Like so many Americans of the past 30-plus years, since the publication of Alex Haley’s “Roots” sparked a renewed interest in genealogy, Martha Mason Fleming became interested in tracing her ancestors.

She always knew she was descended from a full-blooded Cherokee, but it took the Internet research of a distant cousin in Lauderdale County, Melissa Mason Brown, to get the ball rolling.

Fleming, a widow since 1982 when her husband, John Clellon Fleming, died, retired from a secretarial job with U.S. Missile Defense on Redstone Arsenal in 1996 and now has time to put her thoughts about her heritage into perspective.

Her son, Mark Fleming, 47, lives in Alabaster and her daughter, Zena Wheeler, 44, lives in East Limestone not far from her Bradford Road home. She has three grandchildren.

Born in Rogersville, Martha said as a child she didn’t ask many questions about her family, but now she wishes she had.

“Grandfather died when I was too young to ask him any questions,” she said. “I didn’t pursue it with my Granny because children in those days were seen and not heard.”

However, she has many special memories of when her extended family used to gather at the home of her Rogersville grandparents, Daney and Ada Whitehead Mason.

“We always met at their house every Sunday,” said Martha. “Their table was full of food. When I was little I thought Granny prepared all of that food instead of all the others bringing it.

“The kids always ate last and we rode in a wagon across a field to get to their house.”

Martha has written down some of her thoughts about her Cherokee ancestors:

“Cherokee Indian blood runs through my veins. I am proud of my Indian heritage. My great-great-grandfather, James Lee Mason, was a full-blooded Cherokee Indian and his wife, Louisa Elizabeth Hall, was half Cherokee and half Scotch-Irish.

“He fought in the Civil War, even though some people thought Indians were nothing but savages that needed to be civilized and made to forget about their heritage and culture. My great-great-grandfather became an Indian guide and died of a fever — the result of measles — after the Battle of Shiloh. We were told that he was buried somewhere north of Corinth, Miss.

“All of this information was passed down through the family by my grandfather, Daney Mason, Everett Mason, Kathleen Putman and Ruthie Putman — all grandchildren of James and Elizabeth Mason.

“When the settlers came to this country, the Indians were already here. The Indians shared the country with the settlers, teaching them many things, such as how to grow corn and vegetables. They helped them survive in a country they knew nothing about by sharing what they had and their knowledge about the land.

“The Indians had their own traditions and ways of living and worshipping. They did not ask the white man to change to their ways, but the white man was not satisfied living in a country with others who had traditions different from theirs.