Zerby Genealogy

I am updating the ancestry of my grandfather, Percy B Zerby. I began researching my grandparents 30 years ago. I even created a website, aldorrfamily.com to enable me to share the information with other members of the family. My main reference was a chapter in Dr. Vallentine’s Vallentine Family History 1980 plus whatever I could find in the internet which was not much at the time. I even exchanged several emails with Dr. Vallentine which I appreciated his patience with a beginning genealogist since it was all new to me. After 30 years I am going back and updating what I had done before. I was very pleased and surprised that one of the leading genealogists had written a book on the Zerbe’s, Martin Zerbe of Tulpenhocken : and his Zerbe descendants. At the age of 83 I really leaned on his work very heavily. Percy Zerby, our grandfather, is a direct descendant of Martin, the first Zerbe who came to America.

Other resources that I used include:

Familysearch.com by the Latter-Day Saints

Finding the ancestral home of a Palatine forefather: The case of Martin Zerbe by Henry Z. Jones, Jr.

“Mills along the Tulpehocken” XXVIII, November 1999 #1

Ancestory.com and other Internet sites

First Generation

1. Percy Brandon ZERBY, son of John Horace ZERBY and Nancy Hannah BRANDOM, was born on 2 Feb 1886 in Carrollton, Carroll, Missouri, United States,^¹ was christened in 1886 in Carroll, Missouri, United States, died in Mar 1963 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States,^² at age 77, and was buried in 1963 in Memorial Park Cemetery, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States.^³

Percy B. Zerby was a loving and gentle person with a gift for words. He did not go to college but he loved to read and always had a collection of books. His parents moved to Supply sometime after 1900. The 1910 census records for Supply show Percy was married to Lulla May and was the assistant cashier of the Supply bank. Lulla and Percy divorced and he marred Ora Million who owned the bank.

In 1911 Percy's future father-in-law, Burrell Million, bought the bank. In 1917 he married Ora Million, Burrell's daughter and their only child, Maxyne Cecilia Zerby Dorr, was born in 1919. Percy eventually became vice president of the bank and was also the treasurer of the town of Supply. The family lived in the largest home in Supply and was very much involved in society life. They would have dances in the ballroom on the second floor of their home. The bank moved to Woodward in 1929 in an attempt to survive the depression. In 1930 the bank failed and merged with the Bank of Woodward. At one time he was the president of the State Banking Association. The depression had a devastating effect on Percy which he never recovered from. Around 1938 when his daughter entered college, he started working as a clerk in the Oklahoma Highway Department in Perry, OK. Ora and Maxyne moved to Stillwater so Maxyne could attend Oklahoma A&M. He would sleep on a cot in a closet at the Highway Department during the week and go to Stillwater on the weekends. He remained a clerk until he retired 25 years later. He walked to and from the Highway Department every day. He never drove a car.

He loved his garden and was a great grandfather. His grandchildren called him "Nini" and Ora, "Mimi." He loved to work in his vegetable garden while Mimi would work with her flowers. The last few years of his life he and Ora moved to Oklahoma City to be close to Maxyne and Sam.

(See Tales of the Al Dorr Family)

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Noted events in his life were:

• Residence: 1940, Ward 2, Stillwater, Stillwater City, Payne, Oklahoma, United States. ¹

• Draft Registration: Between 1917 and 1918, Woodward, Oklahoma, United States. ⁴

• Residence: Perry, OK, 1938, Stillwater, OK.

• Draft Registration: 1942, Perry, Noble, Oklahoma, United States. ⁴

• Residence: 1900, Combs Township, Carroll, Missouri, United States. ⁴

• Residence: 1910, Supply, Woodward, Oklahoma, United States. ⁴

• Residence: 1935, Lone Wolf, Kiowa, Oklahoma. ⁴

• Residence: 1910, Supply, Woodward, Oklahoma, United States. ⁴

• Alt. Burial: 1963, Memorial Park Cemetery, Oklahoma, Oklahoma, United States. ² ^,4

Percy married Ora Cecilia MILLION, daughter of Emma Catherine KELL, on 18 Jun 1917 in Enid City, Garfield, Oklahoma, United States.⁵ Ora was born on 18 Jul 1876 in Shelbina, MO. Williamstown??, died on 27 Mar 1968 in Oklahoma City, OK, at age 91, and was buried in Memorial Park Cemetery, Oklahoma City, OK.

The child from this marriage was:

i. Maxyne Cecilia ZERBY ⁶ was born on 11 Jun 1919 in Supply, OK,^⁷ died on 30 Sep 2007 in Stillwater, OK, at age 88, and was buried on 6 Oct 2007 in Memorial Park, Oklahoma City, OK. Maxyne married Albert Edward DORR, son of Albert Ernest DORR and Laura Estelle BOSWELL, on 1 Jun 1940 in Stillwater, OK. Albert was born on 3 Sep 1918 in Macon, Fayette Co., TN, died on 13 Jul 1995 in Oklahoma City, OK, at age 76, and was buried in Memorial Park Cemetery, Oklahoma City, OK.

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