Written by: Oscar McArthur Bizzell- from his book the Bizzell Family

Why This book was written:

Sunday afternoons in eastern North Carolina were traditionally a time to go for a visit with relatives, friends and neighbors. During summer, large crowds would gather on breeze-swept front porches to discuss crops, politics, weather, recent illnesses and sundry such topics. Oftentimes, the conversation would turn to genealogy and a recollection of bygone people, places and times. here is where the older ones could command center stage with unquestioned authority because their memory was the longest. 

The Bizzell name was rather rare in eastern NC, and even more so in other parts of the USA. Indeed, most of my classmates in school had good English names such as Britt, Tart, Warren and the like. 

As my father grew older, he became increasingly interested in the history of the Bizzell Family. Once, he heard about some Bizzells in Orangeburg, SC who were unknown to him; so he drove more than 100 miles to make their acquantance. However, his knowledge of the family was lost when he died in 1963 because he had written down very little of what he learned. 

When I went to work for the Atomic Energy Commission in 1948, my job required me to travel to all parts of the USA. In recounting tales of where I had been, Dad asked me to search the telephone directories to see where other Bizzells had migrated. Next, he wanted me to ring them on the telephone and see if they could trace their linage back to NC. After considerable prodding, I finally started making a few such calls. This led to some very interesting conversations, plus the discovery that most people didn't know their linage beyond their grandfather. Several suggested that I ought to write a book on what I was learning about the family.

Most people knew the Bizzell name was supposed to be of French origin. Several had heard that three brothers came to America, went to different parts of the country and they supposed all descended from one of the three. With nothing better to go on, I began to believe there might be some truth to this legend.

My faith in the legend was shaken, however, by a passage found in James Fenimore Cooper's book, THE PIONEERS, written ca 1850. In chapter XVIII, he stated: "Most of the American genealogists commence their traditions like the stories for children, with three brothers, taking especial care that one of the triumvirate shall be the progenitor of any of the same name who may happen to be better fournished with worldly gear than themselves".

My work with the peaceful applications of atomic energy aroused interest in tracing the Bizzell genealogy in quite another way. Every day, I came across new ways in which the atom could be used as an important tracer, all the way from medical purposes to space exploration. Like the radioactive atom, a family name is a sort of tag that can be used to follow people through complicated migrations and linages. Most people are proud of their name and it usually survives intact, or with only minor alterations.

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A very interesting chain of events began in Kern Methodist Church, Oak Ridge, Tennessee on 20 Dec 1954. A leak had developed in the pipes under six inches of concrete flooring and this threatened to close the church during the fully programmed Christmas season. Quickly finding and stopping the leak seemed hopless until I hit upon the idea of letti8ng the atom help locat the hole in the buried pipe.

December 1954 was still the "early days" of atomic energy and many church members were apprehensive about the safety of the experiment. It was to be the first atomic solution to a church prolem. The "ox was in the ditch," however, and I finally won approval to go ahead with my attempt at atomic plumbing.

A ten-gallon bucket of water, a garden hose and two millicuries of radioactive iodine were hastily assembled. the experiment was successful and the church reopened in about three hours. I was the first one to drink water from the repaired pipes--thereby dispelling any doubts about a possible lingering radiation hazard.

Tracing water to the hole in the buried pipe, however, was nothing compared to the chain of "tracing" events that were set in motion.