Take Me To Post Comment Form I've recently become very interested in my family history. I've always known that my maternal side of the family came from Germany, but every time I've ever asked my paternal grandmother about our history, she always said, "We've always been from Rhine, we don't have a story."

Of course I never pushed her to tell me. I guess because I believed her, and I still sort of do today. I really don't think she knows much about our history, but she finally gave me a little information this weekend, and I must say I was shocked.

Nanny has always been a Reaves. She was a Reaves before she got married, and she married a Reaves (no relation, we're not a dirty south family). Well, she sort of married a Culpepper ... that's where the story gets weird.

I always knew my Papa as William 'Sonny' Reaves. Come to find out, he was really born as Prentiss Albert Culpepper, Jr. His mother died when he was four months old, and a day later his dad took him to his maternal grandmother's home and left him. He never contacted his son again.

The town of Rhine immediately started speculating how Willie Claire (Papa's mom) died. The obituary stated that she woke up to feed the baby and returned to bed saying she was cold. Her husband apparently held her until they fell asleep and woke to find her dead. The town of Rhine was like, "Yeah, right." So, what really happened to Willie Claire? I don't think anyone will ever know, but I do know this: Papa's grandmother, adopted mother, knew something fishy happened because she changed his entire name to shelter him from his infant life. Papa was known as William Reaves from then on, and his grandmother never told him much about his dad.

By luck, he ran into his dad's sister late in his life, and all he wanted to know was if his dad was alive. The aunt assured him that he wasn't, but Papa really thought that he might have still been alive.

I've been trying to find information on Prentiss Albert, but the only files I can find on a person by that name from Georgia say he died in Florida. I wonder if that is true.

I wonder if my "real" great-grandfather murdered his wife. I can't believe my Papa was adopted. What a weekend in family history ... but then again, I didn't know my Papa had false teeth until about a year before he died.

Does your family have an interesting history? Or do you have any family secrets you've uncovered?