A Little Family History Part II - My Father's Family

Now that I have dealt with Mom's family, it is time I talk a little about Dad's side.   Unlike Mom's, who were German Anabaptist natives of West Virginia, Dad's family had roots in south-central Alabama, namely the two counties of Butler and Crenshaw.  And, their ethnic background was a little unique as well, being a combination of French Huguenot, English, Creek Indian, and Sephardic Converso Jewish, among other things.  The interesting thing about that, however, is that on both sides - not to mention from the same source - Dad's family was descended as well from royalty, as you will see later on.   Therefore, let us get started.

My dad, Joseph Wayne Thrower (called "Wayne" by most of the rest of the family and his close friends) was actually born in Jacksonville, FL, to my grandparents Melvin Thrower and Ann Lee Compton Thrower on April 15, 1948.   He was the youngest of their three children, with an older brother who died in infancy being born in AL, and his older sister, my late aunt Annette Thrower Dotson (1940-2004) being his siblings.   When my grandparents later separated, Dad ended up being raised in the nearby town of Brunswick, GA, by my grandfather who had moved there in the early 1950's.   Later, when he got through school and went off to the military, he would meet my mother in Okinawa, and married her there in June of 1968.   Mom and Dad also eventually separated sometime around 1974, and although Mom never remarried, Dad remarried three times - first to a woman named Lena Hahn, to whom he was only married briefly, then to Deborah Traylor, to whom he was married from 1977-1985, and currently he is married to the former Claudia Simmons since 1991.  Although at this point in time, Dad and I don't have the best relationship, nonetheless he is still alive and lives peacefully outside the town of Nahunta, GA.

My father, Joseph Wayne Thrower, back during his Army days.

Dad's father's family, the Throwers, are the ones I wish to talk about first.  My grandfather's name was Melvin Thrower, and he was born on January 28, 1922 in the town of Greenville, AL. He was the second oldest son of Henry and Carrie Parker Thrower, my great-grandparents.   Ironically, this is the same town where Hank Williams Sr, the country music legend, was also born.   Grandad later married a girl he grew up around by the name of Ann Lee Compton, who was my grandmother, and after a tour in the Navy in WWII, he eventually settled in Jacksonville, FL, after living for a short time in Pensacola with the rest of the family - to this day, a lot of my Thrower relatives still live in and around Pensacola, as it served a similar purpose for a lot of poor Alabama folks that Baltimore served to many West Virginians at around the same time - Pensacola was where the jobs were, and if you wanted to make a little cash and get ahead, it was the place to go.  Another interesting twist to this story is that my grandfather's older brother, my Uncle Cecil Thrower, married my grandmother's older sister, Aunt Nancy Lou Compton.  So, we also as a result have a lot of double cousins in our family on that side.

My grandfather, Melvin Thrower (1922-1980)

After separating from my grandmother sometime in the early 1950's, Grandad remarried twice, first to a lady named Louise that I personally know little about, and then later on to Mary Lou Goodbread, originally from Darien, GA.   "Granny Mary," as I called her, was a sweet lady too, and although she had no natural grandchildren of her own, she readily adopted my cousins and I as her own, and she was always good to us.  Also, despite Grandad and Granny being separated, they always remained close and got along famously for many years.   Grandad unfortunately succumbed to terminal cancer in 1980, and he was the first of my grandparents I lost.  As I remember him though, he was always a gentleman, although also possessing the trigger temper characteristic of us Thrower men, and had a great sense of humor.  My only regret was that I didn't get to know him better when I was younger, but the time I was able to spend with him during the year 1979 before he passed on was really a special memory. 

Grandad's parents were Henry B. and Carrie Parker Thrower, both of whom were born in Crenshaw County, AL.   My great-grandfather, whom many of us called Papa Henry, was born I believe on February 22, 1899 (there is some difference in the dates here, as some sources also have 1898 as well), and he lived up until May 6, 1985.   I had the privelege of getting to see him a few times when I was little, and he was a rather energetic man for his age with a strong will and determination that belied his rather thin frame.   He always sort of reminded me of George Burns when I saw him as a kid, and I remember telling him so when I was about 9, and he got the biggest kick out of that.   I don't remember much about my great-grandmother, whom we all called Mama Goose, because she passed away when I was very young.   However, the stories I heard about her were that she was a quiet lady when she wanted to be, but if pushed the wrong direction, she could be a pretty straight shooter!  Like Papa Henry, she was also born in Crenshaw County, and eventually both of them moved to Pensacola some years later.  She and Papa Henry had I believe 6 kids together, and today their two youngest - my uncle Bob Thrower and my aunt Dorothy Pitts - are the two survivors left.  Mama Goose's family has been a little hard to track down, although I do know her parents were Daniel Parker and Lucy White, and it is rumored that either she or one of her parents was a full-blood Creek Indian that grew up on the reservation somewhere in south Alabama.  I am still trying to verify a lot of that, as there is a lot of family legend to separate from the facts, but hopefully as I continue my family tree research I can find out much more on that too.  

