TWIGGTOWN CHRONICLE

JUNE, 2021 75th Twigg Reunion is Sunday, June 27th! Union Grove Campground

WHAT’S INSIDE: MAKING THE 75TH REUNION A REALITY! • “Ginger” Robinette Hello Family! I hope you are all doing well and keeping safe since we last met virtually for Twigg reunion. In 2020 we had a virtual reunion! We were not going to be denied! There were guessing • Twigg Ministries games, graduation announcements, and an awesome genealogy presentation by Krista Cessna on the • Reflections of Two Twigg Twiggs beginning with their arrival on the eastern shore all the way to Twiggtown. We will be making Sisters this reunion a reality this year on Sunday, June 27th at Union Grove Campground so make your plans • now to attend in person! The Year 1947

Reunion Officers

President: Jeff Mcintyre Vice President: Patty Hopkins Secretary: Carolyn McDonald Treasurer: This year we will be having guessing games, kids games, a business meeting and watermelon. All the things that make Twigg reunion a tradition. Alex Twigg If you would like to see the presentation from last year and watch the entire virtual Twigg Reunion, please go to www.twiggtown.net. We are looking forward to meeting in person with hugs all around. Now more than ever it is important to maintain our family traditions so make sure to plan your visit for Twigg reunion!

TWIGG REUNION AND COVID Because Governor Hogan with a mask and bringing writing, it is all systems go has lifted the mask mandate your own food, please feel for the 75th Twigg reunion for outdoor events at the free to do so. We will have at Union Grove. It will be time of this writing, we will sanitizer available. Should great to have a “normal” have the reunion as usual things change before the reunion this year with food, with a pot luck lunch. reunion, be prepared to fellowship and frivolity. Please bring food to share bring your own picnic lunch Looking forward to seeing so we can all sample the fine for your immediate family everyone! cuisine of the Twigg clan. If and a desert to share with Jeff Mcintyre and Wayne Twigg you feel more comfortable everyone. But as of this Past Presidents PAGE 2 TWIGGTOWN CHRONICLE

MEET GINGER (AKA VIRGINIA ROBINETTE)

Ginger is a housekeeper at the MD State Finan Center. Her very hot PPE costume included gown, gloves, hair net, shoe covers and a battery pack for air. It only required a couple minutes to dress in the gear. During the pandemic, the Center requires employees to pass a temperature check every day and take a Covid-19 swab test every week. In the strictest part of the pandemic, for one month, Ginger had to dress in her gear and go to her assigned cottage. She had to stay in the same area for her whole shift and patients had to stay in their rooms. Surprisingly, the patients were not disturbed by the protective equipment. They were glad to see Ginger. She cleaned and cleaned, non stop then went home and took a bath, had supper and went to bed by 6pm. The next day was the same routine all over again. For two additional months, the gear was reduced to a face mask and face shield. Now, the temperature checks still happen every day and Ginger wears a mask and gets tested for the virus every week even though she is vaccinated. Employees can choose to be vaccinated or not.

Ginger is the daughter of William and Una Robinette and her grandmother is Una Twigg.

