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MR. EDITOR — I am an orphan and haven either mother nor father. I wish to inquire through your valuable paper for my dear broth- ers [brothers] and sisters. I do not know whether father is dead or not. My father's name is George Washing- ton [Washington] Gaines, and my mother's was Polly. She died in Austin, Texas, about thirteen or fourteen years ago. My mother, on her death bed, gave me to her sister Melissa Cain, who was living or rather cooking for a family a few miles from Austin, and I was taken away from her by my uncle Jim Roe and carried to Bastrop, Texas, where I was given to a family of white peo- ple [people] by the name of Olive. They have been almost like my mother and father would have been to me. My oldest brother's name was Henry Washington Gaines. My dear mother died in Austin and left six little orphans; three boys and three girls; the boys' name are George, Henry and Eli; the girls are Manda, Phoebe and my- self [myself]. We were all left in Austin. I was too young to remember any more about them. Please, pastors of churches, inquire and oblige ANNIE WASHINGTON GAINES, Olive, Hardin Co., Tex.