Dr. Ralph Stanley the "Old Time Mountain Style Music" musician states in his Autobiography "Man of Constant Sorrow; My Life and Times", the following:
"A lot of people like to talk about their ancestors. They'll tell you how they're descended from a line of Scottish kings and and what not, and they'll brag on a Lord So-and-So who they say they are related to. Maybe even got 'em a fancy coat of arms framed and hanging on the wall. Funny how you never hear nobody say they come from a gang of horse thieves that got run out of the old country.
I don't know when or why my people came here. Don't know why they decided to stay. All I know for sure is we've been in these mountains as long as anyone can remember.
So I can't tell you much about who our ancestors were. Never been much interested in my family line. I don't know why. Never did try to search the family tree; my dad and my mother didn't either, as far as I know. When I was coming up, people from around here didn't mess around in family history. They were working to hard to fool with it, I reckon. For people in the mountains, it was just get up at daylight, go to bed at dark, and in between work like a mule.
My Mother's father and my Dad's father, that's as far back as I can tell you about, and I don't know much about them either because they died when I was young."
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