Meet the Family

It dawned on me recently that many people find this site while looking for relatives, and I haven’t made things easy for them. If someone arrives here after having Googled “stevens genealogy”, or “caldwell family”, they’ll find a frustrating lack of organization. But I must say that I prefer a more casual, “organic” layout, and find that excessive structure only serves to infuse the subject with banality, and genealogy needn’t be boring.
In order to clarify my family tree a little, here’s a quick-and-dirty outline of the family:  I’m Mark Stevens, born in 1957. My father was Homer Douglas Stevens (”Doug” 1915-2007), and his father was Homer Stevens (1888-1961). Homer’s father was Albert Stevens (1852- ?). Albert’s father isn’t known, although there was a John J. Stevens that’s a possibility. All the Stevens mentioned here lived in Ohio, primarily in Guernsey County. My grandmother was born Goldie Irene Parker (1888-1979), and her father was Henry G. Parker (1840-1914). Her mother was Emily R. McMurray (1846-1930).
My mother was born Ellen Virginia Caldwell (1921-2004), her father was Fred Joseph Caldwell (1899-1953) and her mother was born George Ella Hopson (1903-1990). Fred’s mother was Mary Belle Tipton (1871-1959), and his father, like himself, was Fred Joseph Caldwell (1861-1933). It’s interesting to note that my mother also had a brother named Fred Joseph Caldwell (known as Bubba, shown on left above with my father), which means that three generations of men had the exact same name, with no “Junior” or “the third” used to distinguish one from another. George Ella’s father was George R. Hopson (1868-1964), her mother Lou Ella Tune (1873-1920). Mom’s family all come from Tennessee, primarily the Tiptonville, Lake County area.
So that’s the short version, the family members upon which my research stems, and hopefully this information will help you decide whether there’s a tie to your family or not. If you’d like more information, I’ll be happy to share what I know. Just drop me an e-mail!