My great-grandparents, Henry B. Thrower (1899-1985) and Carrie Parker Thrower (1901-1974)

Papa Henry's parents were also of course from south Alabama as well, although the Throwers originally came into the area from Virginia, then through Gastonia, NC, through central GA, and finally into Coffee and Pike Counties, AL, before my particular ancestors settled in what is now Crenshaw County.   My great-great grandfather, Jesse T. Thrower, was born July 11, 1866 in Alabama and died on April 17, 1946, a couple of years before Dad was born.   His father was a Benjamin Thrower, whose ancestry ultimately goes back to the early 1700's to a Thomas Thrower who actually landed near Jamestown in Virginia.   The Thrower line took some work to trace, but its origins go all the way back to England, where more than likely they were French emigres, being the Thrower name is of French origin and has connections to the silkweaving trade.   Detailed information on our branch of the family goes back as far as Benjamin Thrower, my great-great-great grandfather, but not much beyond that at this point.  But, what I do have is of tremendous interest.

My great-great grandfather, Jesse T. Thrower (1866-1946)

Jesse married my great-great grandmother, LuAnn Bryant Thrower, sometime in the early 1890's and had my great-grandfather and his siblings with her.  LuAnn's history is where this all gets very interesting, because her mother is also a Richburg, like my great-grandmother on Granny Ann's side of the tree.   LuAnn was born February 2, 1974 and died December 6, 1939, and is interred at the Siloam Creek Baptist Church Cemetary in Crenshaw County.   Her father was John Bryant, and her mother was Mahaley Richburg Bryant.   I was able to find two pictures of LuAnn, and she was apparently a very beautiful lady. 

My great-great grandmother, LuAnn Bryant Thrower (1874-1939) when she was younger

A later picture of LuAnn Thrower, my great-great grandmother

LuAnn's parents, John Bryant and Mahaley Richburg Bryant, are a real find as far as my roots are concerned, because they make a significant link in the family tree I really didn't see coming!  Not much is available on John, as I found he was born May 1, 1828 and passed away July 6, 1914, when he was 86 years of age.   His picture, which I have posted below, shows him as a rather rustic-looking man and he also served during the Civil War in the Confederate Army with the 35th Alabama Regiment.   He like his daughter and son-in-law is likewise buried in the Siloam Baptist Church Cemetary in Crenshaw County.

My great-great-great grandfather, John Bryant (1828-1914)

My great-great-great grandmother, Mahaley Richburg Bryant, provides the perfect bridge at this point between my grandfather's and grandmother's families, because she shares a common ancestry with my grandmother.   Mahaley was born on April 5, 1832 and passed away on February 26, 1916.  She was the daughter of Professor Hugh Richburg (his son, Lawrence Manning Richburg, was my grandmother Ann's great-grandfather) and his second wife, Mary Williams Richburg.  The Richburg family, which I will get into more of later when talking about my grandmother's people, is of French Huguenot and Sephardic Jewish origin, and Hugh's grandfather, Claudius Richbourg, married his grandmother Unity Fox, who was a descendant of several lines of nobility, including 13 (as of this count) lines of descent from the Emperor Charlemagne.   This double-descent from the Richbourg/Fox lineage is for me something very exciting, and something I didn't expect.  I will talk more about the Richbourg family line later on, as it relates from this point to the later discussion.

