Thanks Peggy, Nina and Jane!

Cousins Peggy Overstreet, Nina Kellogg and Jane Smith gallantly responded to the call for photos of the Stinson reunion. Click on the "Reunion Photos" link on the left to be taken to my Picasa Website. Be patient, it may take a minute or two to load, but you'll be richly rewarded. The slide show may pop up automatically or you may have to click on the "slide show" link. Either way, sit back and enjoy 129 reunion photos. You can stop the slide show at any time, right click on your mouse and save that photo to your computer. It's free! Save one or two, or save them all.

Cousins in England?

A while back I wrote about a Catherine Stinson who lives in Virginia on the Eastern Shore. Catherine told me that her Stinson family came to Maryland in the 1600s, but, alas, that's not the case. She sent me her Stinson family history report and it states that her great grandfather, a Walter Stinson, and his family left England about 1878, settling in Cordova, Maryland on the Eastern Shore. They've remained in that area ever since. Walter Stinson's family emigrated from Leicestershire, England, shown in red on the map. Catherine has documented her Stinson line back to 1740 in Leicestershire.

Mystery Lady at the Reunion

A pretty brunette, with a Mona Lisa smile, was an unexpected guest at the Stinson reunion on June 1st. Arriving with cousin Kenneth Bryant, she quickly became the center of attention with everyone wanting to get an up-close look at the mystery lady. Kenneth "met" her in a most unusual place: the attic of his boyhood home, the same home where grandfather John Thomas Stinson lived out his last years. The mystery lady is a photograph that Kenneth speculates MAY be John Thomas' mother, Cornelia Frances Norvell. No one has ever seen a picture of her and little is actually known. It's not far fetched to believe that John Thomas would have kept a photo of his mother with him when he moved into his daughter, Verna's home late in life. Cornelia was born in Buckingham County on 19 January, 1845, and died there on 7 June, 1898. She married David Washington Stinson on 2 November, 1865, very soon after he returned from the Civil War. John Thomas was her first child. I encourage blog readers to forward this entry to anyone in the Buckingham area who may be able to identify our pretty mytery guest.

Calling for Reunion Photos

The weather was perfect as the cousins, many of whom had never met, gathered at Carol & Chick Childress' farm in New Canton. Nina Kellogg, a descendent of Alexander's son, Cary Stinson, was there from California. She's pictured on the right with Charles Stinson. Nina stayed several days in Virginia doing some excellent family research. Dennis Reid, from Mechanicsville, and Ray Cobean, from Springfield, met their Buckingham cousins for the first time and no longer are thought of as "distant" cousins.

Best of all, Ida Estelle Benson, the surviving child of John Thomas and Ida Maxey Stinson, was there looking as beautiful as ever. After presenting Carol & Chick with a gorgeous flower arrangement Estelle held court in a shady spot outside the pavillion, -- truly the grand dame of the Buckingham Stinsons.

And, oh, the food! The tables of casseroles, chicken, barbeque, country ham, cakes, and pies were as long as a football field. Well, it looked like it, anyway. Charles Stinson offered the blessing and he must have been as hungry as the rest of us, because it was a mighty short prayer for a Baptist preacher!

The bad news is that I only got six good photos during the reunion. The good news is that lots of folks were snapping photos. So, if you have pictures you'd like to share, please send them to me. Paper, e-mail or by CD, it doesn't matter. You can see the ones I took on the Buckingham Stinsons Website. Click on "Reunion '08 Photos" on the left menu.

Next year we promise to do a group photo, and have a loud speaker so Marvin won't have to whistle to get everyone's attention. Although, the whistle worked pretty good!

Stinson Potpourri

Happy Birthday, Ida Estelle!

All birthdays are special, but when you reach 87 years and are still doing your own shopping and hanging out with the kids, they're super special. Ida Estelle Benson, John Thomas and Ida Stinson's youngest child, will celebrate her 87th on May 4th! Send me an e-mail (kathy-stinson@cox.net) and I'll send you Estelle's address and phone number. Send a card! Give her a call!

