• Her grandfather emigrated to the United States from Ireland due to a famine there.  This man, who spoke with an Irish brogue, would never talk about his experiences in Ireland because of the terrible memories of starvation.
  
  
• Both her father and grandfather were in the Civil War, and her grandfather was killed in the war. 
  
  
• Her mother was a Simmons.
  
  
• She came with her family from Georgia to Brindlee Mountain in a covered wagon when she was about 11.

Mindy Ann said her family came from a county in Georgia, which she pronounced as "pa-SY-ith" county.  Through the years we would look at lists of Georgia counties to try and find one that matched that pronunciation, but never found anything close.  We always thought that if we could identify the county, we could visit its courthouse and find out more about Mindy's early life.

In later years I moved to Atlanta, and one day spoke to a friend about a metro Atlanta county named Forsyth.  I incorrectly pronounced the name "FOR-syth," with the accent on the first syllable.  My friend told me the correct pronunciation was "for-SYTH," with the emphasis on the second syllable.  It immediately occurred to me that this could be the mysterious "Pasyith" county that Mindy Ann spoke of.  Turns out it was.  Research in Forsyth and surrounding counties revealed that the Glass family was from that area. 

Mindy Ann's father was William W. Glass, and her grandfather was William T. Glass.  Click on the links to the right for information on these and other Glass family members.