An Alston Saga by Alex A. Alston, Jr - 2002

Jackson, Mississippi: Purple Crane Creek Press, 2002. H2 - A hardcover book SIGNED and inscribed by Alex A. Alston, Jr. to previous owner on the half-title page in very good condition in good dust jacket. Dust jacket has less than 2" open tear with chipping on the back lower left side, some wrinkling and chipping on the edges and corners, some scattered scratches, rubbing, chipping, scuffing, foxing, and stains, light tanning and shelf wear. Book has some bumped corners, some chipping on the back lower left side, some scattered light foxing and stains on the page edges, light discoloration and shelf wear. 8.75"x5.75", 200 pages. Satisfaction Guaranteed. An Alston Saga records the history of a remarkable family through nine generations, as it makes it way from England to the Carolinas, Georgia, and Mississippi. The story begins in England in the late 1600s when young John Alston, age 21, leaves his comfortable surroundings, braves the treacherous seas, and arrives in the Carolina wilderness, John marries among the Quakers, and his family grows and prospers. The Alston family is filled with colorful adventurers. Philip Alston becomes a Revolutionary war hero, but later is charged with murder and flees to Georgia, where an unknown assassin murders him in his sleep. Philip's son James seeks his adventure in the newly opened Indian territory of north Mississippi. His gospel=preaching son William soon follows, and the family is quickly engulfed in the Civil War. All five of William's sons fight for the Confederacy and all five are casualties of war, two of them giving their lives for the cause. William's grandson Alex - the author's grandfather - becomes a notorious outlaw in the fledgling Mississippi Delta of the late 1800s. After dodging posses for 15 years, Alex the outlaw dies at the age of 34, leaving his poverty-stricken widow, the beautiful Nellie, with four young children, one of whom was the author's father Alex. The author fondly recalls growing up in Hollandale, Mississippi, where his father and beloved mother Elizabeth settled down after the Depression. "I experienced there," he says, "the unbounded freedom and joy of growing up in the bounty of the rich and glorious Mississippi Delta of the 1940s and 1950s.". Signed by Author. Hardcover. Very Good/Good. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.