A Trip back in Time with my Sisters 2021

 by Glenn N. Holliman

In November 2021, my two sisters, Rebecca Holliman Payne and Alice Holliman Murphy and I ventured back to western North Carolina and upper East Tennessee to visit our mother (1923-2015) Geraldine Stansbery Holliman Feick's ancestral homeland.  We also planned to see our second cousin, once removed, Mary Proffitt Wilson, who as a child remembered our great grandmother, Francis Wilson Osborne (1851-1940).  

Another reason for the trip was for Alice to check on the home that she and her husband recently purchased in Avery County, which is in the North Carolina mountains.  After decades of living in Texas, Alice and Bill look forward to the Appalachian Mountains, where the climate is cooler, and the summers are less humid.  It was in nearby Johnson City, Tennessee where Alice was born.

It has been a number of years since I have visited and written about my cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents who occupied and live in some of the most beautiful land in these United States.

Our most pleasant stop was in Vilas, North Carolina with Mary Wilson (b 1927), a delightful lady full of wit, humor and charm.  Below is yours truly (b. 1946), Patricia ('Tricia', one of Mary's daughters) and Mary herself. 

As a child Mary met our great grandmother and even remembered 'Frankie' Osborne talking about our mother, 'Gerry'.  

Mary's late husband was Carl Clyde Wilson, (1923-2012), her distant cousin whose life was devoted to the Baptist ministry.   Carl served in the U.S. Army in the Philippines during World War II.  Mary and Tricia shared his medals of his time overseas in 1944/45.  Mary and Carl were married in Henson Chapel Methodist Church, June 1, 1946.

Mary's lineage, as does ours, descends from Isaac Wilson (1822-1864) and Caroline Greer Wilson (1828-1911) and then hers follows through grandparents, Mary Jane Polly Wilson (1852-1937) and James Harvey 'Harve' Proffitt (1844-1917) and parents James B. (1896-1994) and Wilma Lawrence Proffitt (1899-1996).

We posed for a photograph with Mary and after a slice of her delicious butterscotch pie, we bid Trica and her goodbye, taking with us a remembrance of a wonderful lady, a dear cousin and visit to cherish.

Below Glenn N. Holliman, Rebecca Holliman Payne, Mary Proffitt Wilson and Alice Holliman Murphy.

Our thanks to cousin Clinton Getzinger and Mary's other daughter, Sandra, for arranging this wonderful visit. - GNH

 

 

The Charles S. Stansbery Family

A Lineage of the Stansbery Family through the Life of Charles S. Stansbery (1893 – 1957) and his Immediate Descendants
by Glenn N. Holliman, a Grandson of Charles Stansbery, Sr.

Recently, my Mother, Geraldine Stansbery Holliman Feick, and I took a sentimental journey back to East Tennessee to visit new and old relatives.  One of the many delights of the trip occurred when we stopped to share lunch with her half sister, Nancy Stansbery Higginbotham, in Greenville, Tennessee.  Joining us for the repast were Charlie and Theresa Higginbotham  and Ron and Sharon Potter and their two daughters, Danielle and Katie.  Both Charlie and Sharon, as do I, share Charles Stansbery, Sr. as our grandfather.

Left to right are Katie, Ron and Sharon Potter, Geraldine Stansbery Holliman Feick, Nancy Stansbery Higginbotham, Charlie and Theresa Higginbotham and Danielle Potter in Greenville, Tennessee, September 2011.

As if visiting with Nancy and her family were not exciting enough, one of the associates at the restaurant, Laura Elizabeth Davenport, recognized Nancy and was introduced to us as a great grand daughter of Fred and Flora Stansbery, brother and sister-in-law of Charles Stansbery!  The next day, Laura kindly loaned yours truly old family photos that I shall be using in future articles.

I promised Laura a copy of the Stansbery family tree, so below it begins, drawn from multiple sources.  We are a well documented family.

The family name Stansbery is spelled many different ways. Most common are Stansbery, Stansberry, Stanbourough and Stansbury. The word means stone or tin fort. Many genealogists place the origin of the family in Cornwall and Devonshire, England, an area of numerous tin mines from Roman times. In 1994, during a trip to England, my wife and I stayed at a B & B run by, yes, Charles Stansbury!

This document begins in 1628 and carries through to 2009. The numbers is front of many of the names indicate the number of generations in the New World. B and D (b and d) mean birth and death, of course. W (w) and H (h) mean wife and husband. M (m) means married.  Errors are mine alone; additions and corrections welcome.  All Stansberys out there, please let me hear from you.

Part I


Prior to the New World –
 Our Stansbery story begins in the 17th century...

