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Watson: Happy New Year! 2018 will be a good one, God willing

By Michael C. Watson

Well Laid Plans...

Well, I laid plans last year, some went awry, a few did not. I have left so much undone that must be met head-on in this new year. I do not, as a rule, make resolutions upon the coming of a new year, for I tend to ignore them after a few days. Why disappoint myself then.

However, as an historian I do make lists of projects to complete in a span of time. To keep tract, a few years ago my dear wife crafted for me a large chalkboard from an ancient mirror frame. Thus, I list important research and writing tasks on the board and mark through them as completed. The list is long and the completed tasks are mounting, but today, January 1, 2018, I'll erase the finished ones and fill in with "new" ones--those that had not yet made the board.



Periodically I clear off the top of my big desk, making room for more books and papers. I'm told it is an avalanche hazard, but I'm not scared. My principal once told me my desk at school was a mess. He cleared his desk of everything before he left each day. My reply was: if a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, what does that say about an empty desk? We did not discuss this subject again.

Back to my cluttered desk--I make notes of possible column topics on scraps of paper, post-it notes, napkins, and the like. These are heaped between my two computer monitors and the pile gets so large at times that I must consolidate. This was my job just after Thanksgiving; an all day job, it was. The notes were condensed into a workable list; many were duplicates, some were notes from readers, others were tossed because they've already been worked into Looking Back.

One scrap, going back three years or more, was a note-to-self, a reply to a question posed by someone in the County Clerk's office one day: "Mr. Watson, I'm surprised to see you here, I thought you knew everything there was to know about Adair County." Well, let me note that the "Mr." part was because the young lady was a student when I was student teaching seventh grade history at John Adair under Mr. Gary Curry. But my reply was something to the effect: "I learn something new every time I come into the record room and open any book." She understood. There is a lot to learn, even after researching for more than forty--yes, I said forty--years.

Looking Back started in 1983 and there have been a few gaps here and there, but with the urging of Paul Hayes I continued, and will as long as I have an idea to use, though they become a bit strained at times. I once told Paul I didn't have anything left to research and write about that anyone but me would want to read. He put me straight in that way he had, and suggested two or three things I'd not covered to that point. So the lists on scraps of paper began.

Mrs. Margie Burris Coffey and I, at the urging of Mrs. Randy Flowers, began the series of books on Adair County Cemeteries with the publishing of the first volume in 1985, and continued through the seventh. The Adair Genealogical Society completed an eighth volume a few years ago, taken from published obituaries since Mrs. Coffey and I finished our last in the series. Now a ninth volume is nearing completion, in the capable hands of Lila Curry Ford. The work never ends, it seems.

An Adair County History, volume 2, on the pioneer family genealogies, finally sold out last fall, so a revised edition is in the works. Volume 1, on the general history of the county, one of my more successful projects, is still available in its fourth or fifth printing. A third volume will come along in a year or two, or three, I hope.

A long awaited small volume will appear this year, with good fortune. Mrs. Coffey and others have encouraged me to finish a project started a dozen or so years ago, that being a history of the tragic Gradyville Flood of 1907. Much information has been gathered and photographs obtained, now for the formatting and the process will become reality.

And some other projects are coming, so stay tuned for a few more issues, at least.

Happy New Year! 2018 will be a good one, God willing.


This story was posted on 2018-01-06 14:40:27
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