My grandmother on my mom's side - yes my lilly white mom who's maiden name is Cross (very English) - mom Maudene Rowe Cross is the one that carries American Indian. My grandmother's 4th grandmother Sarah Cooper was the daughter of Nancy Black Fox. Nancy's father was Chief Black Fox who married Daughter Attakullakulla - whose father was Chief Attakullakulla whose father and mom was White Owl Raven and Nancy Moytoy. (Are you still with me).........

Chief Attakullakulla

Apparently I come from a long line of influential Cherokee chiefs. I love you grandma - who'd have thought your milky skin would reveal Cherokee? Grandma always said her grandmother Allie Vallines was American Indian. As soon as I discovered her grandmother's roots I gave grandmother a call and relayed the information. My grandmother is 83.............she was very thrilled.

So let me tell you a little bit about White Owl Raven based on Emmett Starr's history of the Cherokee:

White Owl Raven 1680 - 1741

Husband of Anawaya Nancy Moytoy
White Owl Raven was an Algonguin Infant when captured, He was adopted by the Cherokee Tribe and was raised by Woman Nancy,and was of another clan,could have been Paint Clan, which allowed him to marry Nancy Moytoy of the Wolf Clan,as People of the same clan are forbidden to marry by Cherokee Law. Later he was adopted by a man called Trader Tom Watts.,who was the friend and business partner of Thomas Pasmere Carpenter, He married Nanye Hi Nancy Moytoy II, This story by Old Frontiers, by John Brown and by Emmett Starr's history of the Cherokee.

Nancy Moytoy of the Wolf Clan (born ca. 1683)

Daughter of Amatoy Moytoy 1683 - 1741

Nancy Moytoy of the Wolf Clan (born ca. 1683) was a member of the Cherokee/Shawnee Moytoy-Carpenter dynasty. She was the eldest daughter of the Cherokee chief Moytoy I of Chota and the mother of Attacullaculla. She was the wife of Moytoy III (Savannah Tom Carpenter), who was Attacullaculla's father, and later to his adopted brother Moytoy IV (Raven of Chota Carpenter). Her mother was Quatsy of Tellico, of the Wolf Clan.

Nancy Moytoy was the daughter of Chief Amatoya Moytoy I, she married White Owl Raven who was a captive Algonquin,and who was adopted into the clan, and raised by another Cherokee Woman named Nancy.

Children of Nancy Moytoy and White Owl Raven:

1. Chief Attakullakulla-born 1708 in Seivers Island,Tn and died May 1777,In Natchestown, NC which is now Tennessee.

2. Killaneca the Buck-born 1712,Tellico,TN- 1761, Cherokee, TN

3. Killaque Raven- born 1714-Tellico,TN- died 1757-TN

4. Tame Doe Raven, born 1716,Cherokee Nation,TN died 1760,Cherokee, TN

5. Betsy Owl Raven, born 1730,Cherokee Nation,TN died May 1777, Alabama

I believe my journey has ended with White Owl Raven since he was kidnapped and later adopted but I hope I have more to share to you on the Moytoy side.

DO YOU REALLY KNOW WHO YOU ARE??

Progress or Destruction of our History

I recently moved to Cary, NC (suburb of Raleigh/Durham) - this town is in a growth explosion like I've observed in my hometown of Dallas back in the 1980's and 1990's. Rarely do you come across old farms left standing in the middle of suburbia in Dallas - if any remain they belong to stubborn landowners that refuse to give up their way of life or the family land all in the name of progress.

Behind me is a shopping center......

So this is the case where I live now - it is JUST HAPPENING, and what this means is I see tons of old farms still standing in the middle of surburbia development or many of them sitting on heirloom farmland just wasting away. It's sad to me - we tear down every iota of history all in the name of progress. Don't get me wrong I love my home in my planned community, but isn't there enough room to preserve parts of our past? Why do we have to go in and tear down a 100-year old farm and a handmade dovetailed barn along with it's 100-year old trees just to build over it? I never understood that mentality in Dallas, and I don't understand it here in Raleigh.



On my way to work every day, I see at least 6 farms that have been here since the early 1800's. One or two are still lived in and lovingly cared for, and the other's were probably abandoned after being bought out, or the owners escaped the suburban sprawl or just sold out due to growth. It's a sad and disappearing remnant of our agricultural past...........a past that none of us would be here unless our forefathers cultivated this land.



An old barn in Morrisville, NC - about a mile from the Morrisville Station Civil War skirmish.

Call me a sentimental sap, but I see beauty in neatly manicured and loved farms.......I see history of the land, the house and a family. I see settlers pulling up to this land in wagons and making that piece of land and home their legacy. I think it's a tragedy for all that history is lost by a single bulldozer razing it over to build a 'master-planned community or parking lot'. A true shame...............tragic..................parking lots and cheaply built homes are the legacy we will leave our children.

Old home in downtown Morrisville - completely being overtaken by new road construction - thus the reason I could barely stop to take a quick picture. It must have been a grand home in its day.......this home was here during the Civil War skirmish.

A proud and loved farm still owned by the original family that settled it - it is surrounded by master planned communities and an incoming highway. I wonder how long they can survive?

So, today on my lunch, I went out and took some quick pictures of some of these old homesteads (mind you most have super roads around them or are surrounded by neighborhood divisions.) I'm sure there time here is limited...........I wanted to capture their beauty and capture their history as much as I could. Getting these photo's was no easy task dodging traffic.........and I took these on my Blackberry with full intentions of getting my good camera and re-taking them on a weekend when traffic is less hectic.

A Tribute to the American Farm..........a dying legacy of our past!

John F. Kennedy in my Hometown

I've often viewed this photo at the old diner off Main Street in Grand Prairie, Texas.........and have loved it. This is a photograph of John F. Kennedy shaking hands with Grand Prairie residents on Main Street.  Unfortunately, this photo was taken before he was gunned down in Dallas.

It's a black stain for Dallas and always has been but it is kind of cool this happened in my hometown and that it was a part of history.

JFK in Grand Prairie, Texas and it's publication in LIFE magazine on July 25, 1960