My great grandfather, Jesse Strange, was born a slave and freed in his 20s. His 12 children were born free, and referred to as "The First Freeborn Generation." In this podcast series, I interview Jesse Strange's descendants in order to document our stories. This is Strange Family Folklore. 

On April Fools' Day, I had the pleasure of interviewing the Strange Family Association board president and one of my cousins, Mark Wilkerson.

Teresa Roberson  

Yay. Thank you for joining me today, Mark.

Mark  

Thank you for having me. This is a great day. I can sit down with my cousin and get interviewed. 

Teresa Roberson  

This is probably the best April Fool's Day celebration. I'm not really playing a prank. What motivated you to run for president of the Strange Family Association?

Mark

Well, family members, of course, but it was time for us to seek a new direction and a new change in where we were taking the family as a whole. The Strange family has been around for years. The reunion is, I think, this will be our 83rd consecutive year coming up. 

Actually, it’s our 82ndconsecutive family reunion. Time flies when you’re having a good time.

We've been doing things the old way for a long time. The pandemic brought out a lot of things. It highlighted a lot of things that we were overlooking, and were doing wrong and had not really put our minds to say, "What do we need to do to take the family to the next level? To the next century?" And to be able to have it somewhere where we can pass it on to the next generation. So that was one of the big motivations.

Teresa Roberson  

Okay, and what are the changes that you would like to see happen?

Mark

Well, of course, it's more family involvement, usingthe skills and everything that this family has to offer. We have doctors. We have lawyers. We have attorneys in our family.  We're nine hundred plus, and if you can't find somebody with a skill in this family, you ain't looking hard. 

The statistic that Mark stated about being 900+ reflects the current living descendants of our Great Grandfather Jesse Strange.

So, one of the things I wanted to do, we wanted to change how we set up our company. We move from just a Strange Family Reunion, and we moved into an LLC. That way, our record keeping, the things we do, how we plan moving forward, to solidify our shelter, and inthe structure, and what our ancestors have given us. How we can solidify that in the Cascade community and that community surroundingarea.The Strange name is a well-known name in that area. Over the years, it's kind of died out because the original 12, I call them the 12 disciples, they are gone. 

The Original 12 AKA The 12 Disciples, are Great Grandfather Jesse’s 12 children, who I refer to throughout this podcast series as the first freeborn generation, who include our grandparents. 

Now, it's the second generation that we're going to be celebrating this family reunion coming up in June. It's just one of the things where we have to put in place, what happens in the next generation, which is the third generation coming up. There's only actually 12, well 11. We just had one to pass over here recently. Another one of our uncles. 

The second generation of freeborn Stranges include our parents, aunts, uncles and other second cousins. We celebrated the transcendence of one of the second generation this past January 2023, Floyd Strange, Jr, who I’d interviewed in the previous podcast episode titled, “Killing Santa Claus and Other Cascade Childhood Memories.”

But there were 12.  We want to celebrate this second generation 12 to kind of simulate the original 12 that we had on the start of this whole thing. Changing the mindset, changing the attitude of other family members to get more people involved because one thing about it, if you have 900 people, you should be able to progress and move forward at a faster pace. When I was coming up as a kid, to see 300 people up under the shade tree or under the tents where we had it, was a blink of an eye. It was going to happen. It was done off of those guys, our ancestors. It was one of those guys' vision. I want to continue that vision. Things that we're doing now will encompass that vision and take this family to the next step.

Teresa Roberson  

Can you tell us a little bit more about the humble beginnings of our first several family reunions? Because that would have happened in the 40s?

Mark  

 Unfortunately, I wasn't here but I'll tell you stories. I was born in 1960. So, I missed 20 years of that. Justthe stories that I heard when it first started out, I was maybe 8-10 years old. At that time, it was somewhat the same thing. The place where this all started, it used to be just a bunch of trees. They would put tables out. Everything came from the farm. The food was made by all the families and food was brought to the tent or up under this tree, put on tables. We had sucha great time. They used to be a stable wherethe shelter sits at. Those woods, we used to play in those woods all time. To see it today, I know our ancestors will be so proud of us. I remember Grandpa Jessie, he used to sit there with this big black pot. 

