If you are a fan of pop culture, be sure to check out The Citizen’s newest podcast: “The Citizen Popcast.”

Sports editor Michael Boylan and I discuss the fall TV lineup in the first-ever "Citizen Popcast," which can be found here .

I'm going to continue with the Cochran family this week, giving you more detailed information on two of the children of William Allen and Alpha Johnson Cochran. These Cochrans were only one of several Cochran families in the Campbell County area and may be related to some of them. They were in a corner where three counties come together - Campbell, Coweta and Fayette - and they lived in the McCollum community.

There is a type of research beginning to emerge that may, in years to come, trigger a real debate in science and, hopefully, a re-writing of state and federal environmental regulations on a scale that would make what happened with the decades-long research into tobacco look like child’s play.

I was elated a few weeks ago to see that a few of our south Fulton readers made the time to post blogs on our website, both pro and con, in response to a column I wrote advocating the formation of the City of South Fulton. Participation from south Fulton residents by blogging on our website is something I hope will continue and grow in the future. With the website getting about two million hits per month, it is a great way to have your say in a manner that tens of thousands of viewers will see and, perhaps, provide their own response. And whether we all agree or disagree on a given topic, it’s as critical as ever that people make their voice heard. Given the topic of city-hood, it was not overly surprising that the column attracted a few bloggers. And blogger responses to the “Form the City of South Fulton” opinion column weighed in on both sides of the issue.

I am really big on keeping non-related people in my family tree. Although they may not be related to me, they are all connected to my family somehow. Admittedly, some of the "daisy chains" get pretty long and several are really "way" out there, but I have a method to my madness.

“Do what I want, or I will do my best to hurt you.”

If a man walked into your home or business and spoke the words above, he would be subject to arrest.

“Do what I want, or I will do my best to hurt you.”

If a man walked into your home or business and spoke the words above, he would be subject to arrest.

There is one more Jones family I want to mention before we move on to another series of families, and that is one I did quite some time ago when we did the stories about the families buried at Bethany Methodist Church in Fayette County. That would be Enoch George Jones and his family. He was the one who survived a load of buckshot pumped into him by his (second) wife one hot summer evening, lived to tell about it, and later divorced her. Several articles appeared in the Atlanta Constitution about the incident and were relayed to me by Deanne Barr, a descendant.

Residents of the only remaining area of unincorporated Fulton County will decide Sept. 18 whether to become the city of South Fulton or remain unincorporated. Either way, the vote will have an unprecedented bearing on their future, their families, their neighborhoods and communities. Like voters in Chattahoochee Hill Country who in June overwhelmingly approved their new city, voters in the new City of South Fulton area will hopefully do the same.

As Anne Westbrook wrote last week, Harrison Jones was captured and imprisoned at Point Lookout, Md., but was later released at the end of the war. He returned to Fayette County and, in 1867, received land from his father. We pick up the story there. Anne writes:

Several months ago, Anne Westbrook wrote me and asked if I'd be interested in doing a series of articles on the Jones families in Fayette and surrounding areas. Since Jones is one of the more difficult families to keep track of, I gratefully accepted her offer. Anne has done a lot of research and gives her sources plainly in her articles. The stories appearing the next few weeks were written entirely by her. She begins with Robert Jones of Clarke County.

I've had requests for additional footage from Twilight Theatre's production on "Les Miserables" so I complied.

I have to mention that I failed to include very much footage or credit to the lead of the show- call it oversight or pre-vacation brain freeze- but I want to make sure I say what a great job Trevor Martin did as Jean Valjean.

We're going to wrap up the Grays this week with the final installment of Carol Hoyt's beautifully written story about her own branch of the Gray family. Carol writes:

I went to see the Twilight Theatre Company's production of "Les Miserables: the School Edition" this past Friday night at the Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheater in Peachtree City, and I have to say I was very impressed with the caliber show that they put on.

“We got the bubble-headed-bleach-blonde who comes on at 5, she can tell you ‘bout the plane crash with a gleam in her eye. It’s interesting when people die — give us dirty laundry.”

I'm going to try and wrap up this Kempson family this week with, hopefully, some info many didn't have. It is always helpful to know what court documents exist on a particular family and that's what I've been doing - checking with the courts in Coweta and Meriwether to see which Kempsons left a will or whose estate was administered here, and, if land was purchased, where it was located. Last week I checked Meriwether and this week Coweta.

