Libertyville Illinois
February, 1957
To our two wonderful boys, Lynn and Justin:
This loose-leaf book of Notes, Clippings and Family Papers is for you, and for any of your loved-ones and descendents who may find it to be of interest, to make them want to open it and read it. There have been others of our families, in recent years, which have shown an interest in these notes and the old papers, letters and diaries, and I have tried to share the access to them, and copies of these notes, as generously as I can, with those who have shown a real interest in them. But I am taking the, time and care to prepare the notes, etc., in a well bound and fairly permanent form, and am entrusting the care of this book and its contents to you boys, in the belief that you will take pride in preserving it with care and in sharing its contents with all who will be interested in seeing it through the coming years.
Most of the contents of this book concern the Harrison family, for two reasons: (1) some of our ancestors in the Harrison line, as far back as 1750, and down to the present time, took a special care in preserving family documents, receipts, letters, etc., and saw that they were carefully passed down until they came into the possession of my great-grandfather, Fayette Harrison, who owned the Trewolla farm where I was born in McCracken County, Ky. Fayette Harrison carefully preserved all these papers in an old Cherry wood desk that he owned, which my brother Richard Trewolla now owns; there, they came to my special attention about the year 1932. My father's sister, Mrs. Mary Holland nee Trewolla, preserved some additional Harrison, as well as Trewolla, records, which she turned over to me before her death in 1935. (2) Mr. J. Houston Harrison of Alexandria, Virginia, in 1935, published a large (over 700 pages) history of the Harrison family of the Shenandoah-Valley of Virginia (from which our Harrison’s came), including a great amount of general historical material regarding Augusta (later Rockingham) County, Virginia and its early settlers along the "Long Grey Trail", (the pioneer road through that valley). About 88 pages in that book contain historical material relating to our own Harrison ancestors, back to Rev. Thomas Harrison, who was at one time the Chaplain of Jamestown Colony, the first English settlement (permanent) in America. So much in the big book of Harrison history did not relate to our ancestors, that I clipped out these 80 odd pages and have fastened them into this loose-leaf book, and have indexed them, on sheets like this one, a few pages farther on. .
So far as I have found, my grandfather, William Boase Trewolla, came into possession of just two rare items of Trewolla family records, both of them being pocket-sized diaries. He married Fayette Harrison's daughter (my own grandmother Trewolla) and these diaries found their way into the old cherry desk, too. About 1880, a sister of my great-grandfather Trewolla, who came from England, wrote down what she remembered about the Tremolos in England, and this letter was later given to my Aunt Mary Holland, who copied parts of it for me in 1934. This led me to discover that there are Trewolla descendents living in Washington, D.C., Virginia and Mississippi, who are all related to us because all are common descendents of John Trewolla (Senior) and his wife Margaret who wrote one of the two diaries that I now have, writing in it daily during the trip from England to America on a ship in 1841.
During the years 1934-38 I corresponded with some of these Trewollas and was furnished much detailed info. concerning their Trewolla lines and some additional facts regarding our common ancestors. A second diary, which I also have and which was also in the cherry desk, was kept by John Henry Trewolla. Brother to my grandfather, William B. Written at the age of 19 when he made the wagon journey from North Carolina to western Kentucky. He was traveling with his sisters and brothers, his father and mother (John Courtenay and Elizabeth Boase Trewolla) and grandparents (John and Margaret H Pearce Trewolla). This was in 1846. The 2 diaries reveal that they lived for some years in North Carolina, 17 miles from the town of Oxford, at a farming community then called Young’s Cross Roads. I visited this place in 1949. Your mother, Miriam and I have also visited in the home of one of the Trewolla women in Washington DC, and have met several members of the Trewolla descendents living in Washington and in Richmond, VA.
About 1935, in the Carnegie Library, I discovered a book published by the Harleian Society of London, in the 1870s with the title, “The Visitation of Cornwall Co. Eng. In 1620 A. D.” The book contains a brief pedigree, submitted by a Thomas Trewolla who was the head of a large family in 1620, to the Kings “Visitor”, tracing his Trewolla ancestry back to a Marke Trewola, whose birth date was about 1480-1500. The book also contained transcripts from Parish Registers giving the names and dates of baptisms, marriages and burials of Trewollas who lived in the Cornwall County Towns of St Ewe, Gwinear, Fowey, Gwennap, Gorran and Bodmin from 1570 – 1677. Our own Trewolla ancestors came to America from the city of Truro, in 1835 and 1841. The info, now preserved, that was brought by them from England, goes back to a Henry Trewolla, whose wife’s name was Tamson, (who was the father of John Trewolla Sr.). This John was born in 1770, so his father Henry would have been born about 1740-50. There is, therefore, an unfilled gap between the record of Trewollas living in Cornwall in 1570-1677 and the time of Henry Trewolla, born 1740-50. I have opened a correspondence this month (2, 1957) with some clergymen of the Church of En. In Truro and others towns In Cornwall, in an effort to get some Parish Register transcripts which will help me to “fill the gap” in the records. These findings will be included in the Trewolla section, within.
My mother, Gertrude Trewolla nee Gourley, preserved an account of the Gourleys that was given her by her uncle, Dr Willie Gourley of Fulton Ky. She also made some brief notes on the family of Puckett, given to her by her mother, my grandmother Virginia Gourley nee Puckett. I plan to include a brief section on the Gourleys and Pucketts, in a 3rd loose-leaf book.
You boys have other ancestors, by other family names such as Mansfield, living in Ky, and earlier connections with the family of Bradshaw (Fayette Harrison’s wife Harriet was a Bradshaw), also the Davises of Christian Co, Ky, etc. I have not had the time or opportunity to do any work on these, except in incidental references to inter marriages. Perhaps someone else will take an interest and work on these, someday. I think the Harrison records will be especially interesting to you, because your grandmother Mansfield was a Harrison before she married, as was you great-grandmother Trewolla, both being descendants of Robert Harrison Jr. of Christian Co, Ky.
I hope you will take good care of this book, and will find as much fun in reading it as I have found in making it.
Your Dad
James A Trewolla
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