Hello Dear Cousins,

My name is Kimberley Dawn Horn. I began researching my family quite by 
accident a couple years ago. You see, I was born in Yuba City, California May 15, 
1960.  My father, Earl Horn, was looking for a new place to live due to all the drugs 
that were making their way into the Golden State.  My parents were concerned 
the drugs would somehow make their way to their children.  He and my mother 
took us on vacation to Washington state where they fell in love with a 
beautiful old country home sitting on 4 acres in a town called "Granger". The 
town, at the time, didn't have more than 1,500 people in it. It was the 
perfect place to raise a family.

My childhood was full of wonderful family memories: Holiday Dinners, Birthday 
Get-Together's, Hard Work and lots of story times. I remember my Grandmother 
sitting at the table with me playing Parcheesi and telling me stories about 
her childhood in the early 1900's. I sat quietly and took in every word she had to 
tell me. Family was always very important to me because my family is who 
helped create the person I am today. 

I married my best friend from college in 1982 and we had a gorgeous baby girl. 
We always made sure she was surrounded with love and family from both sides. 
The marriage didn't work out and shortly after I lost my father in 1984 I 
ended up asking for a divorce. Her father was/is a good man and comes from a good 
family as well.  We made sure she had her family to lean on should she ever 
need them. Today family is still very important to her and she's looking 
forward to the day she will be adding to our growing Family Oak Tree.

I married again in the winter of 1989.  We stayed living in Washington State 
near our families. Three years later we had our daughter in 1992. In 1993 my 
husband decided to move us to Nashville, Tennessee where the economy was doing 
much better than the economy in Spokane. This would give us the chance to grow 
our kitchen and bathroom remodeling company and my husband the opportunity to 
pursue a career in music as well.

I drug my feet as long as I could because although my father had died in 1984, 
my Mother and the rest of my family was still on the West Coast. The father of 
my oldest daughter was in Spokane and I knew it would break his heart to take 
her away from him. I did NOT want to move!!! I had never been away from the 
West Coast, let-alone 2,600 miles away from my family. My husband was adamant 
about making this change what time we were still young enough to venture out 
and spread our wings, thus, I reluctantly followed, pregnant with our son.

Nashville was a beautiful town and as I wondered out to visit different parts 
of the state I realized the people were the most friendliest people I had ever 
met in my life. My son was born in Nashville and my daughter was only 18 
months old when we arrived in Tennessee. They would come to know no other way of 
life. We still have drive-inn's with 1st run family movies and people still park 
down by the screen, pull out a blanket of KFC chicken and mingle with the other 
families. Sunday dinners after Church and swimmin' down at your favorite 
waterin' hole. Weekend rides out in the country, baseball games down at the 
local park and believe it or not,..it's not unusual to see hay rides at 
sundown on our county roads.  I couldn't ask for a better "family" atmosphere but,... 
I missed my family tremendously and called my Mother just about every day. 

Unfortunately life moves on and the children lost their father January of 
2001.  I had the choice to move back home or stay here where my son was born 
and they had grown up. I chose not to take anything else away from the 
children and we made a family decision to stay in the town of White House where the 
children had their friends and school. I had never been so lonely in all my 
life and missed my family more than even they are aware of. ALL my cousins, my 
aunts, uncles, brother and mother could never realize how I craved to hear 
their voice or see their smiles again. But the mother inside me would not 
allow my fears of being in a state where I had nobody who TRULY knew me and 
supported me to overcome what was best for my children. Sure, we could go back to 
Washington State, we could even run to California where the biggest majority 
of my loved one's reside, but my children wouldn't know a one of them. They had 
not grown up with the family I had. THEIR loved ones were the people they had 
gone to school with, their neighbors and friends here in White House, 
Tennessee. "Family" was just a word they heard here and there, but not a "way 
of life" as it had been for me. They had no concept of what a Cousin, Aunt or 
Uncle even was. Grandma Horn (my Mother) was the only relative my two younger 
children ever really communicated with, being so far away.

I was working as a Paralegal for the State of Tennessee when one day we were 
told we would have some downtime for a couple weeks. I noticed one of my co-
workers working on something and when I asked what it was,..she replied "My 
family".   She showed me how to go across the street to the Tennessee Library 
of Archives and research any family. I laughed at her when she suggested such 
a thing because my family was from California, NOT Tennessee. Tennessee's 
Library of Archives, no matter how big, couldn't have history about MY family!  As the 
days went on and I became more and more bored at work,.. I decided to ask my 
mother where Daddy had been born? She informed me he was born and raised in 
Reed Springs, Missouri. I decided.."What the heck?" 

I started to research and plugged in my Father's information into every search 
engine and record the Library had, and to my amazement,...I not only found my 
Father but I also found my Grandfather who was also born in Stone County, 
Missouri. Then my Great Grandfather, again, born in Stone County, Missouri.  I 
started to get excited because my family was coming to "life" right before my 
eyes. Sure, they may have past-on years ago but to a woman who had lost her 
close relationship with her family years ago, my heart was growing with 
delight to see past memories of stories coming to life. I would sit for hours and 
research, talk with distant cousins I never even knew I had. One distant 
cousin hooked me up with a 1st cousin I hadn't spoken to since she was 13 years old 
in the mid 80's. It was a WONDERFUL gift and one no amount of money can replace. 
That was a couple years ago and to this day we are still very close, thanks to 
that precious distant cousin I had/have never met. 

Well, if you think I was shocked to know the distance I could travel back in 
time and not leave my chair,... think how I felt when I realized I was sitting 
smack dab in the middle of my own history!!!!  I began keeping books after 
books of notes that people would send me, pictures and stories. I came home 
and began to share them with my children (now 13 ,15 and 25) who also got excited 
about learning what "family" meant. I may not have been able to give them 
their existing family but through the grace of GOD I had found a way to give them 
their history, their blood FAMILY!  

Today, we have taken trips all around this beautiful state and we no longer 
are looking for Tennessee history, that is abundant in it's nature.  We now look 
for history for "Horn", "Bowman", "Sevier", Gideon and ALL the other precious 
families that make up "Our Family". Farms, Cemeteries, old wood mills, stories 
and pictures. Creeks our family may have fished and swam in back in the 
1790's. We never know what tomorrow may bring, but what a joy to know what yesterday 
built.

I welcome any notes, pictures or stories any of my cousins may want to share 
with other cousins. Just remember, if you send it to me,..it WILL be shared 
with our family members. This site is intended to share love and memories, not 
to be held captive in any form of wealth gain and selfishness. If you see 
anything you would like to dispute, please send your documentation to me and I 
will note it on the page with your name near it as a point of reference.

From the hearts of myself, my son Cody, my daughters Ashley and 
Stephanie, ...we would like to give you a warm welcoming hug from Tennessee 
and say "Welcome Home Precious Cousin"!  We hope you come back to visit often. 

And don't forget to sign our wonderful family Guestbook. We periodically send out 
emails for family get together's, births, deaths, wedding anouncements and if one of 
our dear cousins need prayers..we send them too!   =)


Love to all,

Kimberley Horn
KimberleyDHorn@AOL.com