"Tracing Our Roots" Newsletter Archive (A monthly genealogy newsletter written by the late Brenda Kellow, dec'd, for the Plano Star Courier newspaper. We've included all the ones we could recover.)
When this icon publishes everyone in the genealogical community wants a copy, whether or not it is an informative article on generational history published in a national journal, a reference book on citations, or a tome for family historians wanting to become better genealogists. This wonder is equally astute as an editor and lecturer.
This time, she published an epic novel, her first, combining historical accuracy and her love of the Creoles and people of color with whom she fell in love 34 years ago while searching her children s ancestors around Cane River in Louisiana. This area is located between Natchitoches and Alexandria on the west side of the Red River. The affection spread to her husband and daughter as evidenced by the Mills well-known publications on the people of Cane River.
Elizabeth Shown Mills was attracted to this region because of the intrigue for these people of many hues who shared the same surnames, the same area, but who observed the three racial barriers during this period whites, blacks and those considered to be neither. The proud residents of the area carry the surnames of Cloutiers, Derbannes, Dupr s, La Cours, La Courts, Lecomtes, Prudhommes, and Rachals, for whom her daughter was named.
Elizabeth says her hobby became a profession in 1972 when she became aware The Association for the Preservation of Historic Natchitoches had been given the plantation Melrose on the Cane that legend identified as being built in colonial times. It was supposedly once owned by a freed slave by the name of Coincoin, the name locals gave to their second born daughter.
Elizabeth began tracing the plantation s history with the intention of placing it on the National Register of Historic Places. The legends associated with the plantation and the records searched in six nations presented a challenge Mills would overcome in achieving her goal. She paints a picture of her success with descriptive language as evidenced by the following: As often was the case, the legend strayed here and there from the facts of history like partners in a waltz who touch and twirl together then swing away to tease and flirt with others before coming back into each other s arms. When the plantation burned, she describes it like this: "Tonight only the flames danced, reddening the evening sky with frenzied sweeps and bows in mockery of the fais-do-dos of those who had lived inside those walls, and the hoedowns of those who had lived and labored on its lands."
Mills quest led to her affection for the subjects uncovered in her historical and genealogical mission. The focus of Isle of Canes is on Coincoin, now a slave, even though her grandfather was a king in another time and place. Coincoin pledges to seek freedom from slavery for herself and her family.
Mills expertly weaves a tale of culture, racial issues, romance, and sexual servitude in the antebellum South. Coincoin was born into slavery but received her manumission papers when Frenchman Claude Thomas Pierre Metoyer, her owner and lover, purchased her freedom and declared her children would be freed when they reached the age of 21, or when they married.
Elizabeth Mills developed the story over several generations, before and after Coincoin s birth and freedom, the birth of her children fathered by the Native American named Chatta who abandoned her for freedom elsewhere, and then Metoyer. Coincoin's thirst for freedom and success beside her beloved Frenchman brought riches beyond her imagination. Coincoin and Metoyer went on to purchase much of the Cane River Valley. Although their life, and certainly that of Coincoin, became one of the American dream, it did not last for their descendants who experienced the indignities brought on by the Civil War.
Read the spellbinding story of racial strife and a family s struggle involving free whites, slaves and freedmen in antebellum Louisiana. You won t put it down until you finish it.
Elizabeth Shown Mills novel Isle of Canes sells for $24.95. Purchase this novel containing history, pedigrees, and pictures from MyFamily.com, 360 West 4800 North, Provo, UT 84604 or online at http://www.isleofcanes.com/ from Ancestry.com. Add $5.99 for shipping and handling.
GENEALOGY I CLASSES begin August 26 at CCCC. For online information see http://www.geocities.com/genfriendsghl/cc_genealogy_classes/cccc_genealogy_courses.htm.
The basic course will acquaint students with the methodology for conducting successful family history research, including preliminary information gathering, organizing your research, introduction to original and published records through such research tools such as the library, Family History Center and the Internet, and evaluating and documenting research findings, Student goals are assimilated into the curriculum together with assigned homework to acquaint researchers with research methods. Two field trips included. Course is designed for the beginner; those returning to genealogy; and for the researcher seeking professional credentials. Click here for more information.
Thursday evenings and one Monday evening, 6:30 pm to 9:00 pm
8 sessions - Aug 26, Sep 2, Sep 16, Sep 23, Sep 30, Oct 4, Oct 7, and Oct 14
Preston Ridge Campus, Frisco, Texas
Brenda Kellow, dec'd, Certified Genealogist and Certified Genealogical Instructor, had a Bachelor s Degree in history and taught genealogy courses at the local Community College and computer genealogy at the University.
