BOOKS
CATS
LIFE IS GOOD

This page will link you to my other pages, which are about some of the best things in life: family, books, and cats.

THE FAMILY

"I keep trying to get out, but they just keep pulling me back in."
~ Michael Corleone

The Upline

I developed Only You Publications, a specialized service for collecting individual and family oral histories, for two reasons. First, I regretted not having recorded the life story of my grandmother, Ina Siers Douglas, when she was still with us. Second, some years ago I taught an informal class on publishing for novices, and was struck by how many of the students wanted to publish their family histories.

I already had considerable experience in publishing, as a writer, editor, and interviewer since 1981, and combining all the services necessary to publish a family history seemed to fill a gap and provide a package of services not otherwise readily available through other self-publishing companies. For more information about these services, go to Only You Publications.

I have done a little genealogical research on the web that I would not have had time to do in the traditional ways - traveling, looking into original documents, and so on - and was amazed and excited at how much information I was able to find, starting with what little I knew. I love to read mysteries, and piecing together a family tree is like trying to figure out a mystery: the clues are there, but which are red herrings?

I was particularly startled to find my great-great-grandfather, Squire William Bailey, staring out at me from the computer screen, looking like the Shroud of Turin. I had never seen his picture before. Someone who'd worked on the Rootsweb Calhoun County, West Virginia, genealogy site kindly e-mailed me the photo from a history of Calhoun County, where Squire Bailey, though he had lost an arm in the Civil War, was variously deputy sheriff, constable, and justice of the peace in the nineteenth century, thus the honorary title "Squire". Even his wife always called him "Squire". Coincidentally, or perhaps not, the name Bailey means "bailiff" from an old Scottish or English word, or both.

Click on thumbnails below to see larger pictures.



Lucinda Godbey Bailey and Squire William W. Bailey

The photo in the book shows him with his wife, Lucinda Godbey. I originally starting looking into our genealogy hoping to find out more about this Lucinda. Her mother, Nancy Elkins, was a Cherokee from the Carolinas, if my mother's information is correct. So far, I haven't traced that connection.

My late uncle Harry Douglas told me this story about Lucinda: One day during the Civil War, Lucinda was boiling water in a big iron kettle, to scald a butchered hog. The "Federals" - Union soldiers - rode up to the farm and proceeded to steal food (coincidentally, Squire Bailey was a forage master in the Confederate Army). Lucinda pushed one of the soldiers into the kettle. I don't know how much of that story to believe, but she looks like she could have done it.

For a remarkable story about another miraculous Internet discovery, go to Forgotten Photos Find Their Way Home.

The Downline

Here are a few descendants of Lucinda and the Squire. There's a picture of my grandfather Albert Douglas, who was their grandson through Martha Jane Bailey and Jake Douglas, but I don't have their pictures; maybe someday I can fill in that photo link.

My parents - Ruth Douglas Keith (holding me) and Gordon Gail Keith. In the background from left to right are (I think) two of my aunts, my grandmother Ina [Inez?] Siers Douglas, another aunt, unknown man (maybe Uncle Harry Douglas), and my grandfather Albert Douglas, grandson of Lucinda and William W. Bailey.



This is my dad, Gordon Gail Keith, in his 1939 Calhoun County High School graduation photo. All the photos from the 1939 Calhoun County High School yearbook (http://www.geocities.com/cchs1939) are on the Web.



Dad was a tackle at Calhoun County High School; his nickname was Flash Gordon.



My late stepfather, George Leo Boggs, examining the frame of a picture he painted. I like this because it shows him as we best remember him. He never really pursued painting seriously, though; instead of going to college or art school, he went to the South Pacific in the Army in WWII.



Here are Jude, my older son, and Kate, his fiancee, in the fabulous '63 Ford Fairlane. Take a look at Jude's rockabilly site.

My younger son, Foy, is at the right, with my brother Sam, his wife Carol, and their son Michael.

Brother Sam with landmark mustache.

Here I am squinting in the sun in the park, just like in the 1947 photo above. I see a little resemblance to Lucinda Godbey.

My parents came of age with The Greatest Generation. Tom Brokaw's book about the World War II generation is a good one.

My father was a sailmaker on the aircraft carrier Intrepid in World War II. That meant he did sewing (in fact he taught me to use a sewing machine); he probably helped construct the canvas wind deflector that was made to help the ship go back to port for repairs. Tony Zollo, founder and president of Men of the Intrepid of World War II, was also a crew member, and has collected the written, photographic, and film history of the carrier for half a century. Find out about his new book, Day by Day, at www.geocities.com/cv11intrepid. The Intrepid is a museum now, docked in New York City.

If you like The Greatest Generation, you'll like Studs Terkel's books. I've listed one of them, Working, on my Labor Day page. However, there are a number of others interviewing people on the Depression, WWII, etc.

CATS: WHAT A GOOD IDEA!

Someone once said that if there was no God, people would have had to invent one. If there were no cats, would we have been clever enough to invent them?

My own very modest invention is the Angel Paws Catnip Vest, for hours of goofy fun with cats. Check it out at the Angel Paws Catnip Vest page, of course. My unique cat (and small dog) carrier design is in the works.

For beautiful pictures of Florida panthers and links to other Florida panther and conservation sites, go to my conservation page.

BOOKS, MINE AND OTHERS'

Obviously I love to read books. I also write, and have one completed manuscript and most of two others written. Two are the beginnings of a mystery series set in Akron, Ohio, where I was born. If you lived in Akron your thoughts might turn to dark contemplation of crime from time to time. My heroine is Roxy Barbarino, who also appears tangentially in the third story, which is also set in Ohio, but south of Akron, from the Amish/Mennonite area around Hartville on down to southern Ohio. It's a fantasy/suspense story about very old Sears catalogues: wouldn't you love to be able to order from them now?

To read excerpts, go to these links:
A Death a Day
The Wish Book

My mystery page lists some of my favorite writers with selected books. I started out a student of English literature, primarily twentieth-century American fiction, and somehow turned into a mystery fan. I like plot, resolution, some semblance of purpose and justice, and the sense of good and evil confronted. Maybe I should have studied nineteenth-century lit.

MY LABOR DAY PAGE

SOMETHING NEW!

SILK SLIP is a new way to soften your skin in your bath or shower. Check it out!

If you have questions about Only You Publications (and my credentials and references), or about the writing, please e-mail me at:

rondaria@yahoo.com

Copyright 2009 Rhonda Keith

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