The 2013 Wilson-Greer Reunion, Part 4A

by Glenn N. Holliman

A 2013 Gathering at the Ancestral Home of Earl and Mayme Wilson Donnelly....Part IV

We continue our stories and photographs of cousins and ancestors, inspired by the July 2013 Wilson reunion at Shirley Sorrell's home in Sutherland, North Carolina. Our Forrester-Wilson-Greer-Osborne-Donnelly-Adams and other associated families lived (and many still do) in the lush valleys and highlands of beautiful Western North Carolina.

Right are two cousins who knew each other as children, over 50 years ago - Dale Wilson, whom we read about in the last post, and Jackie Ruth Lewis Farrington, at Shirley's family home in North Carolina, July 2013. 

Jackie, who lives in southwest Virginia, is the daughter of Virginia Donnelly, who was the daughter of Bruce and Torrence Wilson Donnelly, a daughter of Bob and Ellen Wilson Wilson.  Bob was a son of Isaac and Caroline Wilson.  Jackie's daughter is Jennifer Bundy, a serious Wilson/Greer/Donnelly family historian, who attended with her husband and son the 2012 Wilson-Greer site and seminar celebration.

Torrence  (12/18/1899 - 8/10/1986)  and Bruce Charles Donnelly (11/26/1893 - 11/1/1989) farmed at Creston, a few miles from Sutherland.  Bruce also ran a small country store. Later one of their son's, Joe Donnelly, ran the store until his death a few years ago.  Joe's son, Larry Donnelly with his mother, runs the store and garage, which is located at the entrance to Oscar Wilson Road, the site of the original Isaac and Caroline Greer Wilson farm.
 

 Photograph and above comments courtesy of Dale Wilson.

 Below in the spring of 1948, Jackie Lewis Farmington with her parents  Morris Franklin Lewis (7/13/1917 -10/20/2003) and  Virginia Dare Donnelly (7/2/1921 - 2/26/2008). 

 

The marriage was ill-fated due to Morris's horrendous World War II service.  He fought in the Battle of Bataan and survived the infamous Death March and years of Japanese captivity.  For the rest of his life, he suffered from what today would be called post traumatic stress syndrome, and now lies in Arlington Cemetery, a hero who suffered mightily for his country.

 

Virginia married again.  First to Burl Ray Winebarger (7/3/1915 - 7/5/1969, then James Louis Johnson (1/1/1929 - 1/26/1975) and twice married Willard Glenn Lewis (10/2/1916 -10/10/2004).

In May 1928, Frances Wilson Osborne (1851-1940), the great grandmother of this writer, wrote in her diary of an extended trip from her home in Bristol, Tennessee to visit her siblings and in-laws in Ashe County, North Carolina, ancestors of Jackie Farrington and other cousins who attended the 2013 reunion.

A reading of this diary reveals a rich kinship and friendship among the children and grandchildren of Isaac and Caroline Greer Wilson.  The spelling and grammar is that of Frankie's, reflecting the modest education she received prior to and during the Civil War.  Comments are by Clinton Getzinger (CWG), whose knowledge of the Wilson-Forrester families is encyclopedic! 

May 19 – “may the 19 saturday…Went to Bob Wilsons at sutherland.”  These are Jackie Farrington's great grandparents.

May 25 – “Friday 25…Went to Walter Osborne, spent 2 night…Sunday 27, came  back to Bobs Wednsday 30…come to Earl Donnelly Sunday 3…left Earl Donnely ...come to church the…went up to Becky Wilson.” Walter Raleigh Osborne 1867-1933 was Frankie's nephew. His father was Clemons Osborne 1835-1902, a brother of George Washington Osborne.   Earl Donnelly is a son-in-law of Uncle John and Aunt Rebecca Wilson. He married their daughter Mamie Edna Wilson. CWG

June 10 – “went to Preaching and Sunday school.   Come back to Bruce Donnelly for diner.” Bruce Donnelly married Bob Wilson's daughter Lillian Torrence Wilson.  These are Jackie Farrington's grandparents.  CWG

June 15 – “Friday 15…Went to Conly, spent the night.  Bought 1 galon of strawberry, paid 50cts.  Got half dosen pint cans, paid 45 cts…got 4 lbs sugar, paid 36 cts…cost of all $1.31.”  Frankie was making strawberry jam.

