Wally Atkins direct line
Wally Atkins direct line is the current navigation page for the family line that connects the modern Atkins family back into the people named in A Long Time Ago: A History of the Atkins-Paynter and Allied Families.
The emotional turning point in this work came when the family history in the book stopped feeling distant and became personal. Once Robert Alexander Atkins was identified clearly in the story, the names in the book were no longer just part of a larger family tradition. They became part of Wally Atkins's own direct inheritance.
Current Working Spine
- Wally Atkins
- Benjamin Latane Atkins
- Donald Leigh Atkins
- Robert Alexander Atkins
- Joseph Henry Atkins
- Patrick Henry Atkins
- Benjamin Atkins
- John Atkins (1740-1804)
- Robert Atkins (1699-1777)
- Robert Atkins (1677-1733)
Reading the Line
This line should be read as a living family story, not just a ladder of fathers and sons. Around it stand the women, children, in-laws, places, churches, farms, cemeteries, and stories that give the line its real texture. Pages such as Dosha Lawson, Paulina Sue Lawson, Adelia Jackson Paynter, Palmer Point, and Mt. Auburn Church Cemetery matter because they show the world in which the line actually lived.
