"May this birthday and the year to come bring many bloggable and joyful memories."
Let me just say, we're off to a great start! What a gorgeous time of year fall can be. Our youngest daughter's wedding in upstate New York avoided threatened rain and proved to be picture perfect in autumn hues. In the more southern Philadelphia area, the leaves change a few weeks later, but they're also gorgeous. That being said, you may find it surprising that Julie and I went on some great cruises rather than simply spending time hiking favorite trails like Haverford College, featured in the first three photos, and lovely neighborhood streets in the area.
Coming off of two years being shut out of international travel by Covid-19 restrictions, we took advantage of what looked like once-in-a-lifetime values on European cruises to fascinating destinations that took us away from home, but that doesn't mean we haven't been packing lots of "bloggable and joyful" experiences when we're residing in Haverford Township.
We returned to the Ridley Creek Orange Trail where we found ourselves Lost in the Woods last fall. It was once again gorgeous, and this time we followed the advice of an experience Orange Trail hiker who said to stay along the water, making it even more pleasant. Here are a few photos from that day, but note that the narrative continues below.
We've also tried out a few new trails. Gina, Laszlo and Emma have continued to welcome us to their home area by spending lots of time with us. We enjoy getting to see Emma a few days a week after school, a time when she sometimes whips up fresh, healthy meals for her parents as pleasant surprises when they return from work. She's begun growing herbs, veggies and mushrooms that she works into her recipes.
Emma's parents treated Julie and I to a delightful day at the Barnes Museum in Philadelphia, which has a superb collection of impressionist and post-impressionist art, including lots of French works by Van Gogh, Matisse and Cezanne, which tied in nicely with our cruise itineraries as well as our personal artistic tastes. It was a gorgeous day to walk the scenic Philadelphia streets that Laszlo and Gina selected to stroll on the way to the Barnes.
Afterwards, we stopped at Federal Donuts, where Gina said their regular donuts are great, but the smart play is to buy hot and fresh, which are the ultimate donuts. It took a little longer, but they were indeed thoroughly delicious. I went more traditional with a Cinnamon Donut, but Julie went along with Gina's top recommendation of Strawberry Lavender, which Gina also got to split with Laszlo. Both flavors were very tasty.
I quoted their birthday card to start this blog, and yes, we had a birthday party. We went to McSorley's Ale House where we played foosball and ate some good pub food with drinks. The roast beef sandwich might not have been a Philly Cheesesteak, but it was fresh and hot. Gina and Laszlo picked up a German Chocolate Cake --- my favorite --- while Emma and Nana kept me busy playing foosball. We enjoyed that back at our house.
On another day, Emma and I actually sought out Sorrntino's Grocery, touted by some as the best cheesesteak in the Manayunk neighborhood of Philadelphia, but they were closed on Mondays, so we went to a pizza place across the street, Fanzone's, that made a very good cheesesteak, too. It looked like a good place to get a pizza too. A local woman I asked on the street about another cheesesteak restaurant said this is where she goes for pizza. With a diner vibe, with counters by the grill and the window being the only places to sit. This one-man operation has a very good vibe, and the number of locals picking up to-go orders was testament to its value.
Most recently, Julie, Gina, Emma and I built a Spooky Gingerbread House from a kit that Gina's Aunt Darlene sent. It didn't turn out like it looked on the box, but we had a lot of laughs trying to figure out how to get it to stay together while the sugar icing that doubled as glue set up. We never could understand why the side walls would be in an inverted slant, but we finally got it to stand up while we put on the roof and decorated it. Unable to get the chimney to stay, we went "Wizard of Oz" by putting the witch that was supposed to be going in the chimney instead smashed beneath the house. Gruesome but effective, and no actual witches were killed in the making of this gingerbread house.
Halloween Day Addendum
We returned to the Haverford College Trail today, and the trees looked considerably different from a month earlier as pictured at the top of this post. Walking around there is like being a college professor without the hassles of reporting for work in an office or classroom.
What Gina calls an elephant that sucks up leaves was scheduled to come around on Halloween, so we've been raking the colorful leaves and dropping them in the allocated curbside spot. The still look pretty for now, but of course left on the ground, they would become brown and slimy by Thanksgiving. There will be a return of the elephant later in the month, because leaves continue to fall. I think it also is probably good to aerate the soil with this raking before winter arrives for a healthy lawn in the spring. As the family of Ned Stark liked to say in Game of Thrones, "Winter is coming." That was Laszlo's opening line upon arriving on Halloween, and quite appropriately so.
