Culture shapes who we are and how the world perceives us. By researching and finding out the culture of our early ancestors, we can learn how we came about and why we reside in the areas we were born into.

 My great great grandfather, Walter Griffin married Edna Masters in the small town of Tunnel Hill, Georgia. The two together had two sons and a daughter. The oldest son, Ernest is my great grandfather. Walter was a saw mill worker and a farmer.  His wife Edna was a homemaker and stayed at home with the children. Walter passed away in his late 30’s leaving his wife to take care of two sons and a daughter. Ernest decided to get a job at a textile mill in Dalton. His wife Clara was the owner of Griffin Sundries, in Whitfield County.

Ernest and Clara Griffin 

 Ernest spent the last years of his life working as supervisor for a route man at a chicken company. Ernest and Clara are the parents of two boys, Macoy and Hiram. Macoy Griffin is the oldest son and is my grandfather. Clara his mother and my great grandmother is 94 years of age and currently resides in the home that was built by her late husband’s father, Walter. 

My grandfather Macoy is on the right side and his brother Hiram is on the left.

 Macoy graduated from high school and went to a business college. He and my grandmother Norma Henderson met in Dalton and married in 1955. They moved to Alabama for an accounting job my grandfather had available and continued living there for five years.

While residing in Alabama Macoy and Norma Griffin had three sons, Keith, Blake and Scott. The third son Scott Griffin is my father. 

 In 1960 Macoy Griffin’s Mother, Clara and her husband Ernest spoke to Macoy and told him he had a job offer back in Whitfield County. The Griffin family is tightly knit and strongly values the importance of family. Macoy and Norma knew moving back to Whitfield County would be the best decision for them. Seven years after moving back to Whitfield County my father’s youngest brother Chris Griffin was born, and Macoy and Norma now have four Griffin boys.

Most of the Griffin family has resided in Whitfield County for many decades. The Griffin family is known to be a middle class, and very hard working family. My great grandmother at the age of 94 is still a very hard working woman and still sings in the Tunnel Hill United Methodist choir. Her love for music has influenced my musical ability and because a large number of the Griffin’s are musically talented I believe for that reason it has given me the ability to sing in the Reinhardt University choir. The culture of being a hard working class of people who have a strong love for music will mostly likely continue to pass down to generation after generation of the Griffin family members.

My mother Nancy Hair

My father Timothy Griffin

In 1976 Timothy Scott Griffin who is known as Scott, meets Nancy Lee Hair. The two met in a Whitfield County High school referred to as North West Whitfield High.

The family of Georgia Washington Haire (Named after President George Washington).

My Mother Nancy Hair’s great great great grandfather George Washington Haire(before the E was dropped). George Washington Haire was named after President George Washington by his father Issac Newton Haire Senior. Issac Newton Haire Senior married Lavonia Susong. Lavonia’s father was in the military and was close friends with President Washington. Issac Senior and his wife Lavonia raised their son Issac Newton Haire Jr. in and out of the Washington’s home during various parties and functions. The President must have made quiet the impression on young Issac Jr. because he married Anne Elizabeth Milburn in 1843 and they named their first born son George Washington Haire in honor of the President.  

              Family friend President George Washington

                George Washington Haire served in the civil war on the confederate side from Georgia. After returning from the war the formerly known George Haire had now dropped the e off his name and Haire with an e became Hair with no e. 

George and Emma bought 180 acres of farm land in 1868. This land at that time cost $150 dollars and a mule. The property was located in the small community of Dawnville, which is inside of Whitfield County. George Washington Hair passed away in 1914 and in his obituary he was said to be one of the communities most loved and valued citizens. He was well known and highly as steamed farmer and confederate veteran as well as a loyal Methodist church member. The Hair’s had eleven children, and the seventh child was Clarence Bivings Hair.

My great grandfather Clarence Hair 

 Clarence was born and raised on his father’s land in Dawnville. Clarence at the age of twenty years old decided to go out to California and work to make enough money to buy eighty acres of land. His heart was set on it and he spent six years working out west. When he returned home to Dalton he had made $1500 dollars in gold. He was hard working and a driven man just like all the former and still previous members of the Hair family are.

Great grandparents Clarence and Myrtle

                Clarence marries Myrtle Hawkins in December of 1908. They had ten children

My Papaw George Hair is on the first row in the middle

 the seventh child is my grandfather George Moses Hair. He was named after his mother’s grandfather

Moses and Nancy Hair 

 Moses and his father’s grandfather George Washington Hair. George Moses Hair was raised on the same farm and produced cotton, sugar cane and corn.

Some of the Moses Hair family

 At the age of seventeen George was drafted into World War II. After returning home from the war he meets Mary Lucille Whaley of Whitfield County.