March 26, 1628 1 Detmar Sternberg b in Sankt Marien Evangelisch, Dortmund, Westfalen, Preussen. Father -1 Dethmarus Sternberg and Mother Cathrina Morske. Detmar's grandfather said to have been an English earl who fled England to Holland as a Puritan. Changed name from Stansbury to Sternberg to sound more Dutch. Grandfather may have married one of daughters of William I of Orange (William the Silent) who organized Dutch revolt against Spanish rule.

Catherine Renske, w of 1 Detmar Sternberg b 1632 circa in Holland or Germany.

To the New World -

1 Detmar and Catherine Renske, and 6 yr. old son 2 Tobias immigrate in 1658 to Baltimore Co., MD and name changed back to Stansbury. Tobias b 1652 in Netherlands. Detmar & Catherine m 1651.Sarah Raven, later wife of Tobias, b circa 1650 in Gloucester Co., VA. Father Luke Raven and mother Elizabeth Hughes.

Sarah Raven and 2 Tobias Starnborough m 1677 circa. Have 5 children.

1 Detmar Sternberg d after 1682. 2 Tobias Starnborough a grand jury member in Baltimore Co, MD 1683-84. 3 Samuel A. Stansbury b circa 1693 to Tobias and Sarah Raven in Baltimore, Co.

2 Tobias Starnborough a ranger under Capt. John Oldton. Rangers patrol the outlying districts as protection against Indians. From this activity Tobias gained tracts of Land.

2 Tobias Starnborough d 4/23/1708/09, Baltimore Co, MD.

3 Samuel Stansbury has 100 acres on the s side of Great Falls of Gunpowder River in Baltimore Co, MD.

3 Samuel A. Stansbury and Mary Porter Harrod??, b unknown. m. unknown, ca 1720?

4 Samuel Stansbury, Jr. b 1731 ca, son of 3 Samuel A. Stansbury.

4 Samuel Stansbury m Mary Andrews Baxter (Harrod) ?? before 1749.

5 Luke Stansbery b 3/6/1750, Baltimore Co, MD, son of 4 Samuel (b 1731) and Mary Andrews Baxter Stansbury. 4 Samuel would marry twice, second to Mary Harrod 4/1/1761 in St. John’s Parish, Baltimore Co, MD.

Nancy Haddox Stansbery b 1764, NC.

4 Samuel Stansbury d 8/5/1778. 5 Luke Stansbery taken prisoner at capture of Charleston, SC by British. Held one year, escaped and rejoined NC Continental Army. Enlisted in Caswell Co, NC 1/17/1778, serving under Capt. Reading Bunt and Col. Robert Nebane. 3 Samuel A. Stansbury d 4/1783 in Caswell Co, NC. Second wife Mary Anne Culleson.

5 Luke and Nancy Haddox Stansbery m 1/30/1791. Would have 7 children; 6 Solomon being the last.

6 Solomon Stansbery b 1804, Caswell Co, NC. Child of Luke and Nancy Stansbery. Frances 'Fanny' Gibson b 1809 circa SC.

6 Solomon and Fanny Gibson Stansbery m 1/12/1827.

7 Pryor Lee Stansbery, child of 6 Solomon & Fanny Stansbery b 3/16/1832 in GA. Eliza Baxter Hines, wife to be of Pryor Lee Stansbery b 6/11/1834 Knox Co, TN. 7 Another son of Solomon and Fannie was The Rev. J.M. Stansberry. He began preaching around 1850. Rt to E. TN & ordained New Hopewell Baptist Church in E. Tenn in April 1853. Left TN on account of political troubles in 1860 and assumed church at Dalton, GA, which he retained until church shattered by the war. M. Mollie Johnson of Knox Cty, TN Sept 1856 and after her death 2/1873 m Matie Kead of Whitefield Co, GA.

5 Luke Stansbery, Revolutionary War veteran, d. Knox Co, TN 10/13/1848. Buried New Hopewell Baptist Cemetery, Kimberlin Heights, Knox Co. TN.

7 Pryor Lee Stansbery m Eliza Baxter Hines Stansbery 9/161852 (another source repts marriage 9/16/1860). Nancy Haddox Stansbery d Knox Co, TN 7/29/1854. 6 Solomon Stansbury in 1850 census lived in E Chickamauga, Walker Co, GA, occupation a mill Wright with property of $1,000. Wife, Frances Stansbury.

8 William Luther Stansbery, son of 7 Pryor Lee and Eliza Stansbery b 4/29/1861 Hopewill, Knox Co, TN. Wife Annie Eliza McCray b 12/20/1863 at Jonesboro or Limestone, TN. In 1860 census, 6 Solomon Stansbury listed as mill wright in Knox Co, TN, age 55, real estate value of $500, b. NC. Parents of 12 children. 7 One Pryor L. Stansbery enlisted in TN Union 9th Cavalry Regiment. Two brothers enlisted in the Confederacy and three in addition to Pryor joined the Union Army. It was truly a war of brother against brother.

