Customer Reviews

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

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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.

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.

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.

"Only a Few Bones" is a MUST read! From the very first pages, "Bones" presents the reader with an amazing array of richly descriptive word pictures. Some almost seem fictional. Yet taken as a whole, they detail a rural Southern family's "social, political, economic, cultural and geographic conditions." These very real, but personal and emotional, images--as seen a century later by a descendant, a young man who had never been south of the Mason-Dixon line--are conveyed with sensitivity and descriptive language not ordinarily seen in a genealogical story of one's ancestors.
Colletta's use of language is exciting, bringing the everyday features of a rural family's life into an enticing and constantly revealing array of surprises. "What could possibly be next?" the reader keeps asking. But the historical and personal events of this family saga continue to unravel the family myth that the author as a teenager had heard from his grandmother as she cut out dress patterns on his mother's dining room table. Grandma's "facts" were only a part of the story; actually it was the unanswered questions that proved to be the impetus for a young genealogist's journey to an unknown area, the Mississippi Delta.
Rooted in a grandmother's stories, some of which were fact and some were mythical, "Bones" became reality to replace what for years had been a mystery: who set the fire in which great-grandfather had died? As the young, impressionable, family history seeker made his way from one small, backwater rural town to the next, to their local cafes and small-town hotels, the ghosts of the Delta--with the eventual help of newspaper accounts, census records, obituaries--began to reveal more and more. Grandma's unanswered questions slowly came alive and begged for answers, as more information was unearthed surrounding the mystery.
The results are a wonderful, exciting, and revealing account, really a very personal and emotional story, of what embracing and exploring a family myth can give to a dedicated researcher. Even a genealogical spouse will not want to put down this book! "Bones" is a MUST read!
William Gann, Independence, MO

A book of riveting writing and an compelling style of writing that is very unusual in this style of subject matter. From the first sentence until the end the author grabs your attention and holds it. Most books of this style are documentary and are a dry read but the author pulls you into the content and gives several scenarios of possible courses of action that happened and you, as the reader, take the facts presented and come to your own conclusion as to what happened many years ago to one person's family. What is one man's obession with a family tree becomes the reader's obession looking forward to the next chapter for more pieces of the puzzle. A simple book of search for a family background is taken into a fascinating detective story that the author shares in searching for answers in a tragedy that has passed from memory of all as the tragedy happened over a 129 years ago. A very great read!!!

Family history has never been this interesting. Only a Few Bones is not only a story about one family but it is also the story of our country from pre-Civil War through Reconstruction. This book demonstrates that truth can be stranger than fiction.
Only a Few Bones revolves around one event, the fire that destroyed a general store and killed 5 people in Rolling Fork, Mississippi in 1873. The story starts with the fire. It then proceeds to tell of the events leading up to the fire and finally, what happened after the fire. Mr. Colletta takes a family tale, separates truth from fiction, and what we get is a murder mystery.
The amount of research done for this book is unbelievable. The details are what set this book apart from others. He made me feel like I was there-seeing, smelling, hearing.
If you like mysteries, you'll love this book. If you're a genealogist, you'll not only be entertained by the story, but you'll learn that excellent research and truth don't have to be boring.

Genealogist should take a close look at the sources in the Notes. I found two sets of records for my personal research that I didn't know existed.

John Colletta's story is fascinating. The details and descriptions of the town in Mississippi are so vivid, I feel like I was there at the scene of the crime. It is a tragedy what happened, but it was a very good read...I'm not a genealogy buff, but this is like a road map for anyone wishing to find out about their ancestors. I highly recommend it.

A fascinating trip to the deep south during reconstruction. It really takes you there. A non-fiction work that reads like fiction and a murder mystery to boot! I learned a fair amount of post Civil War history the fun way. I am sure I will read it again.

It is wonderful to read a book that is so beautifully researched and documented. It contains valuable, factual information about the Mississippi Delta before, during and after the Civil War. Beyond that, there remains the telling of the mystery of the Rolling Fork Tragedy. I can hear John Colletta's voice, see him pace back and forth, and then throw another overhead onto the projector to punctuate his point as he narrates this tale of his ancestors. Well done.

I really enjoyed reading Only a Few Bones by John Philip Colletta. It's good family history, it's good local history, but--most importantly--it's a ripping good yarn which combines entertainment and enlightenment.