My Cotton/McGaughey Family Tree is constantly being created from new data gathered since I started in 2002. Every person listed here is a relative, by blood or marriage.

This data comes from many sources such as the Internet, county records from Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Tennessee, as well as Birth and Death Certificates, Marriage Licenses, Wills and Tombstones.

A very large part of the original tree came from my mother, Maxine Clarice McGaughey Cotton (1917-1998).

Several years before her passing, she gave me a 20-some odd page, type-written family history telling my sister and me that she had started it and it was now our job to add to it and pass it on. I put all of her information and so much more in several easy to understand files on my website for all to study.

A most interesting off-shoot of this project has been the finding of unclaimed property from that "rich uncle" everyone always wishes they had. So far, it's been mostly in the form of mineral royalties, insurance policies, stock dividends and dormant bank accounts. All of this thanks to many Wills and Probate filings researched from several states/counties that have ended up leading to me. And yes, there were more than a few "dead" ends as well.

No "numbered Swiss" bank accounts have turned up yet. But hey, who knows where the next big find will come from. I have been able to legally claim almost $20,000 cash to date. OK, I've had to split it 50/50 with my sister, but it looks pretty good deposited in my account instead of sitting in some state's bank account.

Not only has this project been fun, informative and extremely interesting, but of late, even financially rewarding.

My Cotton/McGaughey Family Tree is constantly being created from new data gathered since I started in 2002. Every person listed here is a relative, by blood or marriage.

This data comes from many sources such as the Internet, county records from Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Tennessee, as well as Birth and Death Certificates, Marriage Licenses, Wills and Tombstones.

A very large part of the original tree came from my mother, Maxine Clarice McGaughey Cotton (1917-1998).

Several years before her passing, she gave me a 20-some odd page, type-written family history telling my sister and me that she had started it and it was now our job to add to it and pass it on. I put all of her information and so much more in several easy to understand files on my website for all to study.

A most interesting off-shoot of this project has been the finding of unclaimed property from that "rich uncle" everyone always wishes they had. So far, it's been mostly in the form of mineral royalties, insurance policies, stock dividends and dormant bank accounts. All of this thanks to many Wills and Probate filings researched from several states/counties that have ended up leading to me. And yes, there were more than a few "dead" ends as well.

No "numbered Swiss" bank accounts have turned up yet. But hey, who knows where the next big find will come from. I have been able to legally claim almost $20,000 cash to date. OK, I've had to split it 50/50 with my sister, but it looks pretty good deposited in my account instead of sitting in some state's bank account.

Not only has this project been fun, informative and extremely interesting, but of late, even financially rewarding.