June 16 – “Saturday…Went to Bobs, spent the night, came Back to Beckys Sunday.  Spent the night Sunday 17.”

Frankie Wilson Osborne, who was present at her father's Isaac's Civil War murder, died in 1940 in Bristol, Tennessee from complications of a broken hip.  Her mother, Caroline Greer Wilson, died in 1911, from the same condition - complications from a broken hip. 

For more information or to ask for an invitation, please contact  glennhistory@gmail.com.  These articles may be found at Ancestry.com in the Holliman-Long site and/or at the virtual archive at www.bholliman.com.

  
 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Watauga County Resource

by Glenn N. Holliman

Looking for Resources to Learn more about our Watauga County, North Carolina Ancestors?  Surprise - the local library!

In recent articles, we have been posting photographs and information on our Wilson ancestors from the highlands of Western North Carolina.  Shirley Sorrell, Jennifer Bundy and other cousins have been providing biography on the Wilson descendants. As noted in earlier blogs, numerous members of the Wilson, Osborne, Forrester and other families seem to have left Ashe and Watauga Counties for the far western United States in the first half of the 20th Century.

Below, Mr. Ross Cooper, research librarian at the Watauga County public library in downtown Boone, North Carolina, confirmed my thesis that many children of mountain families had to move in order to support themselves.  The bottom land had been taken by the first pioneers in the late 1700s and by the early 1900s, even the steep hill sides had been claimed by generations of offspring.

So if one did not inherit land or participate in the booming logging industry of the middle 1910s, then young families often made the decision to leave the highlands and move to more economically promising areas. (See the previous blog.)  Mr. Cooper shared the following article and advertisement from 1914 with me from his own blog concerning Watauga County history.

Want to study more on the histories of our families and their friends?  The Watauga County Library has an excellent local history section and a very knowledgeable research librarian. Also, one can follow Mr. Cooper's blog at http://alookbackatwatauga.wordpress.com .  Ross has over 200 followers of his post which looks back from time to time at yesterday via back issues of the Watauga Democrat in Boone.  

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 Scrapbook of Bruce and Torrence Donnelly, Part 3....

 by Glenn N. Holliman

A Look at the Lives of the Children of Bob and Sara Ellen Wilson....

 

In recent articles, we have been posting photographs from the scrapbook of Bruce and Torrence Wilson Donnelly courtesy of their great grand daughter, Jennifer Bundy.  Jennifer's mother, Jackie Ruth Lewis Farrington, has provided us short biographies of her great aunts and uncles.

 

Sara Ellen Wilson (3/6/1866 – 3/1/1952) left and her sister, Rebecca Wilson, married brothers - Bob and John Wilson, sons of Isaac and Caroline Greer Wilson. This photo was taken in the early 1950s. From the Shirley Sorrell collection.

 

 

 

 

 

Above the Bob and Sara Ellen Wilson Wilson house in Creston, North Carolina where they raised their children. The comments are composed by Jennifer Bundy from information provided by her mother. Jennifer's great grandparents, Bruce and Torrence Wilson Donnelly, eloped from this house in 1916 and lived to celebrate over 50 years of marriage!  Interestingly, three of their sons left North Carolina and moved to the West Coast.

 

Above "Ed Wilson went west and first worked for a large sheep and/or cattle ranch. Later he bought his own ranch there and ran it successfully. He married twice, but had no children. Mom stayed with Ed and his second wife Hattie a lot as a child in Oregon, and remembers them as wonderful loving people who were very good to her. She learned about Ed’s first marriage many years later. She thinks he met Hattie when he worked on the first ranch, and said Hattie was a cook on that ranch.  The first marriage ended when Ed's wife began running, well, a very risque road house!" 

