Abel Abram Pennington

It has been my experience that most of the Penningtons that I have found around Smyth and Washington Co., VA descend from Andrew Pennington and Hester Blevins.   Sometimes trying to figure out where some of these Penningtons fit has been a struggle.  While there may be some argument as to who Andrew Pennington's father was - there is no doubt that his descendants left a stamp on the region.

Abel Abram Pennington is the oldest son of Andrew Pennington and Hester Ann Blevins.  He was born 17 May 1836 in Ashe Co., NC and d. 18 Sept 1920 in Washington Co., VA.  I suppose that there is a clue as to the identity of Andrew's father with the naming of his oldest son.  Only problem is that Abel and Abram were supposedly brothers and Abram is considered by most to be Andrew's father.  Anyway Abel was married to Emily Blevins on 16 Oct 1861.  Emily would have been Abel's first cousin.  Her father was Daniel Blevins and mother was Lucy Ann Dickson.  (Lucy was the daughter of Johanna Pennigton and Douglas Dickson).  They had two children in two short years and Emily died in 1866.  Perhaps the reason there weren't any more children after 1863 is because Abel enlisted into the Confederate Army during the Civil War.  Abel must have gone back to live with his parents after his wife's death because he is recorded with them in the 1870 census with his two children.  In 1871, Abel remarried to Sarah V. Able.  Sarah was born on 17 Mar 1848 in Johnson Co., TN which is a neighboring county to Washington Co., VA.  She was the daughter of Leander Abel and Mary Ann Bush.

In some census records Abel is listed as Abram or Abraham and in others he is listed as Abel.  He is listed as Abel in the pension that was given to his widow after his death, so I suspect that Abel was his first name.  Abel's pension lists his cause of death as Pleurisy and he is buried at Green Cove Baptist Church Cemetery in Green Cove, Washington Co., VA (Find A Grave #18709078) His second wife, Sarah survived him by 9 years and died on 19 Mar 1929 and is buried in the same cemetery.  Something of interest is that Sarah's younger brother married her step daughter, Malvina Elizabeth Pennington.

Abel Abram and Emily Blevins had the following children:

• McClellan Pennington b. 15 Dec 1862 d. 8 Nov 1901 m. Mary Jane Blevins.
• Malvina Elizabeth Pennington b. 11 Sep 1863 d. 7 Mar 1920 m. Robert S Able

Abel Abram and Sarah Able had the following children:

• Columbia Jane Pennington b. 26 Jan 1873 d. 21 Jul 1961 m. William Harrison Dolinger
• Leander M. Pennington b. 10 Dec 1874 d. 5 Jan 1925 m. Ida Jane Hoosier
• Freelin E Pennington b. 22 Mar 1876 d. 19 Jan 1918 m. Carrie Cook
• Mary H. Pennington b. 16 Mar 1877 d. 27 Mar 1959 m. Calvin M. Hash
• Arthur Pennington b. 1881 d. bef 1906
• James Pennington b. 9 Feb 1883 d. 11 Mar 1963 m. Florence Loretta Blevins
• Orena Matilda Pennington b. 26 Jan 1886 d. 1970 m. D. Clinton Daye
• Dora M. Pennington b. 4 Jan 1888 d. 4 May 1920 m. Richard Elmer Venable
• F. Larelly Pennington b. 19 Nov 1891 d. be 1906
• Chester R. Pennington b. 9 Apr 1893 d bef 1910

Fan of Christmas

It is no surprise to anyone who knows me that I take Christmas rather seriously.  I love just about everything about it from the decorations, to the candy and cookies, and the music.  I love giving gifts to my family and while wrapping isn't my favorite thing, it is made bearable by Christmas music helping the time go by.

Perhaps the reason I love Christmas so much is because of my Mother.  She made Christmas special at our house.  The house was always decorated, Christmas music was always playing and the house always had many of the wonderful smells of cookies and candy.  Mom made everything from scratch and taught me how to make many of the family favorites.  Of course, I have brought a few of my own recipes to add to the tradition.

