The Cousin with the Hat, the Chicken and the Exhausted Wife!

by Glenn N. Holliman

After the publication of the last blog on the Wilson and Osborne Cemeteries in Ashe County, North Carolina, I received a photograph from distant cousin Gary Paisley. He kindly granted permission to reproduce pictures and relay some information on a grandson of Isaac and Caroline Greer Wilson.  Below is Charles Smith Wilson wearing a bowler hat and feeding a chicken perhaps in Grayson County, Virginia.  Why is he sitting in a chicken yard in his Sunday best?!

From Gary Paisley:  "In case you don't already have it, I am forwarding a photo of Charles Smith Wilson (1884-1923), who was, I believe, the nephew of Frankie Wilson (this writer's great grandmother).  His mother was Martha Evaline Wilson (who is buried at Pine Branch, 1857-1904)).    Below, Andrew Johnson and Martha Eva Wilson Forrester (Courtesy of Shirley Sorrell and Clington Getzinger) I think his father was Richard Franklin Osborne (he was).  Martha later married Andy Forrester.   Charles Smith Wilson taught school at Pine Branch, then married Ruth Lee Paisley (later in life she called herself Louise rather than Lee, 1896-1981), and they later moved to Washington.  I think he died in Waitsburg, WA in 1923, but I am pretty sure there are living descendants." Gary sent along his amazing photograph of Ruth (Louise) Lee Paisley Wilson.  Taken during a not inexpensive trip to a photographer's studio, this woman is posing in an exhausted position, and her stare shouts that she does not care what the camera is catching.  Any clues to the reasons for Ruth's depression? "Someone from out in Washington sent the picture of Charles to me several years ago.  They were wanting information on Ruth Lee Paisley's ancestry - her parents.  Walter Edward and Martha Ida Porter Paisley were part of the same diaspora to Waitsburg, Washington.  She was a grand daughter of James Monroe Paisley who owned a department store in Troutdale, Virginia during the boom years.  Ruth Lee married twice more after Charlie Wilson died.  So I am not even sure the folks who contacted me were descended from Charlie.

Below, Gary Paisley

Ruth Lee would have been my 3rd cousin, once removed.  I collect info on all the Paisleys of the Upper NRV (New River Valley) and their relations.  I believe the Charles Wilson photo was taken near Pine Branch, just north of Fox in Grayson County, Virginia.  

The land around Waitsburg does not look like the picture - more of a grassland climate with few trees.  The photo could possibly be taken at the old Lee Fielding Hash place.  you probably know he married Charlie Wilson's sister, Lelia Bina Wilson (1878-1935).  Lee F. Hash's sister, Alice married Noah Anderson, and Noah's sister, Celie married James Monroe Paisley which is how they were all connected.  

Charlie and Ruth Lee moved to Waitsburg about 1915.  Their eldest, Charles, Jr., was born near Fox in 1914 while the other 3 children, Robert Earl, Wade Carver, and Virginia Martha (who died as an infant) were born in Washington.  All three sons are now deceased but at least 2 of them had children."

All are invited to join in building a 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.  Saving our family history one ancestor at a time.  Thanks!

Who is this G. W. Osborne?

by Glenn N. Holliman

Recently I received an email and pictures from a former antique dealer who found this blog on the Internet.  She has in her possession an object that has the name G.W. Osborne embedded.  I thank her for her email.  Here are her words.

"Do not know if this has anything to do with your family. I am redoing a room and when I was cleaning my old vintage register (see pictures) I took notice in the label on the side of it.

It reads:     Re-Order From

                    G. W. Osborne

                   Box 358

                   Crystal River, Fla.

I thought I still had the little work orders in the file, but when I was cleaning they are not there any longer. It seems to me if my memory is right that the work orders were small yellow paper and might of been a machine shop or repair business of some sort. The pictures are not great as I can not get a clear shot on my staircase. The thing weighs a ton, or I would take it outside and take better pictures.

Thought I would google it, and came up with your address.

