My great, great grandmother, on my Mother's side of the family was Elizabeth Bussard (pronounced Boosard). She was a German, and while yet in Germany, was married to a man by the name of Overholtzer. She united with the Church of the Brethren in Germany. I do not know whether her husband united with the Brethren or not, but one thing my chronicler makes, clear, that they were persecuted in Germany, and decided to come to America, the home of religious freedom.
And so they took passage for America, but on the way both Overholtzer and their only child died and were buried at sea.
On arriving in America, the ship's captain sold Elizabeth as a bond-woman for three years, to pay for her passage over. The man to whom she was sold was Col. George Welton, of Virginia.
She was sent into the fields to cultivate corn and tobacco. But at the end of the year she was released, because of her industry. This was in 1745-49. My chronicler says she was the first member of the Church of the Brethren to settle in Virginia. I am not sure about this last statement, but I am pretty sure that she was the first member of the Church of the Brethren to settle in what is now the first District of West Virginia.
Elizabeth Overholtzer then married a man by the name of John Stingley. We think he was either Swede or Welsh by birth; but he was not a member of the Brethren Church. They had seven children, four sons and three daughters, namely: Jacob, George, John, William, Mary, Katie, and Polly.
William was the youngest, and was born in 1764. John Stingley then died, he the father. At the age of seven, young William was bound out to Col. Job Welton, till he was 21. This
In 1791 William married Charity Roby. In 1789 he moved to Ohio, but the next year he returned to Virginia. I think I'd like to side step just a little here, and tell this incident the way it has been handed down in my family. This is the way:
William Stingley and his family went to Ohio. The place they got to was Piqua. I suppose something was displeasing to them, for they did not even unload, but came back to the same place they had lived before they went. This place was afterwards known as "Pickaway". You see he didn't even stay long enough to get the correct spelling of the place.
I can remember very well when the neighborhood where William Stingley lived was called Pickaway. Even the school was known as the Pickaway School.
My mother had a reel that had been handed down to her from her mother, and is still in the family; that was made by William Stingley. It has a circular clock face on one side, where the number of rounds re marked that make a skein. When the rounds reach the cut mark, 66 four cuts to a skein, the clock strikes. On this clock face is written, "Pickaway patent clock reel". William's relatives and neighbors must have thought this incident very amusing to have remembered it so long, and William Stingley must have thought Virginia, as it was then, the only place to live.
The place where William Stingley lived, the place that
In 1805, William Stingley and his wife were baptized at Beaver Run. One chronicler has it I this way: In 1805, William Stingley and his wife came over from near Maysville, in search of the Brethren. But as the Arnold brothers were German, they could not understand them. So brother Schofield was sent for. I do not know the place of his residence, but he had to come 60 miles. William Stingley and his wife were baptized, and this was the beginning of the Greenland Congregation. They had one son and five daughters; all of the five daughters joined the Brethren Church. The son did not. One of these daughters married Michael Lyon, who was the first minister and elder of the Greenland Congregation.
My recorder goes on to say that William Stingley raised an interesting family. All were good singers for their day and generation; and as to the ability to recognize time and harmony in music, for any generation. They were intellectual, appreciated learning, humorous and fun-loving; a great blessing to the church and the community. I could hardly say these things myself, as I am so closely connected with the family, but if these
The children of William and Charity (Roby) Stingley were: Polly, John, Lovisa, Rachael, and Lydia. These all were members of the Brethren Church except John.
Elizabeth married Solomon Michael. Their children were: William, John, Adam, Isaac, Aaron, Rachael, Lydia, Catherine, Caroline, and Luranah.
William, son of Solomon and Elizabeth Stingley Michael, married Phoebe Clark, a sister of David Clark, who married my mother's sister Polly. Their children were: Martha, who married Dolly McNemar. He was killed by a falling tree soon after they were married. Their daughter, Bessie, was born after his death. Bessie married Jesse Ebert, for his second wife. Bessie had one son, Quinn McNemar, before she married Jesse.
Elizabeth, second daughter of William Michael, married George Mason. They had one son, Herbert, who was killed in the first World War.
Margaret, their third daughter, of William Michael, married Job Schell for his second wife. There were no children.
Lydia, daughter of William Michael, married Ernest Feaster, son of Henry Feaster. They had six children. Maud, who married a western man by the name of Sullivan and had one daughter, Alma, who married Virgil Cassady, son of Benoni Cassady. Their children were: Worth, Florian, and Kermit. Clyde, who married Sarah Burgess. They had one daughter, Helen. The rest of the six children of Lydia Michael and Ernest Feaster were: William, Gladys, and Glen. Gladys married a Rotruck. I do not know who William and Glen married.
