Random Thoughts

You will notice I haven't been writing articles as frequently, as a recent move and a busy schedule hasn't allowed me the time to actually sit down and put some good thought into an article, but recently some circumstances have changed and I wanted to just share a few things that I have had on my mind recently,  and hope you all will appreciate, be encouraged, or whatever other way these ramblings of mine may affect you.  There is no rhyme or reason to this expression of thought you are about to witness, so excuse me if I tend to do a little rabbit-chasing.

2012 has gotten off to a hectic, but not bad, start for us so far, and my head swims with so much that I need to organize myself a little.   At the beginning of the year, for instance, an unfortunate plumbing situation necessitated our getting new tile floors in the house, but a good thing resulted - I was able to get my new home office set up!  When we moved into the new place here in Lakeland back in September last year, I was originally consigned a room off the living room of the house that was small, cramped, and frankly didn't feel right. So, after talking about it, Barb and I decided to switch our bedroom and my office, and it has turned out to be a much better arrangement.  As it comes together, a generous tax refund is allowing me the purchase of a desk and some printing equipment to really get things organized, and in April that will all start to come together too.  Barb now has her own office as well since we have moved into the new house, and she is also getting organized and together so she can launch a business venture she wants to do, which is a great idea for her and which also I will be lending her some support as well.   Overall, it has been a bit tumultous getting settled back in Lakeland again after moving from here originally in 1998 to St. Pete, but it has also been good to be back - the atmosphere over here is better, and our quality of life has improved somewhat from what it was in Pinellas County.  And, although Lakeland is growing, it is still a small town compared to the urban jungle of Pinellas and Tampa -  that area was just insane.  As a result, Lakeland is also somewhat less stressful for us, and that is helping us on a major level too - it is nice, for instance, to see people who are not ashamed to say they are conservative or that they like Larry the Cable Guy's comedy (he is hilarious, I must admit!) without getting a bunch of left-wing hippie wannabes trying to lynch them for their views.   And, it is nice to find solid churches again - the one we go to is really good, and there are several other great congregations (Lake Gibson Church of the Nazarene, pastored by Rev. Charles Kirby, is a great example - it is one of the few churches you can go to where good gospel music concerts can be found; their pianist, Marlin Nichols, is also one of the best I have ever heard personally) that are not sucked in by Rick Warrenism and liberal politics.  However, I will save the ecclesiastical issues for Sacramental Present Truths in the near future, because it is more appropriate to discuss those there.   And, the cost of living here is very nice - it has been cheaper for us to live here in six months than it was for the entire 13 years we lived in Pinellas County, and I actually think we can begin to see our assets being preserved rather than drained for once!  God has been good with bringing us back here, that is for sure. 

It is not that Lakeland is perfect - slow traffic lights and the influx of flocks of geezers from the North tend to cause some issues, but nothing we can't handle (one thing to their credit is that the geezers may overall actually make Lakeland a more pleasant place to live!).   But, overall the quality of life in Lakeland has improved greatly from what it was even when we were here before - the new Lakeside Village Mall in south Lakeland, as well as some good restaurants and small businesses, have made our return here even better.  Some of the restaurants, such as Catfish Country on 98 South in Highland City, are mainstays that have been here for years and tend to stay great.  However, there are others - Fred's Southern Kitchen comes to mind - that are relatively new discoveries but have quickly become our favorite places (mind you, getting into Fred's may be a challenge - the food is so good that often the wait is long, so be prepared!).  Again, you will be seeing more about some of those restaurants in David's Kitchen later on, so stay tuned for that. 

One of the greatest opportunities for us being back here though is the possibility of my actually getting back to my graduate studies, which I plan to do later this year.  The process has been started, as my old alma mater, Southeastern University, has the graduate programs I need and they are making the process very workable for me.  My plans are to get my MA in Theology, and thus embark upon some Church History projects I want to do, including the newest endeavor I have formalized called Highways and Hedges.  I have talked a little bit about Highways and Hedges in my Sacramental Present Truths page, but essentially it is a project that seeks to bring to documentation those little fellowships and denominations which I feel have fascinating and unique histories that need to be told.  They will ultimately be the thesis in my MA program and could lead to a book later on.  But, Church History is not my only pursuit I wish to invest more energy into, because I have been thinking a lot about some ways to really become more self-sufficient over the years, and these have led me to think about some other more domestic projects I would like to take a crack at later on as time and resources allow.

