"...hills which wall in the basin of the Seine, rise behind the town in a gentle slope, richly clothed with groves and vineyards, and sweeping towards the west in the form of an amphitheater, leave an extensive plain enclosed in the hollow between the two extremities of the curve. On the opposite bank, steeper acclivities intersected by deep valleys, and crowned with dense woods on their rocky summit, front the river, which in this parts of its course is dotted with islets. Upon one of these rests the bridge which joins the town of Vernon to the suburb of Vernonnet.

The origin of the distinctive appellation of the noble House bearing the surname Vernon, is derived, in common with many now constituting the Baronage of England, from the place of their primitive domicile in Normandy, the parent country of the last race who effected the subjugation of the older inhabitants.

Fortunately in the instance of the family of Vernon we have not the labor of tracing a dubious connection with an obscure vill or fief; the Chatellanie of Vernon formed one of the territorial subdivisions of Normandy, and the Castle with its hereditary Lords, are on record in the Anglo-Norman Chronicles...Few places can boast of a more picturesque site..."

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So proclaims the author of the Historical Memoirs of the House of Vernon, a journal depicting some origin and history of the Vernon legacy. It could be said with some reasonable accuracy that all who are born into the surname of Vernon are historical and blood cousins.

The name and its bearers are steeped in the rich tradition of France, England and America. From its location on the Seine River some 32 miles northwest of Paris, 40 miles southeast of Rouen -- site of the martyrdom of Joan d'Arc. Just a light horseback canter from the site of the signing of the Treaty of St. Clair by French King Charles the Simple in 947, giving Rollo King of the Vikings the dukedom of Normandy. Suzeraint of the noble houses of Guy of Burgundy, the D'Ivrys, the D'Anets. Claimants of historical note.

Baronies awarded by William the Bastard for service to the Ducal crown in the Norman invasion of England. The Baronies of Shipbrook, Haslington, Haddon, Hilton, Powys, Sudbury -- the list of Vernons competes with all other nobles.

Quaker persecuted, migrating to Pennsylvania in 1680 with William Penn; George Washington's elegant homestead named after Admiral Vernon of the British fleet. Towns all over the world landscape honored with the appellation of the noble name. Such are the historical claims of the name of Vernon.

1F#1 DALLIE A. VERNON

Born 5 March, 1938 at 10:10 P.M. at People's [Akron General] Hospital in Akron, Ohio to Donna Lenora Davis-Stout (still carrying her ex-husband's surname) and "Bill" Vernon. Dallie Arnold was named by Donna after her father, Dallie Davis.

If Dallie was a full-term nine-month baby, he was conceived on the weekend of 5 June, 1937, the weekend that England's Edward VIII, as the Duke of Windsor, married Wallis Simpson...the European romance of the era.

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As a March baby, Dallie is a Pisces Sun with a Taurus Moon. Rising Sign is Scorpio. An interesting combination (and he is an interesting man!). Pisceans are sensitive to a fault; moody, and highly perceptive. Perceptions are so keen that some Pisceans can sense the mood of a person without a word being said. Dallie certainly fits this description. This Piscean has a strong Taurus Moon -- not strong enough to spend a lifetime building a rock-solid nest, but strong enough to back up Pisces with a bull-like righteousness. And the Scorpio makes for a highly secretive subconscious, making plans in the darkness of the inner mind. And a persistence and doggedness which make this current 'impossible effort' a reality. Intuitive, perceptive, persistent. And compassionate. Dallie has shown considerable compassion, and fairness to a fault, in contending with the myriad of personalities involved in the writing of this work.

Dallie grew up as his brother Ron did. Mother dead when he was seven; home broken up; sisters disappeared in the maze of the child welfare(?) system of 1946; raised with his half-brother by a conscientious, caring and stern maternal grandmother.

He quit high school on the day he turned 18 years old. He needed a year and a quarter to finish high school.

Dallie got a job in a local machine building company, taking advantage of the meager shop skills he learned at the vocational high school. Soon after he married an infatuation named Patricia Ann Gagean, who turned into a genuine love.

