Well, our Cook/Green family’s DNA test came back…were are not African American, nor to any significant extent American Indian. No, our ancestral roots are among the darker-skinned people of North Africa and the Balkans, Serbia, Yemen, Greece, Arabia, etc. It appears that were are indeed what are called Melungeons of Turkish… origin. People who migrated [...]

I located the information below which shows that Margaret Wilder had a homestead in 1906-7 (though not sure when the grant was initially issued), that was on the site of Fort Abraham Lincoln just south of Mandan, ND.  Fort Lincoln was the station of Custer’s 7th Cavalry in 1876.  Custer was the first post commander [...]

November 7, 1894 Marriage Record of my great-grandparents, Andrew Cook and Lizzie Green, in Michigan.  Though elsewhere one or both of them are listed as “mulatto” or “persons of color,” here their race is described as “white.”

Van Buren Hinds, 20th Indiana Infantry POW – Pension Index Card – National Archives.

From Harper’s Weekly, October 19, 1861 – “CAPTURE OF THE UNITED STATES GUN-BOAT ‘FANNY,’ AT CHICKAMACOMICO, NORTH CAROLINA, BY THREE REBEL TUG-BOATS.”

Looking west on Main Street, Richmond. Liggon’s Warehouse is seen on left just past the first team of horses.