Mark’s Grandpa Jessie, or Jessie the Younger, was our Great Grandfather Jesse’s second oldest child.

He used to make the crackling. He put this meat over this pot and he would cook it down. He would sit there, take a stick and stir it, stir it, stir it.  The big thing to me though, that I see in my mind all the timethat's those 12. May have not been all 12 of those guys. It may have been six or eight, but I just remember them all. They would always sit around, kind of in a circle. The brothers and sisters. Aunt Mary, Uncle Floyd, Daniel, Grandpa Jessie, all those guys.It was one of those things where, as a kid, you would sit there and stare. Didn't know the true meaning or didn't have an idea of what all them setting there really meant. I learnt that as I got older, listening to stories from our moms and dads. I'm telling you, we really came from dirt. Thisthing started out with just dirt, trees, and tables and to see it now. It's unbelievable. 

Teresa Roberson  

Now I know that years ago, we planted 12 trees to represent the original 12 or I like to call them the first freeborn generation of Stranges. 

Mark  

Yes. Those treesare really tall and pretty now. It lands the property line outon the backside. Those trees right now had been there for maybe 20-something years. Maybe longer than that, since they planted them. They represent each branch of the first freeborn Stranges.It's so nice to see them bloom. Something that we're getting ready to do now because as those trees have gotten older, they're dying outWe had to replace these trees. Let's replace these trees with fruit trees, which makes all the sense in the world because here's the deal: when this family reunion first started up, like I said, everything came out the fields or the fruit trees. It was apples, pears, peaches, whatever,that we had at the family reunion, they all came from off the farms. So, what we want to do now, for instance, we got, Jessie's which is the first one, his needs to be replaced and we want to replace that with an apple tree. So, we get someone from the family when that tree gets to bear that fruit, we can get someone from the family to make an apple pie or apple cobbler off that apple tree for our family reunion. And it goes on, peach cobblers and whatever we have. Pears. Again, it just keeps us locked in and focused on those guys. Again, still giving us something even though they're not here. Those trees will give us something else and then we can pass those stories on down to our kids and grandkids. So, this is the whole concept. Continues to keep those names alive and keep them involved.

Teresa Roberson 

Okay, now as a family, we have documented some of our wisdom in a calendar and it's the most extensive informational calendar around. We have also had a book, which I have referenced many a times in an effort to get the story straight myself, because there are multiple names or multiple people with similar names. I have to look at a family tree, just to keep track of who is who and how we are all related. Is there another means that we're looking at as a family to document our stories and just to keep our ancestors with us, so the younger generations will know them?

Mark  

You know, that's something that I'm glad you mentioned that. I heard a podcast that you did with Teddy he was telling some of the stories and one of the things that we missed out on that we didn't do is that we didn't capture this on audio and video from our second generation. I think some folks are doing a little bit of that now. My mom's Gladys,who was Jessie Strange's daughter,would tell stories.  I remember the last time I think it was her and three of her sisters were in our living room. There were a lot of people at the house. They started telling stories. Her, Lucille, Catherine, Barbara Jean. At that time, I'm thinking I’mmaybe 40, maybe 42 years old, but there were some of my cousins that were older than I wasthey were there too. They were telling stories. It was like, the EF Hutton 

EF Hutton was a brokerage firm that had a very popular series of commercials with the tag line, “When EF Hutton talks, everybody listens.” No matterwhataction was taking place in the scene, everyone would dramatically stop and listen.

