McCUNE FAMILY HISTORY
Larry McCune and Judith Fletcher McCune
After catching the “Family Tree” bug we soon compiled information on more than 3500 ancestors and relatives of our combined families and collected more than 2000 old photographs, newspaper clippings, funeral cards and memorabilia. The stories contained in that information were just too good not to tell. Although our two families came by many routes into Northwest Ohio, they merged finally in Lima, Ohio in 1962 when Judy and Larry married. We'll begin by identifying the family members we knew well - our parents and grand-parents.
The parents and grandparents of Larry McCune are:
The parents and grandparents of Judith Fletcher are:
With the exception of Ray Corbet Fletcher, Judy's grandfather, who died before we were born, these are the family members we grew up with and knew well. They contributed much to our family story. Our quest began with the eight family lines of our grandparents (McCune, Snodgrass, Stombaugh, Berndt, Fletcher, Smith, Ripley, and Fulton) and our search for their roots as well as ours.
Starting here we have been able to trace Larry's family back 14 generations in one line and as far back as 1554 in Württemberg, Germany in another. Judy's family, in one line, goes back ten generations to about 1654 in Sweden.
Our Roots
As a McCune, my dad always said we were Scotch-Irish and that his great grandfather, Dr. Alexander McCune, was an orphan. As for the Scotch-Irish, I think this was his way of saying our family was protestant-Irish. This is true, but there is far more to it than that. However, since my great-great grandfather McCune was orphaned when he was six, information past him is sketchy and I have not been able to trace the family back to either Ireland or Scotland. In the 1880 Census, however, Alexander reports that his father was born in Ireland and his mother in New York. In other writing he identifies his mother and father by name. Dr. Alexander McCune became a pioneer doctor in Southeastern Ohio. His son Rufus would relocate his young family to a farm near Cridersville, Ohio.
Judy, as a Fletcher, would seem to have strong English roots. In fact we can trace her great grandfather and great-great-great grandfather back to Market Deeping in Lincolnshire, England. We know both of them immigrated to America, although her great-great grandfather seems to have disappeared and never came to America. Her great-great grandmother is also somewhat of a mystery with different stories regarding her whereabouts.
Both of our roots, however, are also strongly planted in persecuted Wales and the tumultuous Palatine Germany of the Holy Roman Empire. The Beery's on my Dad's side came from Switzerland. Family stories on my Mom's side have the Berndt's as Jews who escaped from Czarist Russia, the Fisher's as royalty in Palatine Germany and the Stombaugh's as Dutch. Family stories on Judy's side have the Fulton's emigrating from Germany to Holland before coming to America and then pioneer settling, along with the Ripley's who originated in Palatine Germany, in Hardin County, Ohio.
February 1, 2005
