Montgomery Man Publishes Book Tracing Family Roots
We continue to highlight history makers in Montgomery with a local educator who wrote a book tracing his family roots from enslavement in North Carolina, to college graduates and a legacy of education.
When Charles Everett IV began writing a letter to his children, it took him down a path that would lead to a published book.
“My Fathers Name,” captures Everett’s journey to trace his family roots.
Everett says he began the letter because he wanted his children to know their family history.
“I wanted them to be able to celebrate their families journey from enslavement to liberation,” says Everett IV.
He was able to trace his family all the way back to the first documented patriarch, a slave named Charles, who had escaped slavery to join the Union Army.
Slaves had no last name, so upon his freedom Charles took on the names of his first and second owners. Charles Patterson Everett.
“Not only did he not want work and  to be in subjugation to any man, he wanted to make sure his freedom was sealed,” said Everett.
Charles Patterson Everett would marry Mary Ann Wiggins in 1865, and the couple installed the importance of education into their children.
A legacy of education was to follow.
In just one generation, the Everetts would go from Enslaved to College Graduates.
“Charles Patterson Everett Jr. graduated from Hampton Instutute, and since then there has been a Charles Everett to graduate from college continually. I see is as breaking illiteracy and poverty through education.” says the author.
Charles Patterson Everett Jr. would relocate to Alabama in 1896 to work with Miss Georgia Washington in M. Meigs, Alabama. From there each generation of Everetts to this day, have went on to work in education.