because when they tell you stories, it's like, fairy tales almost, these were facts. These things happen. They told them, then it made us feel out, we were actually there. You can really feel what was going on that day, because just the way they described it. We missed out by not capturing that. So many things I think some folks are trying to do now is capture some of that on audio. So, we can also add that to what we currently have the reference books and the calendar. You missing that calendar. One of our committees, the historical society, who put the first book out and this calendar, put a lot of time and effort. So, kudos to that group. I think you were part of a group. You guys put a lot of work into it. So detailed and so thorough. One of the things with the executive board is discussing, is getting pictures from those original family days or family reunion days. We want to do, starting from the very beginning, and do some type of collage. Maybe within the next couple of years as I'm in office.  I want to do that. So, we can have a family union and have a collage so everybody can see how it really started out from the beginning to where we are now. 

Teresa Roberson  

Now, I just want to make one correction. I was never officially part of any committee, my sister, Renee, who I have repeatedly said is the bossy one, often just snakes me into editing. I do love editing, so I can understand the confusion. But she always says, "Teresa, what's a better way to say this? Or can you read that?" So, that was my contribution.

Mark  

But it's the whole thing though, T. This is what I mean about us working together. If you know someone has special skills, we need to use that family member. So, that's why she pulled you in. 

Teresa Roberson  

And she's my bossy older sister.

Mark  

I know this for a fact. So, it's things like that, that I would want us to flourish off of. Just the family we can flourish off of this.  One of the thingsI've done is, I've put managers in charge of several different things now. I have one of the Lawrence Stranges, called him "Scooty." 

In case you thought you misheard that, there’s more than one Lawrence Strange. Just to add to the confusion, there someone with a different given name, but with the nickname “Scooty.” Mark’s talking about Scooty, whose given name is Lawrence Strange, son of Walter “Thel” Strange from the “Family-Grown Tobacco” episode.

He's in charge of the grounds. So, his sole responsibility is to be in charge of grounds. Pleas Wilson, he's in charge of the building. So, his sole responsibility is only the buildings. Tanya, Tan. We call her "Tan." Tan, she is in charge of the kitchen. This took off the pressure off of one person or people having to figure out how to do everything. Now, you specialize in one thing. So, the kitchen, she's turned that kitchen around. Now we're going to have a full-fledged kitchen. When we do rent it out or when they use it, everything we need is going to be in that kitchen. When something goes wrong on the grounds it'll be taken care of. Lawrence, or Scooty, he takes care of that. Something as far the building that we're doing some work on right now, Pleas, he's got a list of things that need to be taken care of. And we're doing that. What we didn't do before we didn't prioritize things. So now we're prioritizing things. We're doing budget wise, we're doing as we go. But meanwhile, by doing that, we've also got new people that have gotten involved. And really bringing with the knowledge they have is for repairs, electrical, or lawn care, the kitchen, the whole nine yards. We've got new people involved. So, we're breathing new air. My goal was not to ever change anything. I don't want to change who we are, that's our stamp. We are who we are. Just want to improve on what we've worked on so hard and so long, for many, many years.

Teresa Roberson  

So, if you had to tell the family or anyone who had never heard of the Strange family and Cascade, Virginia, what would our brand be?

Mark  

Oh my god. Love. Harmony. Laughter. Family. Inclusiveness. There's so many words you can describe our family. 

Teresa Roberson  

Because there's over 900 of us.

Mark  

Yes. It was so diverse. We're spread out all over the country. The majority of us got our start right there, right there in that community in Danville and Cascade, Virginia. Even if you didn't get your start there, every year your family brought you back to where it all started at that shelter. To describe us, wow, I can't really put it in one word, but it's so many different things. I'll tell you this, anybody who hears this podcast, if you don't believe me, come and spend one day with us. Come and spend one day at the Strange family reunion or the Strange family shelter. I'll tell you, you'll never forget it. To be amongst this family is something that you will always remember. I'll tell you the story real quick. When I went to college, or even in high school, the guys used to come around, they would come home with me from college. The guys that lived further up north in Connecticut and some guys in DC, but they will come home with me. It was funny because as I got older, as I moved on through my life, these guys would actually still come back to the family reunion. I would find out after the reunions, "Ah, man where was you at? You didn't make it to the reunion this year." Like how you know about it? I was there. So, these are guys I went to school with. They didn't grow up with me in Danville, Virginia. These guys grew up in DC and Maryland and Connecticut. 

