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The Insider's Guide to Malcocinado, Spain
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Nancy Gruner
Nancy's parents
Doc for talk at Newtown Friends Meeting Organizations:
Mom and Dad memories: June, 2019.
William Strong
William's parents
Organizations:
Marjorie Hubble (Nana Marge)
Marge's parents
Biography of Marge (compiled by Nancy) Fannie's parents
Paul Gruner (Grampa Paul)
Marge and Paul memories, with Barbara and Nancy recording. Barbara, Nancy, Laura, and Janna (2020).
Paul's parents
Leo's parents
Married in 1859 (and they became citizens the same year?). File says Frances' father was Christoph Emil Osius, a minister. His gravestone is in Windecken (later changed to Windeck), Germany, between Bonn and Siegen. [TS: Sure? There is also a Windecken in Germany.]
Tasie Shaak (Nana Tess)
Tasie's parents
Excepts from a letter from Tasie, Sept 15, 1969:
It all brought back memories of my younger days when I first went to live in Phildaelphia, and now and then the brother of a classmate at the hospital would take me to a movie or a play and give me a bunch of violets to wear, or when I was in Nanking and a yound doctor who wanted me to marry him sent candy and Parma violets for my room. It reminds me, too, of the wonderful young people who went to Kuling for the summer -- the beautiful concerts we heard in the chapel there, and the sermons we listened to, whether Episcopalian or Protestant. Margaret Mead was there that summer and John Dewey of Columbia. Occasionally a group of young people would get together on the side of the mountain for talk and singing. I had a good ukelele and played it well -- so did my dear friend Lois Ely. The war was ended. We had all done our best in various ways to make it the beginning of a better world. Soon we would go our separate ways -- down the mountain and up the Yangtze River by river steamer to our inland mission centers, schools, hospitals, or churches. I can see now we were so few, as compared to the hordes of Chinese soldiers and bandits. [There was] superstition and chaos everywhere, except in the mission compounds, and even there, in the summer of 1920, there was looting on the streets and inside the college campus, where our treasurer was murdered because he couldn't give the money when they demanded it. Now, fifty years later, the majority of Americans are still striving for a better way of life, with God and well-educated men doing more than their share to show the Way, the Truth, and the Light.
Theodore Strong
Theodore's parents
William Lord Strong
William's parents
I,WILLIAM LORD STRONG, was born in the Susquehanna Ave. home in West Pittston, Pa., June 5th, 1863, the fifth child - my brother Theodore and sisters Emily, Mary and Julia all preceding me and were living at the time of my birth. My mother was not strong and I remember her as a semi-invalid. She was a beautiful roman - gentle and affectionate and beloved by all who knew her. To help her in the care of the growing family, her younger sister, Aurt Minnie, came into the home and was with us until 1870, the year after my mother's death, when she was married to Samuei Cook, a lumber mill owner of Brunswick, Ga. She was married in the West Pittston home and I can remember going alone by myself and having a good cry at the thought of her going away. She had been like a second other to me and I think loved me as much as if I had been her own son. Mother died in 1869 when I was six years of age. I can recall her death and the sorrow in the home. Father, with five young children to care for needed someone to mother us and Aunt Helen (Mrs. Loveland) came into the home with her son John. She was with us until Father's second marriage in 1871. This period was not so happy for there was friction between John and myself at times. Father's second marriage to Elizabeth Willson of Pine Plains, New York, was a most happy one. She took all five children into her heart as if they were her very own and we all learned to love her dearly. She was a niece of Robert Willson who had married Father's sister Mary and so was not a stranger to our family. As we children grew up, brother Theodore and sisters Emily, May and Julie went away to boarding schools and I was pretty much alone at home save at vacation times. As I look back on these days I realize that they were happy days. I had many boy friends of my own age and there was always something doing. There was a great quantity of arbutus in the Foods and Father was delighted to gather it as soon as the snow had gone and I often went with him. In the summer there was good fishing in the river - swimming and boating. Father always kept a rowboat which was anchored at the foot of the steps leading down to the river in the front of the house and there was horseback riding and often a camping party at Harvys Lake and picnics on the mountain side back of West Pittston or on Campbell's Ledge. In winter - and we seemed to have more snow than now - there was sleighriding, coasting and skating on the river. There was little mine water then in the river to hurt the ice and the river would freeze over so that thick ice could be cut to fill the ice houses and the Scotchmen of the town could enjoy their curling conteste. Often there was skating between the two bridges until late in the night. When the ice broke up in the spring there was always danger that the ice would jam down the river and back the water up over the fiver banks. I can remember that twice the water came into our cellar and it was possible to go around the house in a boat. One year the ice took out the bridges and a ferry had to be established between East and West Pittston. Andrew Quinn, a good natured young Irishman, was employed by Father shortly after he came over from Ireland, about 1870, and was with us for some thirty years. He was the handy man around the house - took care of the horses and the cow -- and being fond of children as well as horses, I was often with him in the barn. He in time married and had his own home while still remaining in Father’s employ. When he was unable to carry on the work the family pensioned him. [TS: First 2 pages of 20. Continue when PDF to Google Docs works better.]
