From the Scrapbook of Shirley Sorrell, Part 10

by Glenn N. Holliman

As observed in early posts, the majority of the 20th Century  descendants of Isaac (1822-1864) and Caroline Greer Wilson (1828-1911), left family farms and pursued occupations in the communities and cities usually far from ancestral roots in Sutherland, Ashe County, North Carolina. 

In the United States, the number of persons employed in agriculture fell constantly from the Civil War to 1950 as agricultural mechanization and specialization increased, and as jobs in the growing industrial and manufacturing sectors proved more lucrative and attractive than subsistence farming.  Such was the case with the ancestors of Shirley Sorrell who kindly shares these photographs.

Above at the Wilson-Greer and Families Seminar in 2014 in Boone, North Carolina, left Shirley Sorrell and right, distant cousin Jeanette Suggs.

The lineage of Shirley Sorrell

Her parents:   Deronda (1918-1966) and Barbara McCall Donnelly (1922-1965)

Her parental grandparents:   Thomas Earl (1892-1964)  and Mayme Wilson Donnelly (1892-1975)

Her great grandparents:  John (1855-1928) and  Rebecca Wilson Wilson (1862-1954)

Her great great grandparents:  Isaac and Caroline Greer Wilson (the same as this writer)

Below, Shirley's father, Ronda Donnelly who served in India and Panama during World War II.  Ronda and wife, Barbara McCall, lived in Boone, North Carolina (where Shirley was born) and later moved to Richmond, Virginia.    Shirley's mother also served in World War II.  She joined the WACs as a secretary during the war and lived in Washington, DC when in Army.  Sadly, both Shirley's parents died young.

Below, left to right in the 1940s, Roger Donnelly, his mother, Mayme Donnelly, John Sutherland and his wife, Mayme's daughter, Becky Donnelly Sutherland. 

Roger (1928-2011) moved to West Virginia, married Pauline Wilson Roark, who had one son from a previous marriage.  Later, Roger worked in coal mines and road construction in Tennessee and owned a place in Shady Valley, Tennessee. He served in the Korean War.

John Thomas Sutherland of Sutherland was a descendant of the family that founded the community along the North Fork of the New River in Ashe County.  Neighbors married neighbors.   John (1918-1991) moved to Raleigh when he and Becky Donnelly wed, and drove a Greyhound bus until his retirement.  Becky graduated from Appalachian College in Boone and taught school a few years before marriage.

                                         The Grandchilden and Great Grandchildren 
                                             of Rebecca Wilson Wilson, 1940 ca

Extreme back: Verd Wilson

Back row: Marie Wilson Marsh, Boyd Wilson, Don Wilson in hat, Roger Donnelly, Argus Wilson

2nd row: ?, Shirley Marsh, Virginia Hurt, Becky Donnelly, Ernest Wilson, Meredith Duncan, Shirley Hurt, Joe Donnelly

Front row: Bill Wilson, Marie Wilson, Rebecca Wilson, Robert Wilson, (in chair) Anna Bell Wilson, Becky Wilson, Becky Hurt, Betty Wilson

Readers are invited to help with identification of persons in this picture, and please send along any memories or information on any relatives.


All are invited to join in building the family tree at Wilson-Greer-Osborne-Forrester-Donnelly and Associated Families of Western NC at Ancestry.com.  Just write to glennhistory@gmail.com for an invitation or to provide information on the reunion photograph.  Thanks!

From the Scrapbook of Shirley Sorrell, Part 9

by Glenn N. Holliman  

 One of the delights of the Internet has been to discover distant cousins and relatives of my grand and great grandparents; stories that would have been lost otherwise.  Thanks to cousin Shirley Sorrell, an avid family historian, we are able to continue to post photographs and biographical data about shared relatives.

Shirley and I are both great great grandchildren of Isaac and Caroline Greer Wilson, whose Civil War stories reverberate through our various family branches.  Shirley's ancestor was John Wilson, a son of Isaac and Caroline.  My great grandmother was Frances Caroline Wilson Osborne, a sister of John.  

So Shirley's grandmother, Mayme Wilson Donnelly (1892-1975), was a first cousin to my grandmother, ironically of the same first name, Mayme Torrence Osborne Stansbery (1896-1943).

