I, too, grew up a white woman who discovered her African-American ancestry as an adult. I grew up in the south of a southern father and northern mother. It is my mother's side of the family who descended from the Lyons family of Pennsylvania. Since I grew up in the south, I really didn't know much about Mom's family. As far as I knew they were white. However, in digging for more information I found my grandfather "passed" around 1918 when he married my white grandmother. He died before my mother was even married so I never knew much about him except he was a barber, a musician and a wonderful father. I've only seen two photos of him taken in 1939 and both are not very clear but he was certainly not very dark.

My research has taken me back to 1780 and I find many mixed marriages from then to now. I've met some of my white relatives from other branches of our family and one black family, all descended from a common ancester, Benjamin Lyons.

While searching for information has, at times, been difficult, it is not impossible.

If anyone is researching any of these names originating in Pennsylvania, I'd love to hear from you:
Lyons/Heck/Forsythe/Baptist/Criswell or Cresswell

Rose Mary