The Herring
Family
Submitted by: Narvell
Strickland
This is a summary of studies
of my mother's side of our
family--the Herring Family. My sources are the book
"Our Herring Family" written by O.B. King in 1966, the book
"History of Montgomery County, Mississippi" published by Curtis Media
Corporation in 1993, and the supplemental study by Dr. Percy Herring.
Fortunately, I have a copy of the O.B. King book, the Percy papers, and access
to a copy of the History of Montgomery County.
There were three groups of
Herrings--English, Germans, and Scotch-Irish--to come to America in the early
colonial days. Sometimes the spelling was altered to Herrin, Herin, etc. Our ancestors
came out of the Scot-Irish group, and according to the King study, it all
started with a John Herring coming to the Isle of Wight County, Virginia,
in 1642. There are records of a John Herring coming to the Isle of Wight County
at that date; it is suggested that he came from Ulter near Dublin and possibly
from the city of Donegal, Ireland.
John married a girl named
Margirita and they had at least one son. John died in that county in 1670 and
his will mentions the son, Anthony, who was to receive certain property
with the balance of the estate going to his widow, Margirita. Anthony and his
wife, Bridget, had three sons--Samuel, John, and Daniel--and the records
show that in 1717 he deeded land to his son Daniel. Anthony was still living in
the Isle of Wight County in 1740, for the records show that he bought more land
in the county that year.
About 1720, the three
sons--Samuel, John, and Daniel--migrated to North Carolina and bought land.
Samuel died in Johnson County, SC, leaving a son and our ancestor, Michael,
born about 1725. Michael first moved to Wayne County, but before long, he or his
son by the same name finally settled in Robeson County where his Uncle John
lived. This account is well documented in King's book, but it should be noted
that another account suggests that Michael was born about 1725 in Donegal,
Ireland, migrated to New York City with five brothers about 1745, separated from
them, went down the Atlantic coastline to Charleston, and finally settled in
Robeson County, NC.
In view of its supporting
documentation, King's account seems to be more reliable, if not indisputable. In
either event, it is clear that Michael married a Ms. Charity about 1755 and had
nine children--Mary born 2-12-1756; Elizabeth, 3-28-1757; Annie, August 1759;
John, August 1759; William Giles, 2-19-1762; Lewis, 1765; Michael Jr.,
1765; Charity, 1768; and Sallie, 1772.
William Giles, Michael's
fifth child and our ancestor, was born in Robeson County, NC on February 19,
1762. He served with George Washington at Valley Forge during the Revolutionary
War and the North Carolina Historical Society has two certificates showing that
he was paid for his services in the military--one from the Wilmington District
and the other from Bladen County, NC. After the war, William married Penelope
Pittman/Williams and had ten children--Charity born 1792; Wright, 1794: William
Giles Jr., 1797; Sally, 1799; Louis, 1801; Michael, 1804; Absolum White, 1806;
Christian, 1808; John W., 1811; and Annie Jane, 1815.
William Giles, Sr., died at
Robeson in 1825, and a few years later in the 1830s at least six of his children
sold their land holdings in North Carolina and
moved to Carrollton County (now Montgomery County), MS where they established a
plantation with land on both sides of the Big Black River part of which my
mother inherited in 1920. They were Wright, William Giles Jr., Louis,
Absolum White, John William, and Christian.
Louis, the fifth child of
William Giles, Sr., and our
ancestor next in line, married Amanda Miller and had eight children in
Montgomery County, MS-- Julia born about 1829, Elizabeth, 2-11-1831; John W.
"Puny," about 1832; Brian. V., 5-21-1835: Absolum White, 1-1-1841;
Benjamin, 5-14-43; Mary; and Katie. Louis died about 1862.
John William "Puny,"
son of Louis and my great grandfather, married Martha Mathews (his second wife)
1-18-1853 near Vaiden (Montgomery County), MS, and had eight children. They were
Sallie, born 1862; Joe Williams, 1865; Serepha, 1867; Briant J., 1869; Abb W.,
1872; Jesse, 1874; and Ben, 1876. John William "Puny" died in 1885 and
is buried in Pine Bluff Cemetery near Vaiden, MS.
Joe William,
first child of John William "Puny" and
my grandfather, married Lou Austin about 1887 and had two children--Earl
Clinton, born 1888; Horace Virgil, born 1892. He later married Lilly L. Nelson
and had seven children--Sarah Frances, born 1907; J. W., 1909; Ruby Ash,
1911; Ruth, 1913; Lillian, 1915; Martha Mae, 1917; and Lois 1919, The
family lived on his portion of the old Herring Plantation on the Big Black
River, near Vaiden, MS.
Joe William died in 1920, and
his widow Lilly and surviving children sold the land and moved to Winona where
his son, J. W., established a successful auto repair shop and later served two
terms as sheriff. The daughters gained employment in the local textile mill.
Lilly died in 1942.
Ruby Ash,
my mother, gained employment in the mill, and while there, met and married
Earnest Elmer Strickland, my father, in 1927. Earnest was born on February
11,1906 in Choctow County, MS; his mother Dollie, three older brothers--Edward,
Jack, and Lester, and two sisters--Irene and Lavenia--had relocated to Tupelo,
MS for employment in its tex-tile mill, and so immediately after being married,
the couple moved to Tupelo, MS where four of their six children were born--me,
Narvell, 1-1-1929; Inez, August 20, 1930; James, 2-2-1936; and Stan-ley, 1934.
The couple later had two more children--Helen Auline at Magnolia, MS, 9-4-41,
and Earnest Jr, at Kosciusko, MS, 2-5-43.
The couple retired to Clovis,
NM, in 1966 where Earnest died July 12,1988 and Ruby Ash January 2, 1995. Both
are buried in the Lawn Haven Memorial Garden in that city.
Narvell
married Betty Jean Shaw, born December 23, 1932 in McComb, MS, on March 14,
1951. Narvell was employed by the Illinois Central Railroad and spent most of
his career as its Director of Labor Relations in Chicago and later as its
General Manager of Eastern Sales in New York City. The couple had three sons--Larry
Andrew, born July 2, 1952 at McComb, MS; Brian Shaw, October 12, 1955 at
Harvey,
IL; Richard Narvell.,
February 6, 1959 at Harvey, IL.
The couple retired from the
ICGRR in 1985 and re-located from Fairfield, CT to Hammond, LA. Larry with his
wife Kim Ellen (Miglietta) and two sons--Tyler Lee and Myles Andrew--live in
Fairfield, CT. Brian was killed in an automobile accident on October 16, 1981 in
Darien, CT. Richard with his wife Michele Lee (Crocco) and two daughters--Laura
Ash and Anna Rourke--live in Glastonbury, CT.
This paper is supported by
both primary and secondary sources; it is, I believe, an accurate review of 350
years of our Herring family history. Beginning with the arrival of John from
Donegal, Ireland in 1642, our Herring line in America is:
Name Birth Date Birth
Place
1. John Herring 1642*
Donegal,Ireland
2. Anthony Herring 1658* Wight
County,VA
3. Samuel Herring 1692* Wight
County,VA
4. Michael Herring 1725 Robeson
County,NC
5. William G. Herring 2-19-1776
Robeson County,NC
6, Louis Herring 1801
Montgomery County,MS
7. John W. "Puny" Herring
1832 Montgomery County,MS
8. Joe William Herring 1865
Vaiden,MS
9. Ruby Ash Herring 4-11-1911
Vaiden,MS
10. Narvell Strickland 1-1-1929
Tupelo,MS
* Estimated
Narvell
Strickland
August 15, 1998