History is a branch of knowledge that records and explains past events and times. Out of history comes the most amazing stories of honor, treachery, love, war, passions and interesting people. The stories can tell us as a people, from where we came and how we got to the place we are today.  

In the fourth grade at Willard School in Norfolk, Virginia history caught my attention when I learned the story of John Smith, Pocahontas and the Jamestown settlement. A year later, my father helped me with a history paper on the life of Thomas Jefferson. After that, I was really hooked on history.

The passion was fueled as the years passed. As I grew older I learned that history had educated and enabled me to appreciate the present better because I now knew why so much is the way it is today. 

I fell in love with the stories of Kinston and its people. I often spend many hours researching the bygone times of our town’s historic past. I shall be relating some of those stories in this column. I hope you will find them interesting, engaging, informative and makes you want to come back for more. 

Publisher's note: Be sure to visit Jane's column tomorrow as she discusses "The Missing Link in the Lincoln Conspiracy."