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.