My great-great-great grandmother, Mahaley Richburg Bryant (1832-1916)

This is a perfect point to talk about another Richburg descendant, my grandmother Anne Lee Compton.   Granny was born on September 10, 1922 in Brantley, AL, and passed away near her home in Jacksonville, FL on November 27, 2008 when she was 86 years old.   I got to know Granny a lot better when she was older because I was able to spend more time with her in my teen and young adult years, and she was a droll but sweet lady.  She married Grandad Thrower in 1939 I believe, and bore three children with him - the youngest died in infancy, then my aunt Annette came along in 1940, followed by my dad in 1948.   After she and my grandfather separated sometime in the early 1950's she remarried a gentleman originally from around Columbus, GA, by the name of Jerome Mixon - she had three additional children - my aunts Diane and Sharon and my uncle Buddy - with him, and they were happily married up until Jerome (affectionately called Pappy) passed away I believe in 1992.   Her legacy is a very rich one, and we will be talking about now.

My grandmother, Ann Lee Compton (1922-2008)

Granny's parents were Joel Talmadge Compton and Nettie Lee Richburg Compton, and their family roots have been pretty well documented by two major sources - one is a history book that came out in the late 1980's by a cousin of mine, P.L. Compton, in Alabama, and the second and far more extensive source is by Dr. William B. Simpson, another distant relative, that is entitled The Huguenot Trail, and is a two-volume work that extensively documents the Richbourg side of the tree.   You will note the spelling varies as to the Richburg name - in later generations, the spelling "Richburg" was the Anglicized version that became the more accepted way of spelling it, but prior to that it was always spelled Richbourg, and even earlier in history it was de Richebourg, but it all pretty much is the same name regardless.   The Richburg family history can be traced back to one man, the Rev'd Claude Phillipe de Richebourg, who arrived in the US sometime after the 1700's and settled near Manakintown in what is today South Carolina.  He was a Huguenot minister, but formerly a Dominican priest by some accounts until his conversion, and he also is said to be the descendant of Spanish Conversos who settled among the Huguenots after being expelled from Spain during the Inquisition.   We will talk more about Claude Phillipe later, but for now I want to briefly talk about the Compton side of the family.

My great grandparents, Joel Talmadge Compton (1887-1953) and Nettie Lee Richburg Compton (1883-1948)

The Compton side of the family, at least as far as my research has taken me, goes back as far as Thomas Compton, born in London in 1715, and his wife Ann Friendly.  Their son, Thomas Friendly Compton (1738-1820), was the first of the family to arrive in the US, where he settled in South Carolina.   The first Compton in that family line to settle in Alabama was my great-great grandfather, Milton S. Compton (1828-1906), who moved to Crenshaw County from Sumter County, SC, sometime after the Civil War.  That seems to have been a pattern, because up until the mid-1800's it seems like most of the Compton/Richburg clan, who apparently were of some means, lived in South Carolina.   It is just a theory, but I believe that possibly losses from the Civil War may have resulted in their moving to Crenshaw County ultimately.  Milton married into another prominent family of  the area when he married my great-grandmother Sarah E. Susan Capps (1835-1927).  The Capps family also had deep roots, possibly Scots or Irish, and I have traced that family line to this point back to a John Capps who lived in the early 1700's.   As fascinating as that is, however, it is about to get a whole lot more interesting.

At this point we now focus on my great-grandmother,  Nettie Lee Richburg Compton (1883-1948).   Nettie was the daughter of Joseph Lawrence Richburg (1856-1927) and Parsilla Ann Buckelew (1851-1931).   I want to first focus on Parsilla's family, as she has quite a genealogy of her own.   Thanks in large part to information provided by Col. Lester Buckelew, a distant relative who has done much of the family research and has generously supplied me with most of his findings, I was able to assembly pretty much all of Parsilla's family tree.  The name has Scots roots, and is alternately spelled "Bucklew," "Buckalew," and in its ancient form, Buccleuch.   Les documents that somehow there is a tie to the Scots clan of Scot, and figuring prominently in his notes is the name Sir Walter Scott of Buccleuch (born 1574).   The connection he makes here is purely hypothetical, but he says possibly that William Buckalew, our earliest ancestor who arrived in the Americas from Scotland sometime in the late 1600's, was somehow descended from Sir Walter Scott - the Scott name was later dropped, it seems, in favor of the Buckalew name instead.  William's son Peter Sr. (1644-1696) was the first of this line born in the Americas, his birthplace being Perth Amboy, NJ.   As the Dutch were still pretty much in control of the area that was to become New York, and they also had a similar Calvinistic Reformed faith to the Scots immigrants, Peter took a Dutch girl, Annetje Fredericks Jansen (1646-1692) as his bride in 1669.   A few generations later, Peter's great-grandson, Richard Buckalew Sr. (1716-1742) settled in the South, and a gradual movement westward brings them into AL, where Richard's grandson, James (1784-1873) settled near Montgomery with his wife, Rebecca Champion (1788-1859).  Rebecca's family is of interest here, because her line extends back to an Edward Champion in the mid-1600's.  It is my hypothesis that the Champion name was French in origin, probably Huguenot, and like a number of Huguenot families they settled in the region of Lancaster and Sumter Counties, SC.  More research needs to be done on that however.   Of course, James' granddaughter, Parsilla, was my great-great grandmother and married my great-great grandfather, Joseph Lawrence Richburg.  At this point, we now turn our focus to the Richburgs.

