"Your best day shall be your worst day, and your worst day shall be your best day."

I am in the midst of doing a well-deserved cleaning and reorganizing of over 30 years of genealogical files. In the process, I have come across several interesting stories sent to me by people over the past thirty years. Many of those people I have lost contact with. I will be posting some of these tidbits over the next few weeks. 

This week, and for at least the next two, I’ll be putting some scattered information about the McQueens of Scotland.

I have never been one to put much stock in "fairy stories" or fortune-telling. While interesting, and perhaps a bit titillating, I find they almost never come true.  However, the following story about the McQueens might cause me to change my mind. 

According to Clan Chattan history, John McQueen, possibly the father of our Dugal McQueen,[i] was known as a great hunter. He was also a man who could foretell the future, even speaking with witches, trolls and fairies. He supposedly had in his possession some “magic candles” that he would use when going to caves to speak with the fairy folk.  The stories about the “McQueen candles” were told to children in the Findhorn River Valley well into the 19th century.  I will speak more of these “candles” in a later post and how they were lost. By the time the following story was told, the McQueen family had been in the Corryborough region of Scotland for nearly 300 years and lived at the family seat at Pollochraig.[ii]

One day, while John McQueen was out hunting, he shot a deer right through the heart. However, when he went in search of the deer, he couldn’t find it. He looked everywhere, but as darkness was coming, he gave up the search and went home. That night around the peat fire, he told his family he was sure he shot it and he couldn’t understand why he couldn’t find it.

The next morning, he went out again to search. He came across a witch that he knew and asked her if she had seen the deer or not.

    "John McQueen, you shot no deer, you shot ME in the leg.” She answered. “And if you take the lead out of my leg, I will tell you a prophecy.”

    John did what he was asked.

    The witch then said, "John McQueen, your best day shall be your worst day, and your worst day shall be your best day.”

    John said: “I’m not sure what you mean by that, but if I hadn’t shot you in the leg, would the prophecy have been different?”[iii]

    “Aye, it would have been,” she replied.

Prophecies are tricky things. They are often clouded and couched with terms that could be taken in a variety of ways, even after the events seem to have happened. For most families, "worst" and "best" are interchangeable terms that could be applied to many situations. That's why I usually discount such tales. For the McQueens, however, this particularly prophecy seems to have come true in a number of different ways. 

From the day John McQueen shot the witch, the fortunes of the McQueens of Pollocraig declined. John’s son, Dugal, married the sister to the Chief of Clan Chattan, Elizabeth Mackintosh. She had a daughter named Ann, but not long afterward, Dugal was captured at the Battle of Preston and sent to America, never to be seen again.[iv]

Castle at Inverness, Scotland

Ann McQueen, Dugal’s daughter, never came to America to see her father, but inherited the entire Clan Chattan estates from her uncle as the sole heir. She was forced, however, as per Scottish custom, to cede the land to the next Chief of Clan Chattan. She later married Robert Mackintosh and held lands in other places. She had at least two sons.[v]

For the McQueens, as for the Highland clans, one of the best and worst days was the loss of the Jacobite cause at the Battle of Preston. Dugal was not killed, but he was banished to the colonies. To many Highlanders, banishment was a worse punishment than death, for they were passionately attached to the Highlands. Not to mention the fact that death was more honorable.

But banishment for the McQueens meant life as well. While the circumstances of Dugal's "worst and best day" was likely never realized by him, it enabled him to found a dynasty of descendants in the colonies, likely something he would never have been able to do in Pollochraig. 

"Your best day shall be your worst day, and your worst day shall be your best day."

Perhaps that old witch knew exactly what she was talking about. 

Hmmm . . . . .

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[i] Buried deep in the midst of my files were some emails from a man named John McQueen whom I corresponded with in the summer of 2002. He was a descendant of Dugal McQueen. He lived overseas, I believe in Germany, and had been to Scotland in the area the McQueens were from.  He believed, which I will relate in future posts, that Dugal was the son of John, and that John was the son of Dugal. 

[ii] Mr. John McQueen, mentioned in footnote i, was the person who originally told me the story. I have since then found it online at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/inverness/chapter30.htm  which is a page titled “Antiquarian Notes, Historical, Genealogical and Social, (Second Series) Inverness-Shire, Parish by Parish, Chapter XXX. Moy and Dalarossie.” This may have been the same book Mr. John McQueen found the story in.

[iii] Another variation states:  “If I had asked for the prophecy before I took the ball out, would it have been different?”

[iv] Information from Mr. John McQueen and his subsequent research.

[v] Information from Mr. John McQueen and his subsequent research.

A Sad History

With downtime from my novel, Keeping Secrets, last week (I was waiting on the proof copy to come), I pulled out the third book in my Metes & Bounds Series and started editing. I had done so after a conversation the night before with Rose Darden Jackson, a descendant of not only the Tyler County Darden family, but the McQueen slaves as well. She is a lovely woman, and cleared up some mysteries and questions I had about the Milton McQueen family and the years before the Civil War and Emancipation.