I have had it for years. I am actually from Cape Cod Mass. When I was there I sold antiques. I used to go on antiques buying trips into Penn. all around  Lancaster, Allentown, and York. I picked it up on one of my trips, back in the mid 80's. Have carried it around with me ever since. Love it. I would love to know the history of it."

Left, a photograph believed to be my great grandfather, G.W. Osborne, not a merchant in Florida but a farmer in North Carolina and Tennessee

Hmmm...yes, my great and great, great grandfathers are named George Washington Osborne, but to my knowledge neither every visited Florida, much less lived there.  G. W. Osborne, 1803-1882, was born in Grayson County, Virginia, the son of Jonathan Osborne, 1753-1831, who was born in Yadkin Valley in Rowan County, North Carolina, and died on a farm in Grayson near his more famous pioneer brother, Enoch. 

Local Ashe County, North Carolina historian, Rufus Myers, has written about numerous of my Mother's ancestors (Geraldine Stansbery Holliman Feick, 1923).  Her grandfather, George Washington Osborne, 1846-1927, the son of the above G. W. Osborne, was born along the North Fork of the New River in Ashe County. 

This G.W. farmed in Sutherland, Ashe County after marrying Frances Caroline Wilson (1851-1940), daughter of Isaac and Caroline Greer Wilson.  Later he moved his family to Cove Creek, Watagua County, North Carolina, and during the Depression of 1896 tried farming and the mercantile business in Blountville, Tennessee, Damascus, Virginia, Afton, Tennessee and finally retired to Bristol, Tennessee where he died and is buried.

According to Myers and my research the Osbornes originally came from New Jersey.  I have yet to prepare a comprehensive history of this branch of my family, but many Americans were named after the first President George Washington.  Perhaps one branch of the prolific Osborne family did settle along the Gulf Coast of Florida. 

Crystal River, Florida is about two hours north of Tampa, and is only a century old.  Originally the community developed from the local cedar that was cut and made into pencils.  Perhaps this Mr. Osborne migrated  south from the mountains and made furniture from the native Florida wood at the turn of the last century?

My thanks to the inquisitive lady who wrote me. Can any one help us with this family mystery?

More Photographs from my Sister's Attic, Part 3

by Glenn N. Holliman

Ah, the things one finds when an attic is explored.  Recently, my sister, Becky Holliman Payne of Tennessee, went through her boxes of memorabilia received from her mother, Geraldine Stansbery Holliman Feick and Louise Stansbery Sherwood.  I long ago thought what could be found, had been found.  As I have shared in the last two postings, I was wrong!

Below is a photograph many of us have seen, and of which several of us distant cousins have copies.  I have believed this shows my great grandparents, George Washington and Frances (Frankie) Wilson Osborne around the time of their wedding in January 1867.  Frankie was a young bride, (1851-1940) a daughter of Isaac and Caroline Greer Wilson of Sutherland, Ashe County, North Carolina.  G.W. was older, (1847-1927) born to parents  G.W. (1803-1882) and  Mary Baldwin Osborne (1803-1899), also of Ashe County.  It was around this date that G.W. was ordained a Southern Methodist pastor at Sutherland Methodist Church in Ashe County.  

Below is the original tin type, the first time I have seen it.  It shows G.W. holding what appears to be a Bible.  But the date is not 1867; we now know it was 1874 due to the fact, one of their children, Pearl Osborne Wright (1890-1980) wrote on the back of the framed tin type. 

 

As she dated this frame in 1940 (see picture below), my Great Aunt Pearl probably inherited this when Frankie died in November of that year.  In time the photograph passed to my Aunt Louise Sherwood, then to my Mother, and finally to my sister.

 

  

Note the instructions Pearl (Mrs. Dave Wright), pictured below ca 1940,  at her Damascus, Virginia home, gave the photographer to 'spruce up' the tin type.

 

Also, below found in the attic this picture taken ca 1933 of Louise Stansbery Sherwood (1915-2006), who kept the memorabilia in her home in Knoxville, Tennessee until her death.  Her husband was Vance R. Sherwood, Sr. (1910-1990).