The headstones of my great-great grandparents, Joseph Lawrence and Parsilla Buckalew Richburg, located at the Zoar Church Cemetery in Elba, AL.

Joseph Lawrence Richburg was of course the son of Lawrence Manning Richburg (1815-1881), who also was the half-brother of my other great-great-grandmother, Mahaley Richburg Bryant (mother of LouAnn Bryant Thrower).  Lawrence Manning of course was the son of Professor Hugh Richbourg by his first wife, Rebecca.   Professor Hugh was an interesting character himself too - he was born in 1788 in South Carolina, and sometime during the Civil War he ended up in Alabama.   He was apparently a very well-learned man, being a schoolteacher, and was also a rabid supporter of the Confederacy (he coined a term, "Yamdankee!" which he often used as a cussword, by what I have read, and apparently was a very expressive individual) .  He married twice, and had two families with his successive wives, and I happen to be descended from both families.   He definitely would have been a great person to know, and I only regret that he was long gone - he passed away in 1867 unfortunately - by the time I came into the picture.   I find him to be one of the most fascinating of my ancestors though, and look forward to finding out more about him in the future. 

Headstone of Professor Hugh Richbourg, at the Zoar Church Cemetery in Elba, AL.

It is Hugh's grandfather, Claudius Richebourg (1716-1788), that is now of interest.  Claudius was the first son of Rev'd Claude Phillipe de Richebourg who was born in the States, and he is of interest because of whom he married, Unity Fox Richebourg (1724-1788).  I will get into her genealogy first, because hers is the most extensive so far in this history.   However, I want to finish up the Richebourg genealogy first by talking a little about Claude Phillipe.  The Rev'd Claude Phillipe de Richebourg (1650-1718) was a Huguenot minister and emigre originally from St. Severe in the province of Berri in France.  At the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, Protestants were placed under severe persecution by the French Crown, and many Huguenots were forced to flee to England, and some later found their way to the Colonies.  A lot of documentation exists for Claude Phillipe, as it has been suggested that he was even a Dominican priest before his conversion to Huguenot Protestantism, but that unfortunately has not been substantiated yet.   Claude Phillipe later married Ann Chastain (1683-1726) who herself was the daughter of a prominent Huguenot emigre, Estienne Chastain.  Her brother, Pierre, was a noted physician.   The Richebourg lineage itself extends at least back to the 1400's, when there is record of a Monsieur de Richebourg (born approx. 1491) who would have been the great-great grandfather of Claude Phillipe.  At this point too, it is also necessary to discuss the possibility that there was some intermarriage at this point among the Huguenots with recent Converso arrivals fleeing the Inquisition in Spain.  The Huguenots would have been likewise persecuted by Catholic authorities, so this was a definite possibility.  I don't have sufficient evidence at this time, but feel that possibly we have Converso ties in the Richebourg line somewhere,  That as well will require some additional research.

The Huguenot parish in Manakintown, SC, which was where Rev'd Claude Phillipe de Richebourg served as a minister.

