My grandmother, Eva Ruth Minter (15 March 1898 - 13 March 1984)

Ruth Minter, 1906, Jakin, Ga., School

Ruth Minter, 1908, Jakin School

Ruth Minter, 1909, Jakin School

Ruth Minter, 1910-1920

Ruth Minter, 1920s

Eva Ruth Minter, mid-1920s

Ruth Minter Brooks with sons, Roy (l), and James (r), late 1930s

Ruth Minter Brooks, prior to 1950

Ruth Minter Brooks with son, James Warren Brooks, 1954, Elmodel, Ga.

Ruth and Roy Brooks, Elmodel, Georgia, 1969.

Roy, Ruth, Judy, and James Brooks, Lum, Michigan, 1971

My grandmother Ruth's, officially called "Eva Ruth Minter," life in photos.

From John Minter (Ireland) to me...

John Milton Minter and Cynthia McLean

front row: Berrien C. Minter (holding grandson John B. Minter), Cynthia McLean Minter

back row: Charyln Minter (mother of J. B. Minter), Vesta Adel O'Neal Minter

l-r: Eva Ruth Minter Brooks, Hattie Maud Minter, Kitty Minter Davis, Vesta Adel Minter, daughters of Berrien C. Minter and Leila Adel O'Neal.

My Minter ancestry begins and ends with John Minter (b. abt 1799 - d.aft 1826) He may have had a middle name that began with an M. Perhaps it was "Milton" as was his son's middle name, John Milton Minter (1825-1897)

Family lore has John Minter coming to Georgia in the 1820. An aunt of my father, (Vesta Adel Minter (1886-1984) told my father that John Minter came to Georgia from Ireland via way of Virginia. From the recollections of Aunt Vesta's cousin, Dot Harvey (also a descendant of John Minter, immigrant) described in Jo Webb's (also a cousin of my Aunt Vesta through the Porters I think) book, "Linkage" on page 211, "John Minter, a skilled millwright, came direct from Dublin, Ireland, through Virginia and Baldwin County, Georgia, to become one of the early settlers of Early County, Georgia. He is said to have been about ninteen or twenty years old at the time.

"He married about 1820 Elizabeth Porter, daughter of Frederick Porter, also one of the first settlers of that county. Their son, Constantine Alonza Minter, was said to have been the first white child born in Early County.

"The John Minters lived for short periods of time on rivers of Southeast Alabama, northwest Florida, and southwest Georgia, where millwright Minter would build mills. Later they settled on the Sewanee River in Florida. The family was sickly there - no doubt due to malaria from mosquitoes. Finally the mother was persuaded by her relatives to return to Porter's Ferry (Early County Ga.) to live. This she did to save the life of one of her two small children. At this time she and her husband were given by her father, Frederick Porter, the first mill which he, John Minter, has built in America.

"Their children were: Patience Louise Minter, Constantine Alonza Minter, John Milton Minter, and Elizabeth B. Minter. The youngest daughter, Elizabeth, died before she was grown.

"John Minter did not live many years. While working on a mill he became overheated. He accidentally dropped a tool into the cold water. As was his custom, he dived immediately for it. The exposure of two extremes of body temperatures cause pnewumonia and his death."

Elizabeth Porterr Minter never married again.

My descent from John Minter

John Minter (1799-1826), married Elizabeth "Betsy" Porter (1801-1866)
John Milton Minter (1825-1897), m. Cynthia McLean (1831-1930)
Berrien Constantine Minter (1862-1943), married Leila Adel O'Neal (1870-1949)
Eva Ruth Minter (1898-1985), m. Roy Brooks (1893-1971)
James Warren Brooks (1931-2010), m. Judith Leola Hackett (b. 1933)
Sarah Ruth Brooks (b. 1961)

Who's who in my family tree...

I have separated all the surnames in my family ancestry into four surname groupings after my four grandparents' surnames. (The list is incomplete to date as I can't recall all the surnames that fall under the Hackett list without a book in front of me.)

Hackett Brooks Family Surname Arrangement

Hackett, Lyle Elton (1908-1973)

Warner

Reed

Pomeroy

Sabin

Burke

Camfield/Canfield

Fuller

Browne

Cooke

Howland

Tilley

Hurst

Sampson

Tomson

Billington

Nutting

Eggleston

Many, many more surnames…

Tellis, Dorothea (1910-1996)

Willis

Winland

Masters

Atherton

Marsh

McPeek

Heywood

Brunson

McNeall

Boyer

Frey

Heald

Brooks, Roy (1893-1971)

Coleman

Cooper

Garrett

Pickett

Tucker

Minter, Eva Ruth (1898-1985)

Durham

Exum

Haire/Hare/Hair

Harris

Harrison

Kelly

McLean

Minter

Neel

Odum

O'Neal

Parker

Pierce

Porter

Riley

Williams

The aim of this genealogical blog for the next many posts will focus on the Southern portion of my family history beginning with the Minters.

So many dead, so little time...

I had two parent, who each had two parents, who each had two parents, who each had two parents, and now I'm at thirty (30) names of people who have lived and mostly died and I'm exhausted just recalling all the names. The thing about Genealogy is that it never ends, but the aim of this blog on dead people is to recall those from who I descend so I better get writing...hopefully I won't be so lax on this blog in the future.

Living in a glass house: slavery...

I recently finished a new biography on George Washington by Ron Chernow that is probably one of the best biographies I've ever finished. Washington, of course, was a large slave-holder and struggle with the issue of abolition of slavery all his life and found the answer only when he died. In his will he desired that all the slaves he owned were to be freed when he died (14 December 1799), and no later than the death of his Wife, Martha Dandridge Custis Washington (22 May 1802). Washington left the task to his wife!

Over and over in this biography I couldn't get over how Washington could do all the other heroic things for which he's known for, "Father of His County," etc., but the issue of his inability of his slaves kept returning to me as the black bar sinister against his character. He knew slavery was wrong, he despised slavery, but he wouldn't free his slaves...he couldn't imagine running Mount Vernon and his other real estate without human slavery!

I personally believe that the greatest mistake the United States ever committed was allowing slavery to exist here with all the noble words we live by in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Do I also find slavery repugnant because I am descended from the Puritans of Massachusetts who had to farm hardscrabble property themselves without slaves? It was acceptable to own slaves in Massachusetts at the time of George Washington's life, but I have never discovered any of my Northern ancestors to own slaves on this continent (I realize I could someday find this in error). Owning the life of another human being is completely wrong!

So as I belittle George Washington for owning slaves, I conveniently forget that some of my Southern family Owned slaves! My ggg grandfather, Atticus Tucker (1809-1853) owned at least 46 slaves and at his death in 1853 they were all listed in his estate papers next to the kitchen table, the fine carriage, and the mules. My descent from Atticus Tucker is as follows:

Atticus Tucker (1809-1853)

m. Nancy (before 1842)

Hamilton Butler Tucker (1842-1904)

m. Louisa Garnet (by 1860)

Hulda Ida Tucker (1860-1899)

m. James Warren Brooks (after 1880)

Roy "Peck" Brooks (1893-1971)

m. Eva Ruth Brooks (1927)

James Warren Brooks (1931-2010)

m. Judith Leola Hackett (1955)

Sarah Ruth Brooks (1961)

Painful as it is to know, my ancestors also owned slaves and they made no attempt to free their slaves at their demise. My ancestors grew rich based on the enforced servitude of other persons. Below is the estate record of Atticus Tucker and a listing all of the slaves he owned:

Estate of Atticus Tucker, deceased, 12 December 1853, Personal Property
Value	Name	Purchased by
$170.00	Aimy
$605.00	Bill Stone
$295.00	Lucinda
$705.00	Umphry
$900.00	Andrew
$1,430.00	Sarah & 2 children, Jane & Manda
$800.00	Solomon	A. Wilson
$1,500.00	Lucy & 2 children, Fanny & Laury
$850.00	Dick
$980.00	Sampson	Furman
$850.00	Thomas Glover	W. B. Doon
$910.00	Black Joe	A. Wilson
$950.00	Yellow Joseph
$1,000.00	Edmund	A. Wilson
$1,000.00	Thomas	A. Blande
$1,000.00	Edmund Wilson	A. Blande
$1,000.00	Big John	W. B. Doon
$1,000.00	Henry
$700.00	George	W. B. Doon
$850.00	Wesley Wideman	Talbert
$850.00	Bill Wideman	Talbert
$900.00	Bill Lucius	Tompkins
$750.00	Bill Chamberlain
$750.00	Sharp	W. B. Doon
$850.00	Brit	A.Wilson
$1,000.00	Jack	W. B. Doon
$1,000.00	Greer
$1,000.00	Sol
$800.00	Dian	W. B. Doon
$850.00	Sam	W. C. Robertson
$795.00	Jim
$800.00	Lewis	W. B. Doon
$900.00	Randol	Mallett
$850.00	Baily	A. Blande
$700.00	Jim Boy
$600.00	David	Jas. Newby
$610.00	Little Wesley
$700.00	Elmyra
$700.00	Nancy	W. B. Doon
$700.00	Nancy Howle
$1,000.00	Nelson	W. Thoms
$900.00	Jimmy	A. Wilson