In a message dated 10/30/2001 8:28:15 PM Eastern Standard Time, d7777@worldnet.att.net writes: > Now my husbands side is full of fun. I'm following one > who was > a civil war hero. He came home and moved his aunts house slave in and > had 5 > children. He made big bucks so that in the 1930's The Bank of > Monroeville > (Alabama that is) asked him to buy them out . He did. His children > were all > well educated. He seemed to function well in the black and white > communities > between 1860 and 1935(when he died.) Why did the KKK not come after > him? His > house was a standard appearing farmhouse of the day but behind it was > a > covered breezeway to another house called the bedroom house. It had 6 > bedrooms nothing else. I got this from talking with his grandaughter > who was > 25 when he died and in the room with him. The stories go on and on on > him. > He had a Lincoln car which he liked but he disliked President Lincoln > so he > had his car painted confederate grey. He left 6 siblings 75000 > dollars (that > is almost a million today) in 1935 when he died. He left his black > wife 1000 > acres and the new Buick car. The neat thing about this is that all > the tales > I've heard about him turn out to be true. Now that is a fun ancestor > and > connections to him come right out of the middle of Colly Swamp. > > Kay > > No Formyduvals, thanks anyway. My husbands ggguncle as described above was Captain Thomas Mercer Riley 1840-1935 son of Col Thomas Mercer Riley and Elizabeth T. Autry(of the Autryville NC(Sampson county) Autrys. His common law wife was Sallie McCreary. Uncle Tom's grandchildren called him Cappie. There is one unproven story that says that one time Uncle Tom considered marrying some fine upstanding white woman but Sallie flung such a fit he decided he better not. I say Good for Sallie. I've met two of Uncle Toms direct descendants and I was so very impressed with everything about these people. They can laugh and guesstimate with us about how Uncle Tom and Sallie did so well in that time period.This guy is brother to Bill's gggrandmother and we got none of the money. Uncle Tom would educate any female related to him but not the boys they could do it on their own. Bill's line to him was male to male to male to female. In a booklet done by one of his direct descendants for a family reunion they had they said this about Uncle Tom. We were not invited. In the end the travesty of Thomas Mercer Riley could be drawn depicting a very diverse person reflecting the enviroment in which he lived. How can one draw a caricature of an individual who was a slave owner, a warrior, a hero, a slave lover, a finance wizard, a family man and a philanthropist? Kay