To The Sasser List, This is from the library in Smithfield, NC. It will give us some idea of the family of Nancy Kirby the wife of Henry Sasser. There maybe some confusion in this Kirby line as some family pages show two Thomas's two Jesse's and two Nancy's. If anyone has any more info on this line please let me know. --==Earl==-- ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ KIRBY This is the genealogy of the Charles Franklin Kirby and Dianah Patience Pittman Kirby family, my grandfather and grandmother. Gathering this together has been a most enjoyable and challenging task. There are some gaps in it and some errors, I am sure. It is impossible to follow all the lines perfectly when so many of the people are no longer living and some errors were in public records of years ago. I regret not doing this when my parents, uncles and aunts were living. Uncle Charlie (Charles Person Kirby), the only living child, has been an enormous help in this. Other information has been gleaned from many sources: some cousins' information, notes from other family members, the Johnston County Library, census records, marriage records, other family files, courthouse, telephone calls, visits and letters. More recently, Fay Woodall Wilson of Wilmington shared a wealth of information with me. This is pretty well documented back to the fifth generation from me (and my first cousins). Two generations beyond that is not as complete. That is, seven generations back from us; eight from our children; and nine from our grandchildren. Edna Earle Kirby Sanders Winter, 1993 1011 S. 2nd. St. Smithfield, NC 27577 Tel. 919-934-8335 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ KIRBY LINE Our great, great grandparents, Thomas and Kirby, probably came from the Kenly-Fremont area or even from Beulah Townhip. Two separate groups of Kirbys Iive in the Kenly area now - the Henry Kirby descendants and the Thompson Kirby descendants. I believe we all came from the same ancestors. Two brothers, Adsolom and Jesse, and one sister, Nancy Kirby, settled in North Carolina in the early 1700's. Our earliest Kirby ancestor that I found was Jesse and the line comes down through him, Thomas Sr., Thorqas Jr., Jesse (a later one) and Charles Franklin. The Pittman family is not as complete as the Kirby line. Our grandfather, Charles Franklin Kirby, was a man who was very influential and well-thought of in his community; and often sought for advice. Besides being a farmer, at different times he was a teacher, a justice of the peace, a magistrate and coroner, He also served as a representative in the State Legislature in 1891-92. He was usually called Squire Kirby by acquaintances. He attended school at an academy or college in or near Shelby. He was a good businessman over the years, owned a very large farm and lived in a beautiful home. They were, among the first in the area to have an indoor bathroom, a Delco plant for lights, a telephone, an automobile (a Reo) and later, a tractor (a Fordson). In his later years, he made a poor business decision, borrowing some money with his farm as collateral. The depression came and he was unable to pay it back. After his death, several of the heirs were able to pay off the indebtedness and get the farm intended for them. All of Grandpa and Grandma's children did well and were all good law- abiding citizens. Their grandchildren (my generation) and great grandchildren have also done well. We have many in different fields of endeavor with no one (so far) getting in trouble and prison. Many have college degrees and several, graduate degrees. Grandpa and Grandma had twelve children, ten of whom lived to adulthood. The first child was stillborn and the eleventh died in her first year. Several things that some of us have remembered over the years, I have tried to record here for us and for our children and grandchildren. Two trips to the State Fair at Raleigh, as told by our parents, uncles and aunts have been quite interesting. When there were only five children, Grandpa and Grandma took them on a train to Raleigh to the fair. After they got there, the five children walked abreast holding hands, with a parent holding on either end. They were told not to dare turn loose hands as they walked around together seeing the sights. Needless to say, that was a great thrill to them, and I heard it told several times. Later after all the children were born and Uncle Charlie (the youngest) was five or six years old. they went to the fair. They rode to Raleigh on a surrey pulled by two grey horses. Uncle Frank rode horseback on another horse to lead the way. They spent the night or nights in a hotel in Raleigh. The boys remembered trying to catch pigeons outside the windows of the hotel. They attended the fair and saw the sights. One of the grey horses died while they were there and they had to use Uncle Frank's horse to help pull the surrey home. Grandma was a sweet lady who loved her family dearly, and especially her grandchildren. She was short of stature, somewhat stout and wore a size 3 ½ shoe all her adult life. If any of the daughters went to town and brought back a pair of shoes which was larger, it was sent back and exchanged for a 3 ½. Grandma had a small round sewing basket which sat in the dining room on a table or sewing machine. She often had large colored gum drops to give to Helen and me. Grandpa had a commissary in the back yard where he kept groceries and supplies for the tenants. He also kept some candy in there; some of which he often gave to the grandchildren. Kirby (Rose) said one time he failed to give him some candy when Helen and I got some, and Aunt Jenny unlocked the commissary and gave him a bag of candy. Aunt Jenny was the oldest of the living children and never married. She evidently did not learn as well as the other children and stopped school early (4th or 5th grade, Uncle Charlie said). She always helped with the other children, cleaned and cooked, and seemed to love her lot in life. After Grandmother died, she looked after and kept house for Grandpa, Uncle Jim, Uncle Charlie and Aunt Vic who still lived at home. Aunt Jenny loved the grandchildren and was always very good to us. She died at age 46, three years before Grandpa died. Fay remembers a syrup mill that was near the road and remembers Grandpa cutting some cane into short pieces, so the grandchildren could scoop up some cooking syrup to taste. We often had family get-togethers at grandpa and grandma's house before Grandma's death (ten years before grandpa's). She died when I was almost six years old, so the seven grandchildren she saw were Samuel, Mary, Charles, Helen, Kirby, Josephine, and me (Edna Earle). Cordially, Earl Sasser ewsass@writeme.com