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Guns and Gods in My Genes: A 15,000-mile North American search through four centuries of history, to the Mayflower Paperback – December 11, 2020

4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 15 ratings

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Bronze Medal - Readers' Favorite 2021 International Book Awards - Non-Fiction Genealogy

Winner of New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards 2021 for non-regional Biography and finalist in History, Travel, and Cover Design

Neill McKee, author of the award-winning travel memoir Finding Myself in Borneo, takes the reader through 400 years and 15,000 miles of an on-the-road adventure, discovering stories of his Scots-Irish ancestors in Canada, while uncovering their attitudes towards religion and guns. His adventure turns south and west as he follows the trail of his maternal grandfather, a Canadian preacher who married an American woman in Wisconsin, and braved the American Wild West. Much to his surprise, McKee finds his American ancestors were involved in every major conflict on North American soil: the Civil War, the American Revolution, and the French and Indian War. In the last chapters, McKee discovers and documents his Pilgrim ancestors who arrived on the Mayflower, landing at Plymouth in 1620, and their Puritan descendants who fought in the early Indian Wars of New England. With the help of professional genealogical research, he tracks down and tells the stories of the heroes, villains, rascals, as well as, the godly and ordinary folk in his genes, discovering many facts and exposing myths. He also lets readers in on a personal struggle: whether to apply for Canadian-United States dual citizenship or remain only a Canadian.


The author employs vivid descriptions, dialogue, poetic prose, historic poetry, analytical opinion, and over a hundred photos and illustrations. For example, in a detective-like investigation he takes the reader back to the scenes his preacher grandfather encountered in Newcastle, Wyoming, during 1905-06-then a town with a two-story brothel across the street from his church, as well as a sheriff who owned a saloon with a dance hall, and carried a gun with 20 notches on its handle. McKee visits some of the exact places his ancestors fought and were wounded or killed. He describes encounters with exuberant historians clad in period costumes in ancient forts, and humorous interactions with actor-educators playing the part of Pilgrims at the reconstructed Plymouth Plantation. He takes the reader on serendipitous happenings, such as meeting a distant cousin who's a flower farmer in Western New York State and who has studied their mutual family history in the US and England, dating back twenty-eight generations to the Norman invasion. Throughout the chapters, McKee discovers the importance of following female lines of descent in genealogical research. He also documents socio-religious values and trends, the history of settlement and its impact on North America's indigenous people, as well as the increasingly strict gun control in Canada, compared to the opposite in USA.


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Editorial Reviews

Review

McKee's venture gave me rewards that I can feel and will pass along to others. As I share the many stories I personally tell in the future, McKee has given me another to share...one about how to properly write the story of Family. It is magnificently done! -Ronald G. Taylor, Historian & Genealogist, Western New York


Guns and Gods in My Genes is a poignant, intense exploration of research into the author's ancestry where he begins in the modern day, talking to relatives and descendants in both the US and Canada, and gradually takes the reader back through 400 years to his first ancestors who arrived on the Mayflower. He seeks to answer the question of what ethics and philosophy he has inherited over the centuries to help him understand how he should feel about God and guns. His research is deep and wide and raises many thought-provoking questions. A fast-paced and fascinating read. -Gayle Lauradunn, Poet and Author, Albuquerque, New Mexico


I am thinking differently now about using the tools and techniques in his book to learn more about my own family history, and to escape old false beliefs, and embed better attitudes and relationships. Thanks, Neill McKee, for writing this book.

-Charles Mann Rolison, Retired, Albuquerque, New Mexico


I absolutely love this book. Couldn't put it down once I started reading. It is entertaining, interesting, and factual, with some humor thrown in. A wonderful mix of people, their interactions with their neighbours, and the indigenous population around them within the time frame in which they lived. Great job! -Gwenda McCurdy, Avid Reader, Brampton, Ontario


Neill McKee has personalized the history of North America since the arrival of his ancestors on the Mayflower like no author I have ever read before. While the story follows the McKee and Neill/Haskins family experiences, it also speaks to the broader settler-indigenous relations, conflicts, and struggles still unfolding in the 21st century. Drawing on family stories and his interactions with concerned people on both sides of the Canadian-USA border, McKee describes cultural distinctions that significantly inform contrasting assumptions about governance and the Rule of Law, including gun culture and socio-religious underpinnings. All of this is done through vivid descriptions, dialogue, poetic prose, poetry, analytical opinion, and loads of images-a most enjoyable and informative read. -Ken Frey Ed.D., Management Consultant, Milton, Ontario

About the Author

Neill McKee is a creative nonfiction writer based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His first travel memoir, Finding Myself in Borneo, won a bronze medal in the Independent Publishers Book Awards, 2020, as well as other awards. McKee holds a Bachelor's Degree, from the University of Calgary and a Master's Degree in Communication from Florida State University. He worked internationally for 45 years, becoming an expert in the field of communication for social change. He directed and produced a number of award-winning documentary films/videos and multimedia initiatives, and has written numerous articles and books in the field of development communication. During his international career, McKee worked for Canadian University Service Overseas (CUSO); Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC); UNICEF; Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland; Academy for Educational Development and FHI 360, Washington, DC. He worked and lived in Malaysia, Bangladesh, Kenya, Uganda, and Russia for a total of 18 years and traveled to over 80 countries on short-term assignments. In 2015, he settled in New Mexico, using his varied experiences, memories, and imagination in creative writing.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Nbfs Creations LLC (December 11, 2020)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 173294573X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1732945739
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.14 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.79 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 15 ratings