LIFE IN 1947? Popular Songs: Dinah Shore-Anniversary Song; Bing Crosby-White Christmas; Frank Sinatra-Mamselle Popular Movies: Miracle on 34th Street; The Ghost and Mrs. Muir; Out of the Past, Angel and the Badman; Gentleman’s Agreement; The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer; Life with Father; Road to Rio; Tarzan and the Huntress. Sports: #42 Jackie Robinson is the first African American in a major league baseball; Jimmy Demaret wins his second Masters golf tournament shooting a 281. Heavy weight Joe Louis KOs Tamy Mauriello; Yanks beat Dodgers in 1st televised WS; Jack Kramer won tennis’ US Open for a grand slam title; The Tour de France returned after a 7-year hiatus due to WW II. In the world: India declares independence from the UK; the AK-47 goes into production in the USSR; WW II peace treaties signed; USSR increases power in Eastern Europe, takes control of Poland, Hungary; National Security Act passes as the US gears up for the oncoming Cold War; Princess Elizabeth of England marries Prince Philip in West- minster Abbey; International Monetary Fund begins to operate; the UN votes to establish an independent Jewish state; The disposable diaper is invented. US President: Harry S. Truman Average costs: gallon of gas-15₵; loaf of bread-13₵; postage stamp-3₵; house-$1,824 Average wages per year: $2,850 Mysteries: UFO allegedly found on July 7 in Roswell New Mexico; The still unsolved “Black Dahlia” murder in Los An- geles Notable births: Farrah Fawcett; Elton John; Kareem Abdul-Jabbar; David Letterman; OJ Simpson; Arnold Schwarzenegger; Stephen King; Ted Danson; Don Henley and many, many more since the baby boom was ramping up. Science: Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier; first mobile phone; first instant camera; first recorded use of the word “computer” referring to a digital machine; the first use of cardiac defibrillation on a human subject; The international Or- ganization for Standardization is founded; Raytheon produces the first commercial microwave oven. In : State sales tax passed; women allowed as jurors in Maryland; Colts played and won their first game in Baltimore (Memorial) Stadium; The Twigg family of Allegany County, Maryland hold their first family re- union. PAGE 3

Twigg Reunion 75th Anniversary 1947-2021 Sunday June 27, 2021 Union Grove Campground, Maryland

Schedule

9:00 AM: Set-up Tables

11:00 AM: Registration and Table Set-up

12:30 PM: Invocation and Lunch

2:00 PM: • Annual Business Meeting and election of officers. • Kids Games • Watermelon Time and Vis- iting…

The first reunion was in honor of Daniel Chapman Twigg. He was born June 4, 1855 at Twiggtown. He was 21 years old on April 13, 1876 when he married Mary Emma Willison at Murley’s Branch, Flintstone. They moved to Springfield, West Virginia where Daniel was a farmer and hotelkeeper. The family moved to Cumberland and Daniel became a blacksmith and repaired cars for the Railroad. He lived for 96 years and died on April 18, 1952. Daniel and Mary Emma’s children were: Olive Grace, Ira Rufus, Genieva Pearl, Ethel Rosanna, Jessie Oleta, Nellie May and Harriet French Twigg.

The first president of the reunion was Charles Thomsen, first vice-president was Claude Twigg, first secretary/treasurer was Erma Harshbarger, first historian was Dorothy Barnes, first co-chairs of recreation were Mrs. Alton Walston and Mrs. Oliver Blaker and the first chair of entertainment Cumberland Times—1947 was Mrs. Gladys Daniels.

Even at the first reunion in 1947 a picnic and business session was Seated: Daniel C. Twigg held. Officers were selected. By 1954, the newspaper clipping shows that a prayer was included and prizes for the largest family present, traveling the Behind: Children Jessie, Ira farthest distance, the oldest person attending, the youngest person attending. and Pearl Movies were shown from previous reunions and games played. PAGE 4 TWIGGTOWN CHRONICLE

TWIGG MINISTRIES By Krista Cessna Does anyone remember attending the 1954 Twigg Reunion? Rev. Edgar Barrick entertained approximately 200 relatives with songs that he sang in an Indian language. Do you remember Aunt Virgie, Aunt Daphne or Aunt Mary Agnes?

These three daughters of Horace and Lourenna (Middleton) Twigg were destined to Religious Ministries. Mary Agnes Twigg was 23 when she married pastor David Moreland in Ohio on January 5, 1905 in Findlay, Ohio. Daughters were Lourenna (born 1906) and Oilena. The whole family evangelized in Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Impressively, Rev. David became the State Superintendent for the Church of God in Missouri in 1927 and State Superintendent in New York in 1937. Lourenna Moreland Smith became a minister in Tennessee. Agnes died in 1967.

