Junealee SEAY

Junealee Seay was born at home on June 23, 1942 in Little Rock, Arkansas.

The house was behind Little Rock Central High School Stadium. I have a couple of pictures of her and sister Jewell standing with the stadium wall in the background.

In 2003 I took her to Little Rock to see where she was born. The house had been leveled, all that remained were the stairs leading up to the house.

According to her birth certificate her mother Emma Burks Seay was 40 years old born in Yell, Arkansas. Claude Wootson Seay was 38 born in Morrilton, Arkansas. The WWII Draft card says he was employed at Williams Garage 4619 Asher St. Little Rock as a Mechanic. What wasn't known until 2013 and DNA was that he was not her Biological father.

Being interested in genealogy and family health, I decided to take the autosomal DNA test.

Since I knew I carried her DNA, I wanted my mom's father's side represented.

I needed a direct male line. Otto Seay who was (80 year old) at the time, was a first cousin to my mother. He agreed to test.

Everything changed with those DNA results.

I learned that Otto and I shared no significant DNA within the past 6 generations. In the early days I had no idea what that meant other than the obvious. That if we didn't share DNA we were not related by blood.

Shocked? Yes. I asked, could this be a mistake? Otto had no idea. My next question, was this on my mom's side or Otto's? I decided I needed to know. I then asked my oldest first cousin Gene Autry Seay to test. When his results came in, I had my answer, but that left me with several new questions.

The break in our family line was indeed my mom. Gene shared DNA with Otto, the amount was in line with a 1C1xR as expected. Although I shared less than the amount of a first cousin. My mother was not the biological child of Claude Wootson Seay as stated on her birth certificate.

So who was her father?

June was the youngest of her siblings she had two older brothers, Clifford was 20, Earl 15, and her sister Jewell was 10 years old.

Emma divorced Claude Wootson and married Walter Reeves Abernathy on March 1, 1951, when he was 47 years old. Emma was 49. They moved with June to Tulsa, Oklahoma.

At age 15 June met Manuel Morales at the movie theater were they frequently went. She married Manuel on June 24, 1958 a day after her 16th birthday. Debbora was born May 1959, James in July 1963.

They separated shortly after she became pregnant with James. They divorced in 1964.

She met Roger Williams Sr. through her sister Jewell. They married in 1964. Roger and Rodney were born Sept. 1964.

***I'll be adding/editing information as I find time.