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Digging in the Dirt….
Two of the books that I've been working on are set in small town, Texas and coincidentally (not completely coincidentally), I've also been drawing up my family tree. When I started the books, I wanted to give the older characters a genuine Texas sort of name, so I scanned newspapers and history books, looking for names that popped out at me. However, I didn't have to go that far. My family tree is full of names: Lemmie Archer, Cora Bell Archer, Mattie T Archer, Philo Clingman Copeland (my favorite), Leander Copeland , Hipoleta Cortines, Lorinda Orrill, Jeptha McCoy, a whole pack of Victors, Homers, and Ernest's (including Ernestine).
My family roots are all over the map (literally). The O'Reilly's came from Ireland via Tennessee, then down to Texas. My great-grandfather married Marie Anotinette Cortines, whose father was born in Louisiana, and whose mother was born in France. My grand-mother was a McCoy from Tennessee. She always said they were part of the Hatfield-McCoy's McCoy's, but it looks like that was West Virginia and Kentucky, although if anybody knows about the McCoys of Tennessee, I'd love to hear what they know.
My mother's side of the family is pure Alabama cotton. Apparently her uncle got some girl pregnant, and so they ran from Alabama to Texas to avoid the shame (and possibly matrimony, I'm not sure) My great-grandfather was a total Casanova, and I have some old letters that he wrote because apparently my great-great-grandmother kicked him out of the house, because he was a scoundrel. Here's some of the letter:
"I wrote to your Mother and asked her to let me know you are well and she would not do so, and I hope that someday that you will turn around and find out the harm that you have done to me, but I am all to blame, and you have done nothing. But with all your faults, I love you still. So now Antoinette, please grand me this little favor. Yours until Death."
It's very haunting to read the old letters. We have a lot of memorabilia because my great-grandfather was a photographer and so there are old glass plate pictures with very somber people and little boys babies dressed in elaborate christening gowns.
The O'Reilly Family Tree
Our family tree has always had long roots that get knotted in the dirt, but it's fun to look back at what happened a long time ago and know that somehow, somewhere, that's buried in your DNA. I figure that I got my tale-telling ability from my great-grandfather Charles. Or maybe it was those McCoys. Don't know.
What about you? Anybody else doing any genealogy research? Did you find anything scandalous, or any old surprises?
