David B. Strong
Researching Strong(e)s and Strang(e)s in
Britain and Ireland
John R. Mayer Memorial Web Page
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John R. Mayer
September 16, 1952 - March 31, 1998
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[Editior's Note: William L."Bill" Strong and Robert T."BoB" Strong &
others proposed a memorial to the late John R. Mayer, revolving around his
work. We had a discussion on the Rootsweb Strong-List about a memorial
to John...This Memorial Page is the result, and continues in development.
"BoB" Strong contributed information concerning an index of John's writing
on the Rootsweb Strong-List; I volunteered space for a web page on my web
site; and the general outline of our thought has been to build:
1) around an obituary article written by John's sister, Barbara Way,
2) references to John's home page and points of contact for
obtaining published copies of his works;
3) appropriate comments about the significance of his writings to
members of the Rootsweb Strong-List;
4) an index of his writings as a member of the Strong-List;
5) an index of writings between John and various individuals; and
6) a listing of persons who hold copies of his works with email addresses
and links to the Outline of Extraneus page.
Any further contributions and ideas for inclusion in this Memorial Page are welcome.
They will be throughly discussed and reviewed to assure that they are in good
taste, a true memorial, and helpful in preserving access to John's work.
(Contact David B. Strong through the Rootsweb Strong-List)
John Richard Mayer, age 45, died following an extended illness on Tuesday,
March 31, 1998 in San Francisco, CA. Formerly of Saginaw, MI and
Harrisburg, PA, John had lived in San Francisco for the past 20 years.
He was born in Hillsboro, IL on Sept. 16, 1952 to Charles J. "Chop" and
Floy M. (Strange) Mayer. After being an exchange student to Japan in 1969,
he graduated from Arthur Hill High School in Saginaw, MI in 1970. While
earning his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan, majoring
in Far Eastern Languages and Literature, he also attended Waseta
University in Japan. He received his master's degree in Oriental Languages
from the University of California, Berkley. He was the assistant manager
of the Marubeni Corp., a trading company in San Francisco, for 14 years.
John was a scholar, a genealogical researcher, and a gifted author. For
all of his adult life, he researched the Strange family and wrote 12 books
about them covering more than 900 years of history. So far, five of those
books have been published and are available in the Library of Congress and
the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, UT. He was considered a
world-wide authority on the Strange family. He also wrote a genealogical
dictionary which has yet to be published.
John is survived by his parents of Plymouth, IN; a sister and her husband,
Barbara and John Way; and their two children, his niece, Amanda, and his
nephew, Jason, all of Saginaw. A memorial service was held in California.
Those who so desire may make a memorial contribution in the name of John R.
Strange Mayer to the San Francisco Aids Foundation, 10 United Nations
Plaza, San Francisco, CA 94102.
An abstract of the direct line of descent of John R. Mayer from Alexander Strange
of Devonshire, England and New Kent County, Virginia was prepared by
Robert T. Strong, Jr., from John's web site at Family Tree Maker. The Ancestor
Chart is posted on The Strong Quest web site:John R. Mayer mini-GEDCOM
John's autobiography appears on pages 460-461 of EXTRANEUS, Book XII,
"Strange of the Carolinas".
John Mayer's books on the Strange family, the "Extraneus" volumes,
(see: John R. Mayer's Outline of Extraneus) will continue to be available
through his sister, Barbara Way, 3159 W. Wintergreen
Dr., Saginaw, MI 48603, 517-792-7379. This information is also available
on the Strange Home Page by John R.Mayer ,
http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/m/a/y/John-R-Mayer/index.html
Barbara Way has indicated a desire to publish at least
two additional works by John which were nearly ready for publication, and to
see that his earlier "soft-cover" works, which John was self publishing
under the "Aracapana Press" psuedonem, were placed with the publisher of his
hardbound works for further distribution. Hopefully, she will be successful
in that regard.
A fellow genealogist, Herb Strange, from Hillsborough, CA, has taken John's
rough drafts and has volunteered to update each of John's books on the
computer. There were corrections and additions noted in the rough drafts
that were not in the computer. According to Barbara Way, there will be later
discussions about publishing further works.
Most of John Mayer's books should be generally available
through interlibrary loan from the Library of Congress; New York Public
Library; Family History Library, Allen County Public Library (Fort
Wayne, IN); the Alfred Sutro Library (San Francisco, CA); and
several state libraries (Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland).
===========================================================
From: "Barbara J. Way"
Subject: JRM memorial Web Page
Date: Wed, 3 Jun 1998 01:14:34 -0400
... John's computer is a veritable treasure-trove of information.
I've read so much of his work in the past few weeks -- it's just amazing.
He was so organized and he kept everything.
...
Thank you .... for helping John's work to live on. Since he had no
children, his work is his living legacy.
Best wishes,
Email: Barb Way
John R. Mayer joined the Rootsweb Strong-List June 1, 1997. His
introductory messages burst like a star shell over the internet, and they
are inserted here, to give some feel for the scope and quality of his
scholarship. They also speak to John's broad vision of the relationship
between the surnames leStrange, Strange, Strang, Strong, and Stronge:
==================================================
From: STRONG-L@rootsweb.com
------- Forwarded Message Follows --------
Date: Sun, 1 Jun 97 19:44:21 UT
From: "John R. Mayer"
To: "Robert T. Strong" , "Bill Strong"
Subject: Strange Home Page
Dear Messrs. Strong:
I just issued a 'subscribe' message for your newsletter, but the
field was not long enough to list my web page. Please add to
your web page list my Strange Home Page, given below.
I am the great-grandson of Alexander Taylor Strange, who authored
the first Strange genealogy in 1911, so I represent a Strange
family that has been collecting Strange genealogies for something
more than 86 years.
In 1986, I published Extraneus: The Annals Quinquepartite of
Strange Lives, and in 1992, I started to publish the second
edition of Extraneus, which is now divided into 12 books. Here
is a list of the five titles published between 1992 and 1996:
Book V, Strange of Eastern America, 1993, xviii + 380 pages. Book
IX, Strange of Balcaskie, 1996, xxxvi + 542 pages. Book X, The
Alloway Strange, 1994, xxiv + 256 pages. Book XI, Strange of
Blisland, 1995, xl + 708 pages. Book XII, Strange of the
Carolinas, 1994, xxvi + 548 pages.
Although I have written some chapters on Stronge of Tynan Abbey,
et cetera, I have never delved very far into Strong and Stronge
lineages, because Dwight and others seem to be handling Elder
John Strong's line quite well.
However, my preparation of Book IX, Strange of Balcaskie, would
surely interest your readers, for it is a compendium of
everything I have managed to learn about the family Strange of
Balcaskie, and the various Strang families in Scotland, and
Stronge in Northern Ireland.
My great-grandfather held the opinion that the Scots-Irish family
Strange / Strang / Stronge was connected to Strange, but I have
developed a rather different view. I believe that a connection
between Extraneus of England and Ireland (le Strange, L'Estrange,
Strange) and the Scots-Irish family will be difficult and perhaps
impossible to prove.
Are you or any of your readers aware that Major Timothy Edmund
Lumisden Strange was recognized by the Lord Lyon of Scotland as
the head of your clan in 1994? I shall gladly put you in contact
with Major Tim, because he patented his coat of arms (the three
diamonds), his standard, pinon, et cetera, in 1994, and then
patented a brand new TARTAN for Strange of Balcaskie in 1995. I
actually have a tartan tie, and just received a pewter badge of
the Scottish crest (the bunch of grapes and "Dulce quod utile.").
