Joanna's Lone Star

About the Book

Joanna's Lone Star looks at the some of the history that lead to the Texian revolt against Santa Ana’s Mexican control. The book frames its story in the historic 1866 meeting in Georgia between Joanna Troutman Pope and the grandson of Benjamin Hawkins (also named Benjamin). Joanna is the famed creator of the Texas Lone Star flag, which was given to her friend, Hugh MacLeod, when he sailed to Texas to join the rebellion. Colonel Benjamin Hawkins was George Washington’s Indian agent working with the Creek Indian Confederation in Georgia. Joanna and the Colonel’s grandson join with several other descendents of American-Creek Indian families for discussions of how they and their families were involved in the great sweep of history. Events span from the early days of the English, French, and Spanish arrival in America, through the early days of Georgia, then to the personal lives of Joanna and Hugh. It ends with Ben Hawkins relating some stories of the new nation of Texas.

About the Author

Flung across the moist farmlands of the South, skipping like a flat stone over a calm pond, Hubert (Bright Spirit) landed in the cotton mill village of Columbus, Georgia, coming to rest in the family of Clan Singer and knowledge-keeper Richard Alexander Loyd. Singer Richard chose his first grandson, Bright Spirit, to carry the stories and legends of their Southern heritage into the future. Loyd, he was named, His father preferred Phillips. Young Bright Spirit chose Philips-Loyd. His mother was Amanda. Educated in the public schools, his mind was polished by service in the U. S. Navy and, later, the Air Force where he learned his craft as a photo-journalist, writer-editor and historian. Angelo State University, San Angelo, Texas, granted him a bachelor's in 1974, followed by a master's in 1977. Editor, teacher and historian, his avocation is entertaining the children of Houston County, Georgia's elementary schools as a story-teller. Also, he is a substitute teacher at Houston County High School. As a novelist, he collects stories of the early European settlements in southern North America and their interactions with the original peoples. Revolutionary Texans and their firm roots in pioneer Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and Louisiana fire his imagination also. The author is father to five sons and one daughter. With his second wife's grandchildren, there are fifteen grandsons and five granddaughters. Wilma Ollene (d:1992) began the family, Lola is now his wife. The stones skips on.