Grandpa Asbery

I ran across a beautiful pattern by Lori Rippey called Crow Hill and I knew I had to stitch it but I wanted to tweak it a little to pay tribute to my  Great Grandfather Asbery Bond. I never knew my great grandpa but I’ve heard stories and I’ve always felt drawn to him. For years there was a little county park named Bond Hill after my Bond ancestors over by the Richland area. They donated the land to the county and up until recently the county kept it as a small county park but I just discovered that it’s no longer there. So, I saw this pattern and thought it was perfect. But then I stitched it. And I do love it – but – all the stories I’ve heard of Grandpa Asbery portray him as an outdoor person who spent the majority of his time living in a cabin on the Skunk River and this picture just doesn’t seem to fit him.

After sharing this picture on Instagram with an explanation as to what it  represented to me I received a response from someone who is a distant relative. She wrote that we were related through Asbery Bond. I had known we were related and through the Bond side of the family but wasn’t exactly sure how. She went to school with my daughter so is a lot younger but she’s interested in family history and doesn’t know a lot about this side of her family.  To make a long story short, I dug out some old family history with the intention of photocopying everything and giving it to her. Of course as I was digging this all out I just had to sit down and read some of it and I realized that my Bond Hill stitchery just isn’t accurate at all. There was no way this grand old home in any way represented Grandpa Asbery. One of his grandchildren, my dad’s first cousin, wrote that Grandpa Bond was a “throwback to Daniel Boone and many other early Americans.” He also wrote that Grandpa lived in a one room cabin or what he stated would be considered a shack today. My dad has always talked about the cabin where Grandpa lived during the summer months along the banks of the Skunk River.

So – I don’t think this is a fitting tribute to Grandpa Asbery Bond. I’m going to have to do more than changing the Crow Hill to Bond Hill and the black birds to blue. I’m thinking a cabin should replace the grand old home and there needs to be an American flag to represent a very patriotic man who fought with Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders. But I love the birds so they will stay although maybe black crows instead of blue birds like the original pattern. And I like the flower as it looks like a wild Black-Eyed Susan to me, something that would grow wild along the banks of the Skunk River. And maybe even a skunk if I can design a realistic looking one. There’s also a story about Grandpa serving skunk to a visitor one day. I’ll have to share more in another post but Great Grandpa Asbery Bond sure seems to have been quite the character. I missed out on knowing him here on earth but I sure do look forward to meeting him someday, God willing!