I published some reproductions and patents in my book.
I realize that the Irish achievements are a little different from
Major Tim's, but these heraldic devices should interest your
readers nonetheless, particularly the new tartan.
Major Tim's line has pretty much died out, for he and his sons
are just about the only ones left. I shall send him a print-out
of your home page.
[Editor's Note: In a later message dated July 24,1998, John advised
of the address of ..."Major Timothy Strange of Balcaskie, Little Holme,
Porton Road, Amesbury, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP4 7LL, United Kingdom.
(John thought) Tim would be delighted to hear from anyone even remotely
connected to the Strange of Balcaskie family, because most of his
Strange kinsfolk are now dead, so he really has no living relatives
representing the same Sir Robert lineage. He gave some thought to
creating a Clan Association, but his senior line is so rarefied now, he
did not rightly know who would join...."]
(John continued in the introductory message):
My main interest is the Extraneus family of England (two lions
passant; not the three diamonds), so I chiefly specialize in le
Strange of Hunstanton, L'Estrange of Westmeath, Strange of
Virginia, and several families elsewhere, such as Canada, France,
Australia, and South Africa. However, I shall gladly try to
respond as best I can to any inquiries your readers might have
regarding the oldest lineages antecedent to Stronge of Tynan
Abbey.
Your web page is marvelous, and I wish you the best in developing
it.
Very truly yours,
John R. Mayer
San Francisco, CA, USA
Strange Home Page:
http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/m/a/y/John-R-Mayer Extraneus
===============================================
In a message dated July 6, 1997, John truly spread his scholarship
for all to see:
Date: Tuesday, July 08, 1997 12:28:56 AM
From: IN:STRONG-L@rootsweb.com
Topic: STRANGE (mss. by John Mayer), Part 1 of 2
Three attempts to distribute this message via the Strong Mail List, on the
Rootsweb List Server, have failed. My only guess is that the message, with
my comments added, is too long, so I am subdividing it into two parts.
This is Part I.
Bob Strong, Moderator, Strong Mail List
===============================================
------- Forwarded Message Follows --------
Date: Sun, 6 Jul 1997 23:54:30 -0700
From: "Bob Strong, Moderator, Strong Mail List"
ATTENTION: John Mayer
Thank you for your analysis of the question of whether Strange and Strong may
have a common heritage. Being a Stanley descendant, your comments about
Stanley were also particularly interesting to me. I had never conceptualized any
relationship between Stanley and Strange.
When I originated the Strong Mail List in December 1996, my purpose in including
Strange and Strang and Straughan, et al., was not so academic. Since these
surnames have been at times confused with Strong, and vice versa, I felt that a
comprehensive search for Strongs should also include these other Surnames.
From time to time the Strong Mail List has discussed whether we
wished to remain integrated with seemingly disparate Surnames or whether
we wished to split into smaller Surname groups, including major Strong
subdivisions. The subscribers to the Strong Mail List have stated with
one voice that the group wishes to keep the group intact as it was created.
Hmmm. Maybe we just don't like changing things! And maybe opinions will change
as the Mail List grows in size and in traffic. [One person cancelled their
subscription this week, citing the traffic as a reason. I personally was concerned
that there had not been much new traffic--that is, until I downloaded the mail
today, 6 July.]
I agree there has been less confusion between Strange and Strong than there has
been between Strang and Strong (look similar) or between Straughn, Straughan,
Strawn and Strong (sound similar). The instance of "William Strange" is a good case
study, though, as this William has been claimed by both Strange and Strong
researchers.
Regarding this William "Strange", was he age 18 when he embarked for the Virginia
Colony or was he age 18 when the census was taken of the settlers who survived
Indian attacks? Is one or the other explicitly stated in the records of the time?
I have noted, for example, that the age of a person who embarked in the British
Islands was usually stated in port records and/or ship records. Ages of "convicts"
were often stated in court records or in records of the sale/auction of deported
"convicts". Since the ship on which William "Strange" was transported was
stated, wouldn't it be logical for his age to have come from the ship records?
Robert T. (Bob) Strong
=================================================
------- Forwarded Message Follows --------
Date: Sun, 6 Jul 1997 06:49:24 -0700
From: "John R. Mayer"
To: STRONG-L@rootsweb.com
Cc: "Barbara Jean Way"
"Jacques LesStrang"
Subject: Devolvements Strange
Devolvements Strange and the Founding of Virginia
In reply to the recent messages from Bob Strong, I have drafted here a few
sketches that might be useful to anyone using the Strong web page.
William Strange: Genealogists have never successfully identified William Strange,
who arrived at Charles City with Sir George Yeardly in 1619, and we really do not
know whether he survived and had children. Most Strange genealogists begin
continuous reckoning from Blisland Parish, now New Kent County, VA, about
1677, because the various individuals recorded before that time have never
been connected with any known lineages.
William Strange's age has often been misunderstood, due to the poor choice of
words in early transcripts. He was listed as eighteen years of age (born 1606)
in the Muster Roll of 1624, but he arrived in 1619, when he would have been a
servant of merely twelve or thirteen years of age. His tender age suggests that
William Strange might have been an orphan, and this should not surprise us,
because Londoners began to export their orphans to Virginia around the same
time, 1618-1619. Strange Affinities with Talbot, Stanley, and West Many of the
Strange connections to Virginia Colony are difficult to find and apprehend,
because the researcher must look for alternative surnames and titles, such as
the Governors West (Lord Delaware), Talbot (Earl of Shrewsbury), Stanley
(Earl of Derby), et cetera. Most of the major le Strange and Strange lines
patrilineal were extinct by the seventeenth century, and these other families
(West, Talbot, Stanley, Murray, Drummond, et cetera) were descendants of
the Strange, by marriage.
The several colonial governors of Virginia Colony named West (Lords de la Warr)
descended from Thomas Strange of Gloucester, through his daughter Elizabeth
Strange.
Two successive waves of the Black Plague in the fourteenth century (1340s
and 1360s) effectively annihilated two generations of the heirs male of Strange
of Blackmere, and therefore the honors of Blackmere merged with those of
Talbot. The family Talbot inherited the Barony Strange of Blackmere, and
thus we find that the Talbot Earl and Countess of Shrewsbury (alias Lord and
Lady Strange) were listed as stockholders in Virginia, but that the surname or
title Strange was nowhere explicitly mentioned.
The family Stanley established the English devolution of the Barony Strange
of Knokin, but this Stanley branch must be further distinguished from the
Scottish devolution of the same English Barony Strange. The Murray Dukes
of Atholl likewise claimed the same barony, so their claim was parallel to
Stanley's claim, and the two Lords Strange were permitted to co-exist.
Our first literary reference to a Stanley Lord Strange appears as a critical
element in Shakespeare's Richard III, where Richard III detects the
treachery of Thomas Stanley, and thereupon orders the execution of his
child-hostage Lord Strange (Thomas' son George Stanley). Shakespeare
apparently did not know that George Stanley had become Lord Strange
jure uxoris (by his wife's right), years later, but who cares? The
Bard's imagination seems to transcend the pedantry of us genealogists.
The junior heirs male to the English Lordship Strange belong to the Stanley
family, and perpetuate the title Earl of Derby. The Stanley heir apparent is
customarily styled Lord Strange (as heir to the Barony Strange of Knokin).
