My Grandad and Granny Wing

Captain Andrew Lansdell Barnett Wing was my grandfather's father. Born in Milford Haven, Wales, he came over to Maine with three brothers and a sister. Two went back to England but a sister and a brother remained here, both Quaker preachers - Grandaddy's father, Capt. Wing, was one of the two that went back. Later he came back to America leaving the flour mills in Milford Haven to his sister who married a man by the name of Lansdell. Capt. Wing went to Wewahitchka, Florida and from there to Apalachicola. He married but his wife and baby died at childbirth.

Then he met Emily Louise Stewart who was half English and half American (I'm not sure what my Grandad meant by half American). She was born in Port St. Joe but left after the terrible yellow fever epidemic all but wiped out the town. Her mother was a music and school teacher. Emily Louise Stewart had 2 sisters and a brother and the descendants of the brother live in Macon, Georgia. She and Capt. Wing married in 1859. Miss Stewart was sixteen and he was 40. He was a steamboat captain owning his own boat at one time. He built obstructions in the Apalachicola River for the rebels to keep the Yankees from going up the river to Columbus, Ga. The obstruction is still there. They had four sons but three died - Willy from smallpox, George very young and Robert died from some kind of fever at 21. The only living one was Andrew Lansdell Wing - Dot Weis' Grandad.

A.D.B. Wing died at 58 years of age and his wife married again after two years, marrying her former sweetheart, Mr. J.B. McNeil.

Nancy Elizabeth Tucker was born in Franklin County in Carrabelle. Her father was Thomas (Jefferson) (William) Tucker, her mother was Margaret Tucker; there were ten children born of that union. They were farmers.

Grandad and Granny Wing met in Apalachicola at a party one Christmas Eve. The following Christmas they were engaged to be married and the marriage took place in April, 1883. The children were:

Andrew Barnett Wing
William Thomas Wing
Margaret Louise
Marion Littleton
George Lansdell
Alma
Ferris Wing
Jessie Mae Wing

Grandad diverged for a minute here and asked me, "Dorothy, did you know that about 1864 and 1865 a small pox epidemic raged in Apalach? Did you know that at the same time negro soldiers were overrunning the town - the marshal and all the officers were colored?"

After I had answered, "No," to the two questions he went on with the story of his life.

He was the first to make a success of running a passenger boat between Carrabelle and Apalachicola, several had tried but failed.

The first boat, Grandad and Mr. Yent owned together - a schooner named "Gazelle."

The second was a small steamer called X-L.

The third was a steam tug, the "Iola."

He sold them to the railroad when they put the steamer "Crescent City" on the run and made Grandaddy the captain and express messenger at 29 years of age. The "Crescent City" was sold in 1925 to someone in Mobile. Grandad then bought the "Iola" back, renamed her the "Jessie Mae" and put her on the same run. She made that run until the hard roads were put in in 1930, then Grandad put car ferries on. The State bought the ferries and made them free and continued to run them until the John Gorris Bridge was built, making the ferries unnecessary.

That was all I could find out from Grandad Wing. However, this interested me so much that the next time I visited Gainesville, Georgia (my mother's home) I found out all that I could.

My Grandad and Granny Merck

Charles Stevens Merck, my grandfather, was the son of John Merck, called "Honest John" and Mary Moore. We'll have to go back to Germany for his story.

A few years after the Revolutionary War in America, there was living in the north of Germany a family named Marks. There were three boys in this home - one a boy of sixteen. The three boys decided to come to America and find out about the dazzling opportunities they had heard about. They landed near Nova Scotia with little money and no experience. Made of sturdy German stock, they set out to make their fortunes and immigrated to different parts of the new country. The youngest finally settled in Georgia on the outskirts of a small village known as Gainesville. He bought and farmed much land north of the town.

After doing this, he went back to Holland for the girl he had left there. He brought his bride back to the small house he had built. This was John Merck I who went back to Holland and married a Miss Waite, the daughter of Morrison Waite of the Netherlands.

Some of the descendants were: Morrison Rennick Waite of Lynn, Connecticut, also the Becks, the Carvers - John Carver of Plymouth is said to be of this line.

Several children were born to them, one of those children was my great-grandfather, who lived to be 88 years of age. He was married twice and was the father of 19 boys and girls.

My grandfather was the 18th child, Charles Stevens Merck. He married Miss Lottie DeBelle Ashford of Gainesville, Georgia, November 13, 1884. They had six children, all of whom grew to adulthood before Grandad's death July 4.

That is all I have on Grandad's background but it sounds very interesting - now for Granny Merck - Miss Charlotte DeBelle Ashford.

Martin Key of England married a granddaughter of King Henry VII, she was the sister of Lady Jane Grey. A son, John Key, refused to bow to English rule. He came to America with William Penn in 1682. They settled in a small village which was afterward called Philadelphia. John Key soon married and to him and his wife was born the first male of the village, John Key II.