We now focus our attention back to Unity Fox Richebourg (1724-1788).  Unity's great-grandfather, Henry Fox I (1650-1714), was the Governor of Virginia, and her great-grandmother, Anne West Fox, was the great-granddaughter of Sir Thomas West, or Lord DeLaWarre (after whom the state of Delaware is named, incidentally).  Sir Thomas' wife, Lady Anne Knollys (born 1553), was the daughter of Sir Francis Knollys (1514-1596), who headed one of the most prominent British noble families of the time.   Her mother, Mary Catherine Carey (1522-1568) was the niece of King Henry VIII, as her mother, Lady Mary Boleyn (1504-1543) was the sister of Ann Boleyn, and both were daughters of Sir Thomas Boleyn (1477-1538), the Earl of Ormond.   Through that lineage, in particular through Mary's mother, Lady Elizabeth Howard (1486-1537), a very extensive history goes back over one thousand years linking our family to much of the nobility of Europe, and through that lineage I am personally directly descended from William the Conqueror, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Grand Duke St. Vladimir of Novgorod, and at least 13 lineages of descent from the Emperor Charlemagne.   It is quite an exciting story that I first came across back in 2004, when I was doing some research online one night and started uncovering all this - I was frankly astounded.  To include the whole pedigree here is not even possible, as a matter of fact, due to the fact it is so extensive, but I have verified the information with several sources and it is genuine.   I still find it amazing that me, a poor kid who grew up in rural Appalachia, has such an illustrious bloodline.  And, to think now it comes from two branches of Dad's family!  It is still a lot to digest even today.

Sir Thomas West, Lord DeLaWarre (1545-1601), my 12th great-grandfather, from whom I am descended from a millenium of nobility.

Well, that pretty much gives the "Reader's Digest" version of Dad's lineage for now, although so much more could be said.  However, time constraints and the documentation would require volumes to document, as sitting beside me now as I write this I have a whole box full of genealogical charts, family history books, and other documentation.  I hope you all will enjoy this brief sketch of my paternal heritage, and will hopefully see you all soon.   God bless.

A Little Family History Part I - Mom's Family

Genealogy has been a big interest of mine for many years, and in the course of my research I have uncovered some fascinating things.   All-in-all, my family tree as researched this moment covers about 1000 years of history, and I am still working on it even as I speak now.   What I want to do today is to give you the highlights of my family, and I am doing this in two parts taking into account I have two parents (don't we all - mostly!). 

The way I am going to set this up is sort of like this - I am only going back as far as my great-great grandparents on each tree in-depth, as I have photos of all generations at least back that far.   However, I will be interjecting general family history, as well as short biographies of my parents, grandparents, etc., into the mix.   That being said, let us begin.

I want to start with Mom's family, as I grew up around them and have a little more photo documentation, thus making it easier.   I was born in my mother's home state of West Virginia, and in the same city and hospital she was born in, Parsons.   Mom's family comes from a largely Penn-German/Swiss Dunkard background, with some English, Scots, and Dutch thrown in for good measure.  However, the basic roots of our family are predominantly German/Swiss, and thus that is the cultural context I am coming from.  However, there are some terms to be defined, the first being what a Dunkard is.  Dunkards, also known as "German Baptists" or Schwartzenau Brethren, are an Anabaptist/Pietist sect of Christians that date back to the mid-1700's, when a layman named Alexander Mack organized the first group near the south German village of Schwartzenau.  The name "Dunkard" comes from the baptismal practice of the group, being they baptize by trine immersion face-forward, hence they were called derogatorily by their neighbors the "Tunkenleute," meaning "dippers."  Upon arrival in the US later, the name was anglicized to "Dunker" or "Dunkard" and thus although not an official name, it stuck.  The early Dunkards settled first in Pennsylvania, but gradually moved south and west into the Shenandoah and Potomac River valleys, where many of them became farmers.  In the case of the many families of Dunkards that make up my own family tree, they followed the Upper Potomac into what is today Tucker County, WV, and there many of them settled in an area called the Sugarlands, which is where many prominent families of them live today.  Among those families included the Helmicks, Sponaugles, Carrs, Fanslers, Arbogasts, Stevens, Longs, and others.  And, through my mom's family, I have connections with practically all these families today.

Mom's high school graduation picture, taken in 1965.

I figure it best to start with my mother, Daisy Mae Strahin.  Mom was born in Parsons on December 30, 1946, and she pretty much grew up there until she went into the Army not long after her graduation from high school in 1965.   Mom's childhood was a bit rough, and eventually she ended up being raised by my great-grandmother, who saw her through school and looked after her.  As mentioned, after Mom graduated from Parsons High School in 1965, she entered the Army as a WAC, and was later sent to Okinawa as a dental specialist after doing boot camp at Fort Bliss outside El Paso, TX.   She met and married my dad, Joseph Wayne Thrower, there in 1968, and I came along the following year.  

