Stribling Stuff

These are photos from some pages from a book I have on the Stribling family. I was completely foxed as to who they were and what their relation was to me and my family until just a couple of weeks ago. Now that I know Stribling was the maiden name of my great-great grandmother, it all makes sense.

Of course, HER mother's maiden name (my great-great-great grandmother) was Williams. I like that. It is the English form of my husband's name, Wilke. I wonder - are we more closely related than I want to think?? Yikes! LOL!

I must find this book again - it's around the house somewhere - and see if I can find a photo of my great-great grandmother in it. 

Happy Birthday Grandma Katie

On this day in 1891, my great-grandmother Katie Hays was born.

It's really amazing to think that she was born before the turn of the 20th century, and she died in 1982 - just 1 year into the space shuttle program.

When she was 18 years old, in 1909, she could not vote. That right would not enter her life until she was 29 years old. I do not know if she ever did register and vote. When I knew her, her focus was on God, not politics.

She lived to see two World Wars, and I know that one of her two sons (my grandfather) served in one of them. I think her other son, my great-uncle Jim, may have served in the Army but I'm not 100% sure.

I do have one photo with her in it on my computer; it shows her talking to my mother, with my father standing between them, at the reception following my parents' wedding:

I think Mom told me that Katie was welcoming my mother into the family, and naturally that went over really well with Mom.

That picture was taken inside this house:

Some changes have been made to the house and property - the landscaping is more open now, a driveway was added, and the front porch enclosed - but otherwise it's the same little house she lived in, and where I used to go on my way to school when I attended Woodside Elementary in Silver Spring (located at the top of that hill where the house sits).

I was only 12 when Katie died. I wish I'd been more inclined to ask her questions about her life and experiences growing up. I'm sure she would have had some really interesting tales to tell.

Forni Headstones

This is the headstone of one of my late cousins. She was the daughter of my great-aunt Mary Forni and her husband Chuck Forni.

My dad knew her. He didn't speak much of her, but he did say she was quite lovely indeed.

I'm not sure I know why she died so young. I thought I'd heard she'd died of fever or rheumatoid arthritis or something along those lines, but then I found this...

This is the headstone, in the same Rockville cemetery, of Mary Lou's parents Chuck and Mary Forni.

I think I see why (as I was told) Mary just wasn't the same after 1955. She lost her child on June 3rd and then her husband on July 15, just a few weeks later. 

But she was good to my father and me. 

When it came to my mother, not so much. She supposedly once told my mother that she was a "nobody with nothing from West Virginia." Mary always denied saying such a thing. 

Well, now they're ALL past this nonsense....I think....

Obit - Effie Justice Staten

This is the obituary for my mother's stepmother....

EFFIE STATEN

Effie Staten, 71, of Delbarton, died Saturday, November 7, 1998, in Mingo Manor Nursing Home, Williamson.

Born January 18, 1927, in Delbarton, she was a daughter of Robert A. and Alkie McFadden Justice. 

She was also preceded in death by son, David Alfred Justice, brothers, Green and Joe Justice. She was a homemaker and member of the Varney Church of God.

Survivors: husband, Oliver Staten, Delbarton; stepson, Dallas Staten, Delbarton; stepdaughers, Joan Harlan, Nashville, Tenn., Billie Brown, Silver Spring, Md; brothers: Johnny, Clell, and Frank Justice all of Cleveland, Ohio, Earl Justice, Romulus, Mich., Robert, Archie, Ben and Hiram Justice all of Delbarton; sisters, Mary Taylor and Connie Cates, both of Cleveland, Ohio: and several step grandchildren.Funeral: 2 p.m. Monday, Nov.9, 1998, Chafin Funeral Home Chapel, with Revs Gary Bo Starr and Bill Snodgrass officiating.

Burial: Justice Cemetery, Delbarton  

Pallbearers: Friends and Family,Visitation: 6-9 p.m. Sunday Evening at the funeral home. WILLIAMSON DAILY NEWS

Mom and Effie did not get along very well, and uncle Dallas and Effie got on even LESS well than that. According to my mother (Billie Brown - although I prefer to call her Billie Holladay because I don't want to acknowledge her association with her second husband Dennis Brown), Dallas refused to go into the house when he went to see Oliver (their dad/my granddad). I'm not quite sure why; Mom never told me what happened between Dallas and Effie that made Dallas want to not associate with her at all. 

I do remember Mom mentioning David Alfred to me when we did talk about her past and Effie's past as well. I do not know why David Alfred died - whether it was an accident of some kind, or an illness, etc. No clue.

I only met Effie maybe once or twice in my life; we just never got back to West Virginia to visit with that side of my family. Access to the Holladay family was always easier than it was to the Staten side. So I don't even remember what Effie looked like. I think Mom said she had red hair.

I find it interesting that she's buried in Justice Cemetery. I wonder how that cemetery came to have her name.

But yes, there's a little tidbit of my family history right there. 

Stribling Arms

In doing some family research - which is quite difficult, I must admit - I found that my great-grandmother's line included the name Stribling. This was a great find to me, because after my father died and I moved his furniture into my apartment, including an antique dry sink, I found in said dry sink a family book of Striblings. I thought, "who are these people?" I didn't know anything about the family connection to the Striblings. 

As it turned out, George Frederick Hays Sr (son of George J. Hays & Ruth-Ann Cornelia W. ROSS) married Martha Alma "Dora" Stribling (daughter of James Harvey Stribling & Nancy Jane WILLIAMS) and had 10 children, 7 of which survived. 

One of those children was Katherine Magnolia Hays, my great-grandmother. She married Owen Holladay, and the children of that marriage were Frederick Owen Holladay (my grandfather), James Douglas Holladay, Martha Holladay (ZEIGER), and Mary Holladay (FORNI). 

Anyway, here's the Stribling arms (enlarged but somewhat pixellated).