Books'nSundries

~ OUR EXTENDED FAMILIES ~
TONY's - Miller, Brock, Matthews, Mote, & others
SHIRLEY'S - Pavliska, Silhavy, and Zaruba

→ See photos below, then
◄ ◄ ◄ (Click on a family photo album button to the left)

     As to Shirley and I, we are enjoying "retirement" about as well as could be expected I suppose. Shirley works 2 or 3 days a week at a convenience store and a wholesale/auction place (I suspect mostly to get away from me), goes to garage sales and sets up herself from time to time. She spends her earnings taking us out to eat a lot, and I have to take her to Tunica periodically so she can feed the slots until her allotted amount is gone - while I lay around and sleep, read and lounge in the Swedish sauna. I myself am more the homebody except for my writing and genealogy work. I don't have to budge much for my (as yet largely unfocused) pursuit of writing - something I have been wanting to do all my life and subconsciously have been preparing for. I find that I have a certain knack for it, and believe that I have much to offer that will entertain, uplift, edify and encourage whoever readers might stumble across my work and decide to give it a whirl.
     I have yet to submit any of my books for publication but will start with one of them soon, to be available from any bookstore worldwide and from this website as well. But in the meantime I have a roof over and three squares, nothing more promised, nothing more coveted, and so I don't get too worked up about any of it.

                                                                                                  ...ETM

My Genealogy Efforts:

     I've been taking lots of trips and making lots of phone calls on the genealogy stuff and have completed an extensive publication: THE BROCK MEMORY BOOKS which includes three (3) big thick books, over 1000 pages covering the Brock, Matthews, Mote and other families (more about these books can be found on the BROCK MEMORYBOOK pages). They are more or less complete and have been distributed gratis, to the surviving root family Patriarchs and Matriarchs of my Brock family who I know, except for Book 3 which is a little thin as to the Wm H. "Horry" Brock wing, and I still need help here. Otherwise these books are chock full of many many old photos, copies of memorabilia such as letters, wills, etc., other scanned items of interest, poems and articles by our ancestors, and other scanned physical items of memorabilia from several family sources, along with genealogies by other family members which were scanned and included in addition to scanned copies of Civil War (I detest that misnomer) letters written home by my Great Great Grandfather James Daniel Brock before he was killed near Richmond, Virginia - along with his picture as well (he was a handsome devil! - see his picture below). As you know, from James and his wife "Fannie" flowed the two wings of the family that we of West Georgia roots are familiar with; their sons James Robert "Bob" Brock, my Great Grandfather, and William H. "Horry" Brock. Descendents of these abound in West Georgia today.
     All this stuff was loaned to me to bring back home to Tennessee, scan into my computer hard drive and then to return, all of which has now been accomplished. I extend my heartfelt thanks to all my beloved Brock kinfolk who contributed and helped me assemble this work (they are each acknowledged in the forewords of the books), which to this point I believe to be by far the most comprehensive such assemblage extant. However, I breathlessly await the work that Earline Powers and Bill Johnson are promising to come out with, since unlike me and my itchey-foot wanderings, they have always lived in the West Georgia area and were intimately closer to our kinfolk. Also because they have both been collecting up pearls of family information for many years, as well as physical items (Bill now even owns the last house Grandma Drucilla lived in as well as other Brock property), so theirs will contain by far the most valuable and comprehensive in depth information I am absolutely certain. Indeed, they have both even been to Ireland researching our Brock and Matthews roots. So hurry up you two!!
                                                                                                    ...ETM

     As to my Miller family (100% Scotch) I am virtually at a dead end after gathering together and scanning my own stuff (quite a bit) along with that of all Aunt Lucille's surviving family (Scales) and some from two of Aunt Atha's children, cousins Donnie Styles and his sister Jean. My thanks go to Donnie and Jean as well as Aunt Lucille's daughters Vivian, Carolyn and Prue, all precious cousins who I hold in high esteem. Oh yes and don't let me forget to thank uncle G. B.'s second wife Jimmie Sue (May) Miller for such things as she could find to share with us all..
     The Millers of my generation were not as family oriented as the Brocks, they have no published information/genealogies available that I am aware of, and, but for the work Mike Miller did some years ago there would be no written or researched Miller history at all. My heartfelt thanks goes to Mike (and his Dad, my cousin Allyn) for his efforts and for making stuff available to me. Both the Brocks and the Millers lived around the Mt. Zion area and all went to school there together, but the Millers took pitifully few pictures, have not visited each other much and have not held reunions to any significant extent.
     Although we were all very close while Mama and Papa Miller (my Miller grandparents) were living, the family seemed to fall apart after Papa died in 1959 and Mama went to live with aunt Ruth. Before that we all gathered at their farm north of the Jake community every weekend, their children and all us grandchildren, and we had some great times together in my childhood days. My father and all my uncles and aunts are now gone, and although I have contacted all my surviving cousins I have had very little response (except as noted above) as to making available their old photos and memorabilia for me to scan and return to them. I would so love to get enough to publish a Miller Memorybook similar to the Brock Books I have just finished, and have not given up on one, but I beseech all my beloved Miller kinfolk who have not done so, to contact me back and make your stuff available for the benefit of all of us and for all who will come after us. If WE don't do it, and do it NOW before more of us pass away, who will??