 

Above "Witt also went west and worked for a while, but he came back to NC and farmed on Bob’s farm.  He and Neva lived at home with Bob and Ellen and farmed and took care of their parents."

Above "Neva lived at home until her parents and Witt had died. She was about 50 when she married a Hash and moved to Tennessee with her husband. After his death, she came back to NC and lived in Jefferson for many years."

 

Above "Edna married Charles Osborne and they lived on the Peak Rd. at Creston and farmed."

 

Above "Oscar farmed in the hollow at Sutherland, North Carolina where Isaac and Caroline had lived."
 



Below "Torrence and Bruce Donnelly farmed at Creston. Bruce also ran a small country store, but Mom thinks he quit the store after his children were all grown. She doesn’t remember the store when it was operating. The one there now was built where the old store was, by their son Joe. I can remember the old store building there when I was growing up, but we weren’t supposed to go inside as it was an old run down building."

 

 

Below "Lee went west and worked for one of the sheep ranches, near an Indian reservation but Mom doesn’t know which one. His wife and children lived in Creston and he came back periodically to see them but did not work in NC."

 

 

Below, the Bruce and Torrence Donnelly house in Creston in the 1970s.

 

 

Next Post, more Wilson photographs....

 

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. 

 

by Glenn N. Holliman

From the Scrapbook of Bruce and Torrence Donnelly....

Cousin Jennifer Leigh Knight Bundy, left, recently has made available some mid-20th Century photographs of the Wilson and Donnelly families of Sutherland, North Carolina.  What follows is her family lineage and snapshots from the Bruce and Torrence Wilson Donnelly scrapbook held by Jennifer's family. 

Jennifer's lineage is as follows. She is the daughter of Meredith Lewis Knight and Jackie Ruth Lewis Farrington. Jackie Ruth Lewis Farrington is the daughter of Master Sgt. Morris Franklin  (a Bataan Death March Survivor) and Virginia Dare Donnelly Lewis. Virginia Dare Donnelly Lewis is the daughter of Bruce and Torrence Wilson Donnelly. Torrence Wilson Donnelly is the daughter of Bob and Ellen Wilson. Bob Wilson is the son of Isaac and Caroline Greer Wilson.

Jennifer, her husband and son, and twenty other cousins toured Sutherland, the Wilson Cemetery and the Donnelly Store in June 2012.  These Wilson photographs augment the numerous family pictures printed in Neighbor to Neighbor (2007) available at the Appalachian State University book store.

Today the original mid-19th Century farm of Isaac and Caroline Greer Wilson is subdivided into several homes and farm steads.  The topographical maps name the road into the cove as the Oscar Wilson Road, leading off State Highway 88 in Ashe County, North Carolina. - GNH

Isaac (12/16/1822-6/17/1864) and Caroline Greer Wilson (12/16/1828-9/8/1911) had seven children, one being Robert 'Bob' Wilson.  Caroline had an 8th child, Sarah Marilla Wilson Osborne, several years after her husband's murder by 'bushwhackers' in June 1864.  In this article, we trace one branch of the family. 

Bob Wilson (1/4/1860-2/7/1949) married a cousin, Sara Ellen Wilson (1866-1952).  One of their children was Torrence Wilson who married a neighbor, Bruce Donnelly.  Bruce's parents were Gustavous and Flora Latham Donnelly who lived in Sutherland. 
Bob and Ellen Wilson lived at Green Valley.  Their house and the one Torrence was raised in is still there.

Above taken prior to Bob Wilson's death in 1949, left to right are Flora Latham Donnelly, Gustavus Donnelly, Robert Wilson, the son of Isaac and Caroline Greer Wilson, and Robert's wife, Ellen Wilson, mother of Torrence Wilson who married Bruce Donnelly.