Let me say, though, that while working on editing the book this week, a profound, deep sadness overwhelmed me. I had not experienced such while writing the first two books or while writing my book on the Hechlers. Maybe its because I'm older now. Maybe its because there is so much more history in this book than in the first two. Maybe its because I have more information and resources to reconstruct the family in these years than in previous ones.

Or, maybe, its just that the story is sad.

The third book begins with some recapping of John McQueen's childhood and history as a young adult. The book then goes to his move to Kentucky, his marriage to Nancy Crews (daughter of David Crews and Annie Magee), his lawsuit against his father-in-law, and his subsequent move to Tennessee. There is nothing unusual or heartbreaking in that part.

But after David Crews McQueen's death in 1832, and John McQueen's death two years later in 1834, the entire family, including McQueens, Barclays, Beans, and Taylors, enter into a period of almost constant loss both materially and physically.

One of the saddest episodes in all of this is the lives of the McQueen family, both black and white. It is a disorder of that time that masters, in order to put food on the table or clothes on the backs of their black and white family, had to resort to "meanness" to do so. It's a travesty that blacks, out of no fault of their own, were enslaved to work a crop that they themselves never benefited from directly. As such, they were oftentimes labeled "lazy" and "unproductive."

And then, there are all the stories of slaves that had white fathers.

All of these issues will be dealt with in my third book. It will be difficult to write it, but sad or not, these stories need to be told. The lives of these people were too important, and their decisions impact out own lives today.

Civil War Cemetery

I Will Go With You is now available!

I Will Go With You: The Hechlers, Germany to Russia to America is now ready in both kindle and paperback. The only difference between the two is that there is no table of contents for the pictures and diagrams, nor is there a chart detailing the pedigree of Dominic Hechler in the kindle edition. The formatting for kindle made both of these difficult to put in the book.

Through my Createspace page you can purchase a paperback version for $14.99 plus shipping and handling.

Through my product page on Amazon's site you can order either the paperback or the kindle version. I would prefer, if possible, for you to order a paperback through Createspace simply because I get a greater percentage of the royalty. The price is still $14.99 on Amazon. The kindle version is $4.99.

As of this posting date, it may be 5 to 7 days before the paperback is available on Amazon's page. It should be available through Createspace as of this date. If not, let me know. The kindle is available now.

The proof for I Will Go With You: The Hechlers, Germany to Russia to America arrived over the weekend. I took a look at it and found several problem areas I had to address. It is now being reprinted and the proof is on its way.

Except for formatting issues, I am tickled pink with the result. The technology of printing is now producing books of a much superior quality than what was printed fifteen years ago when I published my first two genealogy books on the McQueens and the Crews families. I think all will be pleased with not only the product, but the family history as well.

Within two weeks the book should be available.

Dominic & Elizabeth  Hechler
about 1890

Tonight, I finished my book on the Hechlers titled I Will Go With You, The Hechlers: Germany to Russia to Texas. It is officially being reviewed by Amazon's Create Space publishers, so hopefully it will get the all clear and be available soon.

The book begins with Matthias Hechler in Germany and details his move to Speier, Russia in 1809.  He, along with other Germans, took advantage of Catherine the Great's generous terms encouraging colonists to emigrate to the Volga Region of Russia. His son and grandson stayed in Speier, but his great-grandson and my great-grandfather, Dominic Hechler, left in 1891 after having to serve a term of military duty in the Russian army. One of the privileges of Dominic's great-grandfather and the other German colonists was the exemption from military service. When it was repealed, many of the Germans began to leave Russia for the United States.

About 1888 Dominic married Elizabeth Dietz, from the nearby village of Katherinental. In December of 1890 they left Russia and came to America with their two children - Vincent, 2 years old, and Pete, about 6 months old. They traveled with the families of Wagner, Rhombs and Dietz. Dominic and Elizabeth's other children were born in Texas - August, Frances, Magdalena, John, D.J. and Katie.

We have a Hechler family reunion every other year in Crosby, as Dominic and Elizabeth had eight children, dozens of grandchildren, and we've lost count of the greats. The book grew out of several published circulars I wrote for the family reunion over the past few years.

You can order it at Amazon.

Hechler Family in Fort Bend County abt 1912

From left to right John, August, Pete, Frances, Maggie, Angelina (Martin - wife of Vincent), Mary (on Angelina's lap), Elizabeth (on her father's lap), Vincent, Elizabeth "Lizzie" (Dietz) Hechler, Katie (in front of Lizzie), Dominic, D.J. (on his father's lap)

Metes & Bounds III: John McQueen & Nancy Crews, 

Children and Grandchildren

Well, its been over two years since I posted on this blog. I have good intentions, but needless to say they oftentimes get lost in "life." Nonetheless, I have decided to resurrect "The Flying Shuttle" and will try to post something at least once a week.