Teresa Roberson  

They weren't related to us, in other words. 

Mark

No, none whatsoever. One guy was from Saginaw, Michigan. 

Teresa Roberson  

Where did you go to school?

Mark  

I went to school at St. Paul's. St. Paul's in Virginia. But this guy, he had got down into Norfolk, Virginia. He said he was looking at pictures, and he didn't have my number, but he knew of my mom and dad. So, he called my mom and she was talking to him. And she says, "Oh, I'm getting ready to go with people cooking, because we're getting ready for our family reunion." He asked her well, when is it. She told him, and, BOOM, he showed up. 

Teresa Roberson  

In the process of interviewing, because unfortunately, I don't have any interviews with the first generation, but in interviewing the second generation, and when they talk about the first generation, the first generation, were mostly farmers. Second generation, that's when you're seeing the manufacturing jobs, and also the military. And then you get to the third generation, like you and me, and we're not farmers. Did you join the military? 

Mark  

No.

Teresa Roberson  

I know some of us did.Really, you're seeing with a third generation an explosion of us who went to university or secondary higher learning. When I asked you the question about what's our brand, how would you classify us? That's really the generation where we have branched out and really around the world. Would you agree?

Mark  

Totally agree with that. It's funny, becausethinking about that all the time. I wanted to highlightjust what you're talking about, the education portion. Because one of the things I did when I did take over my first executive move I made was to change the education fund to the Mary Strange Heinzeducation because this was a pioneer. 

Mary Strange Harris, Great Grandfather Jesse’s ninth child, was famous among us for being an educator who had a precise manner of speaking and a formidable presence.

This lady was a pioneer. For everybody that has attended school, graduated from college, wherever you landed, this third generation Mary Strange was behind it. She put her stamp into me. There was one big thing that I always look back at. Her brothers and sisters, they sacrificed, so she could get an education. Through that, she did it and then came back and taught the other brothers and sisters and some more people in the community. So, that's why she was a pioneer. But no matter the sacrifice they made, they knew it was for family. It benefited the family from the sacrifice they made. I want to get that third generation back because that's us. We have to now teach the fourth and fifth generation. I want to put this family, this organization in a place where the next person that steps into it, all you have to do is step into it. All you have to do is continue the path that we’re on.That's why the Education Fund is so integral to the Strange family because every year we give monetary gifts to high school graduates, college graduates. But what I want to move into is getting a scholarship, one for a female, and a male that's coming out of high school. We always encourage and want our kids to get education to stay in school, but we need to do something ourselves as a familyto really show those kids we're behind them. Creatingan actual scholarship for these kids would be something I think that would go a long way. Even my kids, when they graduated high school, you know what, Dad, I didn't know the family did this. But we've been doing that for a long period of time. But now the way that we're going to do it moving forward is we're going to put a lot of emphasis on it. To me it all comes back to Aunt Mary. 

Teresa Roberson

Aunt Mary Strange Harris.  

Mark

In the back of my mind, I said, "Heinz." I don't know why I said, "Heinz." 

Teresa Roberson  

It starts with an H.

Mark  

I was close. 

Teresa Roberson  

Right? 

Mark  

Your sister would've corrected me a long time ago. 

Teresa Roberson  

Right. Now, just for the record, can you trace your lineage back to our great grandfather, Jesse?

Mark  

So, my mom was Gladys, and her father was Jessie. He was the first born of that clan. Of that original 12. 

Teresa Roberson  

So, Jessie was actually the second. Remember there was Richard?