Above the children of Robert and Ellen Wilson in 1956.  Left to right are Lee Wilson, Grover DeWitt Wilson (2/4/1885-3/24/1957), Edna Wilson Osborn, Edgar Wilson, Neva  Wilson Hashe (7/7/1905-11/23/2003), Oscar T. Wilson (2/24/1889- 8/28/1985) and Torrence Wilson Donnelly.  Torrence is the great grandmother of Jennifer Bundy.  

Another photograph of same children left to right back row - Witt, Oscar, Edgar, Lee and front row - Torrence, Edna and Neva.  These photographs are believed taken at the Wilson-Donnelly farm in Sutherland.  Below a chimney and barn still stand at the site of the old homeplace. The photo was taken by Jennifer Bundy in 2010.

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Next post, more photographs from the Bruce and Torrence Donnelly Scrapbook....

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. 

The Wilson-Greer 2012 Family Tour, Part XVII

by Glenn N. Holliman

The Family of Annie Greer Heaton continued....

Below, Geraldine Stansbery Holliman Feick ( b 1923), great, great grand daughter of Jesse Greer, Jr. (1806 - 1892) greats Annie Greer Heaton (b 1924), great grand daughter of the same Jesse.  This picture was taken on the Wilson-Greer family tour June 2012 at the Jesse and Frankie Brown Greer Jr. home in Banner Elk, North Carolina. 'Gerry' grew up in Bristol, Tennessee and Annie in Banner Elk but these cousins did not meet until 2012!
 

 

Annie D. Greer Heaton is the daughter of William Isaac Greer (1874-1938), who is the son of  Wilburn Hardin 'Wib' Greer (1833-1925), who is the son of Jesse Greer Jr. (1806-1892). Caroline Nancy Greer (1828-1911) is the daughter of Jesse Greer, Jr. and the great grandmother of Geraldine Feick.

Geraldine is the grand daughter of G.W. and Frances Wilson Osborne, and the daughter of Charles S. and Mayme Osborne Stansbery.  Glenn N. Holliman (this writer), Rebecca Holliman Payne and Alice Holliman Murphy are children of Geraldine.

Below, Connie Burns, Alice Holliman Murphy, Becky Holliman Payne and Bryan Payne study materials from the family collection of Annie Greer Heaton.

 

On the tour observing the Jesse Greer, Jr.  Home  are left to right, Jennifer Bond, Connie Burns, Chase Bond, Betty Ankers, Charles Bond, Gayle and Bob Adema and Annie Greer Heaton.

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.

Greer-Wilson Family Tour, 2012 Part VII

by Glenn N. Holliman

Family History at the Ashe County Historical Museum....

 After leaving the Todd Cemetery and community, the Greer-Wilson family tour motored into Jefferson, North Carolina, county seat of  the north west region of North Carolina tucked up against Tennessee and Virginia.  The old court house now serves as the Ashe County Historical Museum and that was our next destination.

Below, Don  Long, center, curator of the Ashe County, North Carolina Historical Museum greeted our Greer-Wilson Family Tour group in June 2012, and told us stories of Benjamin Greer and Benjamin Cleveland, area Revolutionary War heroes.  Attractive and well-displayed, the local history museum contains exhibits on pioneer days, the coming of the Railroad, the Revolutionary and Civil Wars and early 19th century occupations of the county.  Visible in this photograph left to right are Geraldine Stansbery Holliman Feick, Becky Holliman, Don Long, Bob and Gayle Adema and Charles Bundy.

Becky Holliman Payne, a fifth great grand daughter of Benjamin Greer, points out a picture of her sixth great uncle, one Daniel Boone, whose niece married Benjamin Greer in the 1770s.  All present on the tour share the same historic lineage.

Bryan P. Payne, son of Becky Payne, met another Mr. Payne, a volunteer at the museum.  The Paynes have a southern and mountain lineage similar to the Greers and Wilson in our family trees.

Charles, Chase and Jennifer Bundy examine artifacts at the museum.  Numerous rooms in the old court house are dedicated to various themes in the history of Ashe County.



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.