Notable Notes Worth Noting

Woodrow "Woody" Russell NANCE, Sr. 1914- 2001 (My Grandfather) "The Birdman of Brushy Valley" Clinton, TN. Woody was a bird's best friend. He would feed them hundreds of pounds of food during the winter. He financed this adventure through his selling of pumpkins.

Pleasant NANCE 1814- abt. 1886 (My 3rd GreatGrandfather) was a farmer all of his life, and owned land on Home (Holms) Creek , near Axton, at Boxwood, VA, which is near the Henry-Pittsylvania-Rockingham NC line. After the Civil War he moved to Montgomery County, VA, then across the New River into Pulaski County, VA. Most of his children followed him. He purchased land on the New River, several miles from Radford. Most of it is now covered by waters of Claytor Lake. After his death his wife lived on alone at the farm. She died a few years later. Both were buried on the farm.
George EPPERLY (My 5th Great GrandUncle) served in the Rev. War as a substitute for his father Jacob EPPERLY. In George's pension application, he states that he was born in Lancaster Co., PA in 1760. While in Frederick Co., they were members of St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Woodsboro. In the 1790's George, Christian & Jacob, along with their sister Elizabeth (SOURS), moved to Montgomery County, VA. In 1799 they bought land in what is now Floyd County. VA.
Cecil D. McDONALD, Jr. 1934-2000 (My 5th Cousin) Had been getting requests to reprint his booklets (listed below) from a surprising number of people. He didn't want to print 25 different little booklets, so he decided to consolidate them. He combined Volume One thru Five into one and call it SOME VIRGINIA MARRIAGES PRIOR TO 1800. Volume One. Instead of five booklets and five indexes it has only one. This was done in April 1999. Since then he has combined Volume Six thru 10 into another book called SOME VIRGINIA MARRIAGES PRIOR TO 1800. Volume Two. There is over 5,000 listings in each book. He was working on the next five volumes and hope to have that done in another month or two. He had intended on redoing all twenty five booklets eventually. Cecil was in the process of mailing out his book DESCENDANTS OF JAMES MCDONALD. Is also considering redoing his Descendants of William BARKER

Did 25 different booklets called Some Virginia Marriages 1700-1799. Volume 1 thru 25. He started printing them in 1972. He also did 12 different booklets called Some Virginia Marriages 1800-1825. Volume 1 thru 12. And also did 2 different booklets called Some Virginia Marriages 1826-1850. Volume 1 and 2.

Cecil's also did a book on Descendants of William BARKER It covers 10 generations. Starting with William BARKER b. June 15, 1739 in Virginia. Died 1813 in Pittsylvania County, Virginia. I think as of this writing (2/16/2004) there is another BARKER book in the works.

Unfortunately Cecil died October 05, 2000, in Martinsville, VA

Dr. Robert Beverly NANCE (My Grand Uncle) is listed in THE NANCE REGISTER A BOOK OF GENEALOGY compiled by - Martin L. "Pete" Nance © 1966 as being "The largest single contributor of Part 1."

Joseph Clifton "J.C." MARTIN (My 6th Cousin) played professional baseball. He started in the Major Leagues in 1960, the year before Roger Maris hit 61 home runs. He played for the Chicago White Sox and the New York Mets. He was on the 1969 New York Mets Team that won the World Series. That year the New York Mets were called the "Amazing Mets". He was involved in a controversial play in Game Four of the World Series. He bunted the ball and ran toward first base outside the foul line, but the umpire called him safe and the Mets Won the game. The next spring training the umpires had to train more on the play because they messed up. J. C. made a lot of speeches during the winter about that play.

James "Chris" Monroe BARKER 1844-1912 (My 1st cousin 4 times removed) ran a store in Axton VA. He was said to be the largest tobacco farmer in the state of VA and was a rather large land owner. He was a member of the State Board of Agriculture from January 23, 1899, appointed by Govener J. Hoge Tyler until his death February 13, 1912. The State Agriculture Experimental Station was located on his farm in Axton , VA. Govenor A. J. Montague appointed him a delagate to the National Farm Congress held in Atlanta, GA on October 7, 1902. The Danville and Western Railroad ran a special train from Danville, VA to Axton, VA to carry friends and State Officials to his funeral. There is a picture of him in the Agriculture Building in Richmond, VA.

This page last updated 2/16/2004