Carpenter-Hutton Portrait

My dad’s grandparents, Cell and Ethel Carpenter with daughter Francis Carpenter (Gray) and Emory and Annie Hutton with grandaughter Deloris Hutton (Simmons).

Genealogy Trip to Blue Creek

Today I traveled up Blue Creek looking for signs of my roots. There was only one cemetery, Kennedy Cemetery, although there were a dozen churches. It was interesting to drive through the wooded lanes imagining what it must have been like when there was virgin timber and the creeks were the roadbeds. An old railroad track peeked out from under the forest floor occasionally. It’s really different up there where there’s no room for hay fields, barns, or tractors. Only small garden plots and hillside goats. True hill country. I saw lots of rhododendrens.

A Mrs. Skeen at the Goshen Cemetery in Kentuck, where I went to check on my grandparents graves, told me that she heard of people working the Underground Railroad in Kentuck where the Huttons lived. This adds to my theory that my Huttons are descended from the Quaker Hutton brothers, since Quakers are famous for their work in the Underground Railroad.

Mysterious Huttons

John Hutton was found at the Wyoma Pentecostal Church Cemetery (Roger Bonecutter, pastor)in Mason County, and Alice Hutton was found in the Martin Cemetery in Putnam County. Wonder how they’re related to our Hutton’s?

Anderson Cemetery

I finally found the cemetery where lie Andrew and Melissa Anderson. It’s the Anderson Cemetery at Plum Orchard. I’m still looking for Albert and Maggie Anderson’s gravesite.

Spring Genealogy Trip

Spring is in the air! A recent genealogy trip in search of little Leah Hutton’s resting place resulted in a buffalo sighting at Buffalo, WV.

Meigs County Huttons

I finally found some time to do some genealogy research. I’m down to two jobs for the summer, working only 10 hours a week now, and only 3 days a week. Hopefully, I’ll have some time to play with my grandkids now.

Perhaps Elijah Hutton was a cousin to my great-great-great grandfather Joseph Hutton. The inscription at the bottom says:

Thy toils are now ended

Thy suffering is o’er

Thy spirit is at rest

On that far distant shore.

Weaver, Racine, O.

To the Third and Fourth Generation

This article from Dr. Mercola supports the theories I have been developing about nutrition and genetics. I usually post health articles to my wellness blog–Wel-life.org–but feel this is also relevant to genealogy. I hope to soon have genealogy site, also.

You Are What Your Grandmother Ate

You may have read already about the research showing that the diet of a mother can have an influence on a specific gene for at least two generations.
This study on mice looks at “epigenetic” changes made to DNA, involving genes that can be silenced or activated based on exposure to chemicals.
Half of the mice in the study were fed a nutrient-enriched diet, while the control group ate a standard diet. Exposure to those high amounts of nutrients in the womb changed the coats of the mice offspring from golden to dark brown fur, while the offspring of the control group remained unchanged.Not only that, but the children of the darker-coated mice were similarly affected; they also had dark brown fur.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences November 14, 2006; 103(46): 17308-17312

Dr. Mercola’s Comment:
When I was actively seeing patients it was very clear what my primary responsibility was — to teach my patients to eat the way their ancestors ate. If I could facilitate that change alone and have them avoid processed foods, trans fats and the ridiculous excess of omega-6 fats nearly all consume, the vast majority of them would have radically improved health.
However, this information should not cause you to worry about the diets of ancestors. First of all, it is likely that they were eating far healthier than you, but even if they weren’t your body has incredible, dynamic healing capacities that have the potential to reverse much of the damage.
Mirto from Carnation, Alabama commented in Vital Votes:
“There is way too much emphasis placed on such things as blaming our condition on the fact it runs in the family (genes). What runs in the family is an eating pattern that has been passed down from generation to generation.
“I saw it in my family and was heading down a road that was the consequence of this. I drastically changed my diet, including taking supplements, and no longer have to take any drugs, including aspirins.
“When you see a number of members of a family being overweight, check what kind of food they eat, it’s appalling. The cook or cooks of the house usually picked up the style from their mother, who picked it up from her mother and so on. First of all that’s a problem right there. You would be much healthier eating at least 75% of your food raw, which I usually do … “
As far as genes go, I firmly believe that conventional wisdom imputes to them a far more exaggerated influence on your health than they really have. Fact is, genes are little more than information storage facilities that don’t do much to influence your health. Rather, it’s the expression of your genes, influenced by how you live your life, that weighs far more heavily on your health than anything else.
Dr. Gene Weber from Yakima, Washington also pointed out regarding that issue:
“When we go to the doctor a lot of the time, genetics are used against us to force the issue for prescribing what I feel are unneeded drugs, many for long term.
“There was a study done by Dr. Pottenger more than 60 years ago known as Pottenger’s Cats that basically helps explain how we are what we eat, and how we can change our ‘genetic’ outcome by improving our lifestyle. This of course involves diet, exercise, and our emotional state to name a few. We need to know these things so we can make better choices when it comes to health care

I have reason to believe this violin is the original instrument used in the photograph of my grandfather and his friend as kids. It has two original catgut strings. I made a shadowbox of the picture– including Herman’s banjo picks found in his effects at his death and some violin pieces found in the violin case (the bow frog matches the one in the photo).

Goofing Off

A young Herman Hutton and his friend Blake Litton goofing off with their dad’s instruments.

Robert Emory Hutton’s Death Certificate

Here is the death certificate of Robert Emery Hutton, featured in a previous post with his future wife, Annie Carpenter.
He was tragically killed by a bolt of lightning while hauling a sled full of grain across the hill to the barn. The horse he was riding and one of his team of horses died with him.