This website is dedicated to Edward (Ephriam) James Matthews and Bessie
Ellen Partin Matthews. Two strong parents who raised strong children,
who in turn, raised strong children... and the story continues...

First, let me introduce you to Bessie and Ed:

The man with the shocking white hair glanced over at the young women
working on the packing line. The year was approximately 1927 and he was
working at a nearby airforce base as an operator. Coming from New
Brunswick Canada, he had slowly over the years, made his way to the
southern most U.S. state of Florida. As he watched the industrious
workers, his eye was caught by a young, beautiful woman of around 20
busy sorting and packing oranges, making her day's wages. He stood and
watched her, thinking of the right introduction. Luckily, she looked up
and saw this white haired man peeling an orange as he watched her
intently. They exchanged looks and, smiling from across the line, he
held up a slice of the orange as if to offer it to the woman. She
quickly dropped her head, turning red with embarrassment, wondering who
this stranger was.

Eventually calling on her or,dating as the time then would allow a
southern woman to date an older man from across the northern US border,
the man proposed in a way that only the two of them would ever know.

Bessie and Ed married on a river bank one evening after Ed's baptism.
So began their life that would take them to rural areas in Florida and
south GA as their family grew, finally settling in Woodbury, GA in
1949-the year their seventh and last child was born.