John, son of Solomon and Elizabeth Stingley Michael,
Sarah, daughter of Solomon and Elizabeth Stingley Michael, married Isaac Stingley. They had two children: Wilbur and Emma. Emma married Pas Taylor. I do not know who Wilbur married.
Thomas Michael, son of John and Louise Smith Michael, married Rachael Hilkey, daughter of Jacob Hilkey. Their children were: Roy, who married Wreatha Buckbee and had the following children: Maywood, Eloise, Gloria, Dale, and Clarine. Lisle, who married Ora Cosner, daughter of Arnold Cosner. They had a large family, but I cannot name them. Josie, who married a Hammer, but I know nothing of her family. Bertha and Lulu did not marry and are living in Washington, DC.
Howard, son of John and Louise Smith Michael, married Carrie Lewis, daughter of Ferd Lewis. They had one daughter, Ruth, but I know nothing of her.
Anna, daughter of John and Louise Smith Michael, married William Paris, for his second wife. There were some children but I can tell nothing of them.
Clarence, son of John and Louise Smith Michael, married a McNemar. I think there were four children, namely, Kathleen, Neil, and two boys that I cannot name. The mother died when the children were small. I cannot tell who the boys married. One boy died years ago. Kathleen married David Cassady, a son of William Cassady. They had two sons, Thoburn and Melvin, then the father died from an eye operation.
Adam, son of Solomon and Elizabeth Stingley Michael, married Ellen Hilkey and had a large family.
Jane, second daughter of Adam Michael, married Jesse Hays. They had two boys, Walter and Edgar. Then the mother lost her mind.
Luranah, third daughter of Adam Michael, married George Devilbiss. Their children were Lefert, Larry, Tuesco, Lillias, Charles, and Herschel.
Maria, fourth daughter of Adam Michael, married Edward Smith, son of Sampson Smith, and had three boys: Brook, Trace, Lester, and a daughter, Pauline.
Taylor, son of Adam Michael, married Clara Kessel, daughter of Samuel Kessel. They had Evelyn, who married Henry Ludwig. Orville, who married Goldie Cook; and Dwight. Taylor, the father, died the winter of 43 and 44. George, Aaron, and Fannie, children of Adam Michael, did not marry.
Isaac, son of Adam Michael, went west and married there.
Rachael, daughter of Solomon and Elizabeth Stingley Michael, married Adam Cosner, a brother to my father's mother. Their history comes in the Cosner family.
________, daughter of Solomon and Elizabeth Stingley Michael, married William George. Their children were Maggie, who married George Bacorn. This is their family as near as I can make it out: William, who married Lulu Rotruck; Maria, who married Adolph Rotruck; and Ernest, who died young.
Worth George, son of William George, married Laura Markwood. They had two boys, Ezra and Hewett.
Elizabeth George married Taylor Martin and had the following children: Charley, Minor, Homer, and May. Marian George married Columbus Martin and had a large family. They were: Kate, who married Columbus Martin and had a large family; some of which were: Burzy, Robert, Wilbur, and others. Maria George married Daniel Billmyre and had two boys, Dorsey and Carl. Aaron George married Lily McNemar. Solomon George married Minnie Markwood, and for a second wife he married Jane Baily.
Catherine [should be Caroline], daughter of Solomon and Elizabeth Stingley Michael, married Abraham Smith and when his wife died, he married her sister, Caroline [actually, public records show that Abraham married Caroline in 1848 and Luranah in 1862]. Their children were: Clay, Milford, Carrie, Sallie, Aaron, and Kate, though which sister was the mother of the six children, I do not know.
Now, we will go back a generation --- Polly, daughter of William Stingley, married Kidd Marquis, September 8, 1816. They were married by Elder Samuel Arnold. In 1818 they went to Ohio, settling on Paint Creek. Then in 1820 they moved to Union County, and in 1830 to Dark County where Union City, Indiana now stands. In 1829, she, Polly, joined the Brethren Church. Her husband was a minister in the Brethren Church for a number of
Lovisa, daughter of William Stingley, married Michael Lyon. Their children were: Polly, Lovisa, Martha, Anna, Charity, Nancy, Thomas Dent, and Stingley. Polly married a Hays, Kidd, I think. Their children were: Daniel, Jesse, James, and Martha. Daniel married a Myers from Virginia. Their children were Florence, who married a Kline; Jerome, but I do not know who he married. Heber, who married Elizabeth, a daughter of his uncle James Hays, no children. Kiziah and Pearl, who did not marry. I should have said that Florence had a daughter, Agnes, who, at present is employed at Bridgewater College.