Over the past several years, I will admit I have developed a certain affinity for some "reality-based" television programming on channels like Animal Planet, History, and National Geographic.  Watching these has given me some ideas that I would like to put into place.  Recently, for instance, there is this show on National Geographic called Doomsday Preppers that I have really gotten interested in watching.  For the people not familiar with what this subject matter is, let me give some background.  There is a segment of the population - a growing segment, fueled in part by that Obamanation in the White House in recent years wreaking havoc upon our nation (as you may have guessed, I am not an Obamanatic!) - that practice something called "prepping" in which they are implementing practices, stockpiling essential supplies, etc., in anticipation of what they feel is some sort of global catastrophe they feel is immanent.  Being these people are a diverse group, they also have different ideas as to what the catastrophe is - some say it is an economic collapse, others a polar shift, others still a nuclear war, various natural disasters, etc. - and feel an urgency to get themselves ready to survive the onset of any of these said scenarios.  Some of these people have developed some impressive things - huge underground condos, backyard farming, and defense, for instance - and although some people may think they are on the "radical fringe," or that they are just conspiracy nuts or something, I think these people may be onto something.  The Bible does, after all, foretell a time in the future that is coming when a period of seven of the most violent years of human history called the "Tribulation" will be unleashed upon the earth shortly before the Second Advent of Christ.  And, there also has been a lot of hysteria generated by the New Agers and others over this Mayan calendar thing regarding December 21, 2012 in the past few years.  With rising gas prices, economic issues (Greece is the most dramatic example) and a rising tide of political-correct thought policing in the US, people are concerned and they are starting to think more seriously about their own future.   These "Preppers" have taken that to something more practical than just fretting about impending disaster - they are securing their own survival should it hit!  The show is actually quite objective too, as it views the preppers in a positive light pretty much and even offers expert evaluations of their plans and what they can do to improve their projects, etc.   The fact that situations like this could happen - the Bible is very clear they will actually, something that those of us who believe what it says take seriously - should be something that all of us should address, but of course panic and paranoia are not the answer.  Even with something as tangible as a house fire or hurricane, it is always good to have a preparedness plan to execute in order to protect yourself and your family.  Therefore, these "preppers" are people we could learn something from if we do so without judging them as "kooks" and "conspiracy nuts."  That being said, I have actually begun to think about ways I can also be more independent and self-sustaining, although preparing for a natural disaster is not my only motivation for that.  I also watch people like Gordon Ramsay, who despite his volatile temperment and "blue talk" vocabulary is actually a highly capable chef who has good ideas.   One thing I have learned from watching Ramsay on TV all these years is that fresh is better - I have slowly begun to ween away from using jarred spices, etc., in favor of fresh herbs, and it indeed does improve the quality of your cooking.   Of course, running to the supermarket everytime you need fresh seasonings is not exactly practical, so I figured we are in a position now to where I can grow this produce myself.  And, not just herbs - there are speciality produce items, such as red currant tomatoes and microgreens, that you can't find just anywhere, so it only makes sense to grow them myself.  That being said, I am also planning on maybe looking into learning to make cheese, homemade sausage, and also since I live here in Florida, take advantage of catching fresh seafood myself; would be nice, for instance, to have a freezer full of my own shrimp I caught myself.   And, one resource here that would do the environment a world of good to get rid of because it is wreaking such havoc on the local landscape is wild boar.  Many people do not really understand that these wild pigs have some of the richest and best meat of any creature, and being they are feral and a nuisance, what better way to take care of the problem than to eat it!  A friend of my mother's she worked with has been keeping us in a good supply of wild boar, and I have been making good use of it.   Perhaps later on, I can think about the same possibilities with snakeheads and other invasive species too.   Now, if only I can keep the tax-greedy Democrat politicians from interfering with that enterprise....  Any rate, as I start embarking upon those projects, you will see some of the results showing up on David's Kitchen later.

