Well, Hamrick researchers, you are going to love this one. My husband's 1/2 aunt died just before Christmas. We just got a copy of the front-page obituary in her former hometown newspaper. I'm not going to bore everyone with the entire obituary. (It had about 12 inches on the front page with picture then was continued on page four for an entire column.) From The Cullman Tribune, January 06, 2000, page 1: DOT HAMRICK HANCOCK SUCUMBS. Dot Delores Hamrick Hancock, age 84, died on December 18, 1999, in Foley, in Baldwin County. She was born on April 26, 1915 to Robert Lee Hamrick and Lessie Nelson Hamrick, in Cullman County. <snip> [The rest of the obituary told all her accomplishments, activities, children, and grandchildren. Then it concluded, on page 4, with the following, and I quote:] "Editor's Note: "Mrs. Hancock's grandfather, Jim Hamrick, was an early Mayor of Hanceville. The Hamricks were early settlers of Hanceville, while it was still a part of Blount County. Bland School, a one room school house that served the growing town, as well as Hanceville Academy were not adequate to the growing population. The Hamrick family was education minded and was involved in expanded school facilities. The land were the current Hanceville School is located was once farmed by the Hamrick family, until 1923. "The Hamrick family, or Hambrecht in Germany, were also involved in writing the Georgia Constitution and established Primitive Baptist Churches in Alabama. "Dot's great uncle, Jack Daniels, a Cherokee Indian, founded the Tennessee Distillery, even though most of his Alabama kin are tee-totlers." And 20 years from now some family researcher is going to find this newspaper article in some archive and think it's the truth!! Fact: There in no known (and definitely no proven) Cherokee ancestry in the Hamrick (or Nelson) family. Dot's great uncle on the Hamrick side of the family would have been: William Taylor Hamrick, Charles Jackson Hamrick, Robert Newton Hamrick, John Warren Hamrick, or John Thomas ROWE, Joel JAKCSON, Burt DANIEL, Floyd DINGLER, James ROGERS, or George McAlpine. And in all my visits to the Jack Daniels distilery, I have never heard old Jack referred to as Burt! (Burt's children were Lucy, Jesse, Mary, Margaret, and Nancy Daniel.) On the Nelson side, Moses (Lessie's father) was an only child so there would be no great uncles. But wasn't it a lovely story? Fact: There is no known proof that HAMRICK was HAMBRECHT. That's a possibility I'm sure. But proof? This particular Hamrick line - from 1800 until they moved into the German-settled Cullman County, AL - lived in British-settled communities in eastern Alabama and western Georgia. No one has been able to document this family in any area other than Georgia! And many of us have tried! Fact: There are pictures hanging in the Hanceville City Hall of all the past mayors. The third picture, donated by Barbara Hamrick Blalock (wife of the editor of the Cullman Tribune, by the way) and is said to be James Thomas (Jim) Hamrick, father of Robert E. Lee Hamrick and grandfather of Dot Deloris Hamrick. But...there is absolutely no mention of Mayor Hamrick in any newspaper, any city documents, any election material...well, you get the point. But Jim Hamrick did sell, at inflated prices, the land where the current school stands. Did a Hamrick help write the Georgia Constitution? If so, who and when? Why am I writing this, you might ask? Good question. I guess only to warn all the researchers to beware of "facts" they read in newspapers - even old newspapers. You almost have to know who wrote the article and the author's motivation before you can fully evaluate the article. And how many times do you know who wrote a newspaper article? In this case, the editor is married to a Hamrick. He printed some family "legends" - some only known by his wife apparently. There is a grain of truth in each statement, but nothing is proven. (I.e., Aunt Dot did have a great uncle who was a DANIEL - but he wasn't Jack. Jim Hamrick's picture does hang in City Hall among the other mayors, but it was placed there in the late 80s and is the only Mayor not identified on the picture by name or dates of his term. The Ham(b)ricks could have German ancestry; much of Cullman County does; but to date there is no "proof", other than S. C. Jones' book, that I know of. What am I going to do about the misstatements in the newspaper? I wanted to write a "letter to the editor" and ask that he provide documentation to back up his claims. My husband won't let me. He says it will just cause hard feelings and not prove anything. And he's right. Barbara Hamrick Blalock is his third cousin, and she has cancer, undergoing chemotherapy and has been extremely ill from that for several years. So I'm sharing my frustations with all of you. Maybe one of you will have evidence that Delton Blalock's words in his Editor's Note are correct. I would love to be proven wrong on this one. Pat motesp@hiwaay.net