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• named Cloud
• have Cloud ancestor
• adults, kids, & grandkids

• excellent speakers
• share 
• learning
• socializing
• entertainment

• learn Cloud history
• meet fellow researchers
• discuss
• vacation fun

• Knoxville, TN
• Airp't Hilton
• E. TN. Hist. Museum
• Smokies

• 14 - 16 research
• 16 - pm intro. 
• 17 - meetings 
• 17 luncheon,  
• 18 - tour

• register
• fly, or drive, 
• share rides

July 2004

This will be the 27th year of annual meetings of Cloud families from across the country. 

The Cloud Family Association was formed when members of various Cloud lines came together with a mutual interest in gathering and sharing all available data on all Cloud families in an effort to provide answers to questions of individual researchers. 

Cloud Family Gatherings have become occasions for numerous reunions of particular Cloud-related families and reunions of those who have become friends through working together to solve mysteries of Cloud origins.

The annual business meeting of the Cloud Family Association (a non-profit corporation) will be held Saturday morning. Officers for the 2004-2006 administrative period will be elected and at least three Director positions will be filled.

Those new to the search are always welcomed, and it's a good opportunity to get acquainted with others sharing an interest in Cloud family histories. You might even find a cousin you didn't know you had.

The counties of upper east Tennessee (first NC and then TN) were settled by families from PA, VA, and NC. Several Clouds appear in early records.

(Map of Roads in 1796 Tennessee - full view avail.)

Descendants migrated into TN, KY, OH, IN, IL, MO, AR, LA, TX and many other states to the west. It was also a 1780s sanctuary and detour for those who had settled in SC and GA, which were strife torn during this decade, and had descendants migrate to FL, AL and MS as well as the other states mentioned. 

There are many historical sites and cemeteries associated with the Clouds that are in close proximity to Knoxville (Knox County).  These include Washington, Sullivan, Hawkins, Claiborne and McMinn counties.             

Cloud's Creek is in Hawkins County, and we plan a tour to that site. 

This will be the first time the deClouding crew has come to East Tennessee. Previous national meetings have been held at sites in PA, NC, GA, AL, TN (Memphis), AR, LA, KS, and TX (several locations). 

• get lost hiking the Appalachian Trail 
• wear out your eyes and feet in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park 
•  lose your retirement fund at the Cherokee Indian Casino,
• get irradiated at Oak Ridge, 
• visit the Appalachian Museum for a first hand look at the way life was lived in “the good old days”, or
• act like a kid at Dollywood, a theme park

Knoxville is within thirty miles of Dollywood and forty-five miles of the Smoky Mountains, a good place to vacation, hike, and enjoy nature.

The National Park Service web site (Great Smoky Mountains National Park) is supplemented by commercial sites.

Nearby: Replica of James White Fort, one of the first forts built on the frontier. Replica of Fort Loudon, a British fort built to protect the settlers from the Indians. Blount Mansion, one of the first frame houses built on the frontier by and for William Blount, the first Governor of the territory. The East Tennessee Historical Museum, repository for David Crocket's rifle, "Old Betsy." Sam Houston school house where he began his public career as a teacher. The women's basketball hall of fame. The atomic museum, Oak Ridge.

Within one hour drive: The Appalachian museum, an up close and personal look at how our pioneer ancestors lived and survived in "the good old days." The Great Smoky Mountains, (1) tourist entrance through Pigeon Forge (Dollywood) and Gatlinburg and (2) the quiet entrance through Townsand and Cades Cove.

Within two hour drive: Lookout Mountain with Rock City and Ruby Falls, Chickamauga battlefield, Tennessee Aquarium in chattanooga.

Dr. George K. Schweitzer, professor of Chemistry at the University of Tennessee. Dr. Schweitzer has done extensive research in the migration patterns of early immigrants to America. He has also authored several books on genealogical subjects. He is a very entertaining speaker. 

Longtime Cloud researcher and CFA member Geraldine Talley says, "His presentation is just great. He knows so much! He knows how to present it." 