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A compelling journey with the author to places where his own ancestors actually lived
5 out of 5 stars
A compelling journey with the author to places where his own ancestors actually lived
Early graphic memories of deer hunting as a boy opens this treatise of Neill McKee's hunt for ancestors. The reader not only goes along on his treks, but is also privy to his thinking and the lens through which he even asks questions about the past. Made clear by the title, two themes run through the historical sleuthing are indeed guns and gods. At each generation he wonders whether or not his ancestor owned guns, and if so, what kind and for what. Some of his ancestors were pastors. McKee visits at least two services in churches where his ancestors had ministered, and from his own contemporary notes, extrapolates what kind of religion his forebears may have preached there.The author documents how he learns everything, also adding his own imaginings. He has fun during several encounters, even naming a couple of dogs that come along to help check out ancestral holdings. At one point, to share information in a "more digestible form," he does it through a rhyming poem. Each generation is set in historical context as McKee also offers his own speculation as to how his predecessors may have reacted to what was current news at the time. The book is enhanced by a genealogy flow chart, maps, tables of ancestors, and extensive chapter notes.If you enjoy genealogy, mystery or a fascinating search for history, "Guns and Gods in My Genes" is a compelling trek with the author to the places where his own ancestors actually lived.
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2021
    This was a interesting and compelling read which led me to further explore my own ancestor's stories. In particular certain historical references hit home for me.

    On page 159 Neill discusses the battle and surrender of General Burgoyne on October 17, 1777. I found a newspaper clipping of my 4th great grandfather, John Sanford, who was present at the battle and the surrender on that date. It also led me to find three more of my ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary War as well.

    Neill also mentioned his ancestors' connection to the Norman Invasion of England on Page 174. My 24th great grandfather was Turstin "The Fleming". Turstin, son of Rolf "Toustain fitz rou le Blanc, was born in 1045 in France. The records say he was the "standard bearer" for William the Conqueror and he settled in Whitney-on-Wye. His son, Eustice, took the surname De Whitney after the place name.

    And on page 201 Joseph Brant is discussed. He is well-known in my area and part of our local history. He was famously involved in the Battle of Minisink, along the Delaware River in New York. The legend we all learned in grade school was when Brant and his men raided the village and went by the one room school house he told his men to paint large black "X"'s on the girls aprons and to tell the rest of the party following to spare anyone with an "X" on their clothes. The story goes that the girls imprinted the paint on the boys' white shirts and they were spared too. They did not do this for their teacher, Mr. Van Auken, however, and he was scalped in front of the students. There was a motel in town named "The Painted Aprons".

    This is just to say, thank you Neill McKee for an enjoyable and interesting book that inspired me to search for the stories of my ancestors and locality. Anyone reading this will be inspired as well to explore your roots and to find out more about the fascinating lives all those who came before us. The context of the massive amount of historical research that went into this book is also commendable. The people come alive in the context of the political and social milieu in which they lived.
  • Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2021
    Neill McKee has done a fine job in mixing genealogy, history and insight in his book. Being an avid genealogy researcher and being interested in part of his family’s history I was curious to read his book. He has combined the story of his family with the surrounding history at the time thus putting his family’s lives in context. As I was reading it I was reminded of the various twists and turns that ancestral research throws at you. The various chapters reflect these twists and turns as he seeks to find evidence of his family’s existence across a great many states and countries. In part, his book reflects the westward migration of our ancestors over time from the colonial days in New England to the post-Civil War days in the far west. There is also an interesting parallel to the history of Canada as well as the United States. Well done.
  • Reviewed in the United States on March 29, 2021
    McKee’s Guns and Gods in my Genes is a rewarding memoir that transports us through important eras of Canada’s and America’s history. Though the author may not have known at the start of his genealogical research that he’d travel over 15,000 miles to complete this memoir, he did publish it in time to honor the 400th anniversary of the landing of the Mayflower. Since his heritage traces back to his ninth great-grandfather, the Mayflower becomes an important element in McKee’s account.
    I welcome this volume as a fascinating addition to accounts of our country’s founding, including the regrettable and bloody wars between the indigenous peoples and the earliest newcomers.
    Of particular interest is McKee’s tracking of his Haskin lineage, traced through his mother’s line via his maternal grandmother, Effie Jane Haskins (d. 1966). This segment of the author’s history carries us back to one Anthony H[o]skins who lived between 1632 and 1707. The chapter, “The Haskins Family and the Civil War,” introduces us to Lafayette Haskins, the author’s great-grandfather, who enlisted in the 7th Wisconsin Regiment in 1861, at the age of 17.
    As an eager young soldier, Lafayette must have struggled with the awkward guns used in the Civil War. Bullets from these guns could cause irreparable internal damage to soldiers. Yet officers instructed the troops not to help the wounded, as they had to continue their tasks of loading and recharging their rifles as quickly as possible. In spite of dim prospects for survival, Lafayette Haskins, having fallen sick and thereby missing the Battle of Gettysburg, survived to 1925. In this chapter, McKee includes the shocking statistic that, of the 700,000 soldiers who died in this war, many succumbed not from battle itself, but from such diseases as dysentery, pneumonia, measles, typhoid fever or tuberculosis. (pp.127-130)
    The chapter I referenced is only a tiny sampling of the fascinating details McKee offers his readers in Guns and Gods in My Genes. His inclusion of maps, a highly comprehensive and significant genealogical chart, eight tables, and detailed chapter notes aid the reader through the complexities of his poetical and entertaining account.
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Blair McDowell
    5.0 out of 5 stars Thoroughly interesting story
    Reviewed in Canada on March 4, 2021
    This is the story of Neill McKee searching for his family's roots, arriving from Scotland on the Mayflower, through the many conflicts in United States and finally to the present generation in Canada. McKee keeps the reader engaged with humor and with stories of the many people he meets in his search. Presently living in the United States he is conflicted about whether or not to take American citizenship, finally coming to a decision as the book ends. Well worth reading.