The SH?N Family Association has done some very remarkable things I am extremely proud of and would like to share as an incentive to other families. Ed Miller, our family historian, has compiled more than 30,000 names in our database for members of this family. Books have been written for each one of the 17 children in this large family and more data is being accumulated daily.

Money has been set aside for the maintenance and restoration of the cemeteries in Mountain City, Tenn., where family members are buried. New headstones have been purchased or restored. Lots of time and money has been donated to make this possible.

The association has donated $10,000 to the building fund of the Johnson County Library in Mountain City, Tenn. These funds are to be used for the construction of a genealogy room at the library in the names of Leonard and Barbara Shoun.

Members who contribute $100 to this fund will have their name placed on a plaque that would be placed in the library's genealogy room.

What better legacy to leave your descendants than an ongoing history of their family that is written and can be shared with other family members at reunion time each year.?

The 2007 SH?N Family Reunion will be held in Memphis on July 13-15. More information will be added at a later date.

When sending in queries or sharing information, write to: Relatively Speaking, P.O. Drawer 1058, Norman, OK 73070 or e-mail Darlene Shawn at Djshawn 636@aol.com.