17th Century Stinsons in Maryland

Last week I spoke (by phone) with a woman named Catherine Stinson, who lives in Onancoke, Virginia on the Eastern Shore. A couple of months ago Charles Stinson's son was in the Starbuck's near Longwood University in Farmville and paid for his coffee with a credit card. The cashier (oops, I mean the Barista!) noticed his name and mentioned that her mother was also a Stinson. As they chatted Charles' son learned that her Stinson line had been traced back to the 1600s on Maryland's Eastern Shore. The mom, Catherine Stinson, told me that she had a genealogy report "somewhere" that her father had done years earlier. She confirmed that her Stinson line did go back to the 17th century in Maryland, but she didn't have any more details. I asked for a copy of the genealogy report, but so far haven't heard back. We did note that our lines share some common first names, including "Aubrey" which was my father's name and also Catherine's great uncle's name. I wouldn't be surprised if we share a common ancestor prior to Alexander. Perhaps Alexander came to Williamsburg from Maryland, not directly from England as we have always assumed.

A quick search on Ancestry.com showed me that a John Stinson arrived in St. Mary's County, Maryland on the Bachelor of Bristol on 2 Nov 1674. There are several other references to John Stinson, including a survey of his land on 21 February 1685. He owned 618 acres in Anne Arundel County, Maryland which he called "Stinson's Choice." I found references to two other 17th century Stinsons, both living on Maryland's Eastern Shore on the Chesapeake Bay.

Buckingham Stinsons Reunion, 1 June

The flyers announcing the 2008 Stinson reunion were mailed on April 8th. The mailing list is posted on the Buckingham Stinsons Website. Send me an e-mail (kathy-stinson@cox.net) if you know anyone who should get a flyer. I'm planning on doing a short fireside talk --complete with Powerpoint presentation! -- DNA genealogy and how it may help us Stinsons learn about our family history. I'm a novice and no scientist, but I'm learning fast and looking forward to sharing. I hope there'll be some folks interested in sitting in. And all you Stinson men need to honor your Stinson women and volunteer for the clean-up committee. It's easy and you'll score lots of points!


Stimpson vs. Stinson, a follow-up:

My most recent blog entry reported that the DAR had recorded our patriot ancestors, Alexander, Sr. and his son, David as "Stimpson" not Stinson. Edna Barney responded to my query and I'm sharing it here. I encourage you to visit Edna's Website. You can start by clicking the link at the end of her message.

"Kathy - I contacted DAR about the name difference as soon as my papers were approved and they did not consider it a "biggy," as I can order my pins with the STINSON name and all indexing will take one to STINSON. Actually, I have a suspicion that they are in the process of changing the name to STINSON.

The reason I suspect that is that neither of my STINSON patriots were published in the last issue of American Spirit, as they should have been.

When I contacted NSDAR about that, all they told me was that they would be in the next issue. I believe DAR is being consistent, as that is the spelling they used for the
only other Buckingham County STINSON - Alexander Junior.

I wrote about that here with an image from the Patriot Index:
http://neddysnook.wordpress.com/2008/04/01/dar-patriot-index/ "

Edna Barney

Alexander Stimpson???

I have good news and bad news to share with Buckingham Stinsons.

The good news is that our distant cousin, Edna, in Northern Virginia successfully documented her lineage to both David and Alexander Stinson, Sr. for the DAR. Her documentation met the DAR's gold standard for genealogical proof. This is very significant because Edna's lineage includes Archibald Stinson, our most elusive ancestor. Her application proved -- to the DAR's satisfaction -- that Archibald was the son of David Stinson, that he was married to Elizabeth, and that his children included Mary Stinson. We've been struggling for years to document those generations. Congratulations to cousin Edna!

