Louise Stansbery's Great Adventure, Part 1

by Glenn N. Holliman

My cousin, Donna Sherwood, passed along to me a large box of memorabilia of my late Aunt Louise Stansbery Sherwood.  Donna's husband, Vance R. Sherwood, Jr. is my first cousin.  In a container inside the larger box, I found envelopes of photographs and souvenirs from a special period in my aunt's life.  It is a delight to share this bit of Americana with the larger family and world.

Frances Louise Stansbery Sherwood (1915-2006) lived a long and gentle life as a housewife in Knoxville, Tennessee.  She is a maternal aunt of mine,  the grand daughter of G.W. (1847 - 1927) and Frances Wilson Osborne (1851-1940). Although known as Louise throughout her life, the Frances comes from her grandmother and her great, great grandmother, Frances Brown Greer, the Civil War heroine who stood off the Union patrol that were stealing her honey pot.  There was even Franklin Brown, the father of Frances Brown.

In 1918, she attended as a child of three the Wilson Reunion held on the Ashe County, North Carolina farm where her great grandfather, Isaac Wilson (1822-1864), had been killed just 55 years earlier near the North Fork of the New River in Sutherland.  Again a debt to Shirley Sorrell who identified the children in this picture.

Louise is on the front row, far right while an older cousin, behind her, Agnes Wilson, holds Louise's new born brother, Charles Stansbery, Jr.

Left, front row, left to right - Ernest, Clyde and Boyd Wilson, sons of Bessie and Arlie Gaither Wilson; Earl Wilson, son of Conley who is a son of John W. Wilson; Louise and Charles Stansbery, children of Mayme Osborne, the daughter of G.W. and Frances Wilson Osborne.


Back row, left to right - Thomas Earl Donnelly, who died at age 5.  He is the son of Mayme and Thomas Earl Donnelly.  Marie and Argus Wilson, children of Conley Wilson who is a son of John W. Wilson;  Robert Wilson, a son of John W. Wilson (Robert is the only grandchild of Issac and Caroline Greer Wilson in this picture); Dorothy and Agnes Wilson, the daughters of The Rev. William A. Wilson and Mary A. McClellan, who were Methodist missionaries to Japan.  Notice that almost all the children are bare footed!

Louise, the daughter of Charles S. and Mayme Torrence Osborne Stansbery (1896-1947), although born in Afton, Tennessee, grew up in Bristol, Tennessee, a mountain or two west of her mother's roots in Sutherland, Ashe County, North Carolina.  Louise's parents separated in 1930, and she went to work immediately after high school graduation in 1933 in the depths of the Great Depression.  Her jobs were retail clerk at Kress's and later waitress at King's Department Store.  Times were very hard for the family, and her small pay check kept her disabled mother, younger sister and brother in groceries.  Below, the beauty pageant announcement.

Then in January 1935, her life took a turn that led to  a larger world.  She had been blessed with good looks and a winning personality.  She was encouraged to participate in the Miss Bristol, Tennessee beauty pageant, and she won!  There was a preliminary contest on January 23, 1935 and then the finals on January 29.  The picture below appeared in the Bristol newspaper.

The newspaper clipping of the time states she would vie for Miss United States at Atlantic City.  The family has no oral history or memorabilia of such as contest, but she did attract the attention of the local radio station, WOPI that was looking for a beauty contestant for the annual International Radio Club conference.  The business gathering in 1935 was to be held in Miami, Florida and Havana, Cuba. 

Founded by W. A. Wilson (no relation to our Ashe County family), the station went on the air in 1929, the first air castle between Roanoke, Virginia and Knoxville, Tennessee.   Wilson was a good promoter; WOPI stood for 'Watch Our Popularity Grow' according the web site, http://www.wopi.com/history.html.  The original format was popular and mountain music.  Today WOPI, many owners later, is largely a sports station.

  Below, a post card Louise saved of the Cuban trip showing the early WOPI.