The second sister, Daphne E. Twigg graduated in 1909 from Allegany High School, attended Frostburg Normal School and Tri-State Business School in Cumberland. She was 23 when she married Rev. Oliver Brann on October 25, 1916 in the little pioneer Pentecostal Church in Cumberland. Brother-in-law, Rev. David Moreland officiated. Oliver had been an ordained minister in the United Brethren for five years. Then they both became ordained ministers with the Assembly of God Church in 1917 and poured their Mary Agnes Twigg Moreland time into their Westernport, MD church. Rev. Oliver was voted to be the very first district superintendent of the “Assemblies” of Maryland. Their children were Rev. O. Kenneth Brann (b. 1917); Leona Marguerite (b. Oct 25, 1919 and Naomi Pearl (b. Oct 22, 1921). By Dec 1921 they were called to minister in Canton, Ohio. They moved from hall to event tent and tent to hall until they built Bethel Church on Elgin Avenue. They followed a call to Cincinnati in 1923 and worshipped in an old theater building. They moved to Mansfield, Ohio to pioneer “a work” in a tent until the weather got too cold. Some times were tough. One week all they had to live on was the $6 that son, Kenneth made on his paper route. In 1930, the Brann’s found themselves ministering to Faith Tabernacle, Binghamton, NY. In 1934, Rev. Oliver launched a 5 week evangelistic campaign at their original Westernport, MD church which turned into a pastorship. In February 1935, Rev. Oliver Brann teamed up with brother-in-law Rev. David Moreland and nieces, Rev. Oliver and Daphne Twigg Brann Lourenna and Oilenna, for a very successful 7 weeks evangelizing at Westernport. Rev. Oliver Brann died in 1951. Rev. Daphne was a favorite at our Twigg Reunions. She amazingly lived during three centuries and when she died on March 10, 2001 at 110 years old was the oldest living Assembly of God minister. She served as an ordained minister for 84 years. And the legacy continued- Their son, Rev. Kenneth pastored in Pokomoke City, Maryland where he and his wife, Harriet founded one of the first Assembly of God Churches.

The third sister, Virginia accepted a proposal at Lovers Leap overlooking the Cumberland Narrows. She was 26 years old when she married Jacob “Edgar” Barrick Sept. 25, 1918, at the North Cumberland Assembly of God Church. Her brother-in-law Rev. Brann was the officiating clergyman, and brother-in-law, Rev. Moreland was the pastor of the church. Rev. and Virginia Barrick both attended Beulah Heights Bible School, North Bergen, NJ. and received their licenses to preach on March 27, 1919 and Edgar received his ordination in 1920. The couple pastored in Kitzmiller and Cumberland until they embarked with their son, Ralph Osmonde (b. 1919), for India on March 8, 1922. They crossed the world six times in the next 38 years. Both learned the local PAGE 5

TWIGG MINISTRIES (CONT.) language as they served in Bara Bani, Rae Bareli, Karachi, Moghal Sarai, Calcutta and Lucknow. Rev. Barrick survived smallpox. The couple’s first daughter, Miriam Gertrude, was born in Rae Bareli in 1924. Doris Jean was born 1928 in Cumberland, MD. All three children attended school in the Himalayan Mountains at Woodstock School in Landour, U.P. In 1939, the family returned home and helped build the Calvary Pentecostal Church in Cross, W.Va., where Rev. E. Barrick pastored until 1946. In 1945, their daughter, Miriam, graduated from Central Bible College in Springfield, MO. and married Rev. George R. Cook, also a missionary to South Virginia Twigg Barrick and Rev. J. Edgar Barrick India. After returning to India in 1954, Rev. Barrick was elected as Superintendent of the North India district council and helped break ground for the English Language Church in Calcutta. In the fall of 1961 Rev. and Mrs. Barrick retired from service and served the people of Cumberland with home and hospital visits and counseling sessions. The couple attended the Central Assembly of God Church, 2020 Bedford Street. She died in 1981 and he died in 1983. Wow! The dedication of these three families is inspirational. Twigg Happenings! Graduations • Rachel Aydlett Cessna graduated from East Carolina University with a Masters of Science in Network Technology • Jack Twigg graduated from Bishop Walsh High School with Honors • Ariana Marie Hedrick graduated from Allegany High School with Honors • Kyle Cessna from WVU Potomac State College. BS in Sustainable Agriculture Entrepre- neurship • Katie Twigg graduated with a Masters of Arts in Teaching from James Madison University • Lexis Zalewski graduated from Allegany High School. • Gracie Cessna graduated from Everett High School, PA • Laurel Fleszar, Hershey High School, PA • Trevor Grabenstein, BS in Computer and Information Sciences from Shepherd University and commissioned into the AF through UMD’s AFROTC program