Mark  

Okay. Yeah, that's right. Richard.

Teresa Roberson  

Richard, and then Jessie. Doing this podcast I have learned more. That's how I know Richard was the oldest with Great Grand Father Jesse's first wife.

Great Grandfather’s Jesse’s first wife was named Annie Harrison.

Mark  

People always go by the second wife. 

Teresa Roberson  

 I know it begins to get unwieldy because when I talk about it, I have to say Jessie, the Younger and they actually spell their names differently. So, on paper, you can keep it straight, but nobody's reading and listening to this. So, I refer to Great Granddad Jesse as "Jesse the Elder" and then your Grandfather Jessie the Younger. Your mother was one of Jessie the Younger's children.

Mark  

I think it was 11 total. 

Mark’s mother, Gladys, was one of 13 children although three didn’t live past age 3.

Teresa Roberson  

What birth order are you for your siblings?

Mark  

I'm actually the youngest. I'm the baby out of seven kids. 

Teresa Roberson  

Oh, wow. I didn't know there were seven of y'all. Tell us the order, so I don't have to look this up. 

Mark  

First of all, it was Ernest Jr., my dad's name. Then it was Joan, Larry, Don, Gilbert, Hope and then myself. Born in 1960. Myself and Gilbert and Hope, we all three years apart. Now my oldest sister and brother, Joan and Ernest Jr., they're actually one year apart to the date. 

Teresa Roberson  

 I know that there are a treasure trove of information in everybody's attic or old photobooks or photo albums or whatever. It's just getting over the hump. I almost look at it like a quilting bee, you know, where everybody has some old fabric from great grandma's wedding dress, or whatever. And if we can just put it together like your sister. She's phenomenal. I've seen some pictures of her quilts. But do a similar thing with pictures. Because it's getting to the point where the people who can identify who's in the picture,we don't know when we're going to lose that knowledge.

Mark  

Right. It's funny you mention that because like I told youthis thing and what to do in the upcoming year, the family reunion with this collage.  We are going to have my sister Joan do her quilting and do a presentation. It's a family reunion about the quilts. That's where I was going touse that to lead into getting these pictures to do somewhat of a similar thing. So, it's funny, you mentioned that They say great minds think alike. 

Teresa Roberson  

Well, we're both the youngest. But also, I think now technology is such that we can get people to take digital scans of their pictures, so we can archive it that way and work with the information.

Mark  

We want to get everything. We want to get as much information and as much history that we have in print and writing as we possibly can. So, we can archive everything. Because again, this family a lot of things people don't know about. 

Teresa Roberson  

 Every time I interview a family member, I get another piece to the Strange jigsaw puzzle. I don't know if they'll puzzle will ever be complete, but I'm trying to help fill in. 

Mark  

 That's a good way to put it because this is a huge puzzle. It's never gonna be completed because it's so huge and there's so much that we really don't know that as a third generation. It will take someone from each branch to sit down with the other branches to kind of put this puzzle together. What's going to happen now is we're going to piece it together as we can through pictures, through memory, from what we gather. Those stories from those photos are going to be some really great stories. I can't wait to see some of these pictures, especially those is all black and white pictures. Those are going to be the bomb.Because Pleas had some and he and I shared some. This has been a couple of years back, when we was just sitting around. It made the hair stand on my back to see Aunt Bea and Aunt Mary. To see them sitting around, at the table. It brings back the memories of seeing them talking. I got one more story about Aunt Mary. I used to think Aunt Mary was like a movie star. I did because whenever she came to town it was like everybody, "Oh, Aunt Mary's in town. We gotta go see Aunt Mary." My mom and dad used to go over to see Aunt Mary. The one time I did go up there with her.  She always came and stayed with Aunt Bea and Uncle Floyd. I went up there and just running around me and Blue, Duke, ran around went outside and Aunt Mary's outside. 