NOTE: Since I began my genealogy work, my son Max has traced our Miller line back to Charles Miller, who came to America directly from Glasgow, Scotland, making us "Scotch/Irish".
...ETM

James Daniel Brock, Confederate Soldier
(killed at the Battle of Cold Harbor, near Richmond, Va.)
...and in her later years, his wife
Francis Rebecca (Hogan) Brock - "Fannie"

       Frank Pavliska
           and wife
Rose (Silhavy) Pavliska
      (Shirley's Parents)

                                                     George Walton Miller
                                                              and wife
                                                      Sara (Evans) Miller
                                              (My Great Grandparents)

     As to genealogy work on wife Shirley's family, I have not taken on this work, primarily because I feel that this obligation and responsibility more properly rests with a male blood kinfolk of that family, such as one of Shirley's many brothers. I have however, at great effort and about 2 years of my time (and with the help of Shirley, her sister Martha, and Shirley's sister-in-law Marie Pavliska), contributed a Family Memorybook/Cookbook towards such an effort, and dedicated it to Shirley's mother Rose (Silhavy) Pavliska. It is a big thick book and to my knowledge it contains all the family history that is known of the Silhavy and Pavliska families who came to this country from Czechoslovakia in the 1880's and 1890's respectively. The only other such Pavliska publication is the booklet containing the Genealogy work done by Marie Pavliska, Shirley's brother Frank (Sonny)'s wife, without which little would be known as to the particulars of their origins. To Marie goes all our thanks and appreciation.
     My Pavliska Memorybook has since undergone another metamorphosis from a pure cookbook containing all the Miller and Pavliska Family's most cherished family recipes to the final state it is in today, which is a BIG combination MILLER/PAVLISKA FAMILY COOKBOOK and MEMORYBOOK, dedicated to both mine and Shirley's mothers, and containing 500 pages of all the known and most cherished recipes of our two families, some of both families dating back time out of mind to our old countries of origin in Europe. But also included are scads more recipes and many old and recent pictures of both our families. In addition I have included family stories and anecdotes throughout the book and with a great many of the recipes and pictures. There are things presented which are not written down anywhere else, and things which truly tells a story of all our lives, of Shirley and mine and of the way we interacted with all of the Pavliska family down through the last 45 years. Unfortunately all of that took place in Texas and far away from my Miller/Brock kinfold, so there is little in the book in this regard except for my mother and daddy who I moved from Georgia out to Texas in 1964 to be with us.
     As far as the recipes, there are so many also because one of my many interests and hobbies in life has been cooking and the collecting of recipes wherever I have lived, worked or traveled, including Mexico and a certain country down in South America. So in this regard I can assure you that each and every one of them are quality recipes, tried and true, and they also include all the dishes each area is famous for, such as; the Deep South, the New England states, the Midwest, the Southwest, and the far West (and below the border as well). Also given are a raft of cooking hints and suggestions along with many famous sayings and quotations. For those who have not seen it I truly believe you will find it entertaining and informative whether or not you are a member of either family. Indeed I created it for all the world to find things of value between its covers (goodness! sounds awful high-minded n'est ce pas?).
    Below is a copy of the cover. More about this book can be found elsewhere in this site and on its own dedicated page.
                                                                                                 ...ETM

                                 All the fine praise,
                                 All the good wishes,
                                 Will never replace
                                 Help with the dishes.
                                                              ...Anon.

For more family stuff, return to the top of the page and use the buttons to surf to the following areas:

* The Family PHOTO ALBUMS - (Our Families/Pics)
* GENEALOGY and The BROCK BOOKS - (Genealogy)
* The Miller/Pavliska MEMORYBOOK & COOKBOOK - (Our Cookbook)

For a sobering article about "Liberal" Lawyers, Lawsuits, and their effect on our lives today, click on this page link: FEATURED ARTICLE

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