Dale Farmer

My name is Dale Farmer, Jr. I live in Camden, just outside of Camden in Oxford, between Camden and Oxford in Ohio.

I have a photo of our family, extended family. We used to get together just about every Sunday at my grandparents house, cousins, aunts, uncles, friends, and one particular time, we all just posed for a big group photo. Most of those people are dead and gone now, so I can look at that picture and just remember how our family used to be when we were all together.

The setting was at my grandparents’ house, which is where I live now. It was family land that had been the family since the 1930s and 40s. When they retired, they bought part of that property, five acres, and homesteaded on that, and so that's where I live.

You have your blood relatives, which you pretty much have to love, and then you have family friends. I mean, when I was growing up, there were quite a number of people that came to all of our family events, and I thought that they were relatives. And it wasn't until later in life that I found out they weren't actually blood relatives. We couldn't love them anymore if they were blood relatives.

All four of my grandparents are from the Appalachian area of Kentucky, Estill County, Jackson County, Pulaski and Magoffin County. So all four of my grandparents and great grandparents moved to Ohio in the 30s and 40s, and my parents were both born in Ohio. However, my dad's family moved back and forth to Macgoffin County, Kentucky, through his childhood. So all of my grandparents are from there. And you know, a lot of who I am is shaped by that, by where they come from, and the customs and traditions they brought with them. You know, a lot of it's carried on till today.