Another idea hit me like a ton of bricks over the past week - church-run grocery stores!  Since moving back to Lakeland, we discovered a couple of local businesses that come to find out were extensions of ministries, and they are great ideas!  One of them, called Wings of Eagles, has two locations of discount grocery stores it operates here in Lakeland, and although some of the goods qualify as "bent-and-dent," it is still good food and a bargain for people in these tough economic times.  Our local meat market, Harvest Beef, is also connected to a ministry enterprise, and just the other day we had two of the best T-bone steaks from there for dinner, and they only cost us $6!  This is a great idea, because by getting these great deals you are also supporting the Lord's work, and that is two great things out of just your weekly shopping trip.  More churches need things like this, because although the Christian bookshops and thrift stores are good, they don't really fill the needs nor do they generate the funds needed to keep a ministry afloat - however, grocery stores do.  Some Christian groups, such as the Hutterites out in the Midwest as well as some inner-city Black churches, have actually been pioneers in doing this for years, and they are worth studying more to tweek, modify to fit one's own community's needs, and streamline to meet the budget of the church or ministry operating it.  I am eventually going to be exploring this more in-depth myself soon and will learn more about it to share better insight, as I feel we need something like this in our churches.  Practical ministry to meet practical needs, without compromising fundamental teachings - that is how our witness is best expressed.  However, I am going theological again, so let's regroup.

Other "real-life" TV programs are lighter fare, and some stuff my old co-workers got me watching.  Do any of you, for instance, watch that show on History Channel called Swamp People?   That show is truly the best!  And seriously, how can anyone not like Troy Landry or those Guist Brothers - they would be neat to get to know.  Gotta hand it to those guys though; that is not a line of work for just anyone off the street, that is for sure!  Gators are dangerous animals, and these guys make their yearly salaries within one month tackling those things in the Louisiana bayous.  One of them, Bruce Mitchell in Hammond, LA, is so enterprising that he not only catches his own gators, but he processes the meat and hides himself and has a good business doing it - I would buy a few pounds of gator meat and a gator-claw backscratcher off the guy just to support his efforts.  Bruce Mitchell, Troy Landry, and those other "Swampers" are truly what America is about - self-sufficiency and still maintaining good values doing it.  Some of these corporate hacks would do well to learn a thing or two from guys like this - I would love to see a couple of my old office managers trying to wrangle a 1000-pound gator on a trot line in the swamp like that; they would be gator scat before the first day ended!  Then there is that guy in Kentucky on Animal Planet, Ernie "The Turtleman" Brown.  He comes across as a little weird to the Kim Kardashian/Justin Bieber crowd (gag me with a spoon at the mention of those names, please!), but I want to say a couple of things regarding folks like The Turtleman.  First, this guy is not after fame or fortune - many of the people he renders services to pay him with produce, eggs, chickens, homemade goods, etc.  Second, Ernie and his buddy Neal are people some of us can relate to - like myself, they are just simple Appalachian folk, and they have good manners and are unpretentious, not trying to impress or kiss butt with anybody.  These are values many of the tofu-farting hippie wannabes laugh at and deride, yet they could learn something to maybe enrich their own sad, shallow lives by watching these guys.  Third, Ernie is just an interesting guy - he is one of those people you want to have as a friend, and I think we are all a little envious of Neal who can appreciate that fact.  However, in a society obsessed with "American Idol" and the Biebers, Kardashians, Lady GagGags, and other trash on TV, shows like this are often the butt of jokes, some of them cruel and nasty.   But, they have followings despite the idiots in pop culture, and that says something about the "silent majority" who are sick of the glitz and stupidity of Charlie Sheen's latest exploits or Lady GagGag's outrageous behavior.  So, I encourage my readers to watch Ernie the Turtleman, as well as other good programs like the Duggars and their family of 19 and the Swampers in Louisiana making do with harsh surroundings to feed their families.   They are what America is truly about.  And, enough said on that soapbox. 