Mom's parents were David Frederick Strahin, and the late Elsie Virginia Summerfield, and it is them I wish to talk about now.

My grandfather, David Frederick Strahin

My grandfather, David Frederick Strahin, is my only surviving grandparent as of this writing, and has just recently celebrated his 86th birthday.  He was born in a small area called Lehigh, which is up near Leadmine in northwest Tucker County, on September 12, 1925, being the second son of my great-grandparents Charles Judson Strahin and Ottie Mary Stevens.  His oldest brother, Walter, died as an infant a few years before he was born, making him the eldest surviving of his siblings.   Grandad met and married my grandmother, Elsie Virginia Summerfield, in 1945 in Thomas, WV, and later the next year my mother came along as their only child.  Unfortunately, my grandparents later divorced, and Grandad had two marriages after, one to Goldie Marie Nunley Burress (who passed away in 1979), and the second to Wilda Marie Bohon, whom he married in 1979 as well - he and Wilda are still happily married today and live in the small town of Porterwood, WV, just south of Parsons.  Other than a little bout of diabetes and a fractured hip he's still recovering from, Grandad is still in pretty decent health and he contributes from his extensive collection of memorabilia to a lot of county history projects.

My grandmother, Elsie Virginia Summerfield

Although a lot of information exists on my grandmother's family, few pictures do except for this ancient one taken sometime in the early 1940's.  My grandmother, Elsie Virginia Summerfield, was born on January 16, 1925, up Dry Fork in Tucker County, WV.  Her mother, Lottie Mae Rhoades, was originally from Harrison County, WV to the west while her father's family, the Summerfields, were originally from Pendleton County and later settled Tucker.   I know a basic genealogy of my great-grandmother Lottie's people, but not enough to warrant a complete story on this one, so I will be focusing shortly on the Summerfields and related families as that is the crux of her history at this point.  But first, I want to talk about my grandmother.

Elsie Virginia Summerfield was one of the youngest daughters of Lottie Mae Rhoades and Donald Summerfield, and here is where it gets a little complex.   My grandmother had a LOT of siblings, with many of them being half-siblings by her mother's second marriage to my great-grandfather's cousin, Gus Long.   After separating from Donald (my great-grandfather) and then marrying Gus, Great-Granny Lottie later divorced Gus and went back to Donald, and then had my grandmother and three of her other sisters.   Elsie's beginnings were very humble, as Dry Fork was then (and still is now) a fairly remote area of the county that is only accessible by going south on SR 72 from Hendricks, where just outside the Rosendorf community it begins a steep ascent up a narrow ridge as it proceeds to the nearby community of Harman.   The remoteness of the area also forged a special breed of people, and they could be a bit clannish and rough to deal with if you wandered unwelcomed onto their properties.  My grandmother's folks were actually very poor at that time, and they lived in a small cabin-like house far up the Dry Fork gorge that no longer even stands today, although I know the spot where it once was.   The picture below illustrates how rugged the area was, yet it was beautiful in its own way too:

Any rate, for most of her early life, this is where my granmother was raised, although at around the time she married my grandfather she lived in Hendricks in an area over near the river in Rosendorf called "The Coaches."  Years after she and my grandfather separated, my grandmother later remarried a man by the name of Alonzo Lipscomb, who was originally from the nearby town of Kempton, MD.  They spent most of their later life in the town of Augusta, and for a number of years we lived either in their house with them when I was a kid or close by in the community of Kirby.   On June 19, 2004, my grandmother succumbed to a serious stroke and died in Winchester, VA.  She was later buried in Parsons, and one year later Alonzo (or Lonnie, as we called him) also passed on.  Now that I gave a little biographical information on my grandmother, I now want to talk about her family also.

