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Meet the authors... |
Peggy Jean McCleskey Broughton
Dolores Woodward Reed
Although a native resident of California, Dolores’
roots are in Texas. Her parents were both Texans, descended from a long line of patriotic,
pioneering families who first immigrated from the British Isles to the Southern states,
and eventually to the Republic of Texas. Her ancestors served not only in the
Revolutionary and Civil Wars, but in one of the last decisive battles for Texas
independence, the Battle of San Jacinto. She is the great grand-daughter of Viola McCleskey,
whose own great great great grandfather was James McCleskey (1755-1842), the earliest
known immigrant of this McCleskey clan to America. She is currently researching the
surnames of Woodward, Criswell, Neeley, Barnes, Gunter, Bryant, and McCleskey, all Texas
families. She is the divorced mother of two married children and
four grandchildren. She retired in 1987 after a career as an outside plant engineer for
Pacific Bell for 23 years, and again in 1997 after ten years in pavement maintenance for
the City of Garden Grove. In order of their importance, she enjoys spending time
with her family and grandchildren, working on genealogy, traveling, writing, movies, and
attending musical and cultural events. Favorite past times include making trips in her
mini motorhome to bluegrass, Celtic, and folk music festivals; and camping with friends.
She is a native Texan. Her grandparents were
born in Texas and great-grandparents came to Erath County area of Texas soon after the
Civil War from Georgia to escape the poverty and devastation of the War. Peggy attended the public schools of Hamilton County, Texas
and completed commercial courses in Houston. Between 1970 and 1996, she was
active in the Tax and Bookkeeping service that she and her husband owned. The service was
sold in 1996 and this is the second time Peggy has retired.
She has been active in the Methodist Churches where they
lived and sang in the choirs. She studied voice with Lillis Watson in Tyler, for three
years. She has directed cherub choirs in two of the churches.
She was an active participant in and supporter of all her
children’s activities: football, band, flag corps, etc. There were times when she
made cookies or spaghetti for 500 people at a time and often drove her car for extra
transportation for school trips. (Unfortunately, one time she got her car smashed by a
school bus! She has been an active Girl Scout leader for the girls and
active in Boy Scouts as well, serving as Den Leader and Den Leader Coach.
Her ambition after raising her family and educating her children is to leave a record of
her family for her grandchildren. You can learn more about Peggy, her family and her pets by
visiting Peggy's Place.
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