Shakespeare's plays were first performed by Strange's Men, who later
became styled the King's Men or King's Players. The actors named
Strange's Men were so called because their early patron was the heir
apparent to the earldom of Derby, and thus styled Lord Strange. It was
James I who extended royal patronage to the players, making them the
King's Players.
Presently, the senior Scottish heirs general (vs. the junior Stanley heirs
male) to the English Lordship Strange are the Scottish family Drummond
of Megginch, which has lately had a hilarious representative in the House
of Lords, in the person of Lady Strange. She is a fortune-teller and
astrologer, and has created small sensations on the floor of the
House of Lords by making public pronouncements of her craft.
A few years ago, the Drummond of Megginch Lady Strange owned
the American flag from Fort Niagara, which one of her grandfathers
Drummond had captured during the War of 1812 (1812-1815), and she
sold it back to Fort Niagara for some $200,000. The flag was gigantic,
and had to be transported in an especially large container, handled with
cranes. The flag of Fort Niagara is believed to be one of the oldest
surviving American flags, and perhaps the largest.
Virginia Stockholders Connected to the Strange: Almost every
major Strange lineage is represented among the signatures on the
Third Virginia Charter, but most of the stockholding individuals
connected to the family are known by names different from Strange,
such as George Talbot Earl of Shrewsbury, or Stanley Earl of Derby.
The Stanley heiress married the Earl of Huntingdon, and therefore we
sometimes encounter cryptic notes about the Earl and Countess of
Huntingdon (Lord and Lady Strange) having lived briefly in Virginia
in 1620.
The people actually surnamed Strange in Virginia must have come
from junior or cadet Strange lines, and we suspect that several must
have been younger sons, or even orphans, because they are terribly
difficult to identify.
One Virginia shareholder was John Strange in London, who once
testified with Captain Smith to an altercation they had both witnessed
at the Royal Exchange, but we have no idea who John Strange might
have been. Some think he was the ship owner from Bideford,
Devon, but there were several other John Stranges in London during
the same period. The Devon Connection Most of the Strange residency
along the East Coast of America can be traced to the ship owners and
masters named Strange who were based in Bideford, Devon,
and who traded with places as remote as Spain, Newfoundland,
New England, Virginia, and Maryland. There was a large population
of persons named Strange, Strang, Stronge, and Strong in Devon,
and we have many reasons to believe that these Dumnonians were the
predecessors of Strange of Virginia, and Alloway Strange of Virginia.
One of the Strange ships was registered at Bideford, Devon, but was
built in New England, and transported tobacco from Maryland, so we
have a fairly convenient trading triangle that would seem to tie these
Strange families together.
The spellings Strange, Strang, and Strong all appeared in Devon,
and some record transcripts show a bias to one spelling over another.
A pair of matching Hearth Rolls will sometimes have mutually opposed
spellings, such that one roll prefers the spelling Stronge, whereas the
other prefers the spelling Strange, even when referring to the same
families. It is not clear whether these consistent differences reflect
problems in transcription, or contemporary spelling variations.
We need to view our lineages from several perspectives, sometimes
resorting to collateral relations, co-residence, and titles, instead of strictly
blood-related and descending patrlinies. All of these connections
between Virginia and Devon, Gloucester, and Lancaster tend to
persuade me that persons named Strange in Virginia were related to
the senior Strange lines of Knockyn, Salop, in western England. An
East Anglian Connection Virginian societies were somewhat more
eclectic, so we may even find some similar connections with the cadet
family le Strange at Hunstanton Hall, Norfolk, in eastern England, or
East Anglia. The translator and explorer Henry Spelman was traded to
the Powhatan natives for one year, for the purpose of learning their
language, but he died an ignonymous death while exploring the River
Potomac. Interestingly, Henry Spelman was the son of the famous
historian John Spelman, and his maternal grandfather was Nicholas
le Strange, Baronet, of Hunstanton.
These ruminations may not be directly pertinent to the subject of
William Strange (1606), but I thought they might help, by providing
some framework or background for discussing Stanley vis-a-vis Strange
and Strong.
The Two Families Strange: As far as I can discern, we are dealing
with two families, namely Extraneus of England (1082) and Strange of
Balcaskie (1362), but we have insufficient historical evidence to
connect the two. The two families seem to have these permutations:
EXTRANEUS (1086) The Brythonic family and its Ascendency in Ireland:
Arms: Gules, two lions passant argent.
Crest: Lion statant.
Extraneus >le Strange >de Lestrange >
Straunge >STRANGE>L'Estrange
Salop - Aquitaine - Norfolk - Ireland (Westmeath & Dublin)
=======================================================
End of Part 1 of 2 Parts.
Continued in Part 2.
John R. Mayer
====================================================
------- Forwarded Message Follows --------
Part 2 of 2. Continued from Part 1.
=====================================================
Date: Sun, 6 Jul 1997 06:49:24 -0700
From: "John R. Mayer"
To: STRONG-L@rootsweb.com
Subject: Devolvements Strange
=====================================================
STRANGE OF BALCASKIE (1362)
The Scots-Irish family
Arms: Chevron in pale with three lozenges.
Crest: Bunch of grapes.
STRANGE >Strang >Stronge >Straunge (but never the Latin or
French spellings)
Fifeshire - Lanarkshire - Northern Ireland (Tynan Abbey) - Ireland (Waterford)
Strange Cadency and Variant Spellings; Given our findings, I suspect that the
first authentic Strange record in Virginia is dated 1619 (actually 1624), and that
the first authentic Strong records happen to date from roughly 1677-1698.
Our main question would seem to be this: Were these two Virginian families
closely related, or were they separate lineages with different origins?
It is interesting to note that the spelling of the English surname Strange
seldom changes, whereas the spelling of the Scottish or Scots-Irish surname
seems to change by cadency.
The senior line of Strange of Balcaskie proudly preserves the spelling
Strange, but this spelling can rarely be found outside the senior Balcaskie
stem. In Lanarkshire and elsewhere outside Fife, most of the families are
styled Strang, and several of these Strang families have been proven to be
branches of the ancient house of Strange of Balcaskie. In Ireland, we find
that a cadet branch of Strange of Balcaskie established itself with the
distinctive spelling Stronge of Tynan Abbey.
Thus, the Scots-Irish family seems to have sometimes tampered with its
spelling, as if to differentiate senior and junior lines of descent. The
Scots commonly used the spellings Strange and Strang, whereas their
Irish cadets used the spelling Stronge.
When the Scottish Strangs from Glasgow established themselves in Virginia
and North Carolina, from 1790s onward, they took steps to legally change
their spelling from Strang to Strange by 1836. The same Strang > Strange
family then provided our country with the services of U.S. Senator Robert
Strange of North Carolina, whose arms and crest of grapes were identical
with those of Strange of Balcaskie.
We also have an isolated Strange family at Waterford, along the southern
coast of Ireland, and this family too would seem to preserve the principles
of Balcaskie-type spelling.
Our Double Problem: Thus, we are faced with a double problem. Exactly
who arrived in Virginia? Exactly who were the Stranges of Devon?
Are we seeing in Virginia two unrelated families named Strange and Strong
arriving from different places? Were the Stranges of Devon ultimately
connected to the Scots-Irish Strange / Strang / Stronge family, or to the
English Extraneus / le Strange / L'Estrange family?
