Robbins Nest

Welcome to the Robbins Nest. I am Catherine, Cathy, Cate, or Cat. I belong to the Ohio branch of the Gray~Barnes Family and I am attempting to create a time line from the 1800's. Our family is very near and dear to my heart. Along the way, Heavenly Father has set us all off in different directions. His directive, to go out and teach of His Son, Jesus Christ and to LOVE one another as He has loved us. We are of His image and likeness. That seems to be what our family has done. We are in different areas of the country: Louisiana, Mississippi, Illinois, Michigan, Georgia, Missouri, Colorado, California, Ohio. No matter where we are we take our families love with us and by the example of our living and belief's we have spread the word of God.
From what I understand Grandpa & Grandma Barnes were what they call Hard Shell Baptists. What all that entails I'm not quite sure, but I heard, no dancing, no make-up. On Sunday's there was no work, not even a pair of scissors were to be used to cut anything.
Our family sure has expanded on those belief's in many religions. We have Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, Jehovah Witness, Lutheran & Mormon that I know of personally. I was brought up to respect each denominations and each persons personal choice.
In this blog, I am hoping others in the family will add family pictures and stories to bring our family closer together. Many of us have lost contact. So please share the blog and pass it along in e-mails.

Our family originates out of North Carolina, moving West through Tennessee and Arkansas, settling in Arkansas in the area around Crowley's Ridge in the towns of Parkin, Wynne, Forrest City, Levesque, & Vanndale. Grandpa "Fate" Barnes was a sharecropper and cotton was one of the main crops. Most are gone from that area, Uncle Dewey's farm in Forrest City is still there. I know Betty still has her home there and I believe Jewell(Thomas' wife) is still their although her Christmas card did come back this year.
Grandma and Grandpa are buried in Akins cemetery(Vanndale) as is Aunt Rosa and Uncle Jim and Uncle Dewey's daughter, Dorothy. She was 19 years old when she died from diabetes. She came home from being given a shot and said it hadn't felt right and passed away that evening.
Alice Virginia is still in Wynne. So is Neall and Becca with baby Sol. Many have moved to Memphis. Aunt Ruby is there in the Wesley Highland Manor Nursing Home. Gary and Harrison. Warner and Christi have announced a pending move to San Francisco, CA from Memphis. , Tara and John with Emmy Ruth in Memphis as is Muriel. Frances is in near by Southaven, MS. Different state but just a half hour from Memphis.

I recently learned of a story of my Great~grandpa Robert Barnes, (possibly from Iowa). He was a Union soldier in the civil war. Their regiment was needing food and approached my
Great~great grandpa Church Smallwood's home. Food was kept underground and my Great grandmother Jane was asked to fetch preserves . She was handing them up the ladder to Robert and he told her how pretty the sun shone in her hair. He asked if she would wait for him and he would come for her after the war. She told him Yes, of course or I wouldn't be talking grandparents!

I am assuming at this point this was in North Carolina. Church Smallwood was married to a full Cherokee woman, Sally Choate. A miss-spelling in her last name kept the family in the 1960's from being able to claim Cherokee heritage, but none the less our family knows our heritage. It is said that Great great Grandma Sally could through a green walnut and kill a chicken . I can't remember how far but I seem to recall 50 feet! Mema Gladys said Sally lived to be 100. They are long livers!

Now I cannot go so far back with the Gray's, but they came into the family picture because Great Grandpa Robert Barnes was killed by a felled tree. Great Grandpa Thomas Gray lost his wife, Abagail Highsmith. I have no cause of death for her, bless her heart.

This now sounds like the Brady Bunch T.V. show, but here was Great Grandma Jane with boys to finish raising and there was Great Grandpa Thomas with girls to finish raising and they decided they could become a family.
Now this is how our Grandparents met. Alexander Lafayette Barnes and Martha Ann Gray were step-brother and sister. They were already young adults when their parents met and married. They too, fell in love and married. Grandpa Fate was some older than Grandma Martha and had been away. He returned home (I am assuming from military duty) met Martha and decided she was the gal for him! From that point on I am able to know who is who because they had all my aunts and uncles that I truly adore.
Aunt Rosa (Jim)Robinson (Wynne, AR)
Uncle Dewey Barnes (Pearl Gray) (Forrest City, AR)
Aunt Alice (Schenck)Holladay (John)Knight (Fulton, KY)(Rolling Meadow, Illinois)
Uncle Lacy Barnes (Arlyn Holladay) (Georgia)
Uncle Ted Barnes (Virginia "Midge" Whitehorn) (Illinois)
Grady O'Dell ( died as a toddler)
Aunt Ruth (Edgar) Daniels (Wynne, AR)
Aunt Ruby (Warren)Witt (Helena, Forrest City, Wynne, AR)
and my mother,,, Gladys(Mitchell) Strauss(Cleveland, Akron, Streetsboro, OH)



Most have gone on to their reward, but their goodness and kindness, their love for one another and others, lives on. They love and worship, the Lord Jesus Christ and have passed the belief on to another generation. We would do well to remember their ways and be the light to others who know and meet our family.



Our 2 remaining matriarchs, Ruby and Gladys, are 90 (June 17) and 88(July 5). Each suffer with Alzheimer's. Ruby in Memphis and Gladys, here in Streetsboro. They have good days and bad. This past week, we traveled to Memphis so Ruby and Gladys could be together for Ruby's 90 th birthday. We lit one candle for Ruby to blow out so the fire department wouldn't be called! Visiting were Ruby's family Gary and Harrison, niece Allie, sister Gladys and her daughters , Carolyn and Cathy(me!) and Carolyn's mother-in-law, Dorothy. We had cake, told stories, and enjoyed our time together.
















Ruby & Gladys 2002