Emma came over in the afternoon, and we were all set up for Trick Or Treaters well before 6 PM. As you can see, everyone found it quite amusing when I put a Royal Caribbean hat on the pumpkin.
While Emma opted out of a costume this year, her parents put on costumes to wear at work, and they came over afterwards. Unfortunately, rain started to fall as the sun set, so we didn't see many costumed kids before we left a bowl of Reese's Bars in front and went inside to have dinner, with Julie returning once to replenish the bowl. The Dread Pirate Gina and Jon Snow from Game of Thrones clashed movie genres in our living room. Laszlo temporarily died his hair black for his role, and for photos added an effective warrior's grimace and occasional haughtiness. Emma also died her hair blue, though it is hard to see the blue tint in these photos due to low lighting.
As usual, I will make references to some pop culture alternatives to history books as I go, because while they are at best guesses at what happened put into an interesting format, they are factors that influence how I envision the time periods so distinctly different from our own. I mention them because I believe you too may find them helpful in visualizing the eras. Plus, they're entertaining.
In 1485, King Henry VII became the last King to win the throne of England on the battlefield. In the War of the Roses, both sides were of the greater Royal House of Plantagenet.
Henry's House of Lancaster (not to be confused with Lannister from Game of Thrones) were associated with the Red Rose, while the House of York was associated with the White Rose. The war lasted over 32 years. Talk about an epic family feud!
At the conclusion, victorious King Henry VII married Princess Elizabeth of York, uniting his claim to the throne with the vanquished house. You may have seen The White Princess, a mini-series based on this marriage, and otherwise, you might want to check it out.
If you have been watching the sequel to that series, The Spanish Princess, you know that Tudor King Henry VII's heir apparent Arthur married Princess Catherine of Aragon in 1501. They were both just 15 years old but their marriage had been arranged years earlier. Catherine was the daughter Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain, who through their sponsorship of explorations of the Americas spearheaded by Christopher Columbus became the richest monarchs in the world. Obviously, England was especially pleased for this union of royal fortunes.
Unfortunately, Arthur died just 5 months after the marriage ceremony.
When Arthur died, his younger brother, Harry, who was only 11 years-old, became heir apparent to the English throne. If you've watched The Spanish Princess, you now should understand the extent of the liberties taken with regard to history that dramatizations sometimes take, because in the TV show, young Harry is something of a sophisticated Romeo when he actually would have been nothing more than a little boy more concerned with playing soldiers and such.
In any case, Arthur's early death meant that Princess Catherine was something of soiled merchandise on the royal marriage market, but she navigated around this by swearing the marriage had never been consummated.
England, of course, still wanted her enormous dowry and decided to essentially accredit her account that she and Arthur had not shared a marital bed as husband and wife. Princess Catherine remained in England as Aragon's Ambassador.
When Henry VII died in 1509, 17-year-old Harry (the casual spoken name for Henry back then) became King Henry VIII, and soon thereafter married 23-year-old Catherine of Aragon, making her Queen of England. As to whether there was a great romance as The Spanish Princess dramatizes is questionable, but it was supposed to have been a good marriage, keeping in mind that "good marriage" apparently meant the King could have mistresses on the side.
A bigger problem for the royal marriage than Henry's commitment to monogamy were several stillborn babies and then the death of the long awaited male heir within weeks of his birth. They had one surviving child together, Mary Tudor, who went on to become Queen of England for five years upon the death of her father. She earned the name Bloody Mary for her heavy-handed efforts to reverse the Protestant Reformation.
When King Henry VIII tired of his very Catholic Spanish Queen, he sought to annul their marriage of over twenty years.
Henry claimed that the original Papal approval to allow him to marry his brother's widow was invalid because Catherine and Arthur had indeed consummated their marriage. Henry claimed the church should have realized that at the time. Never mind that Henry himself wanted the Catholic Church to approve his marriage to Catherine.
Henry VIII wanted his longtime chaplain and most powerful adviser, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, who had risen to the position of Lord Chancellor, to convince the Catholic Church to annul the wedding so that he could marry Anne Boleyn. The Cardinal was unsuccessful.