An eighteenth-century historian suggested that the Strange family of
Bideford, Devon, had originally come from Ireland, and therefore we
have cause to wonder how the family got to Ireland in the first place. Did
they come from the north-south migration of Scotsmen into Ireland, or
were they dispatched from the English mainland as Tudor occupiers of
the Pale?
We know for sure that the younger son Richard le Strange of the cadet
family le Strange was deliberately sent from Norfolk to Westmeath, Ireland,
to establish an English plantation. However, his le Strange > L'Estrange
family seems to have been thoroughly Anglo-Irish, and completely
unconnected to the Scots-Irish Stronge of Tynan Abbey, as well as the
isolated Strange family at Waterford.
Thus, even if we discover specific routes of migration across the Atlantic,
we still must solve these questions about ultimate origins. Throughout
British history, we can trace the separate and parallel activities of
(1) Extraneus of England and (2) Strange of Balcaskie, and our extant
records seem to show us that these two families distributed themselves in
overlapping patterns. Thus, we may fairly easily detect a dichotomy
between Extraneus and Strange of Balcaskie in such places as London,
Ireland, and Wessex. Elsewhere and otherwise, the two families were
consistently distinct and exclusive of one another.
A Strange Encounter Between Aliens Strange: To date, we have
discovered only one piece of evidence that directly connects the English
family Extraneus with the Scottish family Strange of Balcaskie, and this was
a solitary letter written by Thomas Lumisden Strange to the Stanley Earl of
Derby in the nineteenth century. Derby's steward responded to Thomas
Lumisden Strange with an exposition of the Stanley Lords Strange at
Knowsley, Lancaster, but this exchange of letters did not show any
blood relationship between the two lines.
Thus, we happen to know that the Victorians were just as mystified and
perplexed, as we are, by the Scots-Irish family Strange / Strang / Stronge.
Genealogists have often been inclined to associate the English and
Scottish lineages with one another, but we have never found the means
or rationale to do so.
It is highly significant to note that the spellings Extraneus (Latin Chancery
style), le Strange, de Lestrange, and L'Estrange are peculiar to the English,
French, and Anglo-Irish families, but that we NEVER find such spelling
variants among the Scottish and Scots-Irish Strange / Strang / Stronge
families, descending from the Balcaskie house.
If ever there were a link between the Balcaskie family Strange / Strong
/ Stronge, and le Strange of Salop and Norfolk, it must lie buried
somewhere in the forgotten past. We have carefully examined every
available reference to persons named Extraneus or le Strange who served
in the Scottish Wars of Edward I and Edward II, but have no records to
show us how or why one of these Englishmen would have settled in
Fifeshire. Frankly, I doubt that historical records would even exist to tell
us this part. Both families are quite ancient, and any common ancestor
would have had to have migrated to Scotland in the thirteenth or
fourteenth centuries.
Furthermore, we must live with the possibility that Strange of Balcaskie
somehow arose independently of Extraneus of Mercia and East Anglia.
Speculations Perhaps Reckless: It seems somewhat incongruous to have
such surnames as Strong and L'Estrange co-mingled or associated on the
same web page, because the two names have had very different histories.
Any researcher who would incline to connect the Scots-Irish family with the
English should realize that the senior English lines were fairly small, and that
the earliest families Extranei of England met with complete extinction at very
early dates (1360s, 1592, 1780s). Heirs male to the heritages de le Strange
became so rarefied in England, that their Styleman descendants had to
resurrect the surname le Strange by Royal License in the 1830s,
and this distaff re-creation of the surname lasted from 1832 to 1994, and
is now extinct.
The House of Lords commenced a thorough examination of the Strange
lineages in the mid 1800s, when the peerage Hastings was claimed by
three parties, because one of the claimants was Henry L'Estrange
Styleman le Strange of Hunstanton. Henry eventually lost his bid for the
peerage, to Jacob Astley. However, the investigation seemed to confirm
what genealogists had concluded already: that the heirs male to the senior
Strange lineages were conclusively extinct, and that succession would
need to depend upon female links to the Hunstanton heir general (not
an heir male). The heir general had assumed the surname le Strange
by license rather than by paternal blood rights, so his claim had to
be declined.
Therefore, anytime we speak of persons named Strange who migrated
to the New World, we may fairly safely assume that we are dealing
exclusively with fairly junior or minor Strange lineages, descending from
progenitors who must have been mainly younger sons, or orphans.
Given the parameter of six generations as a limit of kinship, we may
surmise that these cadet branches of the English family were very
remote from the sucessional lines.
The Family Named L'Estrange (1640): The family L'Estrange (new
spelling dating from 1636-1640, and never earlier) survived as part
of the English Ascendency in Ireland, and its members generally
began their migrations to New York and Pennsylvania, roughly from
the 1830s through the 1890s, but mainly during the Famine.
The surname L'Estrange was a fictive creation, for it was the
faux-French invention of the Father of the English Press, Sir Roger
L'Estrange, Kt. (ne le Strange), who started using it during the reign
of Charles I. He presumably adopted the surname around
1636-1640, ostensibly to flatter to French sensibilities of the royal
Stuart family. Because Sir Roger became Licenser of the Press,
his name was known everywhere, and therefore the Norfolk and
Irish families le Strange found it fashionable and preferred to use the
nouveau spelling L'Estrange.
When Martha Washington ne Lee was settling the affairs of her
late husband Custis, the inventory recorded that the Custis library
contained two copies of Sir Roger L'Estrange's translation of
Aesop's Fables, so one was given to Martha's son John Custis,
and one was assigned to George Washington. Thus, we may
reasonably postulate that the book was once stored in the library
of Mount Vernon.
Modern Representatives: It should be helpful to remind ourselves
of our several contemporaries or near-contemporaries who happen
to represent the patrilineages that concern us.
Two fairly distinguished, modern representatives of the family
L'Estrange were Alice Caroline Acheson ne Stanley (1895),
wife of U.S. Secretary of State Dean Gooderham Acheson,
and Alice's elder sister Sarah L'Estrange Frantz ne Stanley (1894-1967),
alias Sali Frantz, the Michigan primitive artist whose delightful paintings
resemble those of Grandma Moses.
The celebrated golfer and sports commentator Curtis Strange
comes from some Virginian Strange family, but we have yet to learn
whether he rightly belongs to Strange, or Alloway Strange.
Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Strange McNamara
stands as an example of an Alloway Strange descendant,
made good, albeit repentantly good.
Her Royal Highness Princess Diana of Wales directly descends
from Elder John Strong of Massachusetts, and likewise made
good, made very good indeed.
Most of the remaining representatives of these lineages are fairly
obscure and pedestrian folks, who trade messages on the Internet,
and watch the sitcoms. Conclusions In colonial times, the families
Strong and Strange existed side-by-side in both New England (from
about 1634) and Virginia (from 1698), but we have no evidence to
connect these parallel families with one another. Therefore, I tend
to regard each family separately, and I further tend to believe they
derived from different families.
The various references to the Stanley families might seem to be
fairly compelling, but they might well be deceptive or illusory,
because genuine examples of grand alliance systems
are fairly rare among Anglo-American and Scots-Irish families.
The British seemed to prefer simple Christian marriages, with
no special or fixed, positive rules for intermarriage, but plenty of
negative rules against incest, so the several Stanley-Strange
connections probably resulted by happenstance, rather than
marital strategy.
We may know of a Strong-Stanley marriage or a Stanley-
L'Estrange marriage, but this should not connote any particular
associations with the Stanley Lords Strange, nor with the Murray,
Drummond, and Drummond of Megginch Lords and Ladies Strange.