 

Two sisters who were quite close all their lives were Louise (left below) and Geraldine Stansbery Holliman Feick, right below (b 1923), this writer's mother.  This precious photograph of the two sisters at play, which I had never seen before,  may have been made in 1927.  They lived with their parents, Charles S. and Mayme Osborne Stansbery in Bristol, Tennessee, where their grandparents, G.W. and Frankie Osborne also resided from the late 1910s to their deaths.

So, to paraphrase a popular television credit card commercial, 'What's in your attic?"

For more information or to ask for an invitation, please contact Glenn N. Holliman at glennhistory@gmail.com. Or visit the Holliman-Long Ancestry.com site and www.bholliman.com virtual archive.

 

Some Families of Damascus, Virginia, Part XV

The Retirement of Dave Wright
by Glenn N. Holliman

Over many articles I have been posting information on Damascus, Virginia and the life of my Great Uncle and Aunt, Dave and Pearl Osborne Wright.  The couple lived in the small mountain town until time ran out for Dave in 1962 and Pearl in 1980.  Childless, they generously raised two nieces and a nephew who came to live with them in 1923 when Pearl's sister-in-law died.  For two generations, Dave kept the lights on literally in town first as the manager of the Damascus Light and Power Company and later Appalachian Power.

Right, Pearl and Dave Wright.  The unidentified child may be a great niece.

Dave on the far right at a civic function.  The men shaking hands are not identified.  

Nor are those below.  Perhaps these photos, ca. 1950, will strike a memory with someone in Damascus, Virginia. By 1950,a niece's husband, E.F. Akers, ran the Beaver Chemical Company.

After retirement in 1952, Dave repaired radios from his home.  He died in 1962.  Pearl would live another 18 years, passing away in 1980.

More Adema Photographs

Bob Adema, a Great Grandson of G. W. and Frances Wilson Osborne
by Glenn N. Holliman

I have written a series of articles on that part of my Mother's family that lived in Damascus, Virginia in the first 3/4ths of the 20th Century.  My Great Aunt Pearl Osborne was born in Ashe County, North Carolina in 1890.  While living in Damascus as a teenager in the first decade of the 20th Century, she met a descendant of one of the founding families of this Appalachian community - Dave Wright.  They married in 1911, and together ran the Damascus Inn.  For decades, Dave operated the creek - driven generator for electrical service in the small village.  For years on Saturday night, he operated the projectors at the local movie 'palace'.


My second cousin is Bob Adema.  His Mother, Gladys Osborne Adema, and my Mother, Geraldine Stansbery Holliman Feick, were first cousins.  Gladys, along with her sister Doris and brother Bascomb K. Osborne, were raised by their Aunt Pearl and Uncle Dave when their mother, Doris Kruger Osborne, died prematurely in 1922 in Baltimore, Maryland.  


The story of this interesting family situation, and how it impacted the lives of the three children will unfold in future articles.  As for now, here is a nostalgic look at a beautiful automobile lovingly restored by cousin Bob.  


On two occasions I have been pleasantly entertained for lunch at the home of Bob and Gayle Adema. Bob is a grandson of Bascomb W. Osborne, one of the five adult sons of G.W. and Frances W. Osborne. Now retired, one of his hobbies is maintaining his 1946 Ford, pictured below.

My wife, Barb, sitting on the passenger side with Bob driving, insisted on a spin!  I was relegated to the back seat, discovering a two door is not as easy to exit as when one was ten years or so in age.

Bob has altered the dash board, installing a tape deck and air conditioning controls.  The Ford has over 350 horse power, but with a (gasp) modern Chevy engine!

Bob comes by his mechanical aptitude naturally through several sides of the family.  His grandfather, Bascomb W.  Osborne, as well as Bascomb's brother Bill Osborne, were both auto mechanics from the 1920s to the 1950s.

Our thanks to Bob and Gayle for lunch, family talk and ride in a legend, the first Ford model produced after World War II.