Below, one of the early announcers for WOPI was Tennessee Ernie Ford who was a Stansbery neighbor and fellow member of Bristol's Anderson Street Methodist Church in the 1930s. Ernest sang in the church choir and was a classmate with Louise's brother, Charles.  With the popular entertainer from the 1950s and 60s is W.A. Wilson in a photograph from the WOPI web site.  Mr. Wilson (1896-1967) and others would accompany Louise to Cuba and back.

With radio in its infancy, local station owners branded together in the International Radio Club, a trade organization run by one Jack Rice, an entrepreneur of his day.  The purpose of the 'club' was to promote radio and the sharing of ideas. 

There was an annual convention and in December 1935, that convention was held in both Miami, Florida and Havana, Cuba.   Below in Havana in December 1937 is Jack Rice, an aggressive promoter, who dreamed up the idea of a beauty pageant for the IRC as a way to attract attention and capture some publicity. 

When all said and done, 24 local broadcasters (there were about 65 members that year) tapped 'pageant queens' and paid their expenses to Havana.  For Bristol, Tennessee, the participant was the small town dime store clerk, my Aunt Louise, and she embarked on the great adventure of your young and to that date, sheltered life!

Next on to Florida and Cuba!

From the Archives of Annie Greer Heaton, Part 2

by Glenn N. Holliman

Mary 'Polly' Mitchel Brown's Will....from the Genealogical Treasures of Annie Greer Heaton
 
In the last post we read that Polly, age 47, left her worldly goods to daughters Nancy and Franky (Brown Greer).  In this final section of the Will, she bequeathed to her only son, Hugh Brown, a gray mare, a rifle and working tools.  (See below; Mary 'Polly" Brown is my generation's 4th Great Grandmother.)

To Franky's daughter, Emeline (the future Mrs. Nathaniel "Nathan" Rominger who died in Texas in 1859), Polly gave her bed.  Stating she was sick, Polly signed with an X her Will, witnessed by A. T. Callaway and Thomas Green.  Polly's husband, Frances Franklin Brown, had died in 1828.  He may have left his farm property to his wife as a life estate and at her death to his son or children.  We do not know without finding his Will.

This was an agrarian economy; there is no cash or savings to pass to the children; only food and animals for which to use to bring in a new crop.  No work, no food.  No safety net in times of illness, drought or distress except family and friends.  Very different times in America.

In the marginalia above, Annie Greer Heaton, has written notes on her lineage from Mary 'Polly' Brown.  Annie's great grandfather, Isaac Greer, was Caroline Greer Wilson's brother.  Franky Brown, 1810-1905,  (my generation's 3 great grandmother) would marry Jesse Greer, Jr. 1806-1892. 

This couple would have a number of children, one being a son Isaac Greer, Annie's great grandfather.  This Isaac Greer was Caroline Greer Wilson's brother, my generation's great, great grandmother, 1828-1913.  Below, Annie Greer Heaton in 1945.

More from Annie Greer Heaton's genealogical files.....next post.

More information on the relationships of Greers, Wilsons, Osbornes, Stansberys and others can be found at this writer's Ancestry.com site. Please write glennhistory@gmail.com for access or to add information.

 

 

From the Archives of Annie Greer Heaton, Part 1

by Glenn N. Holliman

Genealogical Treasures saved by Annie Heaton....

One of the great delights of research family history is the discovery of distant cousins who have saved materials of our ancestors.  One of these persons is Annie Greer Heaton who generously shared her knowledge of family with many of us in June 2012 in Banner Elk, North Carolina.

The previous winter she opened her family papers  and encouraged me to scan them and share with other descendants of the Greer and Brown families who occupied the highlands of western North Carolina in the early 1800s.  Below Annie makes a point in her North Carolina home.

One of her documents is a copy of Mary 'Polly' Mitchel Brown's will, the grandmother of Caroline Greer Wilson, or my generation's 4th great grandmother.  I present the will in several sections.  Polly (1791-1838) who died in Ashe County, North Carolina wrote her will in 1838. Her husband, Francis Franklin Brown (1780-1828), was a third generation American descended from German grandparents.  The couple had married in 1815 in Wilkes County, North Carolina.   Unfortunately, we have no information at this time on Polly's ancestry.

