The Bear Went Over the Mountain: Genealogy and Social History of a Southern U.S. Family; the Story of the Native American-English Yates Family, from Colonial Virginia to Twentieth-century Florida, with Sketches of Pioneer Life and Traditional Stories, including an Account of James & Elisabeth Yates of Heard County, Georgia, together with an Appendix about Southern Language, Numerous Photographs, Charts and Illustrations, not without an Index, viz. of Persons of Surname Bondurant/Bundren, Cooper, Denn(e)y, Fawcett/Fossett, Gates, Goble, Graben, Kimball/ Kimble /Kimbrell/ Kimbrough, Kitchens, McDonald, Mitchell, Redwine, Shankles, and Yates/ Yeat(e)s of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, North & South Carolina, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia

Donald N. Yates

Jan 1995 · Panther`s Lodge Publishers

About this ebook

This genealogy classic, written in the bad old days of shoe leather and courthouse basements before the Internet, tells of a Southern man's discovery of his Native American ancestry in the 1990s. 

Among fascinating regional and local stories, you'll discover how the Yateses of Virginia coped on the frontier…how some Cherokees escaped the Trail of Tears…what the Southern drawl really means…where The Tree That Owns Itself is…how Elisabeth Yates stole her cattle back from Gen. Sherman. 

Out of print for years, this sought-after family history is available in electronic form only. Fall under the spell of all its local color, storytelling and genealogy help also in the exciting audiobook version.

Ratings and reviews

Interesting read! I appreciated the combination of photos, genealogy charts, and commentary. I feel better acquainted with the entire family tree!

About the author

Donald N. Yates (also published as Donald Panther-Yates) was born in 1950 in Cedartown, Georgia and is of one-quarter American Indian descent. His first book was The Bear Went over the Mountain, a genealogy and social history of the Yates family of Virginia. Around 2000 he found out his parents and ancestors belonged to the Melungeons, an Appalachian ethnic group. With Elizabeth Caldwell Hirschman he has co-authored When Scotland Was Jewish (2007), Jews and Muslims in British Colonial America: A Genealogical History (2012) and The Early Jews and Muslims of England and Wales: A Genetic and Genealogical History (2013). He is the author of Old World Roots of the Cherokee: How DNA, Ancient Alphabets and Religion Explain the Origins of America's Largest Indian Nation (2012) and Old Souls in a New World (2013). He also publishes a series called Cherokee Chapbooks aimed at making essential texts and traditional American Indian storytelling accessible to those rediscovering their Native roots. Visit his author's page at donaldyates.com.