March 2005
COMMON GROUND - A FAMILY FOREST

Hello Family,

    For the past few years - I have been compiling information and building a family tree. So far I have been able to trace the tree back to a slave from Halifax VA, Arlsie Stovall and to births in  the00's "Who'd thunk it??!!" Prior to that I had done work on a family newsletter titled "Common Ground." 

    So now I decided to sort of combine both efforts and this is actually the start of a family website, which will go by the same name as the original newsletter.

    A family tree that is ever-expanding, growing and changing because of births, deaths and marriages. Marriages are important because every marriage is not only the creation of a new family but t the connection of two existing families. It was exactly this way that the Moore family connected to the McDaniel family - through Bertha Pinkett's two marriages. 

    In this family tree - when a family member gets married, not only is the new spouse added to the tree but his or her family also. So hence this family tree is actually a group of families that 
get connected through marriages hence I sometimes call it a - “Family Forest.” Common Ground is acually collection of family trees that have been linked through the creation of a new family and the connection of two existing ones or to simply put this in one word - "Marriage."

    While I have been able to build a strong family tree, there is always missing information due to family growth, marriages and missing historical information. And of course I am sure there are some errors, too.

    So as you scan through the tree, please help to fill in the missing information or missing people. Also you can send email addresses of other family members so they can also be invited to the site.

    If for some reason you do not find yourself on the family tree web site it is most likely either because I haven’t figured out how to link you to the family or because I've never gotten information on you.  If that is the case please contact me so I can get you added to the tree.

    Please contact me via email to make any changes or additions to the web site. Also this website is password protected, so if you desire to post your email info, address and/or phone info you can also do this by contacting me via email (commongroundfamilytree@gmail.com).

    In the future, it is my hope that this site can be used to post photos, events and, in this computer age, as a way to keep in closer touch as well as learn more about our family history and legacy.

May God richly bless each of you,

Robert Wade Porter (Moore)