Jesse Hays married Jane Michael, daughter of Adam Michael. They had two boys, Edgar and Walter. I do not know who James Hays married. Martha Hays married Walter Reed. Their children were: Austin, who married his cousin, Edith Reed. They separated and he afterwards married a Judy. Clarence married Emma Moreland, daughter of James Moreland. Frances married Walter Kline, they separated and I know nothing of them. Grace died young, and Cora lived single for a number of years, but she is dead also.
Lovisa, daughter of Michael and Lovisa Stingley Lyon, married Jacob Powell. Their children were: Hiram, Felix, Lizzie, Emma, and Rachael. Rachael married a Nevill; Lizzie died young; Felix and Emma, I can tell nothing of. Hiram
Charity, daughter of Michael and Lovisa Stingley Lyon, married Thomas Clark. Their children were Lovisa, Hannah, Nancy, Neri, Solomon, and Stingley. One of these girls married a Roderick and two of them married Junkins. Solomon married a Kitzmiller and had two children, Lewis and Grant. Lewis married Anna Workman and Grant married a daughter of Smith McDonald. Both of these sons had children, but I can tell nothing of them. I do not know who Neri married or anything of him.
Anna, daughter of Michael Lyon, married Felix Clark. They had one son, Dennis, then the father died. Dennis married Louise Schell, daughter of Joab Schell. Their children were: Homer, Austa, Otis, Victor, Ethel, Evelyn, Orla, and Lindley. Homer married Myrtle Simmons. They had some children. Austa married Perry Parker, had one daughter, Kathleen. Otis married again, but I can give no particulars. Victor, Arley, and Lindley married in Ohio, and I do not know who they married. No, they married and live in Buffalo, New York. Ethel died a young woman, unmarried. No, Ethel married Adam Kimble, but died soon after. Evelyn married Jefferson Keplinger, son of James Keplinger. They had six children: Pauline, who married Delmer Cook; Lois, who married a son of Jacob Jones; then Kermit, Wendell, Wayne, and another daughter who married a son of Henry Cosner.
Nancy, daughter of Michael and Lovisa Stingley Lyon, married John Reed, and had the following children: Agnes, Ada, Jessie, Emma, Edith, Oscar, and Samuel.
Thomas Dent, son of Michael Lyon, married a Clark and moved to Illinois. I have no record of his family, but before
Now, we go back another generation --- Rachael, daughter of William Stingley, married Nicholas Michael. I think he was a brother of Solomon Michael, who married Elizabeth Stingley. Their children were: Elizabeth, Polly, Mahaley, Joseph, Job, and William. Elizabeth married Jacob Hilkey. Their children were Rachael, who married Thomas Michael, son of John Michael, and had Roy, who married Wreatha Buckbee and had Maywood, Gloria, Clarine, and Dale. Also, Thomas Michael had Lyle, Bertha, Lulu, and Josie. Jane Hilkey married Charley McNeill, and had Claud, Anna, Thomas, George, Mable, and Margie.
The rest of Rachael Michael's family were Mahaly, who married Hendrix Clark and went to Kansas; Polly, who married a Bilbry and went to Illinois. Joseph, Job, and William, I can tell nothing about.
Lydia, another daughter of William and Charity Roby Stingley, married Thomas Lyon, a brother of Michael Lyon. Their children were: Elizabeth, Polly, Hiram, Emanuel, Arnold, William, Thomas, John, Lydia, and Sarah.
Lydia Stingley was born October 9, 1802. She was married March 6, 1823. Thomas Lyon was born July 11, 1799. Their children were born in this manner: Elizabeth, who married William Cassady, was born February 9, 1824. Polly, who married David Clark, was born February 2, 1827. Hiram, who married Margaret Cassady, was born April 7, 1829. Emanuel, who married Virginia
John Stingley, son of William [and Charity Roby] Stingley, was the only boy in this family of girls. I have no special history of him and do not know who he married. His home was on the road leading from Maysville to Klines Gap, and came to be known as the Jo Groves place, because he afterwards owned it. The house was built of logs and plastered inside and out. A very pretty house for its day.
William Stingley was the youngest of the seven children of John Stingley [Poling's marginal notes say to see 1850 census, which indicates a total of four sons and six daughters, with William being the youngest son]. There were three sons and three daughters besides William, but I have no history of any except William. There are some other relatives that I am glad to mention, but cannot tell from which brother or sister they sprang.
