Charlie,

Was really excited to get your message about the Matkin family marrying into the Crow family in England. That is one of the things I have been trying to learn, where do the Crow's come from. My father always said he thought they originated in England but his information was just from what the "older folks" said when they all got together on Sunday after church. He did not know anything about the Matkin side of the family, in fact he had never heard the Matkin family discussed by the "older folks".

When roaming through a cemetery near Licking, Missouri I came across the Dickerson Crow family plot and there was a David Matkin buried with a large number of Crow's. That is the first time I had heard of the name other than I knew my gg grandmother had been named Malinda Matkin Crow, wife of Dickerson. I asked an old family member who has shown interest in genealogy about the name and she said she thought that David Matkin was a brother to Malinda but other than that she had no idea about the Matkin name.

I seem to be a rarity in my family, no one seems to be interested. They seem to have the attitude "we got here so what does it matter".

I have just started using the computer to work on my genealogy and am having to learn it the hard way. Plan to take a class at the local college that might help me with computer basics. The genealogy situation is another matter. I need to find a program of some kind that will help me organize the information. So far everything I have is in file folders and binders. I just got my computer 4 months ago and should have gotten better aquatinted with it before I jumped into something as complicated as genealogy. I guess I got a little over anxious, got the cart before the horse so to speak.

I have just barely scratched the surface of Cindy's Genealogy File. Knowing where to go and what to look for is something I am working to learn.

To your question where do I live, Coos Bay, Oregon. Both sides of my family Crow and Kofahl (maternal grandparents) came from the area of northern Texas County, Missouri about 1920. They lived in CA where I was born but I moved to Oregon nearly 30 years ago. My mother is the only family of the older generation that remains.

Most of the family information I have came from the Texas County Missouri Heritage books that I acquired about 4 years ago, that and some old newspaper clipping my mother had passed down to her from her parents. Now that she is 78 years old she has become interest in family genealogy but is unable to contribute much from memory. She was born in CA in 1920 and never knew most of the family that remained in Missouri. It was her mother that I once asked many years ago where her side of the family originated and she said "Missouri" I told her I was interested in where our families came from before that and she said, "what the heck do you want to know that for, we got here and that's what is important", end of discussion.

Well! Anyway I want to thank you for your response and information. If I learn anything further that may help with your missing link I will let you know. Please advise me if you learn anything further.

Gary Crow