So, now as I am trying to finish the preparations for Christmas, my mind wanders back to some of my favorite memories...and I have already written about a few of them:

• An Elk City Christmas
• A Special Delivery - Revisited
• Christmas Flair
• The Old Stereo
• A Red Poinsettia
• O Holy Night
• Christmas Catalogs
• Christmas Tree 2011
• Winter Spirit in Lewiston ID
• Christmas Letters

Christmas -1968

Christmas 1966

David Nutter...and family...

I have West Virginia roots…deep roots that stretch back to the 1700’s.  I can’t say that they have been all that difficult to find because my great grandmother had pretty good notes about her family’s ancestry.  What has been difficult, is to ascertain which family belongs with which.

One of these confusing family lines is that of my 4^th great grandmother Elizabeth “Betsy” Nutter.  Anyone who has spent any time in genealogical research has to realize that Elizabeth might be one of the most common names and the most common nickname was Betsy.  Betsy was born on 21 Jun 1790 in Monroe Co., VA today, WV.  She died on 20 Apr 1869 in Leander, Fayette Co., WV.  On 19 Apr 1810, she married Thomas Jefferson Legg in Monroe Co., VA.  She was daughter of David Nutter who was most likely born in 1769 in Somerset Co., MD and died in 1851 in Nicholas Co., VA (WV).  You might say, that David Nutter is probably one of the main causes of all the confusion.

David married Ruth Cottle on 13 Jan 1789 in Monroe Co., VA.  She was the daughter of William Cottle and his wife Elizabeth.  They quickly, as was customary, started their family and had 10 children between 1790 and 1810 when she died on 10 July 1810 probably from childbirth with her youngest daughter, Malinda.  She was buried at the Old Rehoboth Methodist Church in in Union, Monroe Co., WV – you can view what is left of her gravestone at http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=22084644

David and Ruth’s children were:

• Elizabeth “Betsy” Nutter b. 21 Jun 1790 d. 20 Apr 1869 m. Thomas Henderson Legg
• Matthew Nutter b. 1791 d. aft 7 Jun 1860 m1 Sarah Cochran m2 Nancy Elkins m3 Margaret “Peggy” Hall
• Elijah Nutter b. 1792 d. abt 1860
• Hannah b. 1793 d. aft 1870 (As far as I know…she never married but still had five children)
• Jane Nutter b. abt 1795 d. Sep 1871 m. Steven O’Dell
• William b. abt 1799 d. aft 1850 m. Elizabeth Curren m2 Margaret Jones
• Ruth E. Nutter b. 1 Dec 1801 d. 30 Jan 1876 m. Hiram Pierson
• Nancy Myra Nutter b. 1802 d. 1848 m. Samuel Dorsey, Sr
• David Nutter, Jr b. 1807 d. aft 1880 m. Leah Buckle
• Malinda Nutter b. 1810 d. Feb 1850 m. John Duffy McClung

Seven years after the death of his wife, David Nutter married Christina O’Dell on 3 Aug 1817, daughter of Jeremiah O’Dell and Rachel Walters.  She was b. 28 Jan 1790 and d. 19 Aug 1891.  She was just five months older than David’s oldest daughter.

They had the following children:

• Grandison McCutcheon Nutter b.  31 Jul 1815 d. 17 Nov 1904 m. Christina Pitsenbarger
• Rachel Nutter b. 10 Jun 1821 d. 8 Jan 1904 m. Alexander Brown, Jr
• Elinor Nutter b. Jun 1823 d. aft 1906 m1 Sinnett Williams m2 Andrew Brown
• John B. Nutter b. 2 Aug 1826 d. 18 Jun 1896 m. Elizabeth Pitsenbarger
• Ginsette Magdaline Nutter b. abt 1827 d. ? m. Abraham Neff
• Jeremiah “Jerry Nutter b. Jun 1830 d. 1909 m. Susan Miller
• Levi William Nutter b. 13 Nov 1833 d. 13 Jun 1882 m. Magaret Backus

