Family Gems: A Pictorial Treasury of Western North Carolina Ancestors
- ISBN-10
- 0692073221
- ISBN-13
- 9780692073223
- Pages
- 420
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2009-08-08
- Author
- Regina Lynch-Hudson
Description
Family Gems: A Pictorial Treasury of Western North Carolina Ancestors features beautifully designed ancestral trees, museum-quality montages, genealogical DNA charts and over 200 restored vintage photographs encased in bejeweled ruby frames.The historical pictorial coffee table book gives long overdue homage to five family lineages in Western North Carolina--the Lynchs, Burnettes,Freemans, Paynes and Stepps,families that reigned in the early settlements of Black Mountain, Lake Lure, Rutherfordton, Edneyville, Hendersonville, Shiloh and Cherokee, North Carolina. The book is filled with distinctive stories and biographical sketches, many depicting tri-racial ancestors that were born in the early to mid-eighteen hundreds. Due to the inaccuracy of the period¿s census records in documentation of race, often ancestors who were tri-racial (White, Cherokee Indian and African American) were listed as ¿colored¿ or ¿mulatto.¿The well-crafted heirloom comprises a fascinating glimpse at hard-working multi-cultural mountain kinfolks--including midwives, furniture craftsmen, blacksmiths, farmers, moonshiners, coal miners, and herbalists. Reflecting over a decade of work, the 420-page hardbound volume is a well-crafted tribute to the families depicted, and some of their most memorable family gems. The sacred volume celebrates the lives of dozens of Western North Carolina family icons, such as George Washington Richard Henry Lee Payne (1838-1927),one of the original blacksmiths at Biltmore Estate in the late 1800s. His original handwritten letters from the 1890s are depicted. You will find strength, humility and inspiration in Black Mountain legend John Myra Stepp (1850 ¿1955), a former slave who rose to become a major property owner and ¿the first black man of means in the valley.¿We¿re introduced to prolific midwife and herbalist Mary Stepp Burnette Hayden (1858-1956).Had Mary been born in 1958 instead of 1858, her legacy could have very well been that of a physician, pharmacist or president of her own holistic nutrition company. The heartwarming portrayals show a hardworking, proud and resourceful band of families who through times good and bad, shaped by their circumstances, managed to carve out modest livelihoods in a fascinating multicultural mountain region. Historical sites and landmarks of relevance to families depicted are also featured.
