"This is a collection of 283 genealogies which I have compiled over a period of twenty years as a professional genealogist. ... While I have dealt with some of Oglethorpe's settlers, the vast majority of the genealogies included in this collection deal with Georgians who descend from settlers from other states."--Note to the Reader.

This is a genealogical history of the McKneely families of South Carolina, Georgia and Louisiana. There are two branches to this Scotch-Irish family with this unique spelling. One that migrated from South Carolina to Georgia and then on to Texas and other parts of the expanding United States of America. Then there is the branch that left South Carolina in the late 1700s and early 1800s with other families and settled in what at the time was West Florida. This area then was taken into the United States of America with the purchase of Florida from Spain and then became a part of Louisiana. The Louisiana branch resided in the Parishes called the Florida Parishes and stayed close to the area until after the First World War when the family began to migrate into other parts of the United States. You will find in this book two parts. One part covers the McKneely family that migrated to the Florida Parishes of Louisiana and the Second part that covers the McKneely family that first migrated to Georgia and then to Oklahoma and Texas. There is speculation but no proof that the two lines come from the common immigrant ancestor James McNealy with various spellings of McNealy. Look at the information and decide for yourself whether or not two lines could adopt a common spelling change, come from South Carolina and have common names and not be related to the common ancestor attached to the Louisiana McKneely clan. I have attempted to include as much detail as possible about each person. Personal stories are the spice of a genealogical work. I have included as many as possible and included them without edit. I am not a politically correct family historian. There may be some factually correct material that you may not like or that someone might tell you is not correct. Please read this account with the times and culture in mind as that is what makes the story a good one. Do not try to impress yourself on the story but put yourself into the times and places.

In 1925 Texans were stunned when a young man’s severed head was found in an abandoned farmhouse near the town of Stephenville. An investigation led to ex-convict F. M. Snow and the mysterious disappearances of his wife and mother-in-law. But this shocking, bloody saga began 50 years earlier . . . Beautiful, vivacious Samantha Jones had a penchant for dangerous men. Her teenage marriage to gambler Amos Smith ended when he was gunned down in a hit orchestrated by his wife’s alleged lover, who was lynched. The widow then married the abusive Bill Olds, who was later arrested for theft, forgery and murder. Violence stalked the next generation when Samantha’s daughter, Maggie Olds, was twice widowed with the brutal murders of her second and fourth husbands. Yet Maggie’s unfortunate choice for a fifth husband, F. M. Snow, led to a gruesome, triple tragedy. In Blood Legacy: The True Story of the Snow Axe Murders, James Pylant delves into family history and sheds new light on a tale of twenty shocking deaths fueled by greed, insanity and revenge. "From hits to lynchings to black widows, this chronicle proves endlessly intriguing." —The Midwest Book Review "Set in the seemingly quiet isolation of small-town Texas, Blood Legacy is a well-written, well-researched true tale with Gothic overtones and more than a hint of Stephen King-style horror." —Carlton Stowers, best-selling and award-winning author

A two volume set which provides researchers with more than 70,000 links to every conceivable genealogical resource on the Internet.