My great-grandfather's family, the Summerfields, originally came from England and all the ones in Tucker County could be traced to two brothers, Joseph and Thomas.  Joseph, the oldest, was my immediate ancestor, as he came over her in the late 1700's after being involved in some criminal activities in the old country with his brother Thomas.   Joseph's line was later Germanized though by the extensive intermarriage of his descendants with many Dunker families, such as the Carrs, Longs, and others, that the English trace is mainly in the surname.  My great-grandfather's mother, for instance, was Sarah Ellen Long, who through her line was also connected to the Arbogasts and Mullenaxes, two other early Dunkard families who settled in Tucker County.   His grandmother (my great-great-great grandmother) Angeline Carr, was from a very well-established Swiss-German family that settled the area from Pennsylvania via Frederick, MD, originally.  There is so much to be said about all those branches of the family, as well as another German family, the Lamberts (originally Lambard, but later anglicized as many German names were then) that I am directly descended from via this line.  For more information about all that, feel free to consult  Carolyn White's excellent family history of the region Dry Fork District - A Family Album (Aurora, WV:  Bookmakers, Inc., 2005).  Also, on the Arbogast part of the family, Charles Eades has the most comprehensive and complete genealogy, albeit some gaps (he is also unfortunately a very unpleasant person to deal with, so best to buy it outright from the publisher).  White's book though has been very helpful in my own research, and I highly recommend it.

My great-grandmother, Ottie Mary Stevens

In an earlier entry, I had already talked about my great-grandmother, Ottie Turner, so I won't go into a lot of biographical information on her personally.  Rather, I want to talk about her folks a little.

Granny's mother's family, the Helmicks, were a German Dunkard family who had been in the US since at least the late 1600's, and every Helmick in the US can trace their roots to one of four original brothers of that clan that came over here from around Hamburg, Germany.  The one our family originates back to is John Helmick, born in 1634.   There is some evidence to suggest that we may also have some Jewish background in our family as well, being that many Jews, fleeing the Inquisition, found refuge among the various groups of Anabaptists in Germany and Holland, and some even converted later (the same is true on my Dad's side too, as his folks were French Huguenots, a group with a large number of converted Anusim in their ranks as well, which is for a later discussion).  Anyway, the Helmicks came into the Sugarlands area of Tucker County originally from Pendleton County to the south, and some point later - about the time of my great-grandmother's great-grandparents - they married into a Dutch family by the name of Vandevender.  The Vandevenders came to the region from Holland via New York, and the family origin goes back in my records to a Pietre Van Deventer who was born sometime around 1550.  Once ensconced in the Sugarlands, the Helmicks became one of the oldest and longest established families in Tucker County, and are so today - they still have their reunion at the Dunkard Church up in the Sugarlands every year, and it is still well-attended by people all over the country.

The old Sugarlands Dunkard Brethren, or "German Baptist" Church, where my great-grandmother's folks attended for generations.

Granny's father's people, the Stevens, are a lot harder to document, as all I have on them just goes back to her grandparents.  However, as Hu Maxwell in his history book points out correctly, the Stevens likewise were of German Dunkard origin as well.

Granny later married, in 1920, my great-grandfather, the Rev'd Charles Judson Strahin, and I want to talk a little about him now.

Rev'd Charles Judson Strahin, my great-grandfather

He was a preacher who was paid by his parishioners with chickens, eggs, and garden vegetables because many people couldn't afford much more than that, and he contracted a chronic illness due to his day labor in the mines and then ferrying the river on a horse in the dead of winter to visit a sick parishioner.   He was my great-grandfather, Charles Judson Strahin - miner, preacher, and historian.  He is also rumored to have compiled the first family history as well, although if true it is long-lost.  He was born in Irondale Furnace, a little community near Reedsville in Preston County, WV, on April 20, 1883.   Although the Strahin surname is Ulster Scots in origin, over the generations after arriving in the US many of our Strahins had been gradually Germanized by marrying into local Dunkard families, and hence my great-grandfather was raised both as a Baptist and as a Dunkard, although his father, Charles Marcellus Strahin, was officially a member of the Baptist church near Herring, WV.  When he was later commissioned to preach, my great-grandfather was, like so many mountain preachers, a circuit-rider who also affilliated with a couple of different groups, one being the Dunkards and the other the United Brethren (a German Wesleyan group with Mennonite origins stemming out of the so-called "Yorker Brethren" movement that sprang out of a revival among the German-speaking Christians in Lancaster, PA, during the First Great Awakening - the United Brethren, in 1880, later split into two factions, with the more progressive faction, the Evangelical United Brethren, later merging with the Methodists - my great-grandfather was with them.  The conservative group, still around and known today as the United Brethren in Christ, still exist).  Therefore, he preached in a variety of churches, including but not limited to Methodist, Dunkard, and United Brethren.  Also, back in the day, there were what was called "union churches," where a variety of different denominations used a church building and held worship services together.  One of these was built by my great-grandfather in Hendricks back in the early 1900's, and today it still stands although since the 1930's the Pentecostals have held the deed to the building. 