Theodore Strong
Theodore's parents
Written by his son, William Lord Strong: Theodore Strong, my Father, was born in Somers, Conn., January 25, 1820, the seventh of eleven children. Of his early boyhood we have little record, but in 1830 his father moved to Redding, Conn. where they lived for five years and then to Vienna, N.Y. where his father had a charge. While the family was living at Vienna, Father, for a time at least, was a student at a school in Geneva, N.Y. When fifteen years of age he went to Saugatuck, Conn. and worked in the store of William Jessup for which he received fifty dollars a year and his board. He prepared to enter Yale College where his brothers had gone but as his eyes were giving him a great deal of trouble, he gave up college and tutored for a time in a private family in Lyme, Conn. At this time his brother William [WS: the judge] who was practicing law in Reading, Pa, had become interested in some coal operations in the Wyoming Valley and through him Father secured a position with the Butler Coal Co. at Pittston, Pa. in the company store. How long he retained this position I do not know but I believe he left after a time, due to ill health and spent some time with his married sister Harriet, at Phelps, N.Y. Returning to Pittston he engaged in the milling business and as a partner in the foundry and machine firm of Wisner and Strong, located in West Pittston. In the early 1860’s he joined with others in the founding of a bank with State charter. He was made President and sold his milling business devoting his full time to the bank. Later the bank became the First National Bank of Pittston, Pa., of which he was President until his resignation in 1905. In 1854 he married my mother, Mary Elizabeth Benedict of South Norwalk, Conn. She had been teaching in Reading, Pa, when she met Father's brother William and it was through him that Father came to know her and take her as his wife. For a short time they lived on lower Susquehanna Ave., during which time my brother Theodore was born. Father then built the home at 122 Susquehanna Ave, on a good sized tract which he had purchased. Here he lived for the rest of his life and here I and my sisters Emily, May, Julia, Helen and Caro were born. My Mother died in 1869 and Father was married a second time to Elizabeth D. Willson, of Pine Plains, N.Y. Sisters Helen and Caro were children of the second marriage. Father died in 1907 - Mother Strong in 1924. Sisters Emily and Caro remained in the homestead until 1925 when it was sold and they took up their home with Sister May at 406 Susquehanna Ave.. She - May - had married in 1910 Wm. L. Watson, who had been with Father in the bank for many years, and who had succeeded him as President and had died in 1920. Sister Helen in 1898 married Charles F. Wray, of Rochester, N.Y. and moved to that city. I believe that I am justified in saying that Father was the leading citizen of the town in business, church and civic life -- standing for everything that made for righteousness and good citizenship. Men and women in trouble came to him for help and advice. To these he gave freely of his time and means. Many will rise up and call him blessed. A godly man in whose home the minister and missioary were always welcome. His life was to us children an example of Christian living which has influenced us all our lives. We cannot forget "morning prayers" and the family gathering on Sunday nights or his fatherly admonition when we did wrong. He was an Elder in the church (Presbyterian) and for many years Superintendent of the Sunday School and teacher of a bible class. My own Mother and Mother Strong were, like him, outstanding Christian characters and I can and do thank God for such godly parents. I owe them more than I can ever repay. [WS: You can see the influences from father to son i.e. starting a bank and the religiousness, or piety, generation after generation, reaching my Aunt Dorothy, my dad's religious studies (se. Princeton Theological Seminary right here), Quakerism stresses living what you say you believe rather than theology (I enjoyed are reading this ---) Cheers y abrazos fuertes to all, Dad 9/12/03]
Rev. William Lightbourn Strong
Rev. William's parents
Adonijah's parents
Noah's parents
Preserved's parents
Jedediah's parents
See link above. Elder John came over on a boat in 1630. About the family crest that is on a ring and a pocket watch (both, I believe, from William Lord Strong): Pura told me that "Tentanda via est" has the same meaning as poet Antonio Machado/'s lines "Caminante, no hay camino. Se hace camino al andar." Laura then got more info about the crest from Anne Witt, who says: I found a page of information about the Strong Family Association Coat of Arms from the SFA newsletter dated 1988. The crest was adopted officially by the Association in 1977 and was issued a trademark by the US Dept of Commerce, Patent and Trademark Office in 1985 to protect against unauthorized use. Other branches of the family have used similar but not identical crests which are okay but not "official." The Latin motto can be translated in a number of ways. The SFA of America chose to make the official translation "The Way is to be Tried." The SFAA recognizes it can be translated in other ways such as "The way must be attempted" and "Don't just stand there. Do something." However, the official translation is the first. The bird is an eagle or Wyvern. The Wyvern is in the crest of the city of Taunton, Somerset, England. The SFAA could find no evidence that Elder John Strong ever had such a crest. I'm guessing the crest appeared as the Strong family coat of arms at some point in the 19th century. I think people were having romantic notions about their heritage then. I have a ring inherited by my mother from Aunt Dottie which Aunt Dottie always wore on her left pinkie. She told us that it was her father's ring (William Lord Strong, born 1863, our great-grandfather) and that she had it reduced in size. It is oval lapis lazuli engraved with the Wyvern and crown and the motto underneath. I have worn it on my ring finger having enlarged it a bit. Now for some information from the SFA Newsletter of 1991. A family member discovered Strongs in the Devon village of South Tawton. Strongs are recorded in this village in 1543. Near South Tawton there is a village called Chardstock. A cottage there was still called "Strongs." Our cousin Libbie visited the cottage and took those photos that I showed you. So that's the last SFAA Newsletter that my mother had. [ts: Presumably, it's SFAA that updated the Wikipedia article, which also lists "Chard".] |
Marge 