As with my branch of the Greer/Wilson/Osborne families, Shirley's moved from rural areas to the technology employment opportunities of urban centers.  My great uncles, at least three sons and son-in-laws of Frankie and G.W. Osborne, also left family farms and in their careers, became automobile mechanics and salesmen in the early 20th Century.

Below in the late 1930s, Rebekah Sue Donnelly Sutherland (September 28, 1921 - August 8, 1999) , Mayme Wilson Donnelly and Roger Gus Donnelly at their home in Sutherland, North Carolina. Becky was Shirley's aunt, and Roger, her uncle. Mayme's other child, Deronda Donnelly, the father of Shirley, is not in these first photographs.

Below perhaps a decade older, are the same three persons, same home in Sutherland.

Below, at the same house in Sutherland, Becky holds Nancy, her only child.  Right is Barbara McCall Donnelly, another daughter-in-law of Mayme Wilson Donnelly, and wife of Deronda Donnelly,  Shirley Sorrell's father.  Barbara is holding young Shirley.  The date is approximately 1951.

Above, Deronda Donnelly, Shirley Sorrell's father and husband of Barbara McCall.  This picture was taken at Lee McCrae College in the 1930s, when 'Ronda' was a student in Banner Elk, North Carolina.

Below, Becky Donnelly, obviously on a special occasion!  She married John Thomas Sutherland (April 25, 1918- July 9, 1991) on November 20, 1942.  They had one daughter, Nancy Leigh Sutherland Broyles.  Becky graduated from Appalachian State College and taught school before her marriage to John, a Greyhound Bus driver.  The family moved from the North Carolina highlands, which their ancestors had settled in the late 1700s to Raleigh, North Carolina in the mid 20th Century.   

The lives of Becky and John illustrate the increasing education levels of the family, and the need to relocate to a major city for employment opportunities.  Families were leaving the mountains and migrating to urban areas.  And if Becky is an example, also becoming snappy dressers!

Later, more from Shirley Sorrell's Scrapbook, a 20th Century family in transition....

 All are invited to join in building the family tree at Wilson-Greer-Osborne-Forrester-Donnelly and Associated Families of Western NC at Ancestry.com.  Just write to glennhistory@gmail.com for an invitation.

From the Scrapbook of Shirley Sorrell 8

by Glenn N. Holliman


Shirley Sorrell, great great grand daughter of Isaac and Caroline Greer Wilson, continues to share photographs she has collected of her parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins.


Below, a picture in the 1940s of Roger Donnelly, left, followed to the right by Mayme Donnelly.  Next moving right is John T. Sutherland and his wife, Mayme's daughter, Rebekah Donnelly Sutherland.  The picture was taken at the Mayme Donnelly home in Sutherland, North Carolina.

Below, in 1937, in Sutherland, a picture was taken of the oldest children of Bessie and Conley Wilson, who are also the grandchildren of John (1855-1928) and Rebecca Wilson (1862-1952) who is sitting center on the front row. 


Back row, left to right are:  Bessie's oldest son, Boyd Wilson and his wife, Lexie holding the baby named Gloria.  Then Coney's oldest son, Argus and his wife, Grace Wilson holding baby Betty.  Finally on the back row is Conley's daughter Marie and husband Don Marsh with baby Shirley Marsh. 


In the front, left is Bessie Wilson Wilson holding Boyd's son, Robert.  Then Rebecca Wilson Wilson and finally Conley Wilson. 

Robert James Wilson was born August 25, 1932 and died of leukemia on August 16, 1950.  Gloria Jeanette Wilson entered life on October 5, 1934, William Boyd Wilson March 9, 1936 and Annabel Wilson, July 31, 1938.

Corrections, additions and your own photos, most welcome.  GNH

We invite you to rediscover your heritage at a Wilson, Greer, Wilcoxson, Osborne, Forrester, Adams and other families Forum, Saturday, 9 :30 am, July 19, 2014 in the community room of the Boone, North Carolina public library.  Sunday, July 20th is also the annual Wilson Homecoming at Sutherland United Methodist Church in Ashe County.  Join us for dinner, 6 pm at the Rustica restaurant in Boone, NC on Friday, July 18th.

For details and schedule on the above event and web site, watch this space and/or contact glennhistory@gmail.com.  Isaac and Caroline Greer Wilson are great, great grandparents of this writer.