6 Solomon Stansbery d Knox Co, TN 1877. Wife Fanny Stansbery d Knox Co, TN.

7 Pryor Lee Stansbery d 11/18/1896 Knox Co., TN. 9 Charles Skelt Stansbery, Sr. b 12/5/1893 Afton, TN. Mayme Osborne b 1/16/1896.

Eliza Baxter Hines Stansbery d Afton, TN 4/19/1906.

9 Charles S. Stansbery, Sr. m Mayme Tarence Osborne 4/29/1914. 10 Frances Louise Stansbery b Afton, TN 1/27/1916. 10 Charles Skelt Stansbery b Afton, TN 6/15/1918.

10 Patricia Geraldine Stansbery b 11/16/1923 Bristol, TN, daughter of 9 Charles and Mayme Osborne Stansbery.

Annie Eliza McCray Stansbery d Afton, TN 1/11, 1936 when dress caught fire from fireplace, wife of 8 William Luther Stansbery. Mayme Osborne Stansbery marriage dissolved with 9 Charles Stansbery; she files papers September 1933. Charles remarries Lucy Lee Barkley c 1935 and becomes father of additional daughters, 10 Nancy Stansbery Higginbotham, b 1940 Afton, TN and 10 Jean Stansbery Dobbs, b 1944, d 1999.

8 William Luther Stansbery d 4/9/1942 Afton, TN. Mayme Osborne Stansbery d 11/1943 Philadelphia, PA. Buried Bristol, TN. 'Frankie' Wilson Osborne d 11/1940, Bristol, TN.

9 Charles S. Stansbery, father of 10 Louise Stansbery Sherwood, 10 Charles Stansbery, 10 Geraldine Stansbery Holliman, 10 Nancy Stansbery Higginbotham and 10 Jean Stansbery Dobbs d 11/19/1957 Afton, TN of natural causes, a retired farmer.

9 Charles S. Stansbery Sr's second wife, Lucy Lee Barkley Stansbery, dies June 25, 1978. Buried on Stone Dam Road in Methodist Church cemetery next to Charles Sr.

10 Jean Stansbery Dobbs dies Sept. 9, 1999. B 1944.

10 Charles S. Stansbery d 11/14/2006 Greeley, CO near daughter 11 Susan Mackenzie. Buried Black Hills National Cemetery at Sturgis, SD. 10 Frances Louise Stansbery Sherwood d 2006. Buried Maryville, TN. One son,11 Vance Sherwood, b 12/7/1946, Knoxville, TN. Geraldine Stansbery Holliman Feick visits Nancy Stansbery Higginbotham, half sisters, July 2009. 11 Glenn Holliman, 11 Becky Holliman Payne, and 12 Sean Murphy (age 20) on this trip to visit surviving family and grave sites.

Above in 2009 at Stone Dam Road Methodist Church cemetery in Afton, Tennessee are Geraldine Stansbery Holliman Feick, her half sister, Nancy Stansbery Higginbotham, Rebecca Holliman Payne and the writer, Glenn Holliman.

More later on the Stansberys and other associated families....

Photos in the Post WWII Era

by Glenn N. Holliman

Last night, July 6, Rob Adema visited Barb and me here in Newport, PA, as he was en route to business calls in Central Pennsylvania. Rob is a great great grandson of G.W. and Frankie Osborne, through their son, Bascom, a brother of my grandmother, Mayme Osborne Stansbery. Bascom is sometimes spelled with or without a 'b' on the end.

Photo above is l to r, Glenn Holliman (b 1946) and Rob Adema (b 1966) July 6, 2010 in Newport, Pennsylvania practising genealogy. Glass is of Coca-Cola, sort of. Photo by Barbara Holliman.

We sat up late examining documents and old photographs. In celebration of his visit, I am posting several photos we looked at closely as they reflect both his direct line and our over lapping families. I believe the 1945 photo is courtesy of Phyllis Ackers, and the 1954 picture, a family snapshot by my father.

A contemporary photo of Rob's parents, Bob and Gay, and his Aunt Peg Adema can be found on the Contributors page of this blog. August 20, Barb and I will be visiting Rob and his parents, Bob and Gay, outside of Buffalo, NY to look at more family memorabilia of when our ancestors lived in Southwest Virginia, East Tennessee and Western North Carolina.

Now the Wilson/Osborne frontier families, under many different names, are spread across the nation.

