“There is no king who has not had a slave among his ancestors, and no slave who has not had a king among his”
On a visit to Texas in March 2016 I experienced a great outing with my older sister Janet and her husband Charles. We took a genealogical "field trip" of sorts. I was always fond of field trips. We drove from Houston up to San Augustine to visit several grave sites and to visit the location of my maternal grandmother's home. The house, originally a log cabin in the Texas "dog trot" or dog-run style, was updated over the years but still had no running water, and only basic, rudimentary electrical (I'm talking about a single, naked bulb hanging from the ceiling in each room). It has since been moved by relatives, but my childhood memories of the home and site are very vivid. I spent many lazy summer days in the piney woods of East Texas "camping out" in that old cabin. Just east of the house off to the left and not visible in this photo was a pecan tree. As a kid, I would have sworn that it was the largest tree that ever existed on the earth. It was a whole other world for a West Texas kid. (click on video symbol in photo above to see some of the highlights of our trip)
Leona Northcutt flanked by her brother Thomas Jefferson and younger sister Hallie. Leona was Andra's great-grandmother. She was born in 1879 and this photo was taken about 1900. The Northcutt's lived in Erath County west of Dublin, Texas.
Learn more about Leona's story
My grandparents, Bascom and Rachel. Granddad fought in the trenches in France during WW1 where he attained the rank of sergeant of a machine gun battery. Grandmother lost her dad to tuberculosis at the age of ten and the family was held together by her mother, who never remarried. They lived near San Augustine, Tx, and where married there, but migrated to West Texas as a young couple in search of land to farm. Note: "Ely" vs "Eli" debate continues to this day.
Charles Chamberlin and Mickey O'Neal in the mid-1940s. To me they were just mom and dad.
Leroy Vining "Button" Keith was not quite 16 years old when he was killed by Indians in the Ellison Springs Indian Fight in 1864 in Eastland County, Texas. Button was a member of the "Keith Clan" of Erath County and he was Andra's third-great-uncle.
Andra's cousin Willie. Believe it or not they share a common grandfather and grandmother (great x5 or 6). That makes them first cousins (actually first cousins five or six times removed - you do the math).
But that's not all. There are other famous people in this same line of ancestors. Learn how Willie and Andra are connected.