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1F#1(1) Patricia, Pat or Patty, as the author knew her, was born 11 January, 1939 in Dunbar, Pennsylvania to Sarah Ann Cole and Joseph John Gagean. Pat was fourth of seven children of Sarah and Joe.

Joseph John Gagean, also known as Joe, was born on 10 June, 1910 in or near Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Joe was a general laborer by occupation, but preferred house painting. He died on 17 March, 1982 in the Connellsville State General Hospital in Fayette County, of cardiac arrest. He was dead on arrival at the hospital. He is interred in Greenridge Memorial Park in Pennsville, Pennsylvania.

Joe was listed at the time of his death as married 2.) to Alice Clover of the Gagean address in Connellsville.

Joe was the son of John Gagean and Anna Rape of Allegheny County. Joe also had a sister named Anna. At this writing, the author of this work has no further information or knowledge on the Gagean ancestry.

Sarah Ann Cole was born on 30 May, 1916 in Dunbar, Pennsylvania. She died of arterial hemorrhage in a tragic accident at her residence on Ira Avenue in Akron on 3 January, 1959. She is interred in grave #2, Lot #220, Section A in Chestnut Hill Memorial Park in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. Sarah reposes beside her fourth child, Wilbert "Juney" Gagean, Jr., who is in grave #3. Sarah was married 2.) on February 20, 1956 to Tony Ciarrochi in Akron.

Patricia Ann Gagean had four sisters and four brothers:

1) Pearl;

2) John Joseph Gagean- b 18 November, 1932 in Connellsville, Pennsylvania, m 23 February, 1963 to Betty Irene Hanson-Coleman;

3) Sarah Ann "Dolly" Gagean- b 11 April, 1935 in Mt. Braddock, Pennsylvania; m 21 September, 1957 to Clarence Forrest Dorner. Issue dau Lorrie Dorner;

4) Wilbert "Juney" Gagean, Jr.- b 15 June, 1937, died 17 June, 1958. Wilbert was a private first class in the U.S. Marine Corps. He was fatally injured by a passing train in Japan while on route to his new duty site. He reposes next to his mother at Chestnut Hill Memorial Park.

5) Patricia Ann Gagean;

6) Gene Edward "Guy" Gagean- b 21 February, 1941 in Connellsville, m 23 February, 1963 to Sheila Marie Durkin. Guy served at missile sites with the U.S. Army prior to his marriage.

7) Quilla Jean Gagean- b 8 June, 1942 in Dunbar, Pennsylvania, m 2 May, 1966 to Jerry Myers Clark;

8) Linda Gagean;

9) Thomas Gagean.

Sarah Ann Cole was the daughter of Jobe Cole and Edith Beale. At this writing the author of this work has no further information on the Beale family.

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Joseph H. 'Jobe" Cole was born on 2 February, 1877 in Pennsylvania, and upon adulthood became a coal man. In the 1900 U.S. census Jobe Cole is listed as a coke drawer, and an inmate of Western Penitentiary in Allegheny County (V5, E.D. 539, page 8, line 14). He died in 1956.

Jobe married Edith Beale, and they had at least eight children.: 1) Genieva "Neve" Cole- m to Mr. Anderson; 2) Elizabeth "Bessy" Cole- m to "Pokey"; 3) Joseph Cole, Jr.- b in Fayette County, Pennsylvania; 4) Charles Edward Cole- m to Nellie; 5) Sarah Ann Cole; 6) Helen Cole; 7) Ethel Ann Quilla Katherine Cole; 8) Clarence "Bud" Cole.

Joseph H. "Jobe" Cole was the son of Samuel and Mary Cole. Samuel was born in May 1850. Mary was born in March 1846. They had at least eight children: 1) Margaret Cole- b 1866; 2) Sarah J. Cole- b 1872; 3) John A. Cole- b 1873; 4) Joseph H. Cole; 5) Davis Cole- b 1879; 6) Samuel Cole- b January, 1884; 7) Elizabeth Cole- b May 1889; 8) Pearl Cole- b April 1892.

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Sarah married Tony Ciarrochi in the Akron, Ohio area and managed to buy a house for her family. Sarah died a tragic death at her home in South Akron on 3 January, 1959 at the age of 44. She was interred in Chestnut Hill Memorial Park in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio under the Ciarrochi surname in grave #2, Lot #220, Section A next to her son Wilbert. Dallie had liked Sarah. She had seemed a kind mother-in-law.

