Andrew Byrd and Hendrick Pennybacker descendants, Yesterday I received a letter from Jennie Byrd as a result of sending a copy of the Penny Reunion announcement to the family. Jennie is the wife of Oliver Erasmus Byrd, M.D., and Professor Emeritus Stanford University. I am saddened to inform that Oliver passed away on Saturday May 16, 1998, Palo Alto, California at the age of 92 years. He was born February 26, 1906, in Little Rock, Arkansas, the youngest of three children born to his parents, John Erasmus and Clara Isabel Alsbury Byrd.. Dr. Byrd died after a series of strokes in a Palo Alto nursing facility. Jennie says she was with him everday to feed him his noon meal over the past eleven months. They would have celebrated 68 years of marriage on December 31, 1998. Jennie sent a copy of an article from the San Jose Mercury News/Obituaries/May 21, 1998, by Mack Lundstrom: "Oliver Byrd, health educator; Physician taught at Stanford more than 3 decades." It is more a history of his life and career than an obituary and is long. I can post to one or both lists if permission is given by the list owners. I would like to do this so it would be in the Rootsweb Archives. Oliver is a 4th great grandson of Andrew (Sr) and Magdalene Jones Bird of Rockingham County, Virginia (formerly Augusta County), a 3rd great grandson of Dirck and Hannah DeHaven Pennybacker and 5th great grandson of Hendrick Pannebaker. He is also a 4th great grandson of Joseph (Humphrey) Samuels. According to the genealogy prepared by his sister Helen this lineage goes back to William the Conqueror, his 19th great grandfather. I don't have sufficient documentation to prove all of the Samuels/Humnphrey lineage. Harry Pontius and Sherry are the knowledgeable ones on the Samuels family. Oliver and his sister, Helen May Byrd Burnam, are very special to Sherry and me although we never had the pleasure to meet them personally. Oliver began researching the family history in the 1930s and Helen continued the research after her retirement. A lot of what we know today began with their work and the contacts they made. Helen died at the age of 90 in Ashland, Oregon on May 21, 1993. She was born March 9, 1902. Oliver and Helen's brother, Russell Aaron Byrd, died at the age of 92 in Pasadena, California on December 2, 1995. He was born February 25, 1906. Their mother, Clara Isabel Alsbury, married John Erasmus Byrd on June 14, 1902, San Antonio, Texas. John Erasmus Byrd died February 18, 1907 leaving his widow with the three small children all under school age. Growing up with no knowledge of their Byrd ancestors prompted the ancestry search by Oliver and later by his sister, Helen. Jennie sent a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and a wish for a most pleasant reunion in Pennsylvania. Jynelle <A HREF="http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/c/a/f/Jynelle-B- Caffey/index.html">FTM User Home Pages: Billy G. and Jynelle Byrd Caffey</A> http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/c/a/f/Jynelle-B-Caffey/index.html