Our branch of the Gamblin Clan is pretty diverse. Blame it on the Ozark Mountains and cold, long, lonely nights.

I thought I would add a little of "my" music while I write and you read. It doesn't start automatically so click the "start" button. By the way, some of you may be surprised to find out this is "Riders of the Storm" by Jim Morrison & The Doors.

Tradition has held that virtually all of the recent branches of our tree remain close to "home." Home is Portageville, Missouri, population near 3000. It is a lonely little stretch of flat farm land between Cape Girardeau and Memphis, Tennessee. It holds its own in an economy that does not always favor the tired backs that tend the land.
I know that sounds corney as hell but it is true. Easily 75% of the citizens' employment is directly related to farming. The industry mainstay of the town is small; It makes chrome plated articles for automobiles. It was pretty new when I "escaped" - we'll get into that some other time - but from what I have seen it is solid and well-managed.

Let me give you a piece of our family tree that was ardously researched, assembled, and provided by my distant cousin, Judy Landers of Gideon. I have not yet gotten permission from her to release her info. This is my mom's side, the RODGERS-SMITH family of southwest Missouri and northwest Arkansas.

I am doing more research in a very non-compulsive manner. I have so many projects going on right now that I can't afford to let one monopolize my time. BUT, there are some interesting leads I am following up on. Here's a condensed version in case someone is out there looking for their "missing link."

Now for just a little on the Gamblin side.
I have quite a bit more, and appropriate to maintaining
a balance of motivation and procrastination, I have yet to dig through it all.
But, one of these days . . . . . . .


William Gamblin - Arrived in Virginia in the early 1700's. It looks like some of that clan moved into the territories now known as Tennessee and Kentucky. Hell, we had to come from somewhere - could be here.

There is a person in Nova Scotia that has my exact name - middle name and all ! I'll not disclose that to help protect his privacy. We corresponded and his branch was not an extension of Wm. Gamblin. Very interesting that we are also about the same age, likes, and physical characteristics.

There is a "Gamblin" that I came across in Bristol, England in (Oh crap, I forgot - I think it was 1634). I have also had great conversations with a Gamblin branch from England. He said as far as he knows he has no roots to the US.

A friend in Norway and another in Holland researched "Gamblin" and they both came to a very similar finding. The family name seems to be a derived from a Nordic (Viking) word, "gamun." It meant, "old" in one sense but in another it may have been a title earned by wisdom, knowledge, and probalby had something to do with longevity. If I would have known I was going to live to be this gamun, I would have taken better care of myself! Hmmm, misses something.

If our name is from the Viking language then not only would Nova Scotia make sense but that would then mean that the family may be linked to Southern France. A large population of the Vikings moved south in between about 1100 - 1400.

In a more recent bend I am looking into the Lakota Sioux and White River Band Cherokee. My paternal grandmother was a talking history of her tribe but in my youthful years I didn't realize the value of recording her stories. Many nights I would curl up in my special bed - gigantic down mattress and comforters, hand made piecemeal quilts - and "granny" would sit in her rocker, by sometimes just a kerosene lamp, and tell about her daddy's relationships with Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. She was full-blooded, the daughter of a prestigious and respected chieftain.