Within these 17 children of David Nutter, you can find some of the most prominent families of Nicholas & Fayette Co., WV.  My own family includes Nutter, Legg, Pitsenbarger, Amick and Shawver but O’Dell, Dorsey, Brown, and McClung are also prominent families.  If you go a little deeper, you will also find Ramsey, and Walker.  The lines get even more tangled the more you dig in.  You might say that David Nutter with his 17 children was definitely one of the founding fathers of Nicholas and Fayette Co., WV.

My line goes back to him this way:

Florence Christine Shawver m. Ora Silas Gage (my great grandparents)

George Christian Shawver m. Rebecca Jane Pitsenbarger

Elizabeth Matilda Legg m. George William Shawver

Elizabeth "Betsy" Nutter m. Thomas Henderson Legg

David Nutter m. Ruth Cottle - my 5th great grandparents

Some Dollar Pics

My cousin sent me this photo several years ago and while I originally thought it was from a later date, now I am not so sure.  Supposedly it is a photo of Claude, Baxter, Maude, James Richard "Dick", Thomas Roby and  Charles Frederick Dollar and was taken in 1915. However, I am fairly sure that the older boy is not Claude Dollar as he would have been twenty five years of age.  So, I wonder who the older boy is...in fact I really can't be sure of any of the cast of characters.  If the youngest boy was Charles Frederick Dollar, then it has to have been taken either in 1915 or 1916 since Charles died on 4 Jul 1916.  Roby could certainly be the next oldest boy and James Richard or "Dick" could be the next boy and the girl is probably Bonnie, then Baxter...but the oldest boy escapes me.  It is a sad picture because Charles died at a young age and it is the only photo that I have seen of him!

This photo is labeled as John Dula Dollar and sis...it could be either Emmaline or Amanda  - I can't tell for sure.  I don't even know the vintage of the photograph.  I suspect sometime around 1910.  However, it is one of the few photos that I have of my great great grandfather.

Photo of Cleopatra Josephine Gentry Dollar probably taken around 1940.  Photo is labeled as Pate - which was the name that my great grandmother's older sister referred to as her step-mother.  As I understand it - it wasn't with a fond recollection of her.

There are a lot of questions that I wish that I could ask about this photo.  It is labeled Bonnie, Lena Dollar, Maude, Cassie & Dick at the old mill where John Dollar family lived and worked around 1908-09.  I don't know where this mill was...I believe the photo was probably taken around 1970 and I can't be sure it is still there.  Bonnie, Maude and Dick were children of John Dula Dollar and Cleoptratra Gentry's children and Lena was their first cousin and daughter of Roby Dollar.  Below is a larger picture of the mill with Dick Dollar in front.

This is a photo of Bessie Dollar Barker and Sophie Dollar Friddle - my great grandmother.  Neither one of these women were over five feet tall.

Probably taken about 1895 - the only photo I have of Claude, Bessie and Grandma Sophie with their father, John Dula Dollar.

John Dollar and wife Pate - taken about 1925!

John Dula Dollar died 80 years ago on 6 Dec 1933 in Atlanta, GA.  He was born on 3 Oct 1863 in Creston, Ashe Co., NC to Alexander Monroe Dollar and Elizabeth Gentry.  He was married to Buena Vista Bailey on 21 Apr 1889 and she died in April of 1894.  They were parents of the following children:

Claude Elmer b. 1890 d. 1972 m. Carrie Landis m2. Erna Stede

Bessie Elizabeth Margaret Dozier b. 1891 d. 1983 m. Reece Barker

Sophia Vestelle b. 1894 d. 1979 m. David Carl Friddle

John Dula Dollar married Cleopatra Josephine Gentry on 28 Mar 1897 and they were the parents of:

Mary Maude b. 1898 d. 1988 m. William Harrison Chancey

Baxter Erwin b. 1899 d. 1986 m. Ruth Ellen Barclay

James Richard "Dick" b. 1901 d. 1973 m. Cassie Celeste Skelton

Bonnie Lou B. 1903 d. 1988 m. Ernest Lee Walker

Nellie Clyde b. 1905 d. 1906

Thomas Roby b. 1907 d. 1984 m. Gladys Inez Upton

Charles Frederick b. 1911 d. 1916

Three Great Dames - Happy Thanksgiving

When I was a child, I don't really have a memory of a bad Thanksgiving.  I know that the day had to be very stressful for my mother...but it was a good kind of stress.  She had four little kids running around and eventually we learned to not bother her.  Usually my Mom's parents would join us and my grandmother would make the pies and a salad.  For a few years, we had three of the grandest old ladies for the dinner.

Mom Friddle (Sophie Dollar Friddle), Aunty Jones (Glenthora Stranahan Jones) and Granny (Nettie Moody Shearer) used to sit on the couch and visit.  I can remember sitting on the floor listening to them tell stories.  One that sticks out in my mind was about them taking the stagecoach.  Mom Friddle didn't move to the area until a bit later, but Aunty Jones and Granny lived in the region since the 1890's.  There first stop out of Lewiston was the 21 Ranch which is about 22 miles south of town, then they would stay the next night at Winchester and by the third night they would make it to Grangeville.  This is a trip that takes about an hour now...but back then it was three days.

These three ladies helped inspire my love of history and they have been topics for me for my blog.  Today on Thanksgiving - I would like to remember these three grand dames of my childhood.

Granny was born in 1890 in Missouri and was actually my step great grandmother.  She was sure a special lady and when I see little Christmas trees, I will always think of her.

My Beloved Granny

My sister, Gwenda and Aunty Jones.

Aunty Jones was my mother's godmother...at least that was what she claimed.  She had a long history here in the Lewiston - Clark Valley and lived to be probably the oldest person that I knew when she died at 99 years old.  Every years she would give each of us kids a $5 and a bag of oranges.  She was a fascinating woman to talk to...I only wish I would have been a little older so I could have asked her more questions and could remember the answers.

Uncle Henry & Aunty Jones

I have probable told more stories and have learned more about Mom Friddle than any other person from my childhood.  She was my mother's hero and everyone in the family has a great story about her.  She is another person that I wish I could have asked more questions.  There is no question that she has had an impact on my life and I can't help thinking that I wish I was more like her.  The word "can't" wasn't in her vocabulary.

119 Years Ago...today!

Miner, Palmer,Avery - Interesting Connection

I have spent a lot of time looking at a lot of allied families of the Gallup family.  Possibly because it was probably one of the first families that I felt that I had pretty good sources to reference…primarily the Gallup family genealogy.  During my research, there are several allied families that I became quite familiar with such as Avery, Denison, Stanton, Palmer, Chesebrough, and Miner.  While I don’t seem to have direct connections to these families through my Gallup family…my interest in these lines has provided some unseen benefits for some of my other family lines.

Nathanial Swan and his wife Mahitable Brown would be my 7^th great grandparents.  Both were born in Stonington, New London Co., CT in the early 1700’s.  Nathanial was born in 1709 and Mehetable was born in 1712.  Their son, Jesse Swan was married to Elizabeth Baldwin, and they were the family that moved from Stonington, New London Co., CT to New York and their granddaughter Cynthia married Potter Gage and are my 4th great grandparents. (Cynthia Swan & Potter Gage).  While taking this family back a few more generations I found some interesting tie in’s with my Gallup family.  Which make me fascinated with some of the marriage patterns within my larger family tree.