Dr. Schweitzer is an Alumni Distinguished Professor at The University of Tennessee. He holds a PhD in Chemistry, the PhD in History and the ScD in Philosophy. He is the author of nineteen genealogical guidebooks. He has lectured to more than 200 genealogical and historical societies in the United States, Canada, England and Germany. He is best known for his use of historical re-enactment as a vehicle for teaching genealogy. I have heard him speak on the subjects "Was Your Ancestor a Wine-Drinking, A Beer-Drinking, or a Schnapps-Drinking German?", "Scots-Irish Genealogy" and "The Migration Patterns of Early Immigrants." Your local library may have a copy of his "Handbook of Genealogical Sources." He was the banquet speaker at last year's Genealogical Research Conference presented by the East Tennessee Historical Society.

Jan Cloud -- CFA Historian and professional genealogist  

We CFA members know Jan Cloud as that bright and charming lady who does a great job with the Cloud Family Journal and is super helpful in getting folks out of genealogical research quagmires.

Ever wonder how she can be so knowledgeable and effective? In short, she works at it!

Starting with a degree in history and geography, Jan has been a professional genealogist for 30 years. She is an alumna of the National Institute of Genealogical Research (National Archives in Washington, DC) as well as the University of Oklahoma.

Jan hosts a TV show, Ancestor Search, on KCTV in Santa Barbara, CA, and has been a featured speaker for genealogical society conferences in California, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. She had to miss the '99 CFA Gathering because of a two-week-long speaking engagement in New Zealand that was a "can't miss."

She teaches genealogy courses at Santa Barbara City College and has been president of a 500-member County Genealogical Society and vice president of a statewide organization. "Awards of Merit" are routine fare for her.

Get this: she has been elected president of chapters of both the Daughters of Union Veterans and the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

We are indeed fortunate that Jan's late husband, a renowned scientist, was a Cloud (Dr. Preston Cloud) and that Jan has continued her dedication to that heritage.

This is the location of the East Tennessee Historical  Center, the McClung Historical Collection.  This is the most complete collection of documents covering the early history of East Tennessee .  This is where those early Cloud pioneers came out of Virginia and North Carolina and moved down the Holston and Clinch Rivers and along the Wilderness Road .  

As is traditional, an advance party will spend several days identifying material relating to Cloud families and copying this for publication in the Cloud Family Journal and for use by members of the CFA. This work is guided by CFA Historian Jan Cloud. This activity is opened to everyone, either joining in the team effort or pursuing individual interests.

Members can view a more detailed listing of the types of records held within the McClung Collection by logging onto: HTTP://www.knoxlib.org/departments/ethc/index.htm 

The McClung room and other sections of the East TN Historical Museum have moved into their new building, and so everything should be “go” in July. A list of Cloud references and documents already copied from the Historical Collection will be available so your time will not be spent covering the same ground.

Budget motels within two miles of the Hilton are Fairfield Inn and Days Inn. I can't vouch for the quality of the rooms and service. Hampton Inn is also in this area with prices about like our discounted Hilton rates.

Food: The in house restaurant at the Hilton is called "Cooper's." They serve from 7:00 a.m. until 11:00 p.m. The breakfast menu runs from $2.25 Ala Carte to $6.99 breakfast buffet. Their lunch menu runs from $1.95 salad to $6.95 sandwich to $7.78 lunch buffet. The dinner menu runs from $4.95 for Caesar Salad to $10.95 Philly Cheese Steak sandwich to as high as $31.95 for prime rib of beef entree. 

The fast food eating places within two miles of the hotel include Wendy's, Pizza Hut, McDonald's, Burger King, Subway, Taco Bell, Krystal's, Captain D's, Shoneys (a little above fast food), Bellair Grill (steak house), Golden Palace Buffet (Chinese), and Applebee's (upscale restaurant).

Transportation: Attendees flying to Knoxville will be ready to check in. Members in the area will be driving to Knoxville and will be willing to provide rides to spots of mutual interest before the meeting starts. A bus has been reserved for the Sunday tour. Auto rentals at the airport and within one-half mile of the Hilton include Alamo, Avis, Budget, and National. Arrangements are being made to share rides from the Nashville, Chattanooga, and Atlanta airports for those finding these travel points to be more practical than Knoxville. 

If sign ups for the bus to Hawkins County on Sunday do not justify the bus we will shift to a caravan of smaller vehicles. 

A bus tour has been planned for Sunday morning and will include a box lunch picnic on the bank of Clouds Creek in Hawkins County.

Please plan to come early and/or stay late to see other places of interest or to do research.