Leetonia-based newsletter traces history of Stanley family

LEETONIA — Nelda Stanley Hawkins often finds herself immersed in old photographs, birth, marriage and death certificates and letters from long ago.

The link to the past makes the present more interesting to Hawkins, who puts her history buff personality to work as production editor of the “Stanley News.”

The newsletter, published three times a year, is the official publication of the National Stanley Family Association.

Never heard of it? The organization is on the same lines as family associations based on the common surnames of Smith and Jones.

An interest in family history led Hawkins to the first meeting of the National Stanley Family Association held Sept. 25, 1989, in Damascus, Ohio. Kenneth L. Stanley, now deceased, was elected as first president.

“There was quite a group of families with the name Stanley,” Hawkins said, referring to families in Ohio with the name. “We put out the word. Many of us had been interested in genealogy.”

Researching your genealogy can lead to surprises, disappointment, pride, embarrassment and a myriad of other emotions. The researcher never knows what will be uncovered. One quirky tidbit that Hawkins uncovered was that her now ex-husband is her eighth cousin.

“We’re all inter-related somehow,” Hawkins said, posing the idea that every person is just “five degrees” away from a relative.