Additions to the Clan • Jacob Twigg born on August 28, 2020, son of Michael II and Shannon Twigg • Twins Mia and Emma Hawbaker born Oct 30 2020, daughters of Ashley (Twigg) and Kenneth Hawbaker Jr. • Haisley Hetrick born July 31 2020, daughter of Megan (Shafer) and Justin Hetrick. Grandparents are Bruce and Car- la (Grabenstein) Shafer. Great Grandparents are Betty (Twigg) and Ronald Grabenstein. • Griffin Twigg, son of Ned & Mandy Twigg, Great Grandson of Austin D. Twigg 3rd.

Weddings • Melissa Twigg and Dennis Bartlett married July 11, 2020. Melissa is the daughter of Thomas and Regina (Zachary) Twigg. • Mandy Grabenstein and Cameron Gillum, February 6, 2021. Mandy is the daughter of Tony and Rose Grabenstein. She is the granddaughter of Betty (Twigg) and Ronald Grabenstein • Justin Nines and Amy Thornsen, August 1, 2020. Justin is the son of Patty (Grabenstein) and Cecil Fields. He is the grandson of Betty (Twigg) and Ronald Grabenstein • Stephanie daughter of Carrie Phillips married Marvin Yeung. Grandparents are Claudette Twigg and John Phillips. PAGE 6 TWIGGTOWN CHRONICLE The Legacy of Two Twigg Sisters By Nancy Twigg Nearly 15 years ago, I had the chance opportunity, in Historic downtown Cumberland, to tour the artists’ home studios of Meg and Dave Romero. These two artists had transformed the Historical architecture I once knew as Lazarus’ Department Store. Their spacious artist loft studios were inspirational with high, vaulted-tin ceilings and floor to ceiling window vistas of the pedestrian mall below. Their work spaces were ingenious; all the while, fully functional for their respective art forms. Dave is an award-winning professional photographer, and Meg a multimedia artist of great renown. The entire first floor was now an antique emporium, but the upper levels were their workplaces and home.

“If these walls could speak, oh, what stories they would tell!” I said. Meg whole-heartedly agreed and said “I’ve got something to show you.” She led me to a large closet space. Meg pulled back a drape and revealed a large mirror she and Dave had uncovered during their building and studio renovations. Ladies original signatures were etched all over it! The signatures themselves had been personally scratched in with the diamond rings of newly engaged fiancées from the Cumberland area around the late 1940s-1950’s time period. Meg explained that she thought the mirror came from the bridal boutique and was some sort of tradition for the young “bride-to-be”. What with the wedding gown, honeymoon ensemble, or fittings done and all ready for “the big day”, the bride-to-be most likely was asked to sign the mirror with her engagement ring. Because of the rose cut on the diamonds in that period, the solitaires actually cut glass. “How cool!” I reacted. Meg asked me to look over the names. She asked me if I recognized any of the signatures etched there…. It took me no time at all, clear as a day, there it was …….my aunt’s name. “Lucille Twigg! There’s My Aunt Lucille!” My aunt Lucille, now known as , Lucille McIntyre, loving wife and business partner to Carl Lee McIntyre. “I never really ever called her by her Twigg name” I thought. Lucille Twigg. All of my Aunt’s went by their last names. Actually, rare as it may seem, two of my aunts married two handsome brothers from the same family, the McIntyre family. Two Twigg Girls married two McIntyre boys!