My Mamaw Lucille at 16 years old

 After 3 months of dating the get married on March 8^th 1947. My grandfather stayed on the Dawnville property and my home is directly behind his home on the same piece of farmland.  George and Mary have four children, two boys and two girls. The third child is my mother Nancy who was born in 1958. My grandfather was once named in 1969 Georgia’s top corn producer for the entire state of Georgia. 

Top Corn Producer in Georgia! 

His whole life has been dedicated to farming and his oldest son my uncle Clarence Hair still continues to farm on a piece of land my grandfather owns in Polk County Tennessee. The Hair’s came from the northern part of the U.S and lived in Tennessee for a good amount of time. When my grandfather purchased the land in Tennessee he said the Hair’s came from Tennessee and now a few of them are going back.

                The Hair side similar to The Griffin side is all hard working goal oriented people. I believe the Hair side can set out and achieve anything they desirer without the help of anyone else. The Hairs’ are of the land they use what crops they have to make sure money is being made and family is being taking care of. I know that for me having both sides of my family that are hardworking and truly good people has shaped me into a very well round and goal driven person. After researching for my cultural roots I have begun to realize the ancestors we have make up a large part of who we are. I can see many traits and characteristics that I have inherited from both sides of my family.

                I can say that I feel very blessed to have family surrounding me and a family that on both sides have remained in the Whitfield County area.  Being raised in a close knit family is special because everyone has a different ancestry and many families are very spread out all around the world and are never able to continue that close bond that my family members and I have. I have learned that family is the most important thing above all the rest.        

Everyday Anthropology

In chapter 6, Kinship is introduced as a link between with modes of livelihood and reproduction. Blood relations between family members in most cultures is consider Kinship, however there are culture who except only males offspring as kin and the females are not. Anthropologist construct a kinship diagram as a way to present the relationships of an individual. The diagram below provides us with a persons kinship to their relatives.

 The modern term I would use to explain a kinship diagram is "The Family Tree". By creating a family tree we can trace all the way back to our earliest ancestors.

 

Descent is the process of tracing kinship relationship through parentage. Since all cultures do not reckon descent in the same way there are two terms used to explain different outlooks on descent. The first is Unilineal Descent, which is the basis of 60 percent of the world's culture. Unilineal has two major forms, partilineal and matrilineal. Partilineal is traced through the male line where as matrilineal is traced through the female line. When the females marry into a family they are considered now a part of their husbands lineage. Found among many Native North American groups is matrilineal descent. Matrilineal is connection between mother and daughters and their daughters.

Bilineal Descent is not traced equally between parents to their child. Bilineal cultures rely on division of labor where both male and female contribute to making a living. This Bilineal digram below illustrates the equal division of labor between male and female within that descent.

In COM 360 we were ask to create our own kinship diagram. The knowledge I gained by creating the diagram lead me to realize how many different arrangements and relations we have and everyone has their own unique kinship trace.

Another form of relations is social groups. Chapter 7, explains social groups as a cluster of people beyond the domestic unit who are usually related in a way other than through kinship. A social system or group is a regular patterned way for us to feel a sense of common identity, we learned in class that the groups can consist of religious groups, sports teams, age and so on. When involved in a club or on a sports team its easy to find others who are compatible to what your interest are and this creates a strong bond between you and the others within that group. 

Although social groups can create ties there are also many ways that society can divide us. One way of social division is Stratification. Stratification is hierarchical relationships between different groups which are arranged by layers. Those who are born into wealth would be at an advantage over those who are less fortunate and would not be consider in the same class or circle as the wealthy person. 

 beliefs, being different by not conforming to the majority of the population and hierarchy are also ways we are divide. It is accepted and understood in most societies that a person born into royalty will be treated extremely different than your average man on the street. Although we are all flesh and bones our society has created this false pretense of one man being leader or by status automatically better than the other guy. 

Ascribed status is the race, ethnicity, gender and caste we are born with. Ascribed means you have no control on this placement. It is out of our control whether or not we are born a male or female and also whether or not we are one race or another. 

On the flip side we can change our achieved status. America is a prime example of being born into a lower status family and being able to climb out and land successfully on the top based on the qualities that the person has achieved through his or her actions.

Habitus in our culture is a position that reflects our statuses that each of us occupies. The way we see our self can be completely different than the view others have of us. Depending on your civil status in society the role we play can be greater or less than that of others. For example someone who works for our government has to be extremely careful of how they are viewed by society, however an average coffee shop owner needs to be have a good reputation but has zero pressure to impress the public eye compared to the person in a government position. With the movement of social and cyber power,everyone is constantly updated and everyone is keeping a close eye on all side of media.