Shawn Cassell adds:

As you can see, I was able to find out much more about my grandmother's family on my father's side than any of the others. They were the Kidds. One of the more notable members of my ancestry is George Kidd. He was born in 1802, in Franklin County. He came to Tazewell County (Bland County would later be formed from the area) in 1825. In 1836, a wealthy man by the name of Alexander Suiter bought about 700 acres on Hunting Camp Creek in the area that now bears his name. His brother in-law, George Kidd, moved to the area and paid for the land by labor. By 1866, he had 300 acres and had become the forefather of the Hunting Camp Creek Kidds.

Another interesting ancestor of mine was George's son, James M. Kidd. He along with his brothers, fought for the Confederacy during the War Between the States. His brothers were in the 8th VA Cavalry, Co. F, Bland Rangers, while he served in Company C of the 23rd Battalion of Virginia Infantry. I am yet to find very much information about him or his unit during the war. I intend to keep looking, but my results will obviously not be in this project.

The only one of my grandparents that I never had the privilege of meeting was my grandpa on my mother's side. His name was Donald Edison King, and he worked for the electric company in Wythe County. One stormy night, the power was knocked out by a thunderstorm. He was given the task of climbing the pole and working on the line in a thunderstorm. He was electrocuted and died a few hours later from the burns. The strangest part about this was the fact that his father, my great grandfather, James King, died the same exact way. I wish I would have had the opportunity to meet my grandfather; he was a well-liked man, and a legend at the local dirt track.

If one goes way back in my family's history, I am related to one of the most infamous men of his day, Capt. William Kidd. He was a sea faring man all of his life. He was hired by the Crown of England to hunt down and suppress any pirates in the Indian Ocean. After a long period of time in search for pirates, with no success, his crew mutinied, and he himself was forced into piracy. Upon his return to England, he was given a trial and then hanged.

Well, that is the lineage of my ancestry. I realize it is not the most detailed account, but none of this is really set in stone anywhere. Hopefully, a few years down the road, one of my descendants will do a genealogy project, and maybe, I will be counted amongst the notables.