My mother was the first born child of Otto & Eula Carpenter Best "Papa & Mama Best" from Carpenters Campground, Maryville Tenn. Thomas Carpenter was my 3rd & also my 4th great-grandfather (my grandparents were distant cousins, both being Carpenter & Best descendants). In 1855 Thomas gave the land for the Carpenters Campground Cemetery. Every year on the 2nd or 3rd weekend in May there is a Decoration Day at the cemetery. Many of the the family descendants can be found decorating the graves on that Friday afternoon/evening and there is a memorial service on Saturday morning at the adjacent Carpenters United Methodist Church. My father was the first born child of Herman and Lucille Foley Sprenger, he died when I was 3 years old. My paternal Lineage is the Cashman/Foley & Sprenger's from Cleveland, Cuyahoga County Ohio and the Oster/Keller & Sprenger/Jacob's from Massillon, Stark County Ohio. My family settled in Massillon and were active members of St. Mary's Catholic Church, founded in the 1839 for a congregation largely composed of German and Irish immigrants. The current historical High Gothic Revival architecture church was completed in 1880 and is now on the register of historic sites and the US shrine for St. Dymphna. Both sides of my family mostly emigrated from Germany with the exceptions of my Irish paternal Foley/Cashman great-grandparents and my maternal Scott-Irish Wilson, Roddy and Johnston ancestors. This genealogical journey has been enlightening on my own upbringing and personal values. I have connected with many of the family descendents along the way. If you are researching your family and find your way to my page, please feel free to drop me a note.

A people without knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.
-Marcus Garvey

My mother was the first born child of Otto & Eula Carpenter Best "Papa & Mama Best" from Carpenters Campground, Maryville Tenn. Thomas Carpenter was my 3rd & also my 4th great-grandfather (my grandparents were distant cousins, both being Carpenter & Best descendants). In 1855 Thomas gave the land for the Carpenters Campground Cemetery. Every year on the 2nd or 3rd weekend in May there is a Decoration Day at the cemetery. Many of the the family descendants can be found decorating the graves on that Friday afternoon/evening and there is a memorial service on Saturday morning at the adjacent Carpenters United Methodist Church. My father was the first born child of Herman and Lucille Foley Sprenger, he died when I was 3 years old. My paternal Lineage is the Cashman/Foley & Sprenger's from Cleveland, Cuyahoga County Ohio and the Oster/Keller & Sprenger/Jacob's from Massillon, Stark County Ohio. My family settled in Massillon and were active members of St. Mary's Catholic Church, founded in the 1839 for a congregation largely composed of German and Irish immigrants. The current historical High Gothic Revival architecture church was completed in 1880 and is now on the register of historic sites and the US shrine for St. Dymphna. Both sides of my family mostly emigrated from Germany with the exceptions of my Irish paternal Foley/Cashman great-grandparents and my maternal Scott-Irish Wilson, Roddy and Johnston ancestors. This genealogical journey has been enlightening on my own upbringing and personal values. I have connected with many of the family descendents along the way. If you are researching your family and find your way to my page, please feel free to drop me a note.

A people without knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.
-Marcus Garvey