The Roots of Elvis

For some time, Julian C. Riley pondered the idea of presenting a fully-documented family tree for Elvis Presley. That desire became reality when a cousin of Elvis, Mackey Hargett, approached Julian with certain information he had involving the real family of Rosella Presley, Elvis' gggrandmother. The rest is history!

In the meantime, Barbara Lee Rowe, a cousin of Elvis through many different family lines, and also a cousin to Mackey Hargett, had continued to do research on the Presley family history first begun by her late father in the 1980's. Other Presley family members have researched the family as well, but thanks to the special efforts of a professional genealogist named Hank Z. Jones, a former co-star of Elvis Presley ("Girl Happy"), the Presleys could confirm German descent from an ancestor we have come to affectionately know as Valentine Bressler/Preslar. Jones cleared the path for further research which followed up with futher investigative work in the earlier years performed by Ed Dunn and Donald Presley, cousins.

Though both genealogies are separate, The Roots of Elvis Presley, Julian's work, deals mainly with the family connections in Mississippi. Barbara Lee's work, in the form of The Kin of Rock and Roll, deals with the connecting family links that begin in North Carolina and down to Mississippi. Both works should fairly meet midstream.

Family members in Mississippi bring their photos and documents to Julian who personally stores them and catagorizes all the information onto the site and in logs. Barbara Lee has received some information from family members as well, but since the majority of our ancestors in North Carolina are unknown to the descendants in Mississippi, Barbara Lee must do more of the research anew, and has had help from some family members along the way, to whom she is exceedingly grateful since North Carolina records are very scarce before 1863.

The Kin of Rock and Roll and Roots of Elvis Presley. One section compliments the other, as Barbara Lee has often been told, and it is the hope of all involved that both histories will resolve to lead to a finalized and official family tree for Elvis Presley and family.