The 2014 Wilson, Greer and Associated Families Forum 2

by Glenn N. Holliman

We continue our reporting of the Wilson-Greer-Osborne and Associated Families Forum in July 2014 in Boone, North Carolina. What follows are informal pictures taken the night of July 18, 2014 at a get together dinner.  Those around the table shared their lineages with me, and over the next postings, we will looking into our shared ancestry.

Below, left to right, are Betty Ankers, Linda Donnelly, Jackie Farrington, Kathryn Wilson, Gloria Heinburger and her husband, Wilbur, (partially obscured), Wendy Hodges and her father, Gary Hodges, our John Wilcoxson impersonator.

At the head of the table in light purple is Gloria Heimburger, the daughter of Boyd (1911-1972) and Lexie Lawrence Wilson (1912-1982).  Gloria is a grand daughter of Arlie (1885-1956) and Bessie Wilson (1882-1976), who is a daughter of John (1855-1928) and Rebecca Wilson (1862-1954).  John is one of the sons of Isaac (1822-1864) and Caroline Greer Wilson (1828-1911). 

 Below Becky Wilson in her later years. Courtesy of Shirley Sorrell.

As we look at the group photograph, Kathryn Wilson, is to the left of Gloria.  Kathryn is the daughter of Clyde (1912-2006) and Maude (Tincy) Wilson (1917-2010).  Her grandparents are also Bessie and Arlie Wilson who took care of Rebecca (Becky) Wilson in her old age.  Kathryn has inherited a chair owned by Becky and John Wilson. 

The photograph below of Kathryn's and Gloria's grandmother courtesy of Dale Wilson.
 

Above, Arlie and Bessie Wilson in 1913 ca with two of their children - Boyd, the oldest, with Clyde; below left to right in 1950 are Ernest, Clyde (Kathryn's father), Boyd (Gloria's father), Bessie and Arley Wilson.

 

Next posting more photographs, lineages and family snapshots from the past and the forum....

The 2013 Wilson-Greer Reunion, Part 4A

by Glenn N. Holliman

A 2013 Gathering at the Ancestral Home of Earl and Mayme Wilson Donnelly....Part IV

We continue our stories and photographs of cousins and ancestors, inspired by the July 2013 Wilson reunion at Shirley Sorrell's home in Sutherland, North Carolina. Our Forrester-Wilson-Greer-Osborne-Donnelly-Adams and other associated families lived (and many still do) in the lush valleys and highlands of beautiful Western North Carolina.

Right are two cousins who knew each other as children, over 50 years ago - Dale Wilson, whom we read about in the last post, and Jackie Ruth Lewis Farrington, at Shirley's family home in North Carolina, July 2013. 

Jackie, who lives in southwest Virginia, is the daughter of Virginia Donnelly, who was the daughter of Bruce and Torrence Wilson Donnelly, a daughter of Bob and Ellen Wilson Wilson.  Bob was a son of Isaac and Caroline Wilson.  Jackie's daughter is Jennifer Bundy, a serious Wilson/Greer/Donnelly family historian, who attended with her husband and son the 2012 Wilson-Greer site and seminar celebration.

Torrence  (12/18/1899 - 8/10/1986)  and Bruce Charles Donnelly (11/26/1893 - 11/1/1989) farmed at Creston, a few miles from Sutherland.  Bruce also ran a small country store. Later one of their son's, Joe Donnelly, ran the store until his death a few years ago.  Joe's son, Larry Donnelly with his mother, runs the store and garage, which is located at the entrance to Oscar Wilson Road, the site of the original Isaac and Caroline Greer Wilson farm.
 

 Photograph and above comments courtesy of Dale Wilson.

 Below in the spring of 1948, Jackie Lewis Farmington with her parents  Morris Franklin Lewis (7/13/1917 -10/20/2003) and  Virginia Dare Donnelly (7/2/1921 - 2/26/2008). 

 

The marriage was ill-fated due to Morris's horrendous World War II service.  He fought in the Battle of Bataan and survived the infamous Death March and years of Japanese captivity.  For the rest of his life, he suffered from what today would be called post traumatic stress syndrome, and now lies in Arlington Cemetery, a hero who suffered mightily for his country.

 

Virginia married again.  First to Burl Ray Winebarger (7/3/1915 - 7/5/1969, then James Louis Johnson (1/1/1929 - 1/26/1975) and twice married Willard Glenn Lewis (10/2/1916 -10/10/2004).

In May 1928, Frances Wilson Osborne (1851-1940), the great grandmother of this writer, wrote in her diary of an extended trip from her home in Bristol, Tennessee to visit her siblings and in-laws in Ashe County, North Carolina, ancestors of Jackie Farrington and other cousins who attended the 2013 reunion.

