Posted on: Stanislaus County, Ca Query Forum Reply Here: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/gc/USA/Ca/Stanislaus/11229 Surname: Guthrie, Lofton, Sterrett, Davis, Welch ------------------------- Bill Guthrie just passed away here in Cherokee Co, OK from cancer. He would have been 60 on July 26. Bill spent most of his childhood and teenage years in Turlock, California. He went to the Army where he served as an MP in the early 1960s and lived around Ramona and Escondido, California for most of his adult life. He came to Cherokee County, Oklahoma to be near his ailing mother and spent his last few years here. He was a skilled carpenter and cement worker and did much of the restoration on my 100 year old house. Bill was the son of Monroe and Lillie Mae (Sterrett) Guthrie, whose families came from MS before 1900 to the Franklin Parish, Concordia Parish, La Salle Parish, Winn Parish, and Catahoula Parish areas. Bill was the grandson of Fred Sterrett and Myrtle Lofton, originally of this same area. Bill's (and my) ggrandmother was Viola "Ola" Welch. Ola married Marion Lee Lofton and their oldest daughter, Myrtle, was Bill's grandmother (their youngest daughter, Doris, was my birth mother). Myrtle and her two daughters, Lillie Mae (Bill's mother) and Thelma "Kitty" Sterrett, raised Bill, his sister Barbara, and me. Myrtle, Lillie and Kitty went west to California (where Myrtle worked as a welder in the shipyards during the war effort) so I lost contact with my Franklin Parish relatives, at least most of them, in my later chilhood and adult years. I know that all of Marion Lee Lofton's children are gone now except Uncle Nathan. I would love to know where all their descendents are now. Bill was the gggrandson of Timothy Lawrence and Mary Etta (Matthews) Welch and James W. and Narcissus (Davis) Lofton (Loftin), all who spent their final years in Franklin Parish, La. I believe that Marion Lee Lofton and Ola Welch's families were all from the Lawrence County, MS area and moved to Franklin Parish, LA sometime just before 1900. I have been told that we are connected to the Reeves, Matthews, Welch and Davis families in that area. However, my memories are from childhood visits to the homes of Grandpa Lofton his children, my uncles and aunts. The following account about Monroe Guthrie was shared with me over 20 years ago by Thelma "Kittty" Sterrett, the younger sister of Monroe's first wife, Lillie Mae Sterrett. Monroe Guthrie was in Franklin Parish until he married Lillie Mae Sterrett around 1939 or 1940. He was in his late teens or early 20s. Lillie was 12. She bore him a son when she was 13. This baby was premature and died shortly after birth. Within three years, Lillie bore Monroe two more children, a son, Billy Jean Guthrie (Bill Guthrie), in 1941, and a daughter, Barbara Joy Guthrie, in 1943. By this time, Monroe, Lillie, Billy, and Barbara lived between Turlock and Modesto (Stanislaus Co.?), California. Monroe's parents had also migrated to that area from Louisiana. Monroe and Lillie ended their union sometime in the 1940's when he went back to Louisiana. He returned to California, remarried, and fathered at least one more child, a daughter, that I remember seeing several times in Turlock, California in the mid 1950's. I do not remember her first name, but I do remember Billy and Barbara referring to her as their half- sister. She was about my age so would have been born sometime around 1950. I think that Billy, Barbara and I lived on "I Street" near the old Highway 99 overpass in Turlock. Their half-sister lived a street or two from us. I believe that Monroe died of cancer in Turlock around this time. I would like to hear from any of Bill's relatives or friends who might read this posting.