John C. Elliott
Chasing Dabner is about the journey Mr. Elliott has taken while researching the life and times of Dabner Wansley Elliott. His central focus is the story about his great-grandfather's unbelieveable decision to traverse across the United States to the California Gold Rush during the most exciting and demanding period in American History.
Yet, the underlying story is his family's triumph against terrible odds to stay together and beat those odds.
John C. Elliott graduated with honors from Winston County High School in 1971. He served almost two years in the U.S. Navy when he was honorably discharged with a medical disability in 1977. He returned to college and completed his B.S. degree fom the University of Montevallo in 1982. After teaching and coaching for 20 years he finished his M.Ed. from Alabama State University in 2005. He plans to retire from teaching and continue writing about the Elliott's from Northern Georgia and the "Free State of Winston" County, Alabama.
The death of Dabner left his 14 year old son (Jim) and Nancy Jane with little but land. Jim's premature and tragic death during the Great Depression all but doomed his family to a sudden and uncontrollable destiny. Had the family not been armed with the strength of a strong Mother to perservere through the worst that life could muster and children who would sacrafice for the greater well-being of their siblings. The family braved through it all and rose above adversity to hold the family together and defy the odds that were against them.
