Silent Windmills: Ancestry of Neva Viola Ross

by Margaret Sherman Lutzvick

    The book,  Silent Windmills: Ancestry of Neva Viola Ross, is an excellent rare mix of true  American history and the story of five generations of the James Ross family line spanning  over 200 years. Included are tales of them in colonial times, in Civil War battles and stories, of their westward movements, and more. The story begins with James Ross, Sr. and his wife Nancy (Miller) Ross, and includes many other families such as Stone, Estes, Miller, Fudge, Lynd, Pancake, Tipton, Sumner, Smith, Dotson (Dodson), Cummins, Lanman, Jones, Lutzvick (Lyczywck), Payton, Penturf, Moore, and Masterson. Vivid historical accounts reveal interesting - and sometimes colorful - personal sides of many ancestors. 

    Exciting verified and documented historical moments of the Civil War and Revolutionary War battles and the ancestors who fought in them are included. For example, the true story of Nehimiah Ross and his wife Louisa Dodson is told from information found in his Civil War military files. Another story portrays the convoluted military and personal life of ancestor, North Carolinian Revolutionary War veteran, Major Jonathan Tipton, III.   In addition, a true story of a fifth great grandmother’s kidnapping by the Ohio Shawnee Indian tribe is recounted. Yet another story describes the eminent Senator Charles Augustus Sumner, his caning on the United States Senate floor, and his tireless work against slavery and for civil rights until his death in 1874. The reader will even learn about the gypsies of early Idaho, and of a Ross great-uncle who was murdered in Kansas by Osage Indians.  Excellent and moving private memoirs and over eighty photographs - including an 1880s photo of Mary Dotson standing on her early Nebraska porch and a telling 1918 photo of the Montana Ross tar shack homestead - enhance this family history.

    In short, this is a stimulating presentation of documented tales about families involved in the westward movement, wandering from territory to territory in early America. Probably the most major value of this book for anyone interested in American History or for those researching their families, is the documentation itself.  Over 75 pages in the appendix present such documents as marriage bonds, death and divorce certificates, obituaries, estates, cemetery listings, census lists, military files, and much more.  An every name index, footnotes, and the appendix all provide the reader with ready-made family research material.

   It was a joy to write this book, and it should appeal to all readers who have a genuine interest in their early American heritage no matter from whom they descend.

    This book is size 6 x 9, printed on 60 lb. natural acid-free paper, hard bound Smith-sewn in dark blue Roxite cloth, 479 pages, and includes a beautiful dust jacket. Readers will be proud to own this family keepsake Limited First Edition. There are no plans for reprint.

Author, Margaret Sherman Lutzvick
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2004107935
ISBN 0-9655764-1-8
Copyright ©2004
Published by Gateway Press, INC, Baltimore, MD

All rights reserved.

xxv, 454 pps

Dust Jacket designed by

Margaret Sherman Lutzvick & Gateway Press, Inc.

Printed in the United States of America