When I think of my Aunts Lucille and Lois, I can see “the line-up” of beautiful girls in home- sewn country dresses, two of my dad’s five sisters. Each one a classic beauty. My dad rattled off their names in rapid-fire fashion in succession by birth years. While holding up the five-fingered count, he’d zip off :“ Betty, Lois, Lucille, Marjorie, and Patricia!” Five beautiful and caring Aunts. Sisters one and all. They had one big brother, the oldest and only boy, Bobby. (My dad, Robert William Twigg) All of the Twigg girls were raised in LaVale, the area previously known as Long, Maryland. The family of Mary E. and Claude O. Twigg. Lucille Twigg married Carl Lee McIntyre and Lois Twigg married Carl Lee’s younger brother Robert McIntyre. Unique to both the Twigg and the McIntyre families were the Lucille Twigg Mcintyre siblings numbered opposites in sexes. The McIntyre’s had 4 boys and 1 girl; The Twigg’s had 1 boy and 5 girls.

Lucille and Carl Lee, and Lois and Robert: The McIntyre’s did everything together. They married in close successive years, had their baby birthing and family raising years together, they dined in and out together, they traveled to exotic places together, they square danced together, they went to the horse races and placed bets together, they prayed together in the same Catholic Parish. Both McIntyre couples raised their families and built their businesses together. Lois and Robert had children: Barbara, Bobby, and Susan. Lucille and Carl Lee had children: Carolyn, Jeffrey, Steven, and Christine. Both my Aunts and both my Uncles were very industrious and owned their own businesses in town, working, you can guess how?.... TOGETHER! Willison Oil Company was Lois and Robert’s and The 7 Day Market was Lucille and Carl Lee’s. They raised their families and saw generations flourish. They became grandparents and great grandparents together.

My guess is, if you were to ask anyone in town they would know my relatives. Most can remember walking into The 7 Day Market on the corner of Valley Street and Henderson Blvd, gathering up their grocery supplies and having the sum total written up on “a bill” kept underneath the register. A balance due that would be paid at another time or a later date, when it could be better afforded. How kind! Those were the days. Most likely many can remember having their meats freshly cut by the butcher in the back, my Uncle Mac.

Similarly, my Aunt Lois and Uncle Robert ran a vital business serving the needs of our community. Throughout those cold winter days here in Allegany County, Western Maryland, heating oil is of paramount importance to all. Willison Oil employed many throughout the years and it was truly a family run business with many members of the direct family employed as well. When it was a cold bitter night here in Allegany County and there was any sort of trouble with a furnace, rest assured, you could count on Aunt Lois to answer that phone and get you the help you needed.

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Those two Twigg girls and McIntyre brothers gave generous contributions in the community and generous prayers as well. Through their lives, volunteerism, commitment to their church and their community, their children and spouses, their many grandchildren and great grandchildren, they continue to make their mark here in Cumberland, that’s their real signature: family and generosity. Etched in all their respective families, etched in the work they did, etched in the way they were. Just like diamond wedding rings, they shine so bright as a symbol of familial love.

My Uncle Robert and Aunt Lois call heaven their home now. My “Uncle Mac” and Uncle Carl Lee are surely up there placing bets and making sure every angel is nice and warm with bellies full. In my mind, they gather together and send my Aunt Lucille all their love every day.

One thing is for sure, Uncle Mac made a beautiful decision when he proposed and gave that diamond ring to that Twigg girl, Lucille. The girl who bought her wedding dress at Lazarus Dress Shop, the girl who excitedly and hopefully etched her signature into the mirror glass way back in 1953, the Twigg girl who posed for that stunning wedding portrait so many years ago. Their marriage lasted “until death do us part”. They shared many blessings with their family and with their Cumberland community. My Aunt Lucille left more than her signature on that glass that day, she’s left a mark and continues to sign everyone’s heart she has ever met. She has been very blessed and in turn blesses many, that’s the lovely legacy of Lucille’s signature. It is the same exact legacy as the other Twigg Girl, Aunt Lois left. Simply stated: Family is everything and they stay together and with you through life!

