A new genealogical-type book of possible interest to many area residents has been published and is available for purchase via mail.

“Iron Butterfly” by Dr. Terry Sellers, Jr. of Oneonta, includes many individuals from Pike County as well as Bullock, Barbour and South Montgomery counties.

“The book contains some legends of the Irish and Scottish people back to the time of Noah,” Sellers said. “It includes a bit of history and the migration of the Sellers and Gilchrist and related families to the American colonies and on to Pike County and surrounding Alabama counties.”

Several biographies and an extensive index of more than 2,200 names, 135 illustrations, 60 tables and 121 references are included.

“I began research on the work in 1963 while we lived in North Carolina,” Sellers said. “So, after more than 45 years, tens of thousands of dollars and much tolerance of my wife, Joan, it is finished. Writing the book has been an interesting adventure, recording some of the legends of the Scots and numerous tales from earliest Colonial times, including genealogies back to that period and biographies of several family members.”

Sellers said, no doubt, a few eyebrows will be raised at some of his philosophical statements.

“But ‘Iron Butterfly’ will be a good read in that it reveals how one’s culture and environmental heritage shape a person’s attitudes and character,” he said.

Sellers in a native of Walker County and a graduate of Auburn University in forestry /wood technology. He worked in the industry 20 years before being appointed full professor at Mississippi State University in 1980. He retired in 2004 as professor emeritus of forest products and returned to Alabama, continuing his private consultancy in five continents. He was designated the 2006 Outstanding Alumnus by Auburn’s Forestry and Wildlife Sciences Alumni Association.

For more information or to order a copy of “Iron Butterfly,” call Sellers at 205-274-4863.