My family and I live in Orange Co, VA, on the farm on which I was raised. The Gower family includes my husband Matt, step-daughter Sarah Elizabeth(11), daughter Melanie(6) and son James(3). Growing up, I was very interested in finding out about our family history. Interest in genealogy partly inspired my pursuit of a BS and MS in Plant Breeding and Genetics at Virginia Tech. For 6 years I worked in a career in Crop Improvement through Soybean Breeding in North Carolina, which is where I met my husband. In 2017, we moved back to VA to be close to my family after my dad suffered a debilitating stroke. Now I am a homemaker, homeschool my children and enjoy hobbies including sewing, crafting, baking and genealogy.
My dad’s was the first generation of my Burleson branch to permanently settle away from the “Big Ivy” area. Through Linda Burleson and Y-DNA testing of my dad, I have learned that we descend from Edward Burlison (born ~1780s) of Big Ivy, NC who, interestingly, was biologically a Sisco and therefore only a Burleson in name.