The bad news is that the DAR registered both ancestors, David and Alexander, Sr., with the surname of STIMPSON. John Cunningham and I have examined Edna's documentation (available to the public for a research/copying fee) and see no reference to anyone named Stimpson. I've asked the research librarian who assisted me with the file search why the DAR changed our surname, but have yet to get a satisfactory answer. John, Rainnie and I believe it was simply a mistake by the Genealogy Department staff. I've asked that they review Edna's documentation and consider changing their new patriots' names to David and Alexander STINSON. I may have a response by e-mail tomorrow. If they refuse, one of us may be the first to document David and Alexander Stinson as DAR patriots after all.

You can see Edna's documentation here. Click on the full screen icon in the upper far right corner (almost obscured) to view the document in a separate window. There are 15 pages.

Read this doc on Scribd: Copy of Edna Barney's Documentation

A Proud, New DAR Member

One of the DAR's newest members is my sister, Larayne Cunningham, affectionately known as "Rainnie." We're both so excited that Rainnie's application was approved by the National Society (NSDAR.) One of the reasons we've both been pursuing DAR membership so vigorously is to have the satisfaction of knowing that our genealogy research truly proves our lineage -- and the DAR is the gold standard for genealogical proof.

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Rainnie submitted her application on our 4th Great Grandfater, and a known DAR Patriot, George Norvell. In other words, a Patriot who other women have already based their membership on and is therefore documented. However, proving her lineage from our father all the way to George, was a challenge. At first her application was denied, but with a bit of explanation about the documentation the approval was on its way.

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George Norvell was one of the signers of the Albemarle Declaration of Independence, along with Thomas Jefferson. This historic document is now housed in the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond. We're both very proud to claim George as an ancestor.

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My own application, using Rainnie's member number, is now at NSDAR and I'm looking forward to my approval soon.

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To see Rainnie's application, click here: http://www.buckinghamstinsons.com/subpage1.html OR on the title of this entry.

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Interested in becoming a DAR (or SAR) member? Rainnie and I will be happy to share copies of the documents we used to substantiate our lineage to George Norvell.

Charles Stinson's Book Available for Sale

Just in time for Christmas, Charles Stinson's book, Alexander, is available from Infinity Publishing. (Click on the title of this blog entry to go to Infinity's page for Charles' book.)

Titled, Alexander, the Servant Boy Who Became a Colonial Virginia Frontiersman, Charles' book is a historical novel based on years of painstaking research on Alexander Stinson's life history. Charles took what is known about Alexander and rounded out our ancestor's story with some historically accurate fiction. The result is a wonderful novel that tells the tale of our family's start in the new world. How can you resist? As they say in the publishing biz: Go buy the book!

Proof That Archibald was David (& Anne's) Son?

Those of us researching our Buckingham Stinsons are challenged at every turn. The courthouse fire in 1869 makes genealogy research difficult, sometimes impossible, for all Buckingham families, but I think it's extra hard for us Stinsons. It's not fair! I envy my genealogy friends who breeze through proving their generations like picking goodies from a cruise ship buffet.

Like me, many of this blog's readers descend from Archibald Stinson, Alexander, Sr.'s grandson. Proving Archibald's kids has been a multi-year project. (Scroll down to see the Sept 29 blog, "John Cunningham Proves Archibald's Kids!") And now our proof is being challenged by my local DAR chapter's registrar.

But what about Archibald's father? I came into the Stinson research hobby (Sten would say "obsession") believing that it was David, but I knew of no proof. Some researchers hold the theory that his father was Cary. It matters little to me as long as we can claim lineage to Alexander, Sr.

But a tiny bit of proof linking Archibald to David Stinson does exist . It's from Buckingham County's personal property tax record of 1769. There, in faded script, is the name "Archer Stinson" listed as a second tithe in the household of David Stinson. (I've posted an image of the whole page on the Buckingham Stinsons Website. ) At that time in Virginia a young man had to be at least 16 years old to be listed as a tithe, in other words, taxable. It's not an exact science as many families would postpone their sons' 16th birthdays a year or so to delay the tax. But we can assume that Archer Stinson was born about 1753 to David Stinson.

