FORWARD
By Larry Mixson
By Larry Mixson
I was fortunate that my mother gave a copy of this book to my father for his birthday in 1971. My father often enjoyed spending time reading it and looking up family members and sometimes discovering new family members which he would sometimes share with me. In 1975 my grandmother Mixson wrote a journal of her life which my mother then typed up and gave a copy to me and my brother and sisters. I found my grandmother’s stories about her life most interesting and they sparked an interest in me to learn more about our family history. This led me to talking to my father about grandma’s stories and his childhood which would often lead to how various persons and my dad would pull out the “book” and look up someone to show me how they were related. Later, with the Internet becoming widespread, I decided to create a personal web site which I decided to add my family history and so I turned to John Leslie’s books for the Mixson genealogy. It initially began with just my direct line back to John Mixon I but over the years I expanded it adding additional family members.
After borrowing the book from my father many times, I finally decided I wanted a copy for myself but found they were no longer in print, so I decided to scan my dad’s copy into the computer. Over the years both my dad and myself had found mistakes so after I had the entire text on the computer I went through it and made corrections. Some of the corrections John Leslie himself had identified in later books and supplements. Others were things that were obvious such as the misspelling of my middle name and duplicate or incorrect reference numbers. The spelling of the name Mixon vs Mixson comes up many times and as I found evidence, I corrected names.
I also made some general formatting changes such as trying to keep all a person’s entry on the same page, changing all state abbreviations to the now standard two letter abbreviations and using a more modern font.
In January of 2018 I was able to find and
contact Dwight Mixson, the grandson of John Leslie Mixson. I asked
him if he knew or had any of the records from his grandfather. Much
to my amazement he said he had a box of his grandfather’s materials which
he most graciously offered to give me. A few days later the box
showed up and much to my surprise it contained the original typewritten
copies of Volumes II and III which he had sent to the publishers.
Unfortunately, Volume I was not in the box but there were many draft pages
from Volume I and a folder of his correspondence with the publisher of
Volume I. I am most appreciative of Dwight for giving me these
records. One interesting find in the files were receipts of persons
buying his first book. Looking thought them was the receipt with my
mother's name. I plan to provide more about this amazing find
in the future.
As with any genealogy study I’m sure there are still errors or
inconsistencies and if anyone finds any or has any additional information
or material I would very much like to hear from you.
I am very appreciative of John Leslie Mixson for spending countless hours
researching and compiling this Mixon-Mixson genealogy and to my father for
sparking my own interest in our family history. I hope my own
additions May benefit others and perhaps inspire you to explore and
document your ancestors.
Sincerely,
Larry M. Mixson
The Mixsonian
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