It was a summer day in 1991 that I decided to go to the Gwinnett Historical Society to look for information for my husband’s cousin, Izora Lankford Collins.  Izora has spent over 30 years researching the Langford/Lankford family from Franklin County, Georgia and the Collins and Camp/Kemp families from Gwinnett County, Georgia. 

We moved to Atlanta from Gadsden, Alabama in 1968 but it was when we moved to Gwinnett County, Georgia in 1979 that Izora started in on me.  I had never been interested in genealogy but I would listen for hours about Mama Lankford and how she came from Gwinnett County to Etowah County, Alabama.  With Izora living in Alabama trying to research Gwinnett County, Georgia, she never failed to remind me that I was sitting right where she needed to be sitting.  She had asked me many times to go to the Gwinnett Historical Society for her; but somehow I never found the time.  So on this day I decided to go see what I could find and maybe, just maybe, get her off my back.

As anyone into genealogy knows, it is a highly contagious disease of which there is no known cure.  It was fascinating to see "family" names in the Gwinnett County, Georgia books and records. The more information I found, the more I wanted to find.  I was hooked.

In researching for Izora, I found one line of my family all the way back to England. A man who volunteers at the Gwinnett Historical Society handed this information to me. I never knew I had "roots" in Gwinnett County.  This opened a whole new world for me and before I knew it, I was bitten by the "Genealogy Bug".

My son, Jonathan, had a "Family Tree" school project assigned to him. We started gathering information for his project. We found we did not have any information on the Morgan Family.

It was at this point that I started "picking" the brain of his grandmother and my mother-in-law, Effie Maedell Morgan Lankford. With all of my questions, I know there were many times when Maedell felt like knocking me out of the "Family Tree".  But thanks to her good memory and endurance, I was able to gather information on the brothers and sisters of William Franklin Morgan and Leona Ophelia Sewell and information on the brothers and sisters of Grandma Sewell, Mollie Abigail Morris.

Maedell went as far as spending an afternoon on a hot summer day with me and Izora at Young's Chapel Cemetery, walking around with an umbrella over her head, pointing out family tombstones for me to write down the information. Without Maedell's help, the information on the parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents and great grandparents would not have been possible.

I am indebted to Izora Lankford Collins for teaching me how to climb the "Family Tree" and for teaching me the importance of getting family history in print, so it can be handed down for future generations to enjoy.

I have put forth my utmost efforts to record the data as correctly as possible. However, mistakes will be made.  If I spelled a name incorrectly or made other errors, please let me know so that I can update and/or correct my records.  If you know or can gather any missing information and send it to me, I will truly appreciate it.

May God, the Father of all generations, bless you.  May we always remember His guidance in the past and place our faith and trust in His loving care for the future.

May God Bless you always!