This was the original Union Church property my great-grandfather helped to establish in Hendricks at the turn of the last century.  The current congregation, the Rosendorf Pentecostal Church of God, has been meeting here since the 1930's.

And, that is how my great-grandparents met.  My great-grandfather was obviously some 20 years older than my great-grandmother back in the day, but for some reason they connected and were married in 1920.   They later had four sons together - Walter (who died as an infant), my grandfather David Frederick (born 1925), my great-uncle Kenneth Lee (1929-1985), and my great-uncle Maynard (1931-1994) - dates are estimated on the uncles.   Eventually, my great-grandfather contracted black lung disease, which later developed into tuberculosis, and was later admitted to the tuberculosis hospital which was at that time in Hopemont, WV.  It was there where he passed away on April 26th, 1932.

Charles Judson's parents - my great-great-grandparents - were Charles Marcellus Strahin and Eve Jane Grim.   Now, I want to talk a little about them individually.

My great-great grandfather, Charles Marcellus Strahin

Charles Marcellus Strahin was my great-great grandfather, and he was born on January 20, 1852 in the small town of Herring, in Preston County, WV.   Unlike his preacher grandson, Charles Marcellus was a fairly prominent person in his community, being a member of the local Baptist Church, the lodge, as well as being a fireman by trade.   Many of the Strahins in the US today can trace their roots to him, as those of us who are his descendants are many and varied.   His parents were Francis Marion Strahin and Mary Matilda Field, who incidentally was the second cousin of his wife, my great-grandmother Eve Jane Grim.  Mary Matilda's mother's family were Grims as well. and that line continues under the discussion of Eve Jane's here shortly.

Pleasant Grove Cemetary near Herring, WV - where the final resting place of Charles Marcellus Strahin is.

Eve Jane Grim, my great-great-grandmother, was also of note here, as she was a Dunkard girl who defined a lot of my own heritage.   She was born on January 27, 1852, in Preston County and died in 1935 near Morgantown.  Her mother's family, the Sniders, were of particular interest as well, being they have a long history in that part of West Virginia.  Her paternal grandmother, Catherine Fortney(1771-1858), came from a mixed line of Huguenots and Dunkards, as the Fortney name was originally Fortineaux, while her great-grandmother's maiden name was Pickenpaugh, a name anglicized from the German Beckenbach.  It is really an exciting history when you think about it too.  Her father, David Grim, was interesting enough a first cousin to her mother-in-law, Mary Matilda Field, my great-great-great grandmother, but more on that momentarily.

My great-great grandmother, Eve Jane Grim Strahin

My great-great grandfather's family, the Strahins, came of course from a Scots origin, as originally they were a variant of the Strachan name that first appeared sometime around 1490.   Sometime after my great-great-great-great grandfather, William Strahin's, time, anything dating back from him became speculation.  However, there are plenty of resources documenting the Strahin roots, not the least of which is my late relative Richard Dale Strahin's 1983 book, The Family Strahin, which documents a lot of the history of the family, although not a complete history regarding the families that married into ours and became part of our heritage, such as the Grims, Fortneys, and Fields.  However, modern technology has helped a lot there too, so thanks be to God for the internet!

I wanted to lastly mention my great-great-great grandmother, Mary Matilda Field Strahin, whom thankfully my cousin Patty Strahin Markley happened to find a picture!  So, this is her:

Mary Matilda Field Strahin, my great-great-great grandmother

Mary Matilda's story is a little more complex.  She was born on April 20, 1830 possibly in Pennsylvania and passed away in 1903.   She married my great-great-great grandfather, Francis Marion Strahin (b. 1829), and was a granddaughter as well of David Grim and Catherine Fortney through her mother, Mary Grim, thus meaning she and my great-great grandmother were cousins as well.   Her father's family, the Fields, were of Norman lineage going back several generations - her grandfather, Benjamin Field, was born in 1763 in New Jersey, meaning his parents came from overseas.   Any rate, that is where our family's roots lie, and although much more could be said - this was just the "Reader's Digest" version so I could only do so much with it - it is nonetheless a fascinating story.

In the next section, I will deal with my father's family, as there is much to be documented there as well.  Thank you for taking a tour through my roots with me.