In 1529, when Wolsey failed to gain papal approval, he was dismissed from royal service and returned to life as Archbishop in York.
The Protestant Revolution had already been at philosophical and even violent odds with the Catholic Church elsewhere in Europe for years by this point.
Anyway, according to Wikitree, Walter Charles Strickland became the head of the family at age 14 "at the date of his father's inquisition post mortem." I at first thought that meant the Spanish Inquisition, but the father died of illness related to asthma (and I would guess medical treatment for that, based on what I understand about "doctors" of the period), so that must be a legal term for settling affairs.
In 1908, a Kendal Publisher released a book by Daniel Scott which indicates the father died from illness. Chapter Eight of The Stricklands of Sizergh Castle: The Records of Twenty-five Generations of a Westmoreland Family is called Three Notable Walters. It quotes a contract wherein the second of these three successive Walters, the father of our subject, agreed to pay a total of 20 pounds sterling to Dr. Alexander Kenet in 1526 to bring him to "perfect health of all his infirmities and diseases contained in his person, and especially stomach, and lungs, and breast, wherein he has most disease and grief." Scott goes on to say that "Despite these attentions, Sir Walter died on January 9th the following year, when he was only about 31 years old."
Wikitree goes on to say that upon his parents' death, young Walter was made a ward of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey (Henry VIII's former Lord Chancellor).
Within a few months, however, the mercurial Henry accused Wolsey of treason, one of the King's favorite crimes to hang on those who had fallen out of royal favor. Wolsey died before his trial at the end of 1530.
Times were obviously changing fast.
Henry VIII appointed a new Archbishop who approved his annulment. Henry secretly married Anne Boleyn in 1532. When the Pope learned of the annulment, he ex-communicated both Henry and his new Archbishop of Canterbury.
Rather than recant, Henry officially married Anne Boleyn in January of 1533.
Within months, the Act of Succession of 1533 declared Catherine's Catholic daughter Mary "illegitimate," though of course history would unfold to subsequently make her Queen against her father's wishes.
In 1534, the Acts of Supremacy named King Henry VIII head of the Church of England, and Protestants ruled England for the first time.
Meanwhile, back at Sizergh Castle, with the death of Cardinal Wolsey, Walter subsequently became ward of Arthur Darcy and then his uncle, Thomas Strickland.
There's a funny note about him being "only slightly" involved in the Northern Rebellion of October 1536. I believe this refers to the "Pilgrimage of Grace," which sought to reverse King Henry VIII's break from the Catholic Church and to overturn the reform policies of Sir Thomas Cromwell, including the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
As an aside, I happened to read a good book about this time period called Dissolution on our Celebrity Eclipse Southern Caribbean cruise, having found it in the ship's library. I couldn't recall the name of that book to recommend it while writing this, but I recalled it seeing it on our balcony table while in port in Curacao and was able to look up the title on my blog. A couple of days ago I happened to look at that post before emailing its link to some friends who will soon be cruising to Curacao, or perhaps I wouldn't have remembered. That's probably of little interest to you, but it's fascinating to me as to how my brain works to somehow organize information. I won't bore you any more than I already have with details about this period, but the book by C.J. Sansom does manage to slip in quite a few details of the era within a period murder mystery.
Back to 1536, the main leader of the Pilgrimage of Grace rebellion was Robert Aske, but right below his name in a Wikipedia article on the subject is that of Sir Thomas Darcy. Looking him up, I learned he happens to be the father of Sir Arthur Darcy, Walter's guardian after Cardinal Wolsey.
I would guess that upon discovery of Sir Thomas Darcy's involvement in the rebellion against the crown, Arthur Darcy would have been deemed an unacceptable guardian for young Walter, leading to the appointment of Thomas Strickland to that position.
Upon assuming his role as guardian, Uncle Thomas must have convinced the authorities that young Walter had been led astray by his prior guardians, because Walter was pardoned. However, it should be noted that unlike his father and grandfather, who were Knights with the title of Sir Walter, the third Walter never received a title higher than Esquire.
On April 28, 1537, just six months after the rebellion, 21-year-old Walter, having reached the proper legal age, took full control of his own estate.
Despite his family's Catholic history and his own involvement in rebellion, Walter quickly became trusted by the English government upon receiving control of his properties. Within a year, he was serving as a juror for trials of rebels, including some of his own relatives.
