“I saw behind me those who had gone, and before me, those who are to come. I looked back and saw my father, and his father, and all our fathers, and in front, to see my son, and his son, and the sons upon sons beyond.
And their eyes were my eyes.
As I felt, so they had felt, and were to feel, as then, so now, as tomorrow and forever.
Then I was not afraid, for I was in a long line that had no beginning, and no end, and the hand of his father grasped my father’s hand, and his hand was in mine, and my unborn son took my right hand, and all, up and down the line stretched from Time That Was, to Time That Is, and is not yet, raised their hands to show the link, and we found that we were one, born of Woman, Son of Man, had in the Image, fashioned in the Womb by the Will of God, the eternal Father.
I was one of them, they were of me, and in me, and I in all of them.”— Richard Llewellyn, How Green Was My Valley
The quotation above provides the inspiration for our name: LookingBackwards. It’s a potent image—one of lineage, memory, and continuity—standing in the presence of All Our Relations, fanning out through time.
Genealogy has been a personal interest of mine since around 1965. While I’ve not always had the time I wished for, the internet has made research easier—and sometimes surprisingly fruitful.
My Mitchell family came to the Carlsbad, Eddy County, New Mexico area from Texas around 1900. Before that, they had lived in Clay County, Alabama for over 40 years, and earlier still in various parts of Georgia and the Carolinas.
🔍 The Resolved Mystery of the Mitchells
My late cousin, Buelah Conger Frehner, who first sparked my genealogical interest in the 1960s, sent our family several Family Group Sheets. These included siblings of her grandmother, Sarah Francis Catherine Mitchell Conger—sister to my great-grandfather, Israel H. Mitchell. She also enclosed an obituary for William Thomas Mitchell (1827–1909), a contemporary of Sarah and Israel’s father, Henry Thomas Mitchell (1829–1905), with the question: “How are they related?”
Thanks to continued research and relational mapping, we now have the answer:
Henry Thomas Mitchell is the brother-in-law of the uncle of the husband of the daughter of William Thomas Mitchell.
While not directly related by blood, there is a clearly documented marital kinship between the two Mitchell lines. The connection traces through the Sprayberry and Mitchell families and helps clarify generations of overlap and confusion across Georgia and Alabama.
What remains unresolved is whether John J. Mitchell (ca. 1796–1872), the father of Henry Thomas, and John Tolen Mitchell (1806–1859), the father of William Thomas, were part of the same extended family—or if their shared surname is merely coincidental. Prior assumptions based on paper records pointed to William and Chloe (Smith) Mitchell of Laurens District, South Carolina, as John J.’s parents, but Y-DNA evidence has challenged that lineage. The mystery continues—just a bit more clearly defined.
👨👩👧👦 On Other Family Lines
Using the internet, I reconnected with relatives of my grandmother Jessie Robinson Mitchell’s line—one I’d been stuck on since 1969. Thanks go to Dick Phares and Elihu Phares for their help, and to my cousin Judy Phares Funk, who contributed essential research that extended this branch further. My cousin Luther Searcy also shared stories and photographs from our mutual great-grandparents’ era.
On my mother’s side, we have Clarks, Joneses, Albrights, Taylors, and others. I’m still working on expanding that side of the tree, using research compiled by her cousin, Annie Mae “Cookie.” (Thanks, Cookie!)
And of course, there’s my spouse’s side: the Vanderpool, Gibson, Guinn, and Campbell families. After 40 years together, I figured it was past time to dig into those lines too! That portion of the site is still under active development.
To explore these branches, visit our “All Our Relations” page. If you’re family and can help fill in the gaps, please consider registering.
Welcome, and thank you for Looking Backwards with us.
Ashleigh and Katrina