Well, I think I have shared enough with you for now as my humble "food for thought," and as with everything else you are welcome to take it or leave it.  I know these ideas may offend some - a complimentary razzberry blown in the direction of those individuals - but I know it will strike a familiar chord with others.  We are, for all intentions, in a cultural war for our very survival, but the voices of decency and humanity are breaking through all the butt-kissing, thanks be to God.  But lots of prayers are still needed.  And, that being said, I am going to take my leave for now on that point and will see you all again in the near future.

The Beginning of A New Year - Personal Wisdom I Have Gained and Want to Share

This is my first writing of the year 2012, and I guess there is much to talk about, although this will be informal.  

The past 18 months, from roughly June 2010, have been challenging -  we have faced financial challenges, had to redefine where I am spiritually, and we ended up with a new place to live, a new car, and a new job.    Although some valuable education has been gained from living the past year, I personally am glad it is over though - this is a time of new beginnings for our household, and that being said, it is up to us (in conjunction with God's sovereign will, of course) to make this year a year that we can look back on as one of our best.   I say this not only for myself, but for the benefit of all who read this, as it is something we all must reassess individually and take positive steps to move forward.

Since September, we have moved back to Lakeland, where I originally graduated from college, and I have, as of the first of this year, entered a new job that basically opens up a whole new area of work for me.   At the time I am writing this, I am still in some very extensive training for it, and it is both intense and interesting at the same time as it is also inspiring me by providing new material for research that many of you will be seeing both in these articles as well as on my theological webpage.   God has created all of us with minds, and we continue to use them throughout our lives, as the learning process only ends when our heart stops in natural death.   Thing is, we are not to use this knowledge as just a storehouse of parroting facts back to people on demand, but rather it is to be used to apply to our lives and to make them either better or more efficient.  Everything we do - formal schooling, work, what we read, watch and hear, etc. - contributes to that reservoir.  I guess the resolution we all have is how to effectively channel what we have accrued in our intellectual reservoir in order to enhance our individual qualities of life.   God has given us that mandate to ensure we are proper stewards of the things he gives us, and those things are not all material - much of it is spiritual and intellectual too. 

I chose this year to resolve not to make any New Year's resolutions for a reason - resolutions often set a bar too high for us to reach, and that is why, as our priest noted in his homily at Mass a couple of weeks ago, that by March all those people on the bike trail that started out so enthusiastically in January disappear by March.  And, it is why the few pounds you resolve to lose end up being a few pounds heavier by Easter - you do see where that is going, right?   Mistakes can be stepping-stones as well as stumbling-blocks, and although you may trip over them at first, eventually you pick up your feet and climb the block.   A common mistake I have made over the years, tying this all back together, is setting things too high and out of reach, thus ending badly in frustration.   So, I personally have done the Biblical thing, so to speak, and have refrained from making oaths I don't have the capacity to fill.  

That being said, does this mean I don't have goals and objectives?  Not at all - Lord knows I have a lot of those, perhaps too many!   What it does mean, however, is that I approach those ideas realistically and try to make them happen within a reasonable means of attainment.   It is a lesson that I very much have had to learn the hard way, and after getting my knees scraped so many times, I realize this is the way to do things that makes more sense.  

I guess now I need to take time to talk personally about some things though.   The several years -  eight in Largo, 5 in St. Pete, meaning 13 total - we spent in Pinellas County, FL, were a sort of exile for us.   However, they were also a time I began to look within myself, and really understand what my own story is all about.  And, I had the inspiration to write it all down, both as an unpublished manuscript as well as a regular and consistent amount of journal-keeping, and that is something I cannot stress enough for you to do.   Your story is something God has given you - it is your testimony, your legacy, and your school of life experience - so write it down and NEVER underestimate its value.  Who knows - your story could inspire and help someone else someday.   These blogs grew out of that, as a matter of fact, and I have been able to organize and formulate my collective life story and worldview into an easily-digested form to share with many of you, although I sincerely hope that it doesn't give you indigestion at times either!   I find I communicate more effectively in writing than I do in speaking, and doing this is a great venue that helps me as well.   And, as I do, I learn a thing or two about myself as well.   In the past two years, I have developed three websites and write as many as 70 articles annually now, which I also print out and have bound in books at home too.   They encompass all areas of my interests, my faith, and my worldview, as well as my personal story as I have lived it and to the best of my ability to recall things from many years past.   I hope to continue this for many years to come. 

An important part of that story is understanding your past, even your roots that presage you personally.  Genealogy has been a big interest of mine since high school, but in the past 10 years, and thanks to the new technologies available, I have been able to take this a long way.   Learning about your ancestors is an important way of understanding your own worldview, because whether indirectly or directly, some of the thinking of your ancestors has come down to you - simply, you inherit more from your forebears a lot of times other than just DNA!  As I particularly have researched my paternal grandmother's family, who have a family tree going back almost 2000 years being they are of French Huguenot heritage and are tied into both European nobility and Sephardic Jewry, I found out about something called Nobless Oblige.  What that is essentially entails a sort of "warrior's code" that goes back to the Visigoths, Lombards, and others who are in my bloodline, and essentially what it says is this - with noble bearing comes noble responsibility.    In today's society, where many people are so stuck on themselves and on other crazy notions shaping much of the modern world, this is almost a foreign concept because it involves three things:

1.  Be true to your word
2.  If you claim to be something, act accordingly
3.  Manners, chivalry, and etiquette

Many people have as their role models today many lying politicians and musicians and movie stars who present themselves as one thing in the public light, but live radically different in private.   It is deceptive, and it harms people - take the modeling industry as a good example.   That, along with an increasing selfishness (an "every man for themselves," evolutionary survival-of-the-fittest mentality) has diminished us as a nation and as a society in general.  It has even gotten into Christian churches now, where anything goes as long as the numbers are good, etc.   However, it is fake, and it rings hollow.  I have a strong conviction within me I could not explain for years that basically dictated me a desire to be real and who I am, but at the same time emphasizing what is best about who I am.   Later, when a couple of relatives who researched the family histories made me aware of the concept of Nobless Oblige, I now understand where that came from.   That, of course, doesn't mean you deny your shortcomings - if you are confronted with those, you are honest about them, but you don't emphasize them constantly.  Added to that my Appalachian upbringing - things such as "sense of place," "making do," and other things, as well as a strong identity with the misunderstood and persecuted being I have shared their experience to a certain degree (hence, my strong connections to Assyrian Christians and Gypsies) - and the general "live-exceeds-talk" faith of my Swiss/German Anabaptist roots, it shaped me as a person and bears much influence on my worldview.   Now that I understand that, I appreciate it more too.  And, most of that was discovered over the past 10 years or so as I began to recollect and write down my own story, as well as tracing my personal genealogy - the two are inseparable.  And, this has had its share of conflict too - many who don't share my upbringing and roots don't really get where I come from, and I have made enemies of some, but that is how it goes.  After all, it is unrealistic to think everyone is going to like you and throw themselves at your feet in adoration (I thank those of you who want to do that though - just kidding!); personality conflicts are a part of our fallen human nature, and are going to happen whether we want them to or not.  But, even those who conflict with you can respect you, and you them, as long as you are real with who you are and they reciprocate.  And, those who conflict like that can even end up being valued friends in some cases - conflicting worldviews don't mean you have to be enemies!   And, conflict in personality doesn't mean misunderstanding or lack of appreciation - you can disagree with someone and still understand where they come from, thus appreciating the fact better.   Of course, in some cases that also means there may be a few headbutts along the way, but in time they work themselves out too.  Bottom line, not everyone who is your friend has to be your "yes-man" as well.   Your life would be a lot more boring if that were the case.  

In these ramblings, I guess I could sum up what I am saying in two good points:

1.  Get to know yourself better, your roots, and recount your story.
2.  Don't view those who may give you personality conflicts as necessarily your enemies - on the contrary, they may become your most trusted friends!

That being said, I look forward to a good year ahead, and hope that I learn a lot more about myself in the process, as we who profess to be Christians are on a pilgrimage of faith called life, trekking to the heavenly Zion we all have set as a destination once we profess Jesus Christ as our Savior and become baptized into His Church.  And indeed, that is what our faith is - a pilgrimage.   As I continue the pilgrim trail this coming year, I hope the journey is an enjoyable one.  And, I wish the same for each of you. See you next time!

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.