When Walter was "overlooked" in appointing aristocrats to help in "keeping peace and administering justice," Deputy Warden Thomas Wharton wrote to Thomas Cromwell on July 12, 1537, to attain an appointment for his "great friend."
The trust of Wharton proved well-founded when Walter became something of a hero in defending England. Walter gathered 200 Kendal archers at Solway Moss in 1542, helping defeat the Scottish uprising that supported the Catholic reign of King James V. When describing the battle in a letter, Wharton referred to Walter as his "nigh cousin," indicating a strong bond.
King James V was not actually in the battle, but the agony of this bitter defeat apparently contributed to his death a short time later. He was survived by a six-week old daughter, who was named sovereign of Scotland upon his death. That was Mary Queen of Scots.
The theory that Sir Thomas Strickland, the Parliament member and scoundrel, was the child of Walter and Alice is on pretty firm ground, as he is much more visible in history books.
To be the full brother of Thomas, William must have been born later than his estimated birth date of about 1530. After all, Alice Tempest would have been only ten years-old at the time and didn't marry Walter until 1561, when she was 31 years old. William's son Edward, however, was reportedly born in 1551, so it would be impossible for William to have been born around the time that Walter married Alice.
My alternative theory is that Alice was not the mother of William.
If we assume William was born in 1530, then that would have been about the time that Walter's father died. Walter's father was also named Walter (1493-1528), so an easy explanation would be that William was born possibly in 1528 or 1529 and was actually an uncle of Thomas rather than a brother. However, no records of such seem to support that, keeping in mind that I'm relying on records available online found by other amateur sleuths rather than digging through original records on my own.
Going with Walter Charles Strickland Esq as the father of William like "ancestral voters" seem to agree, then I would conclude that in fact William must have been born later than 1530 (although it would be possible for a 14-year-old to father a child).
On March 8, 1535, 18-year-old Charles was contracted to marry Margaret Hamerton of Wigglesworth, but no documents of the actual marriage itself seem to exist.
Margaret died May 3, 1538, possibly taking her own life according to Wikitree. I think a good alternative theory is that in fact William was born to Margaret, who died during childbirth. I would surmise suicide may be only a Wikitree theory based on the fact she died at only 22 years of age. Death during childbirth seems in that era seems far more likely to me.
In a slight contradiction, the ancestral voters show Walter marrying Agnes Hamerton in 1537 just as he gained control of his estate, but with no clear end to that relationship. I think Agnes was actually Margaret, which would fit my second theory exactly.
Just to make things more confusing, Walter Charles Strickland Esq did have a sister and an aunt named Agnes, which might help explain where that name came from.
Anyway, my final answer is: William was born on about May 3, 1538, and his mother is Margaret Hamerton of Wigglesworth, daughter of Sir Stephen Hamerton. Just to be clear, however, our family link to Walter Charles Strickland Esq was probably through Sir Thomas rather than William.
Sizergh Castle is a solidly-built ancient fortress that was enlarged in phases as the family fortunes improved.
The interior tells a different story. Family fortunes reversed before the Stricklands could keep up with the overly ornate Baroque style of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Instead, the decor of Sizergh remains very masculine, with beautifully carved but rugged oak panels rather than gilded and flowery decor.
The strength of the design brought to mind the Starks of the North in Game of Thrones, an analogy that actually overlays nicely with the Strickland military history of its battles against those "Wildling" Scots north of Hadrian's Wall and later the internal war against the Red Rose Lancasters (as opposed to Lannisters in GOT) to see who would claim the united kingdom's throne.
I don't believe it to be too much of a stretch to imagine the real history of Sizergh Castle and the Stricklands factored into the storytelling of author George R. R. Martin, whose fantasy series, A Song of Fire and Ice, was adapted into the epoch TV series watched around the world.
In my opinion, the GOT set-designer missed the boat by not patterning Winterfell Castle more exactly after Sizergh.
Back to Sizergh Castle's actual history, Sir Thomas Strickland lived the head-swelling high life in London (King's Landing?) as a Member of Parliament in the closing years of Queen Elizabeth's reign, dissipating family wealth on gambling and attempts to impress the big city elites of his day.
Nonetheless, upon the death of the wastrel Sir Thomas, the family again took up the mantle for their country, this time on behalf of King Charles I (son of King James I) against the Scots in the Second Bishop's War.