Thomas Miner Grave

Grace Palmer Grave 

Thomas Miner - Memorial

I ran into one of those first interesting names when trying to find the ancestry of Mehetible Brown.  She married Nathaniel Swan on 13 Jan 1730 in Stonington.  She was the daughter of John Brown and Elizabeth Miner…and this is where the connections really became interesting.  John Brown was a second generation immigrant to the New World and while they were interesting – John Brown’s parents Thomas Brown and Mary Newhall didn’t really strike any familiar chords with me.  However, to find out that Elizabeth Miner was the daughter of Ephraim Miner and Hannah Avery – those were very familiar family names in my research.

Ephraim Miner was the son of Thomas Miner and Grace Palmer.  Thomas was born in Chew Magna, Somerset, England in 1608 and immigrated to the America on the “Lion’s Whelp” a ship that arrived in 1629.  By 1634, he had married Grace Palmer.   Grace Palmer was the daughter of Walter Palmer who emigrated with this family in 1629 from Gravesend England on the “Four Sisters” arriving in Salem, MA.  Not too long after he arrived, he along with a few other settlers moved to a new area and helped build the community of Stonington, CT and his considered as a founder of the town along with William Chesebrough, Thomas Minor, and Thomas Stanton.  These are families that are predominant with any family that you research in the region.  Walter Palmer must have been an impressive man.  He was reputed to be an unusually larger man of about 6 ‘5 which must have been quite impressive. 

Walter Palmer Wolf Stone

Walter Palmer Memorial - Erected much later

Walter Palmer died in 1661 and the age of 78 and a large Wolfe stone covers his grave to this day.  Close by is the his son in law, Thomas Minor buried with his wife. 

These four men established the town of Stonington despite what must have been a great deal of hardship and certainly required lot of fortitude.  Through Mahitible Brown’s mother, Elizabeth Miner, I can count Thomas Minor as my 9 great grandfather, James Avery as my 10^th great grandfather and Walter Palmer as my 11^th great grandfather through his daughter, Grace was married to Thomas Minor.  So in Wequetequock Cemetery, their ancient gravestones dating back to the late 1600’s remain as a tribute to these families who chose to be pioneers and build a new home in Stonington, Connecticut away from the closest thing that those settlers had to a comfort zone. Everyone once in a while, I spend some time looking at the Avery’s, Miners, Palmer’s and remember how these men helped build a new settlement.  Their descendants are scattered amongst many of the New England families that connect to many of my other New England families and it is certainly interesting to learn that some of my ancestors of long long ago, helped establish communities that are still thriving to this day!.  

Remembering Gettysburg

Dad and I watched a wonderful program on PBS the other night called "The Story of Gettysburg."  It was narration and some fabulous photography that took you through the battle step by step.  It reminded me at how significant a turning point in the Civil War it was and how easily it could have gone the other way.  In that little peaceful town in Pennsylvania, the war that has shaped this country ever since it happened probably had it's most significant battle.

The number killed during the battle is mind boggling especially those killed during Pickett's Charge.  I think they said that 13,000 made the charge and less than half returned.  There are characters from history like Robert E. Lee and Abraham Lincoln who are certainly memorable but there were other men who are memorable to me. Col Joshua Chamberlain up on Little Round Top preventing the Confederates from taking the flank with bayonet charge or General Longstreet knowing that he was sending his army to their deaths on Pickett's Charge.  He was following the orders of his commander but he knew what was about to happen...or the friendship of General Winfield Scott Hancock and General Louis Armistead on different sides and one laying wounded several feet away while the other lay dying.  Neither one knew they were that close to each other.

I was very young when we visited Gettysburg and there are a lot things that I don't remember well.  I can remember driving through the park but not really knowing what the statues signified.  I understood about the Gettysburg Address because I just memorized it that school year so when we came across the monument about the recitation of the address by Abraham Lincoln - that meant something to me.

Today is the 150th Anniversary of the dedication of the cemetery where Abraham Lincoln made his famous address.  I can honestly say that I have stood on that spot and have recited the Gettysburg Address myself...click below to read the the story:

A Trip to Gettysburg