My visit with the Romero artists was memorable. It was intriguing to see that Historic mirror, feel the excitement of the young brides in their signatures. What beautiful etched reflections.“ If mirrors could speak, oh, what stories they’d tell!” Lois and Robert Mcintyre

Dr. Homer Lee Twigg Jr., 94, of Twiggtown, died on Nov. 24, 2020. He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Bettyanne (Bethea) Twigg; and six sons, Homer Lee III and wife, Nancy, Theodore Walter and wife, Sabrina, Robert Linden and wife, Regina, John Alexander and wife, Kerry, Richard Damian and wife, Joan, and Michael Oliver and wife, Erika. He leaves 19 grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by one grandson. Dr. Twigg was born in 1926, in Westminster, and spent his childhood in nearby Hampstead. He was the son of Mr. Homer L. Twigg Sr. and Henrietta (Roop) Twigg. He had three sisters, Martha Lee Getty, Henrietta "Sis" Murray, and Jane Willis. After graduating Hampstead High School, he served in the Army Corps of Engineers during World War II, prior to attending the Univer- sity of Maryland. Dr. Twigg graduated from the University of Maryland with a Bachelor's Degree in Biology in 1947. He received his medical degree from the University in 1951. He entered the United States Public Health Service and served in Boston and American Samoa, where he decided to become a Radiologist. Dr. Twigg joined the faculty of the department of radiology at Georgetown University Hospital in 1957 and was named the chair of the department of radiology in 1967, a position he held until 1981. It was during his tenure that the world's first whole body computed tomography (CT) scanner was developed at Georgetown by Dr. Robert Ledley. Dr. Ledley and Dr. Twigg published the first study on the utility of that scanner in the highly prestigious journal Science. Dr. Twigg was an avid reader and devoted opera-lover. He enjoyed collecting rare pottery and playing bridge with his friends and family. A lifelong fan of the Washington Redskins, the Baltimore Orioles, and his beloved Maryland Terrapins, he loved sharing them with his sons. What he loved most of all was spend- ing time with his large clan at holiday gatherings. In 1996, Dr. Twigg retired permanently to the family farm located in Twiggtown, where he lived until shortly before his death. Dr. Twigg was buried in the family cemetery at Twiggtown in a small private ceremony.

W. Scott Murray, Sr. ,78, passed away peacefully at his home in Martinsburg, WV, on March 21, 2021 with his family by his side. Son of Charles Murray and Henrietta (Sis) Twigg Murray, he spent his boyhood years in Collingswood, NJ and graduated from Rutgers University before earning his master’s degree at Cornell University. He served in the U.S. Public Health Service in Boston, MA. Returning to private life, he worked in hospital administration in Mt. Holly, NJ, and continued his career serving as hospital president at Taylor Hospital in PA. He also served as president of Memorial Hospital in Cumberland, MD and president of Soldiers and Sailors Hospital in Penn Yan, NY, and president of the Masonic Home of Virginia. He closed out his healthcare career doing interim nursing home jobs where he served in administration or as president in NY, PA, NJ, MD, and VA which afforded him more time with family and for traveling. Scott was an Eagle Scout, he helped to open a wilderness camp in upstate New York and served on various boards as an adult. As a Christian he served his Lord as an elder in Presbyterian churches nearly every place he lived. He was the much-loved father of three children, Bill, Steve, and Heather. He was the proud grandfather, “G-Dad” of three grandsons, Austin, Wyatt, and Cooper. He and his wife, Joanne (Stevenson) Murray were happily married for almost 56 years. He will be sorely missed. Chronicle Staff Twiggtown Chronicle

Editor 11700 Glenrose Lane, SE Flintstone, MD 21530 Richard Twigg

Contributors

Krista Cessna Nancy Twigg Dave Twigg

H AVE SOME TWIGG NEWS YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE? W E WOULD LOVE TO GET IT IN THE CHRONICLE. If you would like to participate in our genealogy efforts or family updates, please contact Krista Cessna at [email protected] S END YOUR NEWS AND HISTORIC DOCUMENTS TO To contribute to the financial cost of the Twiggtown Chronicle and reunion, R ICHARD@ TWIGGTOWN . US please visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/twigg-reunion or send a check to the address above. Thank you for your support.

Twigg Memories