Then again, traditionally wars brought royal privilege plus plundered booty, so perhaps for the Stricklands this was basically just going back to work at the family business.
"Why would King Charles I, as the grandson of Mary Queen of Scots, take up arms against his ancestral home?" you may ask. To some extent, his hand was forced by Scottish rebellion against his new policy to enforce Episcopal, or Bishop rule, as practiced by the Church of England --- of which he as King was the leader --- upon Scottish "kirks" that were accustomed to Presbyterian independence, but there's more to it than that.
The elitist King James I (King James VI of Scotland before assuming the combined reign) had been raised to look down on Scots as crude primitives, an attitude passed down to his son.
Feudalism was based on elitism, with royals ostensibly chosen by God to rule, and their friends granted fiefdoms in exchange for taxes and raising armies to help in the mutual defense of the kingdom.
The average serf --- and that would have been most people --- was little more than a slave, but just as the Reformation challenged Catholic rule of the soul, Parliamentarians arose intent on supplanting Royalist rule.
A full-fledged Civil War broke out in 1642.
The Stricklands sided with King Charles I and the Royalists, and once again fought valiantly on the losing side of history, culminating with King Charles I being executed in 1649.
Already struggling under the gambling debts accumulated by the wastrel Sir Thomas and fighting on the losing side of the Civil War, the massive fines levied by Parliamentarians brought the family fortunes to a low ebb just as the Baroque Era blossomed with Louis XIV of France, the Sun King, making garish gilding all the rage among European royalty.
Missing that trend makes Sizergh Castle somewhat unique, preserving for the most part a high nobleman's estate at the apex of the Medieval era, whereas most castles sustain the fashionable style of later periods or in other cases fall into ruin.
InGame of Thrones, it's easy to keep track of the families. They not only repeat their last names regularly, they have family slogans ("Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken." "Winter is coming." "A Lannister always pays his debts."), which they repeat regularly in the show.
They also have sigils (essentially logos) emblazoned in their family colors on banners they proudly drape in their castles and flags they carry into battle.
While Queen Cersie seems to adopt the family slogan of her husband, King Robert Baratheon--- "Ours is the Fury" --- she also leaves no doubt with the viewer that her greatest loyalty is to her Lannister family. She goes to great lengths to preserve the family's genetic line, but the children nonetheless took on the last name of her husband.
So it is in real life --- sans the whole incest thing, hopefully. Our paternalistic society dictates that women generally take the last names of their husbands and give that to their children.
As generations proceed, however, we who are not in a King's line will find it difficult to keep track of the mother's side of the family after two or three generations.
A maternal surname might easily vanish on a particular branch of a family tree rather quickly, as it may soon for my mother's paternal family name.
Some women, however, use hyphens to preserve their maiden names. That is quite common in the Spanish culture, with the father's last name followed by a hyphen and then the mother's last name. It makes sense for Spain to have recognized the importance of the woman's maiden name, because their Queen Isabella became perhaps the most influential ruler in human history when she decided to finance the voyages of Christopher Columbus which brought Western Civilization to America and beyond. Before that, Isabella completed the Reconquista, uniting Spain while driving the Muslim Moors out of Iberia.
By the 1970's, Women's Liberation emboldened more women to do something similar, often hyphenating with their maiden name first. That simple solution creates inevitable problems down the road, as discussed in the interesting New York Times opinion piece linked here.
Obviously, it could bring about very convoluted last names if perpetuated --- Jones-Rodriguez marries Chu-Patel, so their child's last name becomes Jones-Rodriguez-Chu-Patel? --- even if neither last name is particularly long to begin with.
My last name happens to be a mouthful without any hyphenation, so Julie, who had established her career with her maiden name, simply held onto that for her business life.
My sister Darlene didn't seem to mind ditching our family name for her husband's, so my nephew Brooks doesn't need extra space on forms when he writes his last name.
Some women, like Hillary Rodham Clinton, have taken the approach of keeping their maiden names as middle names. Our oldest daughter Gina, who had published several public health papers before she married Laszlo, has taken this approach for her professional life, I'm proud to say.
As of late, that seems to have been shortened to using just the initial S. As I said, my surname is quite cumbersome. Our granddaughter Emma, of course, only uses her father's surname, with Strickland already separated by three generations.
Wives simply taking on the surnames of their husbands might make it easier for their children, but there can be complications with that, too, primarily because not all first marriages last.
A woman might take on the last name of a guy who isn't a keeper. Upon divorcing, she might hold onto that new name, especially if her driver's license and passports have that name, or go back to her maiden name only to take on a third last name if she re-marries. She might have children with both husbands, just to keep it interesting.
Someone I know was adopted by her mother's second (or maybe third) husband and given his last name. Her mother divorced her adoptive father and married a different man, so she nonetheless lived for years with a surname other than the new one her mother had taken from her new step-father.
Upon being married and divorced twice herself, taking her husband's surname both times, the daughter decided to take on the name of her actual blood-father (whom she never actually knew) rather than the name she used throughout her childhood or her mother's subsequent married name or any of her other marriage names. Confused?
It occurred to me on our visit to see our relatives in Alabama that while Mom's maiden name was well-known to me, it could soon be forgotten within our branch of the family tree, which is sad because it is a rather prominent family in history.
I was happy that our daughter Gina and her husband brought our granddaughter Emma to make a connection. With limited time, their primary focus was my Aunt Ann, who has a striking resemblance to Mom, and her daughter Angie, with whom she's lived while recovering from an illness that put her in the hospital.
Mom had two sisters and one brother, and the same nuclear family structure of three girls and one boy was true for Granddaddy's father. So, only my Uncle Edwin carried the family name forward. He had two sons, who were the Stricklands in our family tree for my generation. Donald had two children, a daughter and son, while his brother Ronnie had two daughters and a son. We saw Donald's son Michael while we were there.
Unfortunately on our trip to Alabama, Darlene and Brooks were there only for Friday night and Saturday through lunch, while Gina's family didn't arrive until late Friday night and then flew back on Monday morning. Because more relatives actually know Darlene, the big dinner was planned for her night there, and while Michael attended the dinner at Catfish House with his two daughters (I'm embarrassed to admit I took no photos and they have no social media photos), Gina didn't get to meet him, despite going to his father Donald's store a half hour before Michael needed to leave for a medical appointment. Emma did get the opportunity to get to spend some time with Donald's granddaughter Natalie, who is about the same age.
Of course, my grandfather's branch are not the only remaining Stricklands.
In a reversal of the father's surname passing forward, the name Strickland actually comes from a part of northern England called Stercaland in old English. With no male heirs, Stercaland (Strikeland) was inherited by a woman, Elizabeth Deincourt. In 1239, she transferred it through marriage to Sir William De Castlecarrock --- women couldn't own real property on their own at that time --- who became the first to use the earliest version of the name Strickland.
"Sizergh was granted by Henry II about 1170-80 to Gervase d'Eyncourt (Deincourt), a cadet of the great baronial family of that name settled at Blankney in Lincolnshire. It is situated within the parish of Helsington, but as a separate independent manor. These possessions continued in the Deincourt family for several generations until Elizabeth, great granddaughter of Gervase, became on the death of her brother the sole heiress, and conveyed them all in marriage to her husband, Sir William Strickland in 1239. From that time, this has been the residence of the Strickland family. In earlier times, the family was known as 'De Castlecarrock', and they were descended from the Norman family of Vaux (or De Vallibus), and therefore allied to the family of Gilles, son of Bueth, the original native chieftain holder of Gilsland, near Carlisle. In 1179, Walter De Castlecarrock married, moved to the manor of Great Strickland in north Westmoreland acquired through his wife, and assumed the name 'De Strikeland'. The name meant 'the pastureland of young cattle'. This Walter was later knighted and was the great-grandfather of the Sir William mentioned above. Family members have been found in Parliament in almost every generation until the end of the 17th Century. They have also been involved in other parts of Government, including the military, up to the present time."
Ancestors of those first Stricklands still occupy part of Sizergh Castle, but the estate was actually donated to the British National Trust in 1950 by Baron Gerald Strickland. Gerald held other titles in other countries, including Malta where he was born and died, and both Tazmania and Western Australia, where he was Governor at different times. Gerald was a member of my great-grandfather Reverend James H.T. Strickland's generation.
Gerald had six children, including two sons who died young. Their oldest daughter, Mary Christina Strickland (1896-1970), inherited the estate. When she married, she took the Spanish approach, hyphenating her last name, despite the fact that her husband had what is a rather unfortunate name.
Their ancestors now carry the last name Hornyold-Strickland.