All of these families were fairly large and widely dispersed, and
then brought together again by the capitalistic enterprises and
convergences known as Virginia and New England. Therefore,
the chance of consanguinity cannot be completely rejected, and
yet cannot be freely accepted either.
I think it best that we keep the Strange and Strong families
independent of one another in colonial times, unless we can find
more specific reasons to relate them. The two families might have
co-resided in the same parishes, and might have even shared some
forenames (John, William); but they also had forenames distinct
onto themselves (George Strong vs. Mitchell Strange) that the
opposite lineage never used.
John R. Mayer
Strange Home Page: http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/m/a/y/John-R-Mayer
===================================================
(Later, John went on to add):
Date: Tuesday, July 15, 1997 2:43:38 PM
From: John R. Mayer
To: (Contact David B. Strong through the Rootsweb Strong-List)
....What I intended to say is that the EXTRANEUS family of Knockin
is the older family (1082), whereas STRANGUS of Balcaskie (1362)
is the younger family, related or not.
Your principle of interchangeability of the names Strong, Stronge,
Strange, and Strang seems to hold true among the STRANGUS-type
families connected to Balcaskie, in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and
perhaps counties Waterford and Limerick, Ireland.
However, there seem to be no such crossovers between the
EXTRANEUS-type families named le Strange, Strange, L'Estrange,
de Lestrange, et cetera, and the STRANGUS-type names, after
Strange of Balcaskie's inception in 1362. Therefore, I am inclined to
conclude that any connection between the two lineages would need
to have occurred sometime before 1362.
.......................................................................................................
[Editor's Note: As time went on, John began to moderate his opinion
regarding the distinctive separation between the surnames Strong and
Strange.... See Martha Strong's comment "John and I were getting excited
because we felt like finally we were getting the proof we needed to connect
the Strange/Stronge surname", below.]
........................................................................................................
(John's message continues:)
I am frankly delighted that the surnames Strong and Strange appear
in the same web page and email list, for it suits my purposes just fine.
My comment was intended to address the fact that Strong and
L'Estrange were simply juxtaposed without further qualification or
differentiation. ....
Best regards, John R. Mayer
Strange Home Page: http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/m/a/y/John-R-Mayer
=========================================================
Editor's Note:John's brief membership in the STRONG-List produced
many more messages of like quality and insight. The reader is directed to the
index in section IV of this web page for assistance in finding his work here.
In November, 1997, I met with John Mayer at his home in San Francisco.
At that time, I realized John was quite ill. He had previously made a slight
reference to his poor health in an email message. However,
John did not wish to talk about his condition. He preferred to persevere in
the face of his illness, doing the things he loved most, which were the
intellectual persuits of research and writing in the fields of literature
and genealogy. My last vision of John from that occasion was of him
perched on a stool behind his small writing desk, pen in hand, commencing
to parse through yet more research materials, looking for genealogical
data and clues.
I will miss his brilliant mind, and know that his was a loss
which we Strong(e) and Strang(e) researchers will mourn for a long time. I
sincerely believe that John had one of the best overall "pictures" of how
the various Strong(e) and Strang(e) genealogical lineages fit together...
although the inclusion of the Strong surname in the research was
relatively new to him. His enormous compilation of research was a
great asset to us all, and will be sorely missed. We will need to do
much work to bring us to the same level of knowledge that John
already possessed, and we have now lost.
(Contact David B. Strong through the Rootsweb Strong-List)
==========================================================
From: Juanita Alloway;
Date: 13 Apr 1998 12:41:26 EDT
Subject: Re: John R. Mayer (b.Sept 16, 1952- d.March 31, 1998)
I was shocked indeed when I read of John Mayer's death . He and I
have corresponded extensively the past 8-10 yrs. concerning research
into the ALLOWAY STRANGE family. I had published a query in the
GENEALOGICAL HELPER MAGAZINE a number of years ago when
John saw it and contacted me since I had said we were at a standstill
in our research of the ALLOWAY family. He told me that he had his
great- grandfather Alexander Taylor Strange's research papers that
had been published in a little booklet and that he was wanting to enlarge
it with later findings. He asked me to send him some of our findings
which I did and the letters and documents snowballed between us.
He was skilled in writing and I was glad to have been able to send
him the information we'd accumulated as I did want to get it into a
permanent form.
John ended up publishing the majority of the material I sent him in
his Vol. X, THE ALLOWAY STRANGE Alva Extranea de Virginia. It was
gratifying to see the collection of bits and pieces of our research
organized into a published book. He was a constant encourager and I
felt he was a "friend", although I never met him. I did talk with
him on the telephone, but most of our contact was via the US mail.
His talent and literary ability will be missed and I extend my
sympathies to his family.
......................................................................................................................
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 15:57:17 +0000
Subject: JOHN MAYER Memorial Page
I just finished reading John's memorial webpage as recently
posted. I think it's great and a good start ...., he included a picture of
himself in his volume entitled STRANGE OF BLISLAND on pg. xxx. ...
I've been scanning some of the earlier correspondence this afternoon
that John and I exchanged and was reading one dated 5 Mar 1988 in
which he was thanking me for sending him some of our research
material. In it, he said:
"your letter contained several interesting statements and I would
like to request copies of particular items, provided you have the
time and inclination to provide them."
"..............I view my role to be more that of a writer and editor
than of a genealogist and I try to make this clear in my work by
crediting others with the original reserch. Of course, there is
plenty of my own research in the book, but I have purposely limited
the scope of my work to compiling and organizing the hundreds of
primary and secondary records about Stranges, simply to achieve a
uniform and reliable reference work. This has never really been
attempted before, and the project is starting to become far more
complex than I had ever imagined. The first edition of the text was
prepared only for the purpose of creating a working draft that could
be checked and verified by other genealogists, like yourself. I have
been engaged in amateur genealogy for some twenty years, from 1968
when I was 16 years old. The present manuscript is the result of some
three years' work, from 1985 when I visited England. My actual,
intended purpose cannot be achieved until I successfully index and
revise the first edition. I intend to write a series of essays,
portions of which appear in the first edition, describing the social
and literary history of the family.
"I have a Master of Arts in Japanese Language and Literature and a
very strong academic background in literature, philosophy and
anthropology. Therefore, the essays I plan will hopefully contain
observations and conclusions that may be applied to occidental
society in general, not just to Stranges.
Your letter was enlightening and I hope the coming months will
occasion more correspondence between us. I am particularly eager to
hear your comments and corrections on the text of EXTRANEUS. Thank
you very much for your help.
(Sgd.) John R. Mayer"
He was always generous in his kind remarks about any info I sent him.
I'd mentioned to him about reading the book his gr grandfather
(Alexander Taylor Strange) published in 1911 and commented I felt
some of the information was incorrect - from our research. Included
in the above letter, he said:
"There certainly are plenty of errors in my great grandfather's book.
In passing I might note that his book, several of his notebooks and a
large pile of correspondence on Strange genealogy, covering the years
circa 1900-1965, were given to me by my grandmother, Floy Belle
Cannon Strange. She just celebrated her 102nd birthday on Valentine's
day and it is to her that I dedicated the book............"
I'm sure his books, drafts, writings, and research compiled
during these past ten years could fill a good size room. Some day
perhaps his family will offer them to a good research library, maybe
the Family History Center in Salt Lake City where thousands can
benefit from John's dedication to this project.
