Finding my roots. Family history that is!

When I was a little girl I would question my mom all the time as to what our ethnicities were because I looked a lot like her but didn't have blonde hair and blue eyes like my brother Norman or sister Delores. Nope.. This was me when I was a baby in Detroit.

My Kindergarten picture

Here's a photo of my siblings taken back in the 70s

My mom didn't know a whole lot about her grandparents except she knew her grandmother Alzada was Native American. Let me give you a little back story. My mom was born in a small town in Tennessee. When she was 3 years old her parents Junnie and Sarah Johnson moved to Michigan for job opportunities for Junnie. They would visit Tennessee whenever they could. The stories began when my mom was little about 5 years old she would question her dads parents Arthur and Alzada Johnson. Arthur wouldn't tell her anything about his Johnson roots. He pretty much kept it all to himself. But my mom said she would never forget the day she asked her grandma Alzada if she was Indian. She said Alzada turned around and pointed her finger at her and said "do not tell anyone what I tell you. She told my mother that she was raised in North Carolina on the Cherokee reservation and that she was Cherokee, Chickasaw and Choctaw. She didn't elaborate her life on the rez but she did tell my mom she hated it and when she was old enough to leave she left. She didn't trust people and didn't want anyone to know what she was so she made my mom swear to not tell a soul. 

This is a photo of Alzada and Arthur Johnson

My mom said Alzada had some quirks. She would go in the woods and wouldn't come back for hours. She would make her own medicine and even medicine for some of the people in the town. She wasn't much of a talker especially about her past. Turns out that my grandma Alzada was a Medlin and her parents were Marion Canada Medlin and Allie Mina Dowdy both born in North Carolina.

My moms grandma Lowery on the other hand didn't mind sharing. Her name was Nora Lulu Lowery daughter of Robert Horace Lowery. She would tell my mom stories about her Lowery side and her papa as she called him. Her parents names were Robert Horace Lowery and Sarah Jane Berry. Robert Horace was the son of John Jefferson Lowery and Martha Anne Brewer. 

I have traced their lines back to the British Isle (England, Scotland, Ireland) and its amazing with the help of cousins what I have found and totally coincides with my DNA test I did on Ancestry and FTDNA. 

Nora Lulu Lowery married my great grandfather James Robert Waters on June 11 1916 in Henry County, Tennessee. 

Together they had three daughters Corrine Mae Waters, Greatta Modine Waters and my grandmother Sarah Loveane Waters. James Robert had a son with my great grandmother Alzada named John Willie. James and Alzada married and divorced before they met Nora and Arthur but yes my grandparents shared a half sibling. Funny how it works that way. 

Thanks to a lot of cousins I have traced my moms roots to Norway and Sweden with Viking ancestors that I know she had no idea about but would've loved to seen the research. Sadly my mom passed away back in 2010. At least I was able to show her the roots here in America and all the Civil War, Revolutionary War and War of 1812 ancestors that fought on American soil. She was proud of that. I am just glad I now know where my ancestors came from and its no longer a secret. All the information I have found amazes me everyday and it all started because I was curious how I could look like my mom but my siblings look so different.