Tim lives on the corner of Magnolia and Springhill Road in an addition that was built during the 1970's and 1980's. This is the location where the Baptist church was originally located and built back in 1875.

A small Indian cemetery was located behind the Baptist church until it was abandoned to make room for the third school, which was a red brick structure built and completed for fall enrollment in 1907. The school was located on a three-acre spread of land.

The first school was a log cabin that was built by George Key and used as a Methodist church. The second building was a tall one story with a one in twelve pitch roof. It was located where the current new high school was built in 2000.

The old Baptist church was a handsome Gothic structure which was well built. It was moved across the railroad and down Main Street to where it sits today. It is currently being restored close to its original appearance with the exception of the asbestos siding which has been on the outside since the 1940's.

One thing that is not original and is a tremendous asset to the location is the beautiful landscaping that is taking place on the north side of the building. The landscaping is an example of beautification that is time consuming and requires much labor and planning, but the improvement is definitely nice. My commendations are in order to all of the new home owners in the city that are making Aubrey a better-looking place.

Tim Hamm’s home has won the Main Street honor for being the yard of the month.

This past Saturday was in the store getting plumbing parts for his current DIY project. After we located the correct plumbing parts, Raquel, the nice young lady that was with Tim, said that her Grandfather used to live in Aubrey. She was wondering if by chance that I could recall her grandparents. Her grandfather is Cap McNatt.

The first thing that came to my mind was that Cap was a great-grandson of James William Harmon and Grandma Blackeye (Jane B.) Turner Harmon. Grandma Blackeye was a full Cherokee, and their families are some of the original settlers of Onega (Aubrey), Texas. They settled in the area beginning in the 1860's. They had traveled back and forth between Texas and McMinn County, Tennessee before settling permanently in the Onega region.

Raquel said that Cap was in his nineties and doing well. She said that she wants to bring him to Aubrey to visit with me sometime. I told Raquel that I would be delighted to visit with him, since my great-great-great-grandmother Blackeye was a grandma to almost half of Aubrey at one time.

This information peaked Raquel’s interest. She said, "Well I knew I was a part Indian, but that’s all I ever knew."

I told her that I had written about Micagha (Cage) McNatt . He was on the 1930 Census living in Aubrey. I also told her that Cap McNatt is a cousin to Wilson Brown, who is also another grandson of Grandma Blackeye. Wilson Brown is the owner of the south half of downtown main street buildings.

The more we talked, the more we realized how this one family of Aunt "Emmer" and Uncle Cage developed into such a large family, and today totals several hundred Cherokee descendants.

The world just gets so small and smaller when we start talking about Grandma Blackeye and her husband James William Harmon. James William Harmon was the grandfather of Arthur Harmon.

James William and Grandma Blackeye had ten children. They are: James Andrew, who had been married two times before he came to Texas; Sarah; Ester (M.C. and Clarence Smith’s grandmother), Sterling; Martha; Mary; John; Joe T.; Harriet Emily (Cap’s grandmother); Corneilia; Susan and Jacob Arthur who died in 1952.

Raquel and I continued to talk about her Cherokee ancestors. The Texas Cherokee Native Americans believe that if you have one drop of Cherokee blood in your lineage, then you are a Cherokee (whether you like it or not). Because that one drop of Cherokee blood was an absolute necessity when it comes to how the great Creator brought you into this world.

But I have said many times that this is a better way to be an American and more especially a Cherokee.

Raquel looked at Tim and said, "Look, I just want to come back and find out more about this Indian Heritage."

The Cherokee nation of the Northern Towns District of Texas meets every second Saturday in the small dining room in the hardware store. Cherokee history and heritage is discussed in these meetings.

I can hear my old Indian grandmother and great-great-great grandmother as they pleasantly smile and laugh at the heritage that we still have that lingers in this community.

One great thing is that we now live in a land where we can freely talk and explain our heritage without the bullet that they received. They were liquidated due to the Indian Removal Act that was made under President Jackson’s term during the 1820's.