Juanita Alloway
============================================================
From: Lin Hillis;
Date: Tuesday, April 14, 1998 6:23 PM
Subject: Re: John R. Mayer's writings... A memorial???
Your message, and others regarding John R. Mayer, have been forwarded
to me by Marilyn King. Like everyone else, I was shocked and deeply
saddened to learn of John's death. He has been on my mind the last
couple of weeks and this tragic news caught me completely off guard.
I began corresponding via snail mail with John in January 1993. Not having
a computer at the time, I sent him all my documentation, hand written notes,
and hand written group sheets. He graciously took the time to decipher my
handwriting and transcribe it, publishing the finished product in OCT 1993
in EXTRANEUS Book V Strange of Eastern America. The chapter on my
immediate line is entitled Strange of Effingham and Wayne. I purchased
ten copies and gave them as Christmas gifts that year to other family members.
I'm sure there are many people who corresponded with John via snail mail
that are unaware of his passing. I would encourage everyone, to contact
those folks they know and those they have referred to John, to take a few
moments and let those people know, so they can share their thoughts and
rememberances with John's extended family. I plan on going thru my
archived e-mail messages and contacting the people who queried me.
Thank you for co-ordinating all our mutual efforts to pay proper
tribute to John for all that he contributed to our lives, both as a friend,
and genealogist. Perhaps, it would be appropriate to include some selected
paragraphs from correspondence we received from John?
Lin Hillis
Garland, TX
===============================================================
From: (Contact Stuart Baillie Strong through the Rootsweb Strong-List)
Date: 13 Apr 1998 17:22:12 EDT
Subject: Re: John R. Mayer (b.Sept 16, 1952- d.March 31, 1998)
I am very sad to hear that John R. Mayer passed away.
My heartfelt sympathies to his sister and family.
John had been extremely helpful to me with my researches into my
Strong and Strang ancestors in Shetland, UK.
A few months ago, John had sent me by snail mail a special chapter
he made up for me called "Strong of the Shetland Isles."
We had agreed to combine his information and mine. Due to other
pressures I had asked John to delay our discussions until later.
Oh how I wish now I had not put off these discussions!
I would be very glad to continue working on this one chapter of John's.
Would this fit in with your ideas below?
Regards
Email: (Contact Stuart Baillie Strong through the Rootsweb Strong-List)
[Editor's Note: Baillie Strong has since been working with Barbara Way to
finalize this chapter as part of the upcoming 3rd Edition of Strange of
Balcaskie, expected to go to the publishers about 25 January 1999]
=========================================================
From: Jerry L'Estrange;
Date: 14 Apr 1998 00:03:04 EDT
Subject: John R. Meyer
Like everyone else, I was shocked and saddened by John's death. I met John
via the Strong list early last year. I was thrilled to discover that he was
researching the L'Estrange family. John was a very scholarly man. I was
very impressed with his professionalism. His kindness was unstinting!
We formed an alliance whereby I would send John whatever info I gleamed,
and he would provide guidance on the meaning and connections that info
had to the L'Estrange roots. Most of all he encouraged and inspired me to
persevere in my quest. I will surely miss him.
I will be happy to contribute whatever I have to a memorial for John.
Jerry L'Estrange
============================================================
From: Virginia (Strong) Davidson
Date: 11 Apr 1998 10:20:50 EDT
Subject: Re: John R. Mayer (b.Sept 16, 1952- d.March 31, 19
My deepest sympathy is extended to my "cuz's" family. Don't know of a
direct connection, but my feeling is, in genealogy, we are all cuzs.
Virginia (Strong) Davidson
===============================================================
From: LaRee Nooner
Date: 14 Apr 1998 02:12:38 EDT
Subject: John R. Mayer
It is unbelieveable how you can become so attached to
someone you don't even know except through their writing!!
The spirit of John came through in his writing and I cried when
I learned of his absence. It must be that there are family connections
and feelings that exist among our relatives on this list.
Even though many of us are no closer in relationship than distant
cousins, the feeling of family permeates and creates unseen bonds
of affection for each other.
My thanks, love and appreciation go out to each of you
for the goodness, kindness and respect I observe
from your messages.
I am SO GLAD to have found you all!!
I will miss John!!
LaRee Nooner
================================================================
From: Sheri O'Brien
11 Apr 1998 16:01:28 EDT
I am so very sorry for this loss. As should any present or
future researcher! When I first began my research, I had little
more than the names of my grandparents. I most fortunately
stumbled across John's name and sent him an email. He was so
helpful! He gave me instructions that a beginner could understand
and I am sure exhausted himself trying to fit my line into his
existing research. John continued to write after we had
established my family group and sent me several chapters out of
several books.
John must have been the most generous person I have come across
in my short experience with genealogy. I will miss him, and will
cherish the works he sent me and the help he gave me.
Sheri O'Brien
http://www.freeyellow.com/members2/sherirn/index.html
=======================================================
From: (Contact Russell Laird through the Rootsweb Strong-List)
Date: 7 Apr 1998 14:00:10 EDT
Subject: Re: John Mayer
.....Thanks for the update. I'm still speechless. I didn't know John
beyond the scope of our list, but developed quite an admiration for
his work and input. I'll miss him.
Russell Laird
========================================================
From: William L. "Bill" Strong
Date: 7 Apr 1998 21:17:06 EDT
Subject: Re: John Mayer
Hi Dave. I just returned home after an absence of about 5 days. In my 50
or so new messages, I was sad to learn of John Mayer's passing. We will
miss his valuable contributions. Perhaps some type of memorial would be
in order?
Anyway, I was just checking e-mail for the first time in a few days and
wanted to respond to John Mayer's passing. Sad news.
................................
Date: 11 Apr 1998 11:33:32 EDT
Subject: Re: John R. Mayer (b.Sept 16, 1952- d.March 31, 19
I would like to echo Dave Strong's words about John R. Mayer. I never
had the priviledge of meeting John, but we exchanged numerous messages
via both snail mail and E-mail regarding Strong/Strang/L'Estrange
genealogy. His insight and contributions were second to none and he will
surely be missed.
I hope that we can find a way for John's work to live on. I like Dave's
suggestion of a memorial in the form of an on-line index of
John's writings.
For now, I have updated the link to John's "Strange Home Page".
(Contact William L. Strong through the Rootsweb Strong-List)
Visit our Home Page at http://home.netinc.ca/~wstrong/ or the
Strong Home Page at http://www.oocities.org/Heartland/Meadows/5744/
==============================================================
The following is paraphrased from two messages from:
Robert T. (Bob) Strong, Jr.:
...............................................................................
Date: Friday, April 17, 1998 11:09 AM
Subject: John R. Mayer's Message: Index, 1997
Attached a listing of all of the Late John R. Mayer's
messages as archived at Rootsweb for the Strong-List.
Go to An index to John R. Mayer's writings
on the Rootsweb Strong-List.
The listing is for 1997 only, and is in two parts. The
first part consisting of 86 records resulted from the search
query "JohnRMayer@msn.com". The second part,
consisting of an additional 17 records, resulted from the
search query "JohnRichardMayer@msn.com".
Unfortunately, the "hotlinks" do not operate offine, so
it is necessary to perform a new search to get information
more than the Subject lines. This is the Rootsweb
archive index of the public messages on Strong-L from and
to JohnRMayer@msn.com. To initiate your own search for one of
John's messages, enter the URL for the opening page for
searches of any Rootsweb mail list, which is:
http://newsearches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl
and give appropriate search words.