Lizzie Stingley was the grandmother of Kate McDonald, who before her marriage to Ben McDonald, was Kate Lewis. My chronicler thinks she was cousin to my grandmother, Lydia Stingley, maybe a first cousin. She had a son, Thomas Stingley, who was an illegitimate child. Thomas had a son, Isaac Stingley, who married Sarah Michael, daughter of Jack Michael.
Thomas Stingley had five brothers and sisters. I cannot name all of them, but Lizzie Stingley married George Schell and some of the children, at least went by the name of Schell, perhaps all but Thomas, I do not know. But Ada Schell who
Lizzie Stingley married George Schell and the Lewis children always called him grandfather, but at least part of these children were born out of wedlock, but it is likely that they had the same father.
We have been tracing the history of William Stingley and know nothing of other members of the family. Lizzie Stingley could have been a daughter of another brother of the family [NOTE: she was a daughter of William's brother, George Stingley], and though her life was not very exemplary, there were quite a number of very fine people that came out of this line that we are pleased to call relatives and friends.
Samuel McNemar and his wife, Lizzie Harris McNemar, had the following children: Daisy, Harry, Edward, Vernon, and Vincent. The boys in this family were all married, but I do not know of their families or children. This year, 1960, Daisy is still living and single. The boys are all dead.
I think I have told of Carrie Michael among the Michaels. She was a sister of Kate McDonald and others, and a daughter of Ferdinand Lewis. The sister that married Weck Hollen did not live long after her marriage, but her husband did not marry for years after her death, but he finally married Maggie Harman and raised a large family.
Thomas Lewis, a brother of Isaac Lewis, went west and I can tell nothing more of him.
Isaac Lewis married Susan Tucker. Their children were:
The Stingleys are so closely tied up with the Lyons, that aside from their beginnings, they have almost the same history.
When I said that the first Elizabeth Stingley was the first member of the Brethren Church to settle in Virginia, I should have said within the bounds of the First District of Virginia, now the First District of West Virginia.
Since giving the foregoing history, I ran on to some history sent to me by uncle William Lyon, concerning the Smith family that married into the Stingley family. I will give it as he gave it:
He says, "Our old uncle, Abe Smith, was a brother of old Henry Smith, our old neighbor. The Abe Smith that married Luranah and Caroline Michael is not the same Abe. We will call him young Abe. The names of the children in the two families were different. This young Abe had a blind father, I think his name was Henry. Abe's [NOTE: a marginal note on the Poling copy of this manuscript says "Old Abe"] wife's name was Ann. They had five children, which they called Tine, Pop, Jim, Beck, and Absolem. I am sure these names were nicknames.
Now, some explanation of uncle William's sketch. The Uncle Abe Smith he speaks of was really his uncle, for he married Anna Lyon, a sister to his father, Thomas Lyon. The old Henry Smith, that was blind, was a brother to this first Abraham Smith. Young Abe Smith was a son of old Henry Smith, and he married both Luranah and Caroline Michael. Some of young Abe's family were Carrie, Sally, Aaron, Clay, and Milford, that was known as "Bud". I am not sure that they all had the
Uncle William says that the place where they lived was the old Kittlelick place, next owned by John Hilkey, father of Jacob Hilkey: and next owned by old John Ebert, father of our uncle John Ebert. Later owned by Jo Hilkey, at present owned by Weck Amtower.
Uncle William says that Abraham Smith and his wife were Brethren people and that Henry and his wife were strict Methodists, that because of this there wasn't the best feeling between the families, because Sally, Henry's wife was very prejudiced against other churches.
This that I have given is more on the Lyon record than the Stingley, but I thought to get it clear enough that the next generation can get something out of it, if there are interested.
I have it here in my history of my mother's family, that she was a daughter of Thomas and Lydia Stingley Lyon, but I do not say anything about their family life, where they lived or any incidents of their life, which I am going to do now.
In going back over my history, I cannot find when Thomas Lyon died, but I am pretty sure that he was not living, when the war came on, for there were two of his boys that joined the army, and there is nothing said about him in any connection with the war. We know that our mother, a girl of 16 or 17, lived on a small piece of land, with her mother; they two alone.
