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Dedicated to Robert Belton (b.12/4/1911 d.11/10/1996) and Marvel Stith (b.3/18/1913 d.4/4/2002) Test
This record is being written primarily for the descedents of the Test Family and Albert Barclay and Lydia Ann Test, which group may well be called the South Dakota branch of the family.
Our records are incomplete, particularly as to dates and place names, but are interesting to study. Two different familys of our ancestors may be traced to the early days of this nation. The Lawrences and the Strawns were those two families.
The Lawrences perhaps lived in Eastern Virginia from the time they came here from England, until they fled from Hampton, Virginia, to Ohio, during the slave insurrection led by Nat Turner in 1831.
The first Strawn mentioned is of interest because he was a companion of William Penn when his party came to Pennsylvania on the good ship "Welcome", for the purpose of founding a colony. It is in the records of this branch of the family that we first find the name Test, when Margaret Strawn became the wife of Isaac B. Test.
The following lists of names, dates, and any available comments, is the total of all the marterial our family has.
Since this work was started, including the stories of the Strawn and Lawrence families, we have been able to secure a copy of a Test history compiled by Mr. Nathan Hall, whose history goes back four generations earlier than the name Test entered our records. We are including the information Mr. Hall has sent us, for which we are deeply grateful. It has been added to our tree.
Each family group and each change in residence, every birth, marriage, or death, could tell its own dramatic story. We need only to use our imaginations to picture the way these ancestors or ours must have lived. Making a home for the children of each succeeding generation was their task, as it is ours.
***Note***
Strawn is sometimes spelled Straughn.
Rudebeck is sometimes spelled Rudeback.
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