A reading of this diary reveals a rich kinship and friendship among the children and grandchildren of Isaac and Caroline Greer Wilson.  The spelling and grammar is that of Frankie's, reflecting the modest education she received prior to and during the Civil War.  Comments are by Clinton Getzinger (CWG), whose knowledge of the Wilson-Forrester families is encyclopedic! 

May 19 – “may the 19 saturday…Went to Bob Wilsons at sutherland.”  These are Jackie Farrington's great grandparents.

May 25 – “Friday 25…Went to Walter Osborne, spent 2 night…Sunday 27, came  back to Bobs Wednsday 30…come to Earl Donnelly Sunday 3…left Earl Donnely ...come to church the…went up to Becky Wilson.” Walter Raleigh Osborne 1867-1933 was Frankie's nephew. His father was Clemons Osborne 1835-1902, a brother of George Washington Osborne.   Earl Donnelly is a son-in-law of Uncle John and Aunt Rebecca Wilson. He married their daughter Mamie Edna Wilson. CWG

June 10 – “went to Preaching and Sunday school.   Come back to Bruce Donnelly for diner.” Bruce Donnelly married Bob Wilson's daughter Lillian Torrence Wilson.  These are Jackie Farrington's grandparents.  CWG

June 15 – “Friday 15…Went to Conly, spent the night.  Bought 1 galon of strawberry, paid 50cts.  Got half dosen pint cans, paid 45 cts…got 4 lbs sugar, paid 36 cts…cost of all $1.31.”  Frankie was making strawberry jam.

June 16 – “Saturday…Went to Bobs, spent the night, came Back to Beckys Sunday.  Spent the night Sunday 17.”

Frankie Wilson Osborne, who was present at her father's Isaac's Civil War murder, died in 1940 in Bristol, Tennessee from complications of a broken hip.  Her mother, Caroline Greer Wilson, died in 1911, from the same condition - complications from a broken hip. 

For more information or to ask for an invitation, please contact  glennhistory@gmail.com.  These articles may be found at Ancestry.com in the Holliman-Long site and/or at the virtual archive at www.bholliman.com.

  
 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 2013 Wilson-Greer Reunion

by Glenn N. Holliman

A 2013 Gathering at the Ancestral Home of Earl and Mayme Wilson Donnelly....

Every third Sunday in July the Sutherland, North Carolina United Methodist Church holds a homecoming with preaching and lunch on the grounds.  Generally this draws a number of descendants of the pioneers who settled the picturesque North Fork of the New River Valley in the late 1700s and early 1800s.  Below the church service on 21 July 2013 with guest preacher, Bennie Wilson, left, a third cousin of this writer.

 

The Sutherland United Methodist Church was founded in the middle 1850s as a result of revival camp meetings held along the North Fork.  Isaac and Caroline Greer Wilsons evidently were charter members of this congregation.  One of their sons, William Albert Wilson, became a Methodist minister, once a pastor of the church, before spending 40 years as a Christian missionary to Japan. 

This writer's great grandfather, George Washington Osborne, was ordained a lay minister at the church in the 1870s and preached in the church and to other Methodist congregations in the North Carolina highlands between the 1870s and 1896, before moving to Tennessee. Below the Sutherland United Methodist Church today, the latest physical incarnation, resting on a hill above the North Fork of the New River.

This past July, my son, Christopher S. Holliman and grand daughter, Camille, and I took a few days to drive to Watauga and Ashe Counties from our Virginia and Pennsylvania homes.  For my offspring it was a first time look at the mountain landscapes, cemeteries and traditional cultures of where our ancestors rest.  Below is the magnificent view from the front door of the former home of Earl and Mayme Wilson, grandparents of the current owner, Shirley Sorrell.  The peaks surrounding Sutherland and Creston, NC near Trade, Tennessee soar as high as 5,500 plus feet, some the tallest mountains in the eastern United States!

After dinner on the grounds at the Sutherland Methodist Church, a number of Wilson genealogists gathered at Shirley's home and made plans to form a core group of cousins who will continue to share and save our ancestral highland heritage.

Gathering below on Shirley's front porch are left to right: Glenn N. Holliman of Pennsylvania, Jackie Lewis Farrington of Virginia, Shirley Sorrell of North Carolina, Clinton Getziner of Virginia, Len Wilson of North Carolina, Dale Wilson of Kansas and Peggy Sue Huber of Pennsylvania. Len is holding the Civil War sword of our common great, great or 3 great grandfather Isaac Wilson (1822-1864).

 

This story and others of these families may be found at Ancestry.com or at www.bholliman.com.