When I showed this proof to my local DAR chapter registrar she immediately asked if I knew if there was another Archer or Archibald Stinson in the county at that time. Indeed, there was another Archibald who was a grandson of Alexander, Sr. Archibald Baker Stinson was the son of Alexander Stinson, Jr., but he wasn't born until 1773 so couldn't be the Archer listed on David's tax record in 1769. I believe our Archibald Stinson was the only one by that name in Buckingham. By the way, my reference for the info on Archibald Baker comes from the book "Alexander Stinson, Sr. of Buckingham County, Virginia (With Some Descendants)" by Frances L. Stinson (deceased) of Dallas, Texas. This self-published book is available at the Library of Virginia and is short enough to be copied.

The registrar told me that I was right to be concerned about the proof for both Archibald's father and his children, implying that she didn't think either generation would stand up to a review at the National level. However, this is not the last word and I'm determined to continue the research on this line. I truly think that our case for Archibald's children can hold up under full review.

In the meantime, a distant Stinson cousin, Edna of Northern Virginia, a long-time DAR member, has recently submitted a supplemental application based on her lineage through Archibald to David to Alexander, Sr. Her submission is still under review at the National DAR, but she's confident it will be approved. I'm really rooting for her! If Edna's application is approved, we'll be able to use her documentation to prove our own lineage for those three generations.

Even if you're not interested in joining a historical society like the DAR, it's nice to have the documentation for your family's lineage. I'll keep you posted on Cousin Edna's application.

Which Stinson Boy Did Anne Bryant Love?

It was a frustrating week of genealogy research. My sister, Rainnie, and my brother-in-law, John, were visiting Virginia Beach last week for John’s reunion with his U.S.S. Diablo shipmates. We took the opportunity to do some serious genealogy research. The goal: to prove that Anne Bryant married David Stinson, son of Alexander, Senior.

Anne Bryant was a daughter of James Bryant of Cumberland County, VA. In his will, dated 1783, James refers to his daughter, Anne Stinson. [Some transcripts interpret the name as Anne Steinson, but I assure you, the original document clearly says Stinson.] Unconfirmed records say that Anne was born about 1743, making marriage likely between 1760 – 1770.

Between the three of us we scoured the Manakin Huguenot Society Library (the Bryants were Huguenots,) The Virginia Historical Society and The Library of Virginia for a clue about which handsome Stinson boy Anne married. David is the likely candidate as most of Alexander, Senior’s other sons’ brides are accounted for.

I thought for sure a review of the microfilmed marriage records at the LVA would turn up a bond or license for David and Anne. But the only county with records dating back that far was Cumberland, and though it was a likely wedding site, we came up empty. No Anne & David. The other possible counties where the marriage may have taken place, Powhatan, Chesterfield and Henrico, don’t have records back to 1770. And, of course, Buckingham records were burned.

I’ve posted queries on three Internet genealogy discussion lists and have received two responses from kind readers. Both agree that Anne married David, but neither have sources.

Why the search for proof of Anne’s husband? Documentation that Anne married one of Alexander Sr.’s sons would authorize many of us to join the Huguenot Society of the Founders of Manakin In the Colony of Virginia and the National Huguenot Society. (See link under Stinson History Online at left.) If you don’t remember your high school early American history, the Huguenots were Protestants who were driven out of France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. They went first to England, then to the Colonies in their quest for religious freedom. They offer us yet another proud Stinson heritage.

Any research ideas from my Stinson history buddies? Jack? Kenneth? Carolyn?

The Buckingham Stinsons Blog Has a Little Sister!

Introducing the Buckingham Stinsons Website!

http://www.buckinghamstinsons.com/

This Blog will be the place to go for up-to-date family history news. The Website is more static, a repository for Buckingham Stinson information, photos and documents. Take a look and please offer suggestions and material you’d like to see posted. The Website is still in its beta stage, so be patient. I’ll be refining and adding content regularly.

UPDATE TO LAST WEEK’S ENTRY: Unfortunately, Ancestry.com won’t allow non-subscribers to view posted family trees unless the author (me) issues an invitation. The Stinson tree is pretty cool, so if you want an invitation to view it, send me a message and I’ll add you to the list. It’s free!