The following materials were gathered and compiled by me, Elizabeth Thrash Brady, over a period of several years for the use of my immediate family and the family of my husband, Rev. Troy Robert
Brady.
Genealogy became a hobby of mine in the early 1940's, after I discovered some history on the Crislip family in America. It was in a book belonging to an old lady in Lewis County, West Virginia. I copied the facts as given, but failed to record
the name of the author or the publishing turn. I believe it was, A History of the Crislip Family. From the early 1940's until the middle of the 1950's I gathered information from family Bibles, county and state histories, genealogical and
historical sources, and from many of the older members of all branches of both of our families. Most of these older people have since died.
During my college and teaching years I was too busy to give time to this hobby, and too far away from the locality of our "roots" to pursue this interest. Not much was added to my records during these years, except to keep the records up to date
on the descendants of Marion James and Lillie Henderson Thrash, and of Walter Parley and Bergia Knaggs Brady.
During the summer of 1977 my husband became as interested in genealogy as I had been for years. We had a three month drought here in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, and since there was much less lawn and garden work to do we decided to pursue
the search for our roots in a more scientific way. Between August 9th and October the 29th of that year we searched the court houses, family charts and libraries in two Pennsylvania, nine West Virginia and eight Virginia counties.
We feel our search has been quite rewarding and very fascinating. We now know so much more about our forebears than previously. Each court house seemed to lead to another so we have continued our search over the years. As opportunity presents we
will persist in our efforts to learn as much as possible about our "beginnings."
Requests for part of my research materials have come from many sources. I am always glad to be of help, for it is a real delight to visit by mail with relatives who have been complete strangers to me. I have always done this with no remuneration,
except the expense of xeroxing and mailing the information, but since I have spent hundreds of hours in research and work, and at no small expense, I do ask that I be given credit for gathering and compiling any information received from me.
Now, at the advanced age of almost eighty seven years, I plan to publish my work in book form as a gift to my two sons and eight grandchildren and other descendants of Marion and Lillie Thrash and Walter and Bergia Brady. I realize that all
errors have not been eliminated and that the same information is given more than once, in a little different form in the manuscript. I must acknowledge the many, many hours of tedious editing my good friend and neighbor, Hilda Calley, has devoted
to checking this work I deeply appreciate her eagle eyes and the time she has spent on this task She found several typographical errors that would have been missed had I not had her assistance. In spite of our careful editing, some mistakes will
slip through Errors in dates may be due to my sources of information, as well as inaccurate recording on my pan I apologize for any of the latter.
I wish to give credit to my son, Howard Landis Brady, for the many hour of work he has devoted to preparing the pictures to be added to this record. I have purposely given rather long legends to these. A genealogy is not intended for
entertainment, but as a source of information. The printed captions supply a little of this information. They will be the primary source of this knowledge for most of those who receive this book. It was Howard who insisted that it be put in book
form. He will use his knowledge, skill and technology to accomplish the end result. Now, the last week of June, 1994, I expect to complete my work on this endeavor, before turning it over to Howard for publication.
Beginning with Roman numeral, "I" is the earliest progenitor I have been able to confirm in each branch of the family. Succeeding generations continue with II, III, IV, V., with the children listed in Arabic numbers.
