These newcomers were related to me and I haven’t seen them in more than fifty years. They are nine generations from my Great-great-grandmother Blackeye. We had so much to talk about. They have a large photo collection from the Onega period. They have family generations that just simply require a lot of time to look at as some of the information requires date comparisons and facts of history.

Leon Melton, is another native Onegan who has been sharing recollections with me recently. He is the oldest son of J.D. and Sudie Melton. Leon is eighty years old this year (2002).

The J.D. Melton family lived close to the old school ground on Springhill Road. The house that Leon and Otha D. grew up in still stands and is just a half block on the north side of the street east of the Post Office.

The photo this week is courtesy of Leon Melton. It has four generations. The gentleman sitting is Leon with his daughter Shirley and his wife Modelle. Standing behind him is his mother Sudie Melton and her mother Lizzy Sanders.

Leon is a descendant from several generations of people here in Aubrey. He can still recall many of the incidents that happened in his early childhood and as he listened to his grandfathers talk and tell about their lives and what it was like when they were growing up.

He recalled that the Bensons lived just east of his parents at the intersection of Springhill Road and Hwy 377. When the new 377 was brought through during the 1960's, it chopped off part of both families’ land.

Leon recalls about hearing his great-grandfather David Rae tell how he took mules and fresnos and formed the spring fed lake that later became McNatt Lake. The lake is fed by a large flowing spring of water. The lake became a famous and important part of Onega’s entertainment for the local natives.

The water was clear and cool and would come up out of the top of the ground. You could make a hole in the ground with your fingers and the water would start coming up out of the ground and would make its way on down the branch that created a year-round water stream.

After the Raes constructed the dam, the water became a beautiful, clean, clear water source. It was a popular location for everyone young and elders to meet and picnic, as well as, for church baptismal ceremonies and fishing.

Leon Melton, said that his mother, Sudie, was born in the Indian Nation of the Cherokees in the Indian Territory. Sudie’s mother was Lizzy (Rae) Sanders and her father was James Sanders. Homer Sanders was a brother to Sudie and she had a sister named Etta. Etta was married to Herman Johnson.

Herman and Etta Johnson’s children are Dorrine, H.F. and James Johnson. They have all lived in Aubrey or in nearby communities.

Jim Bell was David Rae’s son-in-law, and his place was just to the west of the Sander’s place. Leon said that Jim Bell’s farmplace had the best quality of pure spring water. This water was an excellent ingredient in the manufacture of the locally high quality fermentation which was used as medication and was a necessity in almost every direction in the lives of the Native American settlers in Onega. It was not too much of a secret that the products were being so abundantly produced because the people here knew each other really well, and strangers were cautiously welcomed.

One elder native told me that when he was a young boy, he loved to go hunting back in the wooded area about a mile or two north of the village. On one certain day as he was walking through the woods, he noticed an elderly man sitting on a tree stump with a rifle laying across his knees, which he was ready to use in case of an emergency. The hunter said that he quickly realized that he may be entering a prohibited area, because he could smell smoke coming from a nearby clearing. He decided that it was best for him to quietly back out of the happy hunting grounds and never disturb the guarded enterprise that was obviously a part of the community network.

Leon also said that the McNatts bought the farm with the lake and spring water during the early 1930's.

Leon also told that when he was a young boy, the young people used to say that Aubrey got its name from an old man who came through town on a mule. And as he was pulling up to the hitching rail at the popular saloon, the old man tied his mule up and started walking toward the saloon. Leon says the story goes that no one knew which one, the mule or the old man, was the happiest because when the old man turned around upon entering the saloon, the mule threw his ears back and yawned a loud yawn that sounded like the mule was yelling "Aaaaaaaawww onk Braaaaaaaa. Everyone in the saloon came out, and they all said the mule was saying Aubrey, and thus the name of the town was established.

I really think that Leon had a good point on all of this naming, because the Cherokees were admitting defeat on the name of Onega, because the newly arriving settlers were not satisfied with the name of Onega because it was an Indian name, and that would be the best way to not give any special recognition to the name change.

The town of Aubrey had only had the name for forty or fewer years when Leon was born to Sudie and J.D. Melton.

Now, Leon I would say that is not a very long time especially if you consider that Jackie and I have lived in my grandparent’s house for almost 45 years.

I have mentioned that the local tribes people were very diplomatic and charming in establishing good relationships because the newly arriving immigrants were calling themselves Black Dutch, which had a good northern and union appeal to the local tribe. They were accepted because they were after all a friendly people and shared many ideas of the culture and the business environment – soon one of the old Indian commandments was passed around to everyone. It is "treat the earth and all that dwells there with respect."

I will share another commandment with you in the future.

When Leon laughingly told how Aaaaaaaww onk Braaaa was named, I am reminded to explain how the name of Aubrey really came about. John Morgan a former county commissioner at the time the courthouse on the square was built, explained in a newspaper reprint that was published back during the 1880's in a local press that was in existence sometime before and during the 1870's. The railroad construction was making its way right through the middle of Onega business district. He said that many of the townspeople both new and old were not satisfied with the name of Onega. The Post Office Department and the railroad company both agreed that the name should be called Aubrey after the name was pulled out of a hat which held three names. It has never been recorded what the other two names were.

At this time, Onega was dropped as the official name and Aubrey was accepted.

It has been stated that Noah Edwards who had acquired a half section to the west part of Onega had been in the process some few years earlier when surveying his land and laying out the lots for the original town of Aubrey before the name change, that the names be placed in a hat and drawn out.

Mr. J.A. Wood was the commissioned railroad agent after the name of Aubrey was drawn out and thus was appointed the first postmaster for the town named Aubrey. The first piece of mail was a letter that came to Judge Ben Moss who was the justice of the peace during at this time.

The native settlers really didn’t stand a chance to keep their old boxed board buildings that were being used at this time, because Mr. J.A. Wood owned the other half section of land that was east of Mr. Edwards plotted plans of the original town. It was during this time that the old boxed frame buildings that were used for the businesses were destroyed by fire for a second time.

I will include more photos from Leon Melton’s collection next week with more of his family history.

The Cherokees of the northern towns district is planning a gathering in Aubrey which will draw a large crowd of visitors and Cherokees. This gathering was the major topic of discussion during the last meeting, and the district chief served everyone hamburgers and dessert. WE ARE HERE, FOR WE NEVER LEFT.