The road leading from Greenland, north toward New Creek, was an entirely different route from the present State Road
This road leading north from Greenland, led along the side of New Creek Mountain, several rods above the divide, and close to this road, on the west side, was the modest house of my mother and her mother. The remains of the house can still be seen --- 1965 --- from the house, several rods, almost due west, is the spot where grandmother was buried. Perhaps the father is buried there too --- it's likely. Meribah [Poling's marginal note says b. Aug 20, 1869] could remember that she, as a little girl of, I think, four, went with our mother to attend the burial of grandmother [Poling's marginal note says "d. 1873 acc. to Mark Hale. See Gospel Visitor also".]
My mother was always very fond of horses and loved to ride. She was a good rider. One time during the war, an encampment of soldiers camped in the meadow, just below their house. When morning dawned they looked out and the encampment of soldiers had disappeared, but they had left a horse which was grazing in the field. My mother exclaimed, "O, there's my horse". She ran and without any trouble bridled it. But Jack Michael, who had married a Rebel Smith, found out about the horse and came and took it away. Ma always remembered the loss of her horse.
My mother was the youngest in a family of ten children. The oldest was a sister, who married William Cassady, and when she had two children, a boy and a girl, she died; but the daughter was almost as old as her aunt Sarah; and the stories of their fun and companionship together was very amusing when she told them to her children.
Neither my father or my mother had anything but a few weeks of school, and yet they both were well versed in the use of correct English. They were both good readers and read a good number of books and papers. My father always subscribed for newspapers and read them; and they always read the church paper of their denomination. I have wondered where they got this training. My mother also understood the rudiments of music, and did much singing and teaching it to her children.
In my young days, we began the study of music by learning the scale, the name and shape of the notes that carried the music, and their position on the scale. The scale, composed of five lines and four spaces, had certain positions of letters, that began with what they called middle C. Middle C's position was on an added line below the scale. This was followed in the alphabet as far up as G, then back to A and up to C. This lettering carried the notes or tones from 1 to 8.
Back in those early days, there were music teachers that came into the neighborhood, and for a very small fee, enrolled pupils for a term of training in music. My father always enrolled his family, and we sang, oh, how we sang! All of these teachers, that I remember, were from Virginia, and they usually got boarding, or I should have said lodging, at our home. And those, I have remembered through the years. They were kind, they were funny, sometimes, and they were full of music.
We could, all of us, could sing any part, soprano, alto, treble --- now called tenor --- or bass. Our mother usually took the treble part when we sang together.
One name in my mother's family was --- Stingley. And one time remembered when a little bunch of young people were singing together on a Sunday afternoon, an old uncle of my father's who had been listening, remarked, "wherever there's a drop of that Stingley blood, they can sing."
There doesn't seem to be any resemblance of the present to the past --- seventy or seventy-five years ago. People say to you, "You would not want to go back to those times and live as common people lived then: No, we would not want to give up
The cemetery, and the grave of James Lyon, has been found lately on the William Cassady farm. It was discovered by Tracy J. Evans, who now owns and lives on the farm.
My mother could read music, and we often learned new pieces of music. In the old days, schools of music were taught by teachers that were not excessive in price and those of modest means could avail themselves of these advantages.
As I write this, I can hear my mother singing or whistling about her work around the house. She did this quite a bit, in the days when we were growing up.
Once, on a Saturday, we were doing our Saturday baking and other work together in the kitchen. Some of us had found a poem of sentiment and a little said, and we began to recite it over to each other, and my mother began putting a tune to it. Just making it up and trying it over, till she had a distinct tune set to the words. This song has been a treasured jewel in the family ever since. I will give it here, the words of the song.
The Blue Alsatian Mountains
By the blue Alsatian Mountains
Dwelt a maiden young and fair;
Like the careless flowing fountains
Were the ripples of her hair.
Were the ripples of her hair.
Angel mild, her eyes so winning,
Angel bright, her happy smile;
When beneath the fountain spinning,
You could hear her song while;
Ade, Ade, Ade!
Such songs will pass away
But the blue Alsatian Mountains
Seem to wait and watch alway.
By the blue Alsatian Mountains
Came a stranger in the spring,
And he lingered by the fountain
Just to hear the maiden sing,
Just to whisper in the moonlight
Words, the sweetest she had known;
Just to charm away the hours
Till her heart was all his own.
Ade, Ade, Ade!
Such dreams will pass away;
But the blue Alsatian Mountains
Seem to watch and wait alway.
By the blue Alsatian Mountains
Many spring times bloomed and past;
And the maiden by the fountain
Saw she's lost her hopes at last;
And she withered like a flower
That is waiting for the rain.
She will never see the stranger
Where the fountains fall again.
Ade, Ade, Ade!
The years have passed away,
But the blue Alsatian Mountains
Seem to watch and wait alway.
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