren't judging. Lord knows, all our families have skeletons hiding back there.
My great-grandpa battled alcoholism and fell from grace as the town sheriff back in a little german town in texas, and was kicked out of office in the early '50's. He got himself good and drunk, and his replacement had to lock him in jail to cool off. Great-grandma came down to the jail house, but instead of bailing him out and taking him home, she cussed him and left him there to sober up. But as soon as they'd let him out, he went out to the family ranch and killed himself with the pistol he used to use to uphold the law. Great-grandma felt so bad, she sold off the ranch even though it had been in the family since before the Civil War, and lots of the family blamed her for his death, were mad about the land sale, or both, and by the time my mom and her generation grew up, nobody talked about it - but it sure didn't go away. I don't know if the new owners ever saw a lonely sheriff wandering that west Texas scrub land, but it haunted our family. Our family just didn't quite make sense, and you never understood why some people were mad and didn't talk or visit, and it had been that way all my life. It wasn't until my cousin kept asking great-grandma what really happened to her husband (we knew, generations later, that something wasn't right) that the story came out and there was some forgiveness before the old folks passed on.
Now there are a lot of reasons why people want to keep things secret, and some of those reasons might be good ones. But, no matter how good that reason may be, I think it's real clear that it's thru the process of learning, sharing, and airing out the laundry that we heal. And if we don't talk about this stuff, it makes a real difference in the lives of our kin folk, both alive now and those yet to come.
I'm a southern boy, and I know how it works: there is one story to tell outsiders, and another to tell your people. To the Lawson's, Manring's, Bibey's and the rest - if this forum still is too public and full of outsiders, please do connect and share with your kin folk, and listen without judging. It'll make a difference in a lot of lives now and to come.
I made a post in the "What brought us here" thread, and told about going to Esther and Pat's Lawson program and getting baptized in this story. I was supposed to interview people walking out of the program, despite my woeful ignorance, and I was moved to pretty much ask 2 questions of every family members: 1) how has this story split your family apart, and 2) how has this story brought you closer together. I was really moved hearing how the genealogy programs had brought so many people together who wouldn't have met, both family and friends, and we wanted from the very start for family healing, and making new friends to come directly from making the movie. It's all part of, as Matt says, using history as a tool to build a better future.
Sincerely,
Eric Calhoun
Break of Dawn Productions
ecalhoun
03/04/07 at 08:04 AM
Maria
I have to say I agree and identify with Doug on this. It's frustrating to me to have someone say we do not know the truth of what happened with the Lawson family that long ago day nor the reason it happened but that "they" know the truth, yet refuse for whatever reason to reveal what they claim to know. I am not a member of the Lawson family, so if it's frustrating to me, I can only imagine how much more so it is for Doug who is related to the Lawsons. As Eric said, in the south we have one story we share with the family and a different one for outsiders. But Doug is not an outsider. He is part of that family line as is Sissy, Bobby Wayne, and several others in the forum. They deserve to be told the truth if the truth is not what they already have. Especially by those who claim they hove proof contrary to what Doug has. If not here in the public forum then at least in a private email or private message.
Maria
03/04/07 at 07:11 PM
douglasboulding
Dear Maria, you are so right. If anyone can dear the name of Charlie then it must be told, why hide the truth if what they say is the truth. I think I have heard every story on earth about the Lawson family, so anything that is said now wont surprise me anymore. Have a great day. Doug
keneth d boulding
03/05/07 at 05:34 PM
linda
I do agree with everyone who have answered this post. I do believe that Arthur's family knew or know's what really happened in this family and they hold the key to the murder's and why maybe it took place. In time may they find it in their hearts to tell and finally find peace with in.
linda smith