The Lorenz Family
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The story

What we know about this family, told in their own words.

Verbatim excerpts from the source memoirs and interview notes, organized chronologically. Each citation points back to the page in the original.

  1. 1738-1804

    James Thomas Sellers, 1738, Duplin County

    Bill's deepest confirmed direct ancestor is James Thomas Sellers, born 1738 in Duplin County, North Carolina, two decades earlier than the family's typed history claimed. He married Patience Parker in February 1758 in Chatham County, when both were young adults. He lived through the entire colonial era, was 38 years old when the Declaration of Independence was signed, watched the American Revolution from inside Carolina, and saw the new Republic settle into place before he died in Pittsboro in 1804 at age 66. From him to Bill is seven generations, all on American soil.

    Anchored to James Thomas SellersSource: Parallel agent research session 2026-06-06

  2. 1776-1781

    James Thomas Sellers, Patriot

    On December 23, 1776, James Thomas Sellers was appointed Justice of Chatham County, North Carolina, by the new state's revolutionary government. He served in Captain Isaiah Hogan's Chatham militia through the war, and in November 1781 the British captured him at the Raid of Chatham Courthouse. He was paroled. The National Society Sons of the American Revolution recognizes him as Patriot #P-329982, with rank of Lieutenant. He is the verified Revolutionary War ancestor of Bill Lorenz's line; the colonial American story of this family is not abstract, it is documented service in the founding of the country.

    Anchored to James Thomas SellersSource: Parallel agent research session 2026-06-06

  3. 1810-1981

    Four generations of Atta

    The given name 'Atta' threads four generations of women on the maternal Georgia side. It begins with Attalissa Sparks Stevens (1810-1873), continues through her granddaughter Atta Lissa Stevens Gresham (1866-1930), then through Atta Lissa's daughter Atