User:Tameka Herred

MY BIRTH NAME IS TAMEKA HERRED,BUT A FEW YEARS AGO I LEARNED THAT MY FAMILY ALSO USED THE SPELLING HERROD.MY GRANDPARENTS ARE NATIVES OF ARKANSAS.THE LAST NAME HERRED WAS GIVEN MY GRANDFATHERS MOTHER WHICH IS HIS MOTHERS MAIDEN NAME.HIS FATHER WAS C.W.STAR.MY GRANDMOTHER MELMER LEE WHITE MARRIED WILLIE C HERRED OR (HERROD)WHEN SHE WAS 14YEARS OF AGE.AND TO FROM THIS UNION 12 CHILDREN WERE BORN THE FIRST BORN WILLIE HERRED JR, EVELYN HERRED,JUANITA HERRED,CAROLYN HERRED,DAVID HERRED,DIANE HERRED, MIRRIA HERRED,GLEN HERRED,Lloyd herred,SHARON HERRED,PATRICIA HERRED,AND CATHERINE HERRED.ALL 12 CHILDREN ARE ALIVE AND WELL AND WERE RAISED IN PHILIPS COUNTY,ARKANSAS IN A 3 BEDROOM HOUSE AND COUNTLESS GRANDCHILDREN AND GREAT GREAT GREAT GRANDCHILDREN.WILLIE C.HERRED DIED IN 2000 AND MELMER LEE HERRED PRECEDED HIM IN DEATH IN 2005.YOU CAN FIND THEIR FINAL RESTING PLACE IN PHILIPS COUNTY,ARKANSAS IN LONE VALLEY CEMETARY NOT FAR FROM THE VERY LAND THEY RAISED THEIR FAMILY ON IS STILL IN OUR FAMILY TO THIS DAY.I LOOK AT MY FAMILY WHO BARE THE LAST NAME HERRED AND WONDER WHAT IS OUR RICH HISTORY AND WHAT BLOOD RUNS THREW OUR VEINS.AT THE START OF MY RESEARCH I WAS POSITIVE THAT I WOULD FIND STRONG AFRICAN ROOTS BUT I SOON LEARNED MY FAMILY NAME HAD NO CONNECTION TO AFRICA.SO THIS IS ALMOST LIKE A LAST RESORT TO FIND OUT EXACTLY WHO I REALLY AM THE MEANING OF MY FAMILY NAME ALSO MY FAMILY'S ETHNICITY. I WAS UNDER THE IMPRESSION BECAUSE OF SOME OF US HAVE DARKER SKIN WE JUST ASSUMED WE WERE BLACK AND FROM ARKANSAS UNTIL I TRACED THE SURNAME "STAR" THAT WAS MY GRANDFATHERS,FATHER LAST NAME WAS NATIVE AMERICAN.