In 1838, Martin Van Buren was in the White House and newly independent Texas was a republic, not yet part of the United States. The American frontier was advancing west leaving behind in the highlands of North Carolina, a largely agricultural society of subsistence farms.  As we read the will, one recognizes that our ancestors grew, harvested and stored their own food.  Transportation was by horse, milk directly from one's cows, meat from one's hogs, vegetables from one's tilled soil and clothing from one's sheep. 

Polly left daughter Nancy Brown (1818-1900) one black cow, a calf, saddle, a white cow, six two year old hogs, a portion of the household furniture, four head of sheep, ten bushels of corn, 50 pounds of bacon, 15 pounds of lard and 15 bushels of potatoes.  Nancy would marry twice, first to Alexander Baird and then in 1847 to Joseph Greer .  Today, the Baird House is a B and B and still stands along the Watagua River in Sugar Grove (www.bairdhouse.com) not far from Boone, North Carolina.

 

To her second daughter, Frances (Franky) Brown (1810-1905), my 3rd great grandmother and mother of Caroline Greer Wilson (1828-1911), Polly designated the following items: a three year old red heifer, a two year old red and white yearling, a second black yearling with a White back, a brown yearling, 13 sheep, a chest, and half of of the house hold furniture, a large pot and the balance of my hogs, 175 pounds of bacon, 100 of lard, 150 bushels of potatoes and the balance of her corn.

Next post, the remainder of Polly Brown's will and a deeper glance into the economy and reality of early 19th Century America....

More information on the relationships of Greers and Wilsons can be found at this writer's Ancestry.com site. Please write glennhistory@gmail.com for access or to add information.
Also, several family historians collect, scan, save and post photographs and research of Greer, Wilson, Osborne, Forrester and many related families.  If you have something to share, please let us know at the above email address.

Wilson-Greer 2012 Family Tour, Part XV

by Glenn N. Holliman

The Wilson-Greer Tour goes to Banner Elk....

The last day of our Wilson-Greer tour in June 2012 took us to Banner Elk, North Carolina.  There cousin Annie Heaton and her husband, Jim, joined us.  Jim is descended from a pioneer family that gave it's name to Heaton, North Carolina, a near-by town.  Banner Elk now is in ski country with numerous gated second-home communities located in the western highlands.

On the grounds of Lees-McRae College is a Presbyterian church and grave yard.  In the cemetery are the graves of Jesse (1806-1892) and Frances Brown Greer, Jr. (1810-1905).  When Isaac Wilson (1822-1864) was bushwhacked in June 1864 during the Civil War, Jesse and Frankie raced to Caroline Greer Wilson's side and stayed with her during the trauma of the event and through succeeding months. 

Below, left to right, Gay and Bob Adema, Connie Burns, Betty Ankers,  Charles, Chase and Jennifer Bundy, Bryan Payne, Jackie Burleson, Alice Holliman Murphy, Annie Heaton and Jim Gray at the monuments to Jesse and Frances Brown Greer, Jr.


Caroline's son, The Rev. William A. Wilson, wrote that his grandfather, Jesse, was at the farm when the murder occurred and rushed to his son-in-law's side.  He carried his mortally wounded son to Caroline's home and after Isaac died within the hour, took over arrangements for the funeral.  The father of Isaac, Hiram Wilson, constructed the coffin at Jesse's behest.   Frankie Greer helped protect Caroline and her small children during the deprecations of Union sympathizers home invasions as law and order broke down in the mountain communities near the end of the War.

Above descendant Connie Burns, far right,  remarked over the courage of Frances Brown Greer.   W. A. Wilson described, in the book Neighbor to Neighbor, how his grandmother  confronted Union soldiers who stole food from her daughter's home in the Wilson Cove in Sutherland, North Carolina.  When one young soldier seized the butter pot, the brave Frankie chased him and while scuffling, suffered a deforming permanent injury to a finger from a bayonet thrust!  Left to right: Jackie  Burleson, Jim and Annie Heaton, and Connie Burns.

Above, the monument in Banner Elk to Frances Brown Greer who stood solidly with her family during the darkest days of the American Civil War.  Below the Greer monuments in the foreground, and the Presbyterian Church in the backgound.