Lauren Barnes Collier
Deaf since birth, Lauren Barnes-Collier was born in Texas in 1983. At an early age, she overcame what many would consider a handicap. Genealogy is a passion that she began in 2007 at the early age of 24. Highly analytical, her research skills are matched by no one. In tracing her roots via a paper-trail, she encountered her brick wall with 5th great grandfather Joseph Barnes (circa 1761- circa 1834) in Haywood County, NC. Through DNA testing, she has leap-frogged her brick wall and discovered that she is descended from Irishman Brinsley Barnes (1713-1794).
Married to Michael Collier, they have one nine-year-old son. Also in the household is Tigger the cat, “Blue” the Blue Healer and a two-year-old dwarf catfish named Rocky.
Lauren and her family are members of Paramount Deaf Baptist Church. Lauren has been a member since age 5. A stay at home mom, she attended Amarillo College, Amarillo, Texas from 2002-2006. She loves to read books in her spare time and camping in the mountains in the Summer.
Favorite Quote:
Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets. So love the people who treat you right, forget about the ones who don’t and believe that everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance, take it, if it changes your life let it. Nobody said it’d be easy; they just promised it’d be worth it.
Languages: Speaks American Sign Language and American English.
She began her genealogical pursuits with the death of her grandfather, Oliver Barnes. She discovered that her 5th great grandfather Joseph Barnes committed perjury in 1831. As punishment, he was shackled, and his ears were cut off.
She has Barnes family ties in both North Carolina and Tennessee. She maintains a family tree on Ancestry.com.