“Blue” is the nickname for Pleas Wilson, who I interviewed in the episode “No Longer Blue.”“Duke” is the nickname for another cousin, James Strange.

She’d come outside. She gave us all candy and stuff. We just taken off and running. I was always staring at her. She was tall. To me she was tall and pretty. She had this long hair. Everybody was like, "Aunt Mary's coming home. Mary's coming home." So, we had a family reunion. I remember this like it was yesterday. After they cook and everything the next day, they have all the dishes and everything at Aunt Cille's house and Aunt Cat's house. Aunt Cille said, "Come and take these pans, me and Blue, come and take these pans." Someone had to go to Aunt Ann's house. and someone had to go to Aunt Bea's. Well one of the pans that had to go to Aunt Bea's house was a blackberry cobbler pan, but it was still some of the crust in the blackberry cobbler in the pan, so I knew I had enough time from that house to Aunt Bea's house to get me a good meal. So, Pleas, he had the other one. I think was apple pie. So, I get down there and I go in the back door, Aunt Bea's house. She says, "Come on in." It wasn't her. It was Aunt Mary said, " Come on in." So, I go in. I got the pans and I set them down. I told you this woman. She just always amazed me. I thought she was like some kind of movie star. To me, she was so important. I go in and this is crazy. I stay.  I'm frozen because she was just a woman bigger than life standing before me. She's standing there smiling. This is what she said, "Oh hey, you Gladys' baby boy, Mark." I don't know if I said "yes" or "no." I wondered what I said, but I remembered I was stunned because she knew my name. Because see at that time at a friend reunion you can have 120 kids, 10 years old running around there.The age scale was so much. Kids everywhere. So, my thing was how she even know my name. Like I said, I'm stunned. I don't remember exactly her words, but then she says, "Tell your mama I said 'hello."  I was like "okay." Out the back door, I forget how high the steps were, but I jumped from the top of the steps all the ways to the bottom and I ran from Aunt Bea's house all the way back up to Aunt Cat's house. I mean, flat out running. I couldn't wait to get back home, so I can tell my mom. This lady remembered my name. So, I did get back home that night. I said, "Mom, that lady, Aunt Mary, you're always talking about saying she comes to town? I said, "Mama, she knew my name. She said, "Boy, why do you think she wouldn't know your name?" I say, “There's so many of us. She said, " Let me tell you something. We family. You’ll learn as you get older that there's more to what people see on the outside. As you start growing you start learning more about our family you'll see what it is to know everybody. Years later, I'm getting married. I standing in Shiloh church. I'm getting married. I'm sure we sent the invitations out to everybody. All my aunts and uncles. Aunt Mary, again, she's living in DC,never thought she would come.  The wedding about to start and they still bringing people in. So, Pleas is were all there and everything. Then Pleas hits me on my leg and I look down. What is it man? Aunt Mary. Here comes Ronnie, her son and somebody else were bringing Aunt Mary. Aunt Mary. They brought Aunt Mary. She was at my wedding. That to me all those people,she came to my wedding.

Teresa Roberson  

That's a beautiful memory. Do you still have pictures of Aunt Mary at your wedding? 

Mark  

I looked for those pictures. But I think they'd taken some. Pleas is going to look for some cause I know we took some. I don't have any because it was her and Aunt Jean was there. I wanted to get a good picture with all my aunts. Aunt Bea was there.  I mean that's all I wanted. Flat nose, barefoot, snotty kid, running through those woods. Why would this woman of such great stature to me, recognize and come to my wedding? 

Teresa Roberson  

We got to do another interview on that. Mark, thank you so much for sitting down and talking with me today.

Mark  

Well, thank you so much. This has been a good experience. I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to just tell my stories and kind of recap, or look back myself as to our family, our Strange family. Being president is probably the biggest honor I've had in a long time. 

Teresa Roberson  

Well, I appreciate you talking with us and thank you so much. 

Mark  

Thank you.