=============================================================== On 3 SEP 1998, Bonnie Bronleewe visited The Strong Quest and The Strong-Gossage Ancestral Database, after which she wrote the following message addressed to the manager of the two sites, Robert T. (Bob) Strong, Jr. The message is being forwarded to The Strong Mail List. Please reply to [email protected] (Bonnie Strong Bronleewee) with a carbon copy to [email protected] Bonnie: Please consider subscribing to the Strong Mail List, where you will meet over 160 researchers of the Strong, Strang, Strange, and related families, the largest subgroup being descended from "Elder" John Strong. To subscribe, send a message to the address below with only this one word in the body of the message. subscribe Do not add a signature block to your message or any other comments, as it will not be read by a human. Use this optional subject line: Subscribe to Strong-L. Mail to this address: [email protected] Following are two web sites managed in part or whole by Martha F. Brani Strong, an authority on the English ancestry of "Elder" John Strong, that will answer some of your questions. The Strong Family Association of America (SFAA) web site: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Prairie/4715 Martha's personal web site, "Welcome to My World": http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Prairie/7905 There are a couple of brief sections in STRONG FAMILY HISTORIES, VOLUME 5, (c) 1996, The Strong Family Association of America, written by Martha F. B. Strong, about the Strong ancestry and kin of "Elder" John Strong in England. I interpret these documents as being the most current official position of the SFAA. See Pages 629-642. For purchase information for any of the update volumes, contact the SFAA Historian, Robert Sheldon Strong <[email protected]>. Volumes 1 through 4 of the above are updates to the two-volume set of books to which you referred that were lost in the FEB 1996 Oregon flood. The set was compiled by Benjamin W. Dwight and was titled, THE HISTORY OF THE DECENDANTS OF ELDER JOHN STRONG OF NORTHAMPTON, MASSACHUSETTS. Published 1871 at Albany, New York, by J. Munsell. Volume 5 includes Strong families that have not been proven to be descended from "Elder" John Strong. I don't want to belabor the debate about when John Strong arrived in Massachusetts, but keep in mind that the "Mary and John" story is nothing by a THEORY which to this day has not been substantiated with one iota of documentation. The passenger list for the "Mary and John" was not preserved. No record of John Strong being in Massachusetts prior to 1635 has been found. However, there IS a ship passenger list dated 1635 which included John Stronge and his family. To prove that John Strong arrived in 1630 would require proving he returned to England after 1630. No proof has been produced. Thank you for your informative message and I do hope you will join our discussions on the Strong Mail List. "BoB T." ================================================================= My name is Bonnie Strong Bronleewe. [If it says this is from David Bronleewe, he's my 18 year-old son, child # 2 of 6. My husband is Sam Bronleewe.] I am a distant relative, a descendent of Elder John Strong's oldest son, John. My father, William Walter Strong, had a copy of a 2-volume genealogy of the Strong's, which I never looked at very closely, and in Feb.1996 it was destroyed when their house in Vernonia, Oregon, was flooded [it was shown repeatedly by CNN in their coverage]. My aunt, Rosalie Strong Meyers has a set, but can't find it. Fortunately, one of their cousins hired a genealogist to research the family tree years ago, and my aunt gave me a copy of that. I just came across your web site this afternoon, and when I get a chance to make a copy of the information that I have, I would be glad to send it to you if you are interested. It traces our line back to Elder John Strong as the 1st generation, with his first wife [the one I'm descended from] as unknown, so I was pleased to see the information about Marjory Deane, until I read your disclaimer. It also gives his father's name as Richard Strong, born in Caernaroon, Wales in 1551, and his sister's name as Eleanor. The genealogy says that he and his first wife came to America with their son John, born in England in 1626, and an infant child, sailing from Plymouth, England on March 30, 1630, aboard the "Mary & John". They arrived in Nantasket on May 30, 1630, but his wife died either on the passage or soon after, and the infant died 2 months later. He married Abigail Ford in Dec. 1630, according to my information. The list of their children that I have matches the one on the web page, though I don't have much about the rest. To support the position that Elder John Strong came to America in 1630, rather than1635, I have come across the following bits of information: Earlier this year I came across an ad in a genealogy magazine for a book offered by the "Mary & John Clearinghouse", with information about the families which came on that ship in 1630. Since there were several volumes, they listed the names for each volume so you could order the correct one. Vol. 17 includes John Strong and Thomas Ford. Today, before I went online looking for something about Strongs & New England History, I was looking in a history book that I have owned for some time, titled "A Worthy Company", by M. E. Bradford, and published by the Plymouth Rock Foundation. In the chapter about founding fathers from Massachusetts, Caleb Strong is included. Of his heritage it says, "Caleb Strong was born in Northampton, Massachusetts, the son of Caleb Strong, tanner, and of Phebe Lyman Strong. He was in direct descent from John Strong, who had emigrated to that section of the state after arriving in Massachusetts in 1630." At this point I have done little that would qualify as actual research--since I got a Family Treemaker program last year I have been "feeding" it information that I already had or gathering information from relatives. I even discovered that a good friend is my 8th cousin through the Bliss family- the same Bliss family that Mary Bliss belonged to! My friend's mother had a 3- volume history of the Bliss family. She is descended from Mary Bliss's younger brother and I am from the oldest brother's line. Imagine my surprise when I found the connection [Joseph Parsons & Elizabeth Strong] between my mother's family and my father's family. I already had that marriage recorded in my program, from the Strong genealogy. There actually are several connections between the Strongs and the Blisses, either directly or through other names, such as Parsons and Warriner. I am interested in additional information about other lines of the Strong family, especially those that lead to historic figures. I teach my children at home, and we are finding history more personal and interesting since we have taken the approach of learning about how our own families lived and died. Thank-you for your time. Bonnie Strong Bronleewe ================================================================== Forwarded by: Robert T. Strong, Jr. 119 Mystic Way Madison, Al 35757-8801