It's also been over fifteen years since I finished my first two books in the Metes & Bounds Series. The first was on Dugal McQueen, and the second was on David Crews. I had always planned for three books, with the third being about John McQueen and Nancy Crews and their children and grandchildren. In fact, the book has been written and has sat for the last fifteen years in the bottom of my closet. I just couldn't bring myself to pull it out and finish, mostly because of the hassle of marketing.

Well, I decided to put my "big girl pants on" and get down to business. That, and its much easier now to market, especially through Amazon's print-on-demand service.

I am halfway through retyping the manuscript. I have a few housekeeping tasks to follow up on, and then it will go to print. I am hoping to have it finished and up on the Amazon website by the end of the month.

I'm praying "life" doesn't get in the way again.

I'll keep everyone posted.

Nutrition and Our Ancestors

    "Get dressed, we're going to Mama Lee's."

    It's funny what days will imprint themselves into your memory. That one stuck, but for no really good or exciting reason.  My sister and I had been playing outside in the backyard when my Dad announced we were leaving to go to Chester to visit the great-grandparents.  The trip wasn't an unusual one, we had gone many times before. The only thing in my memory which stuck was that I remember it being a bit later than our usual time to leave, but I didn't question the decision to go.

     The other thing I remember from my childhood is sitting at the table of my great-grandparents and eating the food. My own struggles with thryoid disease and my son's struggle with a wheat allergy have sent me on a quest for causes and healing that led me to the kitchen cabinet. After researching, reading, and reflecting I have decided that the food we consume today, and have for the past thirty years, is definitely not the food our parents and grandparents ate. It has been changed in a variety of ways which is, in my opinion and the opinion of many experts, responsible for the escalation of heart disease, thryoid disease, allergies, strokes, arthritis, autoimmune disorders, and a host of other lesser diseases which keep individuals from operating at their best.

     Consider first the history of white flour.  Before about 1880, all flour was from stone ground wheat. The process of grinding flour was done at the mill with a grindstone. This process crushed the wheat germ (the center part of the grain), but kept the oil in the ground flour. The flour was a rather unsual looking yellow color, and the shelf life was not long. (Thus, if you've read stories about flour going rancid, now you know why.)  This oil, however, contained the vital nutrients in the flour: protein, folic acid, B vitamins, carotenes and other antioxidants including omega-3 fatty acids. 

     After 1880, it became more popular to mill flour with porcelain, iron, or steel rollers. This removed the wheat germ and thus all the vitamins and minerals in the flour except for a little protein. Basically, the flour became nutrionally bankrupt, although it was a pretty white color, had an almost unlimited shelf life, and tasted really good when combined with sugar to form fluffy cakes, doughnuts, and other pastries.  Needless to say, people at the time thought it was absolutely wonderful! Soon rice, corn, and other wheat flours suffered the same fate. Wherever this flour was introduced people began getting sick. Over the years the government has required companies to add nutrients to the flour, such as B vitamins and folic acid, but the fact remains that white flour is sorely lacking in valuable nutrients and when we consume it, we are not only not getting anything that will maintain our bodies or help them to grow but could be causing us harm.



Anna Lee Whitehead McQueen (left) and cousin
in front of John S. Whitehead home in Polk County, Texas
the day the historical marker was placed about 1965.

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    Mama Lee had a "safe" which was a cabinet in the kitchen always filled with baked goods. She had a swing out flour bin which took up the whole cabinet next to her kitchen sink. (I would have loved to swing it in and out, but of course, that was not allowed!) Whether they used the stone ground flour or not I can't say. Her table, however, was heaped with grass-fed beef (corn fed beef was unheard of in those days - maybe I'll write about that some day), fresh vegetables from their own garden - purple hull peas, black eye peas, lady cream peas, mustard greens, okra, and on and on. Her eggs were from chickens that had been allowed to run in their yard so they were rich in omega-3 as well as other valuable nutrients.  Her back porch had a wall ten feet high and almost as wide with canned goods (not the tin kind, the bottled kind) of all varieties that she had put back after harvest. (She had a curtain over it and I use to love flipping it back and staring at all the food. We didn't have that at my house.)

     I know my great-grandparents worked hard to keep those chickens, put back that food, plant, grow and harvest their food. And yet, now that we are a wheat free household, and soon to be a grass-fed beef household, not to mention buying better quality fruits and vegetables, I oftentimes think I'm working just as hard as they were. My work is done in the car driving to various farmer's markets and several different stores to obtain the ingredients I need to provide good quality nutrition for my family that will not only keep us healthy but nourish our bodies and keep us well.

   Anna Lee Whitehead McQueen lived to be 94 years old. Her sister-in-law, Sally McQueen, lived to be 104. Many of my ancestors just two to three generations back lived long lives into their nineties. The modern medical establishment has been telling us for years that people are living longer because of the quality of our nutrition. Why then, have diseases like cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and auto-immune disorders skyrocketed in the last forty years?

     We can't be the healthiest nation on earth and be the sickest at the same time. We have to be one or the other.Could the food we eat today be the problem - especially for our tomorrows?