John Key II became the father of a large family of boys and girls. One of the sons, Martin Key married Nancy Bibb. Martin Key inherited the home and estate of his father in Albermarle County in Virginia and with repeated purchases and grants became the owner of a vast estate. Albermarle County records show this.

One of his sons, Tandy Key, went to Georgia and settled in Franklin County (since divided into Jackson and Clarke counties).

He married Anne Barber Cochrane and they had several sons and daughters. The marriage records is on Jackson County records of January 7, 1806. The names of the children were: Thomas Tandy Jr., Mary Ann, Virginia (my great great grandmother), James Cochran, Susannah, Harriet, Caroline, George W. Melissa, Madison Troup, Elizabeth (she married Governor Stroud of Louisiana), Martha Ann, Benny. Evidently the others did nothing of note since Elizabeth is the only one commented about.

Virginia Key married John Appleby of Jackson County, October 14, 1830. Children born to them were:

Tandy (I know something of note about him for several years ago my mother sent me a clipping of "Believe it or Not" - there I read, "The Pool Table Tombstone - Tandy W. Key played pool incessantly. And when he died he requested a monument resembling a pool table be placed over his grave. Opelika, Alabama. 1853.") (Note from Stacy: I think Dorothy may be confused about her lines - Key vs. Appleby). Anne, Evelyn Jane, Laura Augusta, Melissa, Mary Virginia, Martha, Susan, James Key, Scott, Octavia. Of these Evelyn Jane was my great grandmother and married James Young Ashford in 1854.

Evelyn Jane Ashford was born in Jefferson, Georgia August 29, 1835 and died in Gainesville, Georgia May 25, 1923.

Charlotte DeBelle Ashford, my grandmother, was born on a Wednesday (the records say) February 6, 1867 and died March 25, 1949.

The Souvenir Number of "The Alchemist," Brenau College's publication, printed a picture and the following article about Granny Merck on June 28, 1938.

On a plantation called "Dark Corner" in Lee County, Alabama, Lottie Debelle Ashford was born February 6, 1861. Her father was the late James Young Ashford from Fairfield, South Carolina. Her mother was the late Evelyn Jane Appleby, daughter of Judge and Mrs. John Appleby of Jackson County.

Following the war the family moved to West Point, Georgia, where Lottie Debelle, as she was known, spent her childhood. From that city, during the early eighties they came to Gainesville, Georgia, then a village.

Lottie Debelle entered the Georgia Baptist "Femme Seminary" in 1880, now Brenau College, when Professor Wilkes was president.

Before graduation, she met Charles Stevens Merck, a young businessman of Athens, Georgia. After a brief courtship, they were married November 18, 1884, at the bride's home, 97 North Green Street, Gainesville, by the Reverend A.A. Marshall, since deceased.

Six children, three boys and three girls came to them. They were Dr. Fred L. Merck and Ralph Ashford Merck (note from Dorothy Wing Weis: my mother's twin), deceased; Charles Stokely Merck, Mrs. Ruby Evelyn Wing (note from Dorothy Wing Weis: my mother), Mrs. Lottie May Fannin, and Mrs. Harry Lee Dent.

The husband and father, Charles Merck died July 4, 1917.

Although now in the `evening of life', "Miss Lottie" today enjoys a delightful summer vacation visiting her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren in different parts of Georgia and Florida.

Now that I've written books on the background of my Mother and Father I'll list the children of that union and get on with it. I would like to say that my mother met Dad when she was visiting her aunt and uncle in Apalachicola, manager of the Gibson House - the hotel in Apalach.

Mother and Dad were married in Gainesville, Georgia in 1911 and about ten months later I arrived: 1) Dorothy Wing.

From then on about every three years a baby arrived and only one has died, Evelyn Wing, who died at one year of age.

2. Barbara Wing was born December 19, 1913. She married Marion Nelson of Panama City, Florida and they have two children, Gretchen and Bubber.

Evelyn was born on January 7, 1917 and died January 7, 1918.

3. Elizabeth (Libba) was born on May 17, 1919. She married Isaac Byrd of Panama City, Florida and they have five children; Beth, Pam, Olivia, Betsy and Isaac, Jr.

4. William Thomas Wing, Jr., married Ellen Nelson of Chicago, Illinois. He is a Presbyterian minister. They have four children; Billy, Karen, Debby and Ann.

5. Lottie May married John Rudder of Jefferson City, Missouri. They live in Evansville, Indiana and have four boys; John, Harry, David and Paul;.

6. Charles Lansdell married Wanda Ford of Pensacola, Florida. They had no children and were divorced. He married Sue Shelton of Memphis, Tennessee and they have three boys; Charles, Lance and Robby.

7. Ferris - married Peggy of Memphis, Tennessee. They have two boys, Ferris Stanley, and William Gary.

8. Harry - the last of the children was born after my second child. He has just finished his second year at Columbia Seminary in Decatur, Georgia. He is to take a clinical year as student assistant in Johnson City, Tennessee, beginning September 1958 to September 1959 then he will return to Columbia for his last year in Seminary.