My mother (Vella Lea Justice Payne, from the John P Jr - John P Sr - Clayborn - Simeon - William line of Justices) has been researching our family history for over 60 years. It has only been through her dedication, insight, and perseverance that we are now able to sort our lineage, and to know the names of the faces in the family album.

From the Mingo and Logan County areas of West Virginia, the family names include Justice, Chapman, Varney, Stanley, McNeely, Lowe, and Dempsey.

A cousin (from that same John P Sr - Clayborn - Simeon line), Dwayne Oliver Justice, has spent extraordinary time and resources not only researching his branch of the tree, but also physically clearing, repairing, and documenting the Varney and the Justice Family cemeteries. A vast majority of the headstone photos are his contribution, as is the fact that we can now read those markers, instead of looking at lumps of kudzu.

I myself learned how to read by looking for names on headstones, and learned how to count by numbering the coal cars that came by when we got stopped at a railroad track. But, although the name on these pages is mine, the work is not. I am only hoping to preserve and make accessible the enormous labor that has already been accomplished.

My mother (Vella Lea Justice Payne, from the John P Jr - John P Sr - Clayborn - Simeon - William line of Justices) has been researching our family history for over 60 years. It has only been through her dedication, insight, and perseverance that we are now able to sort our lineage, and to know the names of the faces in the family album.

From the Mingo and Logan County areas of West Virginia, the family names include Justice, Chapman, Varney, Stanley, McNeely, Lowe, and Dempsey.

A cousin (from that same John P Sr - Clayborn - Simeon line), Dwayne Oliver Justice, has spent extraordinary time and resources not only researching his branch of the tree, but also physically clearing, repairing, and documenting the Varney and the Justice Family cemeteries. A vast majority of the headstone photos are his contribution, as is the fact that we can now read those markers, instead of looking at lumps of kudzu.

I myself learned how to read by looking for names on headstones, and learned how to count by numbering the coal cars that came by when we got stopped at a railroad track. But, although the name on these pages is mine, the work is not. I am only hoping to preserve and make accessible the enormous labor that has already been accomplished.