My gggrandparents were William Green Brown and his wife Priscilla Eldridge. William was a Baptist preacher for many years in western North Carolina and made his home in Surry/Yadkin County. William was the son of an unwed mother Elizabeth Farrington who married Squire Brown and thus gave William his name. Priscilla was a wonderful lady and reared ten children by William. As he traveled all over several counties to preach....a well liked and very busy preacher...she was at home caring for the family.

They must have been good parents for their children were all good citizens for the community. There were three ministers and a State Represenative,one was even a State Senator, Solomon Davis Brown. He was my great grandfather.

Solomon married Laura Ann Harvell Dec. 3. 1864. He was also a minister and he and Laura and some of their ten children went to Missouri where he attended William Jewel College . Soon after Solomon and Laura returned to Yadkin County in a covered wagon, my grandmother was born, Laura Ann Brown, b. 11-26-1881.

Laura Ann Brown married Monrovie Jones Angell at the Statesville Hotel Dec. 23, 1903. They were a most wonderful set of grandparents who were good Baptists and reared a wonderful family of six. Their daughter was Ivah Mae Angell who married James Milburn Hoots, Sr. Dec. 24, 1927. They were my parents.

Milburn Hoots was the son of John Franklin and Mary Sophronia Nicks Hoots who were also Yadkin County farmers for many years. My Grandmother Hoots lived to be 102 years old and she and Grandpa who lived to be 90 are buried in Flat Rock Baptist Church in Hamptonville, NC Grandma was the daughter of John Madison Nicks and Amanda Rachel West.

I have been researching my family for many years and I would be happy to share my information with others who are interested. There is nothing quite like family. I hope many more will tell their stories and let us all share in the history of our families.