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....