For all that is wrong in this world, there are still some stories that will bring a smile to your face. Listen and watch as six year old Jocelyn tells the story of finding buried treasure in her very own backyard. To read the full story, check out the article in the Names & Faces section on this site: HERE.

All the discussion lately about tuberculosis and quarantine reminded me of a time in my past, one that took place before the war, as they say.

This week we continue with Robin Parker's story of the children of David and Nancy Leitner Gable. Robin names the children in order and writes of them:

“(1) Noah Gable married Sallie A. Wilson in 1858 and they had 10 children. In 1859, Noah purchased the medical practice of Dr. N.B. Drewry in Brooks and, for the next 72 years, Noah and two of his sons practiced medicine there. Noah enlisted in the CSA and was captured and held POW at Camp Douglas in Illinois. Since he was a physician, his services were greatly needed. At the end of the war, Noah had to walk the long distance from Illinois back to his home in Brooks. Noah was the grandfather of Miss Nina Gable, who was a well-known personality in the Brooks community.

Moving on to the next family in the newspaper article of 1907 about the "fruitful" families of Line Creek, we come to the family of George Washington Gable, to whom Robin Parker, author of the two previous articles, also is related. From 1907: " ... These three families (Hutchinson, Thompson, Kempson) live on adjoining plantations and are in sight of each other. Within sight of these three mentioned is the family of our late worthy County Treasurer George W. Gable, deceased, which is composed of ten children and the widowed mother. All of the children are at home with the mother. Thus the four families are 46 children all living within a mile of each other ... "

Residents of unincorporated south Fulton County are just a few weeks away from a critical vote that will dramatically influence the future of their homes, neighborhoods and communities. Residents are currently scheduled to vote June 19 whether to remain a apart of unincorporated Fulton County or to become the new City of South Fulton and the new City of Chattahoochee Hills. I’ve heard a million reasons pro and con when it comes to forming new cities, but as I see it, the residents in unincorporated south Fulton have no real choice but to form the City of South Fulton and the City of Chattahoochee Hills. I came to that conclusion some time ago and, today, I am more convinced of this than ever. So below you will find three simple but overwhelmingly important reasons why the new cities should be voted in.

Once again we're transitioning out of one family into connecting lines, going from the Herndons into the Kempsons, Hutchinsons, Thompsons and Gables. As you remember, two Herndon brothers married two Kempson sisters and both sisters just happen to belong to one of the families we will study in more detail later.

So now that we have a new village in Peachtree City, let’s assess who won, who lost and who is caught facing a run-down between first and second.

I'm going to wrap up the Herndon family this week with short stories about the three youngest children of Edward and Nancy Brown Herndon: James, Cora and Walter. Cora and Walter were little more than toddlers when their father died early in 1855 and their mother passed away in December of the same year. James was a young teen. All three had their inheritance put under the watchful eye of a guardian, with Walter Pope taking care of the financial affairs of all three children.

I'm going to move off the topic of the Herndons this week to bring you some very sad news and spread a few flowers where they so deservedly belong.

The genealogy and history community lost two of its brightest stars this week with the passing of Norma Gunby on Saturday, April 14, and Willis (Bill) Nolen on Monday, April 16. Norma was a shining star in the genealogy community and Bill's bright rays shone down on the tight-knit community of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. A Luthersville resident formerly from East Point, Bill had been a Confederate history buff since his childhood.

Frankly, Sonny, we expected better.

You’re allowing an accused child abuser to CONTINUE working for the very agency sworn to protect Georgia’s children. No wonder folks everyone else thinks we’re “backwards.”

I spent a delightful day with Nell O'Shields last Wednesday, going over her collection of Herndon information and photos - what treasures she has! However, when we put our information together, we came across several questions which are going to take some time to figure out.

The third son of Edward and Nancy Brown Herndon was Joel Jasper Herndon, born 18 Oct 1829 in Elbert County, Ga. Joel is the only child of Edward and Nancy to have a biography included in "Georgia Memoirs," a book published in 1895. I ran an excerpt from the Memoirs story in an earlier column as it gave much of Joel's life history and some of his heritage. The book may be found at the Coweta Genealogy Library in Grantville as well as at the Georgia Archives. I found one conflict in that Joel's marriage date in the story disagreed with the marriage date in the original marriage book in Meriwether County.