Dallie and Pat were married on 23 February, 1957 in the pastor's office of the Main Street Methodist Church (Church of the Good Shepherd), which he had attended as a youngster after the Children's Home. Donna Lenora had said her vows during at least one of her weddings at the Main Street Methodist Church. They separated and Dallie enlisted in the U.S. Air Force.

After basic training and medical school at Lackland Air Force Base (AFB), Dallie managed to switch career fields and was assigned OJT (on-the-job-training) to the 773rd Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron (ACWRON) at Montauk AFB on Long Island, New York, as a radar operator.

Dallie and Pat reconciled after some six months. Pat joined him on Long Island, New York, bringing her son 1F#1(1.1) Anthony Ray with her. Ray was born on 25 January, 1956 in Akron, the natural son of Pat and Charles Junior Isom. Isom was born on 31 July, 1936 in Franklin County, Alabama, son of Ruzell Cox and Johnnie Fred Isom, a farmer.

While serving at Montauk on Long Island, Dallie was presented with his first natural son. The birth of 1F#1.1 Dallie Arnold Vernon, Jr. occurred on 14 September, 1958 to mom Patricia. Dal was born in Southampton County, Long Island, the nearest hospital facility.

Dallie, Sr. was transferred to the 732nd ACWRON in Texas and moved the family south. On 25 March, 1960, 1F#1.2 Christopher Lee Vernon was born in a local hospital in Ozona, Crockett County, Texas.

Dallie was Honorably Discharged from the military on 14 April, 1961 at Ozona, and the family returned to Akron.

1F#1.3 Patricia Antoinette Vernon was born on 26 December, 1962 at St. Thomas Hospital in Akron. Patricia was named after mother and baby's oldest brother, Anthony Ray.

The early 1960's had offered Dallie Sr. one of those confusing recessions upon his discharge. Getting started back into civilian life was tough. However, a golden opportunity came along in the guise of a machinist apprenticeship at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, a prestigious program in a prestigious company.

While apprenticing and attending night school, Dallie was presented with a fifth child with the birth of 1F#1.4 Victoria Valerie Vernon. Vickie was born on 2 March, 1964, also at Akron General Hospital.

Dallie was with Goodyear for five and a half years, took employment with The University of Akron as an engineering technician, and Davey Compressor Company as a foreman and later an industrial engineer. After a second separation and divorce from Patricia, he eventually accepted an assignment as a "troubleshooter" engineer for Sawyer Research Products, a quartz crystal manufacturer.

Dallie had joined Parents Without Partners, a national and local support group. Indirectly through this association he met Abbie Reynolds Howard-Toole. He had been single for several years. Dallie proposed to Abbie on their first date, and married her on 1 November, 1979, 18 days later. His Piscean perception of their suitability was keen and strong.

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At the time of his marriage to me in 1979, Dallie had a small extended family group; his brother Ron and family; Dallie's own children were scattered around the country; and his Meadows' cousins in Columbus had not been seen by Dallie in some fifteen years.

But entering his genealogical search with interest, ingenuity, sound logic, patience, perseverance and a great deal of detective work, Dallie discovered family and self. He was reunited with sister Jacquie; then located and established a new friendship with his sister Patty Ann -- all separated by 39 years. He discovered who his father was, and what had happened to him. Dallie located an Aunt Katherine, the only surviving sibling of his father. Plus a family of paternal cousins. He discovered and located a cousin of his maternal grandfather, hidden away in the beautiful hills of West Virginia.

In fourteen years he's gone from being a man with few relatives and no apparent roots, all the way back to England and France, before the Battle of Hastings in 1066. This venture into genealogy has enhanced our lives tremendously. It has truly been a "joint venture" for us. Through Dallie's research and his tender handling of this work, I have come to know, understand, and love Florida Gay Ramsey and Donna Lenora Davis. From my perspective their contribution to the world was that they gave me Dallie Arnold Vernon...and I thank them both. (Abigail Reynolds Vernon)

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