Only a Few Bones: A True Account of the Rolling Fork Tragedy and Its Aftermath [Paperback]

John Philip Colletta (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 436 pages
• Publisher: Direct Descent; First Printing edition (September 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0970132700
• ISBN-13: 978-0970132703
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #282,357 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Genealogical writing at its very best!, July 22, 2002

By 

Michael K. Smith (South Louisiana) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Only a Few Bones: A True Account of the Rolling Fork Tragedy and Its Aftermath (Paperback)

It's a truism that, even among genealogists, few of us are truly interested in the details of other people's family histories. But now and then, a story comes along that is not only instructive in research methodology and interpretation of evidence, but is also an absorbing tale in its own right. And anyone who has heard Dr. Colletta lecture at a conference or speak at a banquet knows he's a born storyteller, a natural entertainer. Though he's based in Washington, the author is often identified with his hometown of Buffalo, New York, and with the subject of immigration research, but he also has Southern connections. When he first became interested in his family's history at the age of fourteen, he interviewed his grandmother and heard from her a sketchy and rather garbled account of the violent death of her own grandfather, Joseph Ring, in the fiery destruction of his store in Rolling Fork, Issaquena County, Mississippi, in 1873. (Though even most of those few facts were not known to her.) And when Joe's widow was returning to her family in the North, she was beset by another tragedy: The death of her infant son in a steamboat wreck. That was the beginning of a thirty-year quest to uncover the facts, a process Colletta describes here, step by step. Was Joe Ring killed by marauding ex-slaves? By local planters who opposed the arrival of recent immigrants? Was it bandits? Disgruntled customers? Or was it an Act of God? Reading newspaper accounts and the scant courthouse documents, tracking recollections of events in other branches of his family, walking the site of the store itself, he considered many hypotheses, eventually discarding all but one. (I won't tell you which one!) But while it sometimes reads almost like a novel, this volume is also an extended research report and every attributed personality trait or speculation on motive is accompanied by a footnote. And his conclusions are carefully bolstered by the available evidence. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Only a Few Bones" tells it all, January 29, 2002

By 

Beverly (Spokane, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Only a Few Bones: A True Account of the Rolling Fork Tragedy and Its Aftermath (Paperback)

There are so many levels to John Colletta's "Only a Few Bones."
It can be read solely as a "Whodunit," and will keep the reader guessing with each new theory put forth. It's a fascinating detective story -- and it's all true.
It can be read on a historical level with its wealth of mid-19th century history in the South.
It is an excellent example of documentation. It must be a given that few books have ever been so well researched and documented.
"Only a Few Bones" can be read as the story told by a professor with a PhD in an entirely different field who could no longer ignore the calling of genealogy.
It's a quality example of using social history to flesh out the "bones" of all our ancestors.
But, most of all, "Only a Few Bones" is a fascinating read.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Way to Learn How To Write a Gripping Family Story, April 28, 2004

By 

Linda Kleback (Lynn Haven, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Only a Few Bones: A True Account of the Rolling Fork Tragedy and Its Aftermath (Paperback)

I've been fortunate to hear Dr. Colletta speak at several genealogy conferences. He is a master at gleaning facts from newspapers, family tales, and other sources to illustrate his family stories, and this story of trying to find the truth behind a family tragedy taught me so much about putting together a readable family book. I never even thought to look at weather reports to see what was going on the day someone was born, married, or died. In his book, Dr. Colletta weaves everyday details such as the weather in with his narrative that give it a richness and immediacy. Any genealogist who want to create a family history with more than names, dates, or places, should read this book.