Two separate searches for "johnrmayer" or
"johnrichardmayer" should identify all of his messages as
these were his IDs for his Intenet Service Provider. This
could be narrowed by using his name with one or more
specific surnames, connected by "and", such as "johnrmayer
and L'Estrange".
..........................................................................................................
Subject: John R. Mayer Memorial Web Page
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 11:53:52 -0400
The 1998 messages are now online at Rootsweb, so John's
messages for the last couple of months of his life could be
listed. At this point, I don't think it wise to try to
make a compendium of his actual messages, as the message
can easily be accessed at Rootsweb.
I don't know any way of linking an index of John's messages
to the Rootsweb archives.....
Robert T. (Bob) Strong, Jr. (now deceased)
=========================================================
From: Tracy Vickers
Date: Mon, 01 Jun 1998 23:44:05 -0700
Subject: Re: John R. Mayer Memorial Web Page
Just as a note: Much of the data on my shipping pages came from John.
His name is referenced where appropriate.
(Contact Tracy Vickers through the Rootsweb Strong-List)
Web Sites: Ship Captains Strange
Strange/Strong Passenger Lists
V - An Index to Various writings by John R. Mayer
Held by Individuals which were not archived on the
Rootsweb Strong-List:
From: Lin Hillis
April 14, 1998
I'm sure there are many people who corresponded with John via snail mail that
are unaware of his passing. I would encourage everyone, to contact those
folks they know and those they have referred to John, to take a few moments
and let those people know, so they can share their thoughts and rememberances
with John's extended family. I plan on going thru my archived e-mail messages
and contacting the people who queried me.
Thank you.... for co-ordinating all our mutual efforts to pay proper
tribute to John for all that he contributed to our lives, both as a friend,
and genealogist. Perhaps, it would be appropriate to include some selected
paragraphs from correspondence we received from John?
Lin Hillis
Garland, TX
VI - References to copy holders of his books:
[Editor's Note: Various of us have copies of John's books or
chapters of certain books. For example, I have Extraneus, Book IX, Strange of Balcaskie, 2nd Ed.,
"Strange of Balcaskie and the Clans Outlandish Strang and Stronge...
Strangus de Caledonia et Hibernia et America", 2nd Edition, copywrited 1996,
by John R. Mayer. I also have a copy of Strange of Knock Recket from
Book VIII; as well as a draft copy of the Bibliography Proper for Extraneus,
consisting of two columns each of closely written references on 140 pages,
of which John wrote in a letter to me dated January 30, 1998,
"The compilation is actually a syllabus of all my readings, and therefore I
suspect it includes many items unrelated (to) our subject Strange/Strong.
It has many general titles pertaining to anthropology, kinship, sociology, and
the like, which I have used for other projects, such as "The Alphabetary".....
I have two other important bibliographies of le Strange family documents, but
I am in the midst of extensively revising both, because I have resumed
working on the household accounts. If you raise the subject again in the
future, I shall mail you these other portions.
Regards, John R. Mayer"
Below, Juanita Alloway mentions John's "Vol. X, THE ALLOWAY
STRANGE, Alva Extranea de Virginia", and Sheri O'Brien mentions John having
sent various chapters to her.
I suggest that all who have received ANY of
John's chapters or books notifiy me, with exact titling, which materials
they have. I will then make note of the fact that each responding person
has those particular books or chapters in the Chapter Outline of Extraneus
which I published on my website with John's consent and cooperation.... see:
Outline of Extraneus. This may in a small way help researchers find the
materials as needed.
Over time, I have intended all along to make mention of John's works in
quotes, references or footnotes in my own writing. I will do so when and as
I can. Those, such as Baillie Strong, who have had their own contacts with
John and wish to bring some writing or other work to completion and possible
publication should feel free to do so... citing John's work where
appropriate. All of this, I believe, falls within certain academic freedoms
enjoyed by all.
By indexing, publicizing, and quoting John's works, with appropriate
comments about John's contributions, we will do much to memorialize him. We
need to work NOW to collect what we can of his writing.
(Contact David B. Strong through the Rootsweb Strong-List)
==============================================================
From: Juanita Alloway
4/13/98 -
As suggested above, I'm glad to share the info I have about
John's publications. I have large folder of John's letters that he'd
written me over the years, from the time he really launched out into
this project of publishing the STRANGE family history. I have a no.
of his rough drafts. He also sent me the first copy of an extensive
Index he'd made before his first book was published. But after he
did that he changed the format of his book and started over with
another approach.
The final books put into print, which I have are:
EXTRANEUS, Book V - Strange of Eastern America
EXTRANEUS, Book X - The Alloway Strange, Alva Extranea de Virginia
(which by the way, he sent to me as a "Complementary Book" because of
the "Alloway" info I'd sent him over the years)
EXTRANEUS, Book XI - Strange of Blisland
EXTRANEUS, Book XII - Strange of the Carolinas
(John's autobiography is on pg. 460-461 of this volume)
John's picture is on page xxx of EXTRANEUS, Book XI, "Strange of Blisland"
with the following:
"For there is nothing else I can devise and invent
to please you: everything is always the same.
If your body is not already withering with years and your limbs
worn out and languid, yet everything remains the same,
even if you shall go on to outlive all generations,
and even more if you should be destined never to die.
Lucretius
De Rerum Natura"
I'd be glad to share the information I have with anyone interested.
He was generous in doing that himself. He wrote his final message to
me just before Christmas:
------------------------------------------------------------
"I have been intending to write you, because two additional lines of
the Alloway Strange came to light this year, and they include some
descendants of Captain James Logan Strange. I am working on one of
the lines this week, and shall aim to inform you of the additions at
some future date.
Best of luck to you on this Strong query. The Strongs have some very
capable folks to help you.
I am still avidly searching for possible Alloway Strange origins in
the Devon, Somerset, Dorset area. John R. Mayer"
------------------------------------------------------------------
Juanita Alloway
===========================================================
(Contact Martha F.B. Strong through the Rootsweb Strong-List)
Date: 14 Apr 1998 14:26:50 EDT
Subject: John Mayer Material
Dear Dave,
I have a chapter by John on George Strange's family in England. We were
working on it. George Strange had a daughter or grandaughter who married
John Hill here in NE. Her name was Elizabeth Strong (actually Strange).
John and I were excited at finding a person here with both names.
I would be happy to share what was sent to me. '
John deserves a memorial and more.
.............................................................................................................
Date: Monday, June 01, 1998 2:26 PM
From Extraneus, Book IV, Strange of Wessex and the Saxon Shore,
here are the chapters of what I have:
Strange of Littleham by Bideford 1519
Devon: Stoke Damerel - Hartland - Littleham by Bideford - Biddeford & Virginia
pp. 187 - 213
John and I discovered this family also came to New England and we believe that
there are descendants Elizabeth Strong(Strange m. John Hill of Boston)
Strange of the River Exe 1555
Devon - Tiverton - Bickleigh-near-Exeter - Rewe-by-Exeter - Poltimore -
Heavitree - Exeter - Clyst St. George
pp.261-298
Strange of Someret Proper 1547 - 1831
Places Elsewhere than the Creation of Avon in 1974
pp. 239 - 254
I also have some of the email messages. John and I were getting excited
because we felt like finally we were getting the proof we needed to connect
the Strange/Stronge surname. We were in the proccess of combining our
research. One of the conclusions we came to is that the name changed because
of accents and the way people spelled names as they heard them.
Whatever I can do to help let me know.
(Contact Martha F.B. Strong through the Rootsweb Strong-List)
==========================================================
From: Linda Strange Kielbowicz
Date: 14 Apr 1998 18:21:56 EDT
Subject: Re: John R. Mayer's writings... A memorial???
I would like to help in any way I can for John's work to continue. I have
Extraneus, Book XI, Strange of Blisland, revised second edition. Would be
happy to share.
==========================================================
From: Sheri O'Brien
Subject: John R. Mayer Memorial Web Page
Date: Tue, 2 Jun 1998 00:53:10 -0500
.... very pleased with the layout of the memorial page. .........
a wonderful job of presenting what a generous person
and fantastic researcher John was. I have, for the last hour
been going through the documents that John sent me. (I spent at
least twenty minutes of that time crying when I found a package I
had ready to mail to John when I received the note that he had
passed away.) Anyway, I have the following from
Extraneus, Book V, "Strange of Eastern America":
A draft of "Strange Distaffs of Faith and Love, 1771-1983."
(Strange Devolutions to Faith, Love, Smith, Miller, Nye, Schreck,
Cotner, Wright, Chittenden, Brown, Wall, Vail, Alves, Wheeler,
Eastin, & Dowers:
Strange Affinations with Ash, Llwewllin, Harrel, Bramble,
Padgett, Ramsey, Williams, Sharum, Young, Lents, Jackson, Backs,
& Stewart:
Maryland - Kentucky - Indiana
(This is the draft we were currently working on, the package I
have contained some corrections and additions.)
A draft of Lin Hillis' research, edited by John, "Extraneus, Book
V, Strange of Eastern America."
Strange and Ash.
A draft of Strange of Effingham and Wayne, 1812 - 1979
Kentucky - Indiana - Illinois - Missouri
An updated draft of Strange Distaffs of Faith and Love, 1771 -
1813.
These are the drafts I have in my possession. I also found this
note from John:
3 June 1997
Dear Sheri,
You have me stumped. I should be able to get the chapter
"Strange of Effingham and Wayne" mailed by tomorrow, but I have
compared the names you gave me against those in the chapter, and
I do not spot any similarities at all.
I have started to think that your H. Silus Strange must have
arrived at Clay County, IL, from some other Strange line, but I
have not a clue which one. I took the more unusual names, such
as Lloyd Strange, Delbert Strange, and Wheeler, and ran some
searches through the manuscripts, but did not find anything very
conclusive.
The Virginian families had branches that migrated through
Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana, so you might be connected to Strange
of Virginia, or even Alloway Strange of Virginia. The name Lloyd
recurred sometimes in Strange of Virginia (Books 11 and 12). The
name Delbert recurred in Strange of Balcaskie (Book), The Alloway
Strange (Book 10), and Strange of Virginia (Books 11 and 12).
The chapter I am sending you came from Strange of Eastern America
(Book V), which is a very large family of mainly Catholic
Stranges from Maryland, who chiefly settled in middle and
southern Indiana.
The search for Wheeler was fairly meaningless, because it happens
to be a fairly popular surname, but it did appear in De Lestrange
of Aquitaine (Book 2). This is an extremely ancient family, and
I believe one branch became Huguenot refugees who settled mainly
in New Jersey and New York. Most of them have spelled their
surname Strang, but a few individuals adopted the spelling
Strange, and some branches are known to have migrated to
Pennsylvania, Ohio, and even Illinois.
I am disappointed, Sheri, because I usually have better luck than
this. My inability to connect your people with some known
Strange lineage will surely annoy me, so I can imagine I will
make some more attempts to find the relationship we seek.
If you uncover any more details, such as specific places, dates,
names, et cetera, please inform me, because a future message from
you will surely give me the impetus to conduct another search.
Your line of descent is fairly young compared to the people I
usually record, so perhaps it is not so surprising to find no
connections. Practically all of my biographies happen to
antedate 1900.
Have you any remembrance or record of the forename Sylvester, or
Cylvester? The name recurs in a couple of Strange families, and
I believe it is related to the name Silus.
Anyway, please examine the chapter, and let me hear from you
again with your comments. Thanks again for giving me the
opportunity to study your line,
Sincerely,
John R. Mayer
This letter shows not only the kind heart of John, but also his
enormous knowledge. I was in awe for days after receiving this
note. John was the first serious researcher I met on the
internet, and he was truly SERIOUS! He had never met me, had
nothing to gain, and yet took his very valuable time and effort
to help me place my line within his existing research. John sent
me several more letters with research hints and sent me in the
right direction. I really do miss him, and our correspondance.
Excuse my jabbering on, I guess I have gotten carried away. If
you would like to post the preceding books, I would be happy to
share the information. If anyone would like a copy, just ask
them to contact me.
Sheri O'Brien
Web Site: Sheri's Web Page
==========================================================
From: Marna L. Clemons
Date: 13 Apr 1998 22:05:32 EDT
I would like to be included in any planned memorial to John Mayer.
Depending on the form the memorial takes, I will contribute as I am able.
I have the second edition of John Mayer's EXTRANEUS Book XI, Strange of
Blissland. My particular line of research focus and research interest is
the STRANGE families of Edmonson County, KY (listed in Book XI as STRANGE
of Mammoth Cave). I would be happy to help anyone researching these
families and you may list me on your website as willing to do so.
Thank you, sincerely,
Marna L. Clemons
=========================================================
From: Karen Rinnert Parsons
Date: 14 Apr 1998 11:27:36 EDT
I think the passing of one of "us" is sadness for 'all of us' and Tracy,
what an elegant way of putting it for all of us....Thanks!
And while I still am working on my own line conection (Rev John Strong)
and always interested in hearing from any of the Elizabeth Strong-Joseph
Parsons Esq line(my husbands), I've truly enjoyed all the notes from all
of you..and John's in particular. This medium is like reading a living
breathings history book!!! So thanks Tracy, and THANKS JOHN R. MAYER!
Karen Rinnert Parsons
=========================================================
Tracy Vickers wrote:
It is with a sense of melancoly that I sit and write this update. I first
posted a newspaper clipping concerning Captain James Strange
on 21 Sep 1997. At that time, John R. Mayer responded with a
suggested birth of ca.1744 and no clear connection for this person.
He shared his research ideas, and although it has taken some time,
I have spent most of today at the UBC library researching John's
suggestion.
I came bounding to my computer, very excited that I could finally
share with him the success of my find. Fully expecting, that given
I now have parents, a sibling and a royal connection for this Capt.
Strange, that John would have him placed in a full family tree.
I've been off-line this weekend, so downloading my mail and
discovering John's passing has taken the wind from my sails....
to say the least.
So, I make this posting in the memory of a friend who took the time to
steer my ship into the right wind......
Tracy Vickers
Maple Ridge, BC, Canada
Genealogy Home Port: http://tor-pw1.netcom.ca/~vickerst/family.html
Tracy has indeed said it for all of us. John, we shall miss you....
Go to John R. Mayer's Outline of Extraneus
Go to An index to John R. Mayer's writings
Go to Strange Home Page by John R.Mayer
Go to Lineages Directory
Go to Table of Contents
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Created: Monday, May 25, 1998 - 10:18:05 PM
Last Updated: Monday, May 12, 2003 - 2:24 PM