Photo above taken approximately 1945 at the Elmer 'Flea' Akers home in Damascus, Virginia of the children and grandchildren of Bascom Wilson Osborne, one of the five son's of G.W. and Frankie Osborne. Back row, l to r - 'Flea' Akers, Doris Osborne Akers, Gladys Osborne Adema, Edith Osborne (wife of Bascom Kruger Osborne, who is kneeling). Front row, l to r - Phyllis Akers, Bobby Adema, Peg Adema, Uncle 'Bab' Bascom K. Osborne, in Navy uniform, and his daughter, 'Gini' Osborne.

Photo of Pauline Osborne Smith, daughter of Thomas 'Toby' Osborne, one of the five sons of G.W. & Frankie, in the early 1930s rowing a boat. In the photo below, she is pictured in the 1950s with her children in a visit to her first cousin, Geraldine Stansbery Holliman Feick.

Taken in the summer of 1954 in Johnson City, Tennesse at the home of Geraldine Stansbery and her husband, Bishop Holliman. Left to right in front of the 1948 Plymouth are: Louise Stansbery Sherwood (daughter of Mayme Osborne Stansbery), Rebecca Louise Holliman Payne, then 4 years old on her aunt's knee, and standing is one of Pauline Osborne Smith's children, name unknown.

Kneeling with his Cocker Spaniel, Sandy, is the writer, Glenn Holliman, age 7. Behind standing sans shirt is Vance R. Sherwood, Jr., also age 7, now a published clinical psychologist. The tall young man is another of Pauline's children, name unknown.

Continuing left to right are Dave Wright, husband of Pearl Osborne Wright, Geraldine (Gerry) Stansbery, sister of Louise Sherwood, Pauline Osborne Smith (whose photo above is of her rowing a boat), and Pearl Osborne Wright, who is Geraldine and Louise's aunt.

Pauline and children lived in Sumner, Washington at the time. Pearl and David Wright in Damascus, and Louise and her son, Vance, in Knoxville, Tennessee.

An aside, it was Dave Wright who in 1912 gave his mother-in-law, Frankie Osborne, her first automobile ride from Damascus to Glade Valley, Virginia and back!

More family history in the next posting....

The Parents of Frances Wilson Osborne

Troubled Times
by Glenn N. Holliman

Photographed below are Caroline Greer Wilson (1828 - 1911) and her husband, Isaac Wilson (1822 - 1864), the parents of Frankie Wilson Osborne. The couple married in Ashe Co., NC in 1849.

Isaac Wilson was a successful trader and farmer, owning several hundred acres of timber, pasture and cultivated fields nestled along the Tennessee and North Carolina borders. The elevation of the farm is over 3,000 feet and surrounded by tall mountains. When the Civil War broke out in Ashe County, North Carolina, he sided with the South and became a lieutenant in the Confederate Army. At this writing we know little of his service record.

In the early 1860s law and order broke down in an Appalachian society where cousin fought cousin. Ironically, the Wilsons owned no slaves although Caroline was a fierce Confederate.

The disorder of the times resulted in a type of guerrilla warfare, neighbor against neighbor. On June 16, 1864, my great-great grandfather became a victim when several of his neighbors shot him from ambush in the back while he was plowing his corn field. He died within a few hours. A vicious circle of revenge began that produced additional widows. It was an ugly time, and many years were needed for passions to subside.

My great-grandmother, who was with her father when the shooting occurred, told the story to my mother, Geraldine Stansbery Holliman Feick, who shared it with me when I was growing up in the 1950s. Only in the first decade of the 21st century did I discover this story on the internet and the book, Neighbor to Neighbor by my great-great uncle William A. Wilson.

Isaac's wife, Caroline, was 36 years old and left with 8 children, all 14 or younger. With help from family and children, she harvested the corn crop that summer and many seasons thereafter. On several occasions in 1864 her home was invaded and ransacked by Union sympathizers. Once she encountered Federal cavalry who were ready to confiscate her horse, when a cousin in the Union patrol vouched for her. She escaped without injury and with her animal.

Obviously, a strong and vibrant woman, she lived until 1911, dying from complications of a broken hip. She and her husband are buried in Wilson Cemetery in Oscar Wilson Cove near Sutherland, North Carolina in Ashe County.

In 2009, my mother, my sister Rebecca Holliman Payne and nephew Sean Murphy visited the cemetery. At the entrance to the Cove is a general store kept by some distant cousins, the Boyds, descendants of the Wilsons. The younger Boyd told us of how Caroline hid the family pewter in a hole in the nearby creek to keep the valuables from the Union Army. Such is our family story....

Next posting, more tales of our Wilson/Osborne ancestors....