Greer-Wilson History Tour, 2012 Part II

by Glenn N. Holliman

The picture below was taken in September 2011 at Lois Ann Howard Adams home in Tennessee. With her on the left in blue is a distant cousin, Geraldine Stansbery Holliman Feick.  Both attended the June 2012 Greer-Wilson dinner in Boone, North Carolina.  Although kin to each other and living only 20 miles apart in the 1930s and 1950s, they had never met before until cousin Clinton Getzinger introduced them via email.

Below is a photograph of 'Gerry' taken with her grandmother, Frances Wilson Osborne, in 1929.
Lois Ann had it in her family photograph collection, never seen before by Gerry until 2011, over 80 years after the picture was taken.

 Frankie Osborne (1851-1940) is a daughter of Isaac and Caroline Greer Wilson.  She married George Washington Osborne in 1867 at the Wilson homeplace in Sutherland, North Carolina.  They had seven children to live to maturity, one being Mayme Torrence Osborne (1896-1943) who married Charles S. Stansbery of Afton, Tennessee in 1914.  They had three children, one being Geraldine Stansbery, who is the mother of Glenn Holliman, this writer, and Becky Payne and Alice Murphy who attended the June 2012 family tour.

Below courtesy of Shirley Sorrell are from left to right, Dr. Greg Adams with his arm around Lois Ann Howard Adams, his aunt, and Trula Howard Muse, Lois Ann's sister.  This was taken at the Boone, North Carolina dinner in June 2012.

Greer-Wilson Family History Tour 2012

by Glenn N. Holliman
A Second Great Grandson of Isaac and Caroline Wilson Greer

 In June 2012 26 descendants and married partners of Greer and Wilson families of Western North Carolina gathered for three days of touring home and grave sites, educating themselves on ancestral history and getting to know and enjoy each other.  With permission, their photos are featured in this and forthcoming articles along with stories of our ancestors - frontier persons who braved Mother Nature, Native Americans, Tories, the British Army and eventually their neighbours to settle and thrive in the highlands of the North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia borders.

Relatives from six states and Canada first gathered for dinner in Boone, North Carolina, introduced themselves and reviewed the agenda for the coming two days.  Some were only able to attend part of the busy schedule; others managed the entire program.  Co-hosts for the tour were Clinton Getzinger and yours truly.

Above are sixteen distant cousins.  Left to right sitting around the table are: Lois Ann Howard Adams, her sister Trula Howard Muse, Trula's daughter - Cathy Muse, Dr. Greg Adams, Roby Howard, Jr. and his wife, Dorthy.  Standing left to right are Chase Bundy, his mother - Jennifer Bundy and her husand, Charles Bundy.  Continuing are Shirley Sorrell in pink, Bob Adema and his wife, Gayle followed by Geraldine Stansbery Holliman Feick, then her daughters Becky Holliman Payne and Alice Holliman Murphy and finally far right, Bryan Daniel Payne, son of Becky Payne.

Earlier that first day, Betty Ankers, Bina Gray and her daughter, Connie Burns visited the archives at Appalachian State University to examine the fragile diary of their ancestral aunt, Frances Wilson Osborne who from 1912 - 1940 recorded her many visits to Ashe and Watauga Counties to visit kin folk.


Also in the archives is memorabilia of The Rev. William A. Wilson who in the 1930s wrote of the Civil War bushwhacking of his father, Isaac Wilson in 1864.