The Stansberys and McCrays of Tennessee
by Glenn N. Holliman
For the past year or so, I have been writing about my mother's maternal ancestors - the Wilsons, Greers, Osbornes, Wilcoxsons, Browns, Boones and others who lived in the highlands of Western North Carolina. While I will continue to highlight the lives of these relatives, I wanted to share more information on the other side of the mountain - that is my mother's paternal ancestors in upper East Tennessee - the Stansberys, McCrays, Broyles, Taylors, Bayless and others.
As with my North Carolina and Southwest Virginia ancestors, so too did my Tennessee 5th, 4th, and 3rd great grandparents arrive during the contact period with the Cherokee nation. Unlike my North Carolina ancestors, the frontier Tennessee families also had to contend, not only with the Cherokee tribes but also with the mighty Creek nation that also took violent exception to the Americans encroaching on their ancestral lands.
I pick up the East Tennessee story with another tragic family tale. GNH
My mother, Geraldine Stansbery Holliman Feick, told me as a child of the frightful story of her paternal grandmother, Anna McCray Stansbery (1864-1936), who warmed herself one cold January morning by her open fireplace in Afton, Tennessee. Her dressing gown caught fire, and before her husband, William Luther Stansbery (1864-1943), could snuff out the flames, Anna ran into the yard and died of burns.
The above clipping is from the Greeneville Sun. Note Rudyard Kipling, the famous English novelist and poet, was seriously ill. He would die that month, the same day as King George V in January 1936.
Above, the monument at Shiloh Cemetery, Tusculum, where William Luther and Anna McCray Stansbery are resting. Near them are other family members of the Stansbery family.
My mother, a grand daughter of Frances Wilson Osborne (1851-1940), does not remember much else about these grandparents and their Afton, Tennessee home except for an attic filled with books. It was 'scary' in the dark attic to a child, and unfortunately Annie's personality was not especially comforting. Perhaps from her seven children, she had had more grandchildren than she could remember or wanted to remember! They had married January 1, 1884 in Washington County, Tennessee (source, Tennessee archives).
As I have written in earlier posts, one of William Luther and Anna McCray Stansbery's sons was my grandfather, Charles Skelton Stansbery (1893-1957).
Left is a 1920s photo of Charles who in 1914 married my grandmother, Mayme Osborne (1896-1943), a daughter of G.W. and Frances Wilson Osborne. Raised on a farm near Greeneville, Tennessee, he moved his growing family in 1919 to Bristol, Tennessee. There he entered the new 'high tech' business of his day - the supervisor of the Ford Motor Company maintenance department in that twin city! He and Mayme had three children - Louise Francis Stansbery Sherwood (1915-2006), Charles S. Stansbery (1918-2006) and my mother, Geraldine, b 1923.
Stricken with paralysis in 1930 due to tainted 'Jamaican Ginger', his marriage disintegrated and he returned to Afton, Tennessee to farm and local employment. He later married Lucy Lee Barkley (1912-1978) and had two children who lived to maturity - Nancy Stansbery Higgenbothem and Jean Stansbery (1944-1999).
Above, two half sisters, Nancy Stansbery Higgenbothem left, and Geraldine Stansbery Holliman Feick, right in Greeneville, Tennessee in 2009. Both are daughters of Charles S. Stansbery and grand daughters of William Luther and Anna McCray Stansbery.
by Glenn N. Holliman
For the past year or so, I have been writing about my mother's maternal ancestors - the Wilsons, Greers, Osbornes, Wilcoxsons, Browns, Boones and others who lived in the highlands of Western North Carolina. While I will continue to highlight the lives of these relatives, I wanted to share more information on the other side of the mountain - that is my mother's paternal ancestors in upper East Tennessee - the Stansberys, McCrays, Broyles, Taylors, Bayless and others.
As with my North Carolina and Southwest Virginia ancestors, so too did my Tennessee 5th, 4th, and 3rd great grandparents arrive during the contact period with the Cherokee nation. Unlike my North Carolina ancestors, the frontier Tennessee families also had to contend, not only with the Cherokee tribes but also with the mighty Creek nation that also took violent exception to the Americans encroaching on their ancestral lands.
I pick up the East Tennessee story with another tragic family tale. GNH
My mother, Geraldine Stansbery Holliman Feick, told me as a child of the frightful story of her paternal grandmother, Anna McCray Stansbery (1864-1936), who warmed herself one cold January morning by her open fireplace in Afton, Tennessee. Her dressing gown caught fire, and before her husband, William Luther Stansbery (1864-1943), could snuff out the flames, Anna ran into the yard and died of burns.
The above clipping is from the Greeneville Sun. Note Rudyard Kipling, the famous English novelist and poet, was seriously ill. He would die that month, the same day as King George V in January 1936.
My mother, a grand daughter of Frances Wilson Osborne (1851-1940), does not remember much else about these grandparents and their Afton, Tennessee home except for an attic filled with books. It was 'scary' in the dark attic to a child, and unfortunately Annie's personality was not especially comforting. Perhaps from her seven children, she had had more grandchildren than she could remember or wanted to remember! They had married January 1, 1884 in Washington County, Tennessee (source, Tennessee archives).
As I have written in earlier posts, one of William Luther and Anna McCray Stansbery's sons was my grandfather, Charles Skelton Stansbery (1893-1957).
Left is a 1920s photo of Charles who in 1914 married my grandmother, Mayme Osborne (1896-1943), a daughter of G.W. and Frances Wilson Osborne. Raised on a farm near Greeneville, Tennessee, he moved his growing family in 1919 to Bristol, Tennessee. There he entered the new 'high tech' business of his day - the supervisor of the Ford Motor Company maintenance department in that twin city! He and Mayme had three children - Louise Francis Stansbery Sherwood (1915-2006), Charles S. Stansbery (1918-2006) and my mother, Geraldine, b 1923.
Stricken with paralysis in 1930 due to tainted 'Jamaican Ginger', his marriage disintegrated and he returned to Afton, Tennessee to farm and local employment. He later married Lucy Lee Barkley (1912-1978) and had two children who lived to maturity - Nancy Stansbery Higgenbothem and Jean Stansbery (1944-1999).
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