History of Streeter, West Virginia
Sunday, August 3, 2025
Vandalia and Streeter
Thursday, July 25, 2024
Pack Family History

Sunday, February 4, 2024
Greetings!
Greetings!
It has been quite a long time since I last posted to the blog. I'm guilty of not checking it as much as I should. Life has a way of distracting and other interests intervene. Nevertheless, I did manage to find a cemetery related to Snake Bite Lilly this past summer. It is located off of Ellison Ridge Road. Mrs. Lilly told me that someone long ago vandalized the cemetery. Most of the tombstones are illegible (if not all). The writing has pretty much disappeared from the few shards of slate that might have been tombstones.
Anyway, I wanted to give a quick update. I will do my best to keep an eye on the blog. It's my intention to keep it up for everyone's use.
If I don't immediately respond, hopefully, someone will notice your comment and give you some good advice.
People will sometimes comment asking for information related to their own branches of the family trees. I know a lot about my own branches of family trees. I do not know everyone's branch of their own family trees. Keep in mind that the blog was originally intended for my immediate cousins related to our grandmother's family from Streeter (Lilly Jennings Basham's side). I have cousins who live around the world and this was a way to answer their questions and share photos, etc.
I have a blog post titled "Online Sources for Research" (2012). It could be helpful.
Happy investigating and good luck!
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
60th Va. Infantry Command
Gen. James Longstreet
Maj. General Ambrose P. Hill - his light division (which included men from the 60th Va. Infantry - among many other divisions - totaled roughly 14,000 men at the time of the Seven Days Battles).
Brig. General Charles W. Field -"Field's Brigade". During the Seven Days Battles this included roughly 1,500 men. This included: the 60th, 55th, 47th, and 40th Va. Infantries.
Col. William E. Starke (commanding officer of the 60th Va. Infantry).
Lt. Col. B. H. Jones.
Maj. John C. Summers.
White Ryan, Cpt. of Company I, aka "Mercer Mountain Rangers"
Alexander Basham Mystery Solved
I contacted historian Bob Krick in Richmond and he was able to do some detective work with some materials in Richmond. According to Bob, Alexander Basham is buried at the Oakwood Cemetery in Section C. Unfortunately, we do not know exactly where in Section C he is buried. The graves are unmarked. They are numbered, but the corresponding names do not exist for many soldiers because over time the ladies who once maintained Oakwood could not read progressively fading markers, and some markers were lost, broken, or stolen. A 2nd list resurfaced about 15 years ago. This list was maintained by the caretaker of Oakwood Cemetery, John Redford. It's because of this list that we know for sure that Alexander Basham is buried at Oakwood Cemetery and in Section C (but not the specific plot).
As for the battle he was wounded in, Bob had the following to say (I've included the full correspondence):
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
Captain Matthew Farley
What I find most interesting is that Vernon Pack found his grave in Indiana.
The Findagrave website has photos of his tombstone, and someone posted his last will and testament on the site.
Click the link:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gs&
Sunday, February 15, 2015
Lillian (Lee) Dillion
On January, 25th, 2015 my Aunt Lee passed away in Florida. She was the oldest daughter of Ed and Lilly (nee Basham) Halstead. Her biological father was Claude Hurt (Lilly's first husband).
Although she was technically my mother's half sister, she was as close as any sister could be to mother. Likewise, I admired my aunt very much.
She owned Del Mar beauty shop in Beckley, WV for many years. During WWII she worked on aircraft construction in Baltimore, Maryland. Two of those planes were the Martin JRM Mars and the Martin B-26 Marauder.
She was a self-educated business woman and became very successful. This was during the 50's and 60's when many women had to depend on their husbands for income. She told me when I was a college student to make sure I took business courses, which I did and this knowledge served me very well.
She was one of the most inspirational figures in our family. I will never forget the historical books, baked cakes and candies that she would send me during Christmas. We also would visit her and my uncle at their home in Virginia.