Weather: low 60 degrees, high 78 degrees, cloudy, showers late in the afternoon and evening
My father was born in Brent, Alabama, a little over 91 years ago. Carolyn has an interest in genealogy, and has been able to trace my mother's side of the family a long way back in time. My father's side, however, is another story. She has only been able to get a sketchy idea of where the Simmons side of the family came from or when except for anecdotal conversations with my parents and one of my uncles. All of them have passed on, and now any information we are able to get on my family tree on my father's side will have to come from reviewing census records and other documents that may give us the information we are looking for. Note that I say "may", since it takes a lot of hard work to review the vast number of documents that are available. Even with that review, there is no guarantee that we will be able to find any information beyond what we already know.
Since we didn't have anything major going on today, we decided to take a trip over to Brent, which is located about 30 miles from Tuscaloosa in Bibb County. We tried to imagine what Brent would have been like when my father was born and growing up there. His father was a saw mill operator. Today, we did not see anything that looked like it would have been around when my father lived there. There is nothing there that would tend to make you notice Brent as you drive through the area, except for the number of vacant buildings. They do have a new WalMart Super Center, but that's about it.
After leaving Brent, we drove a few miles to Centreville, the county seat of Bibb County. Below are some pictures we took of Centreville.
The pictures above are from around the courthouse, and several of the buildings are vacant. It's a shame that so many of these small towns seem to be stagnating or dying.
On the way home, we stopped at Haysop Cemetery, the burial site for many of my mother's relatives. We found the gravestones for my great grandparents on my mother's side, which gave me a thrill to know that these people lived long before I was born. As we were walking around looking at the head stones, I was struck by how many infants had died on the same day they were born or shortly thereafter. When people talk about the good old days, they need to think about how far we have come with medical care and other modern day amenities we take for granted.
More later, be safe.
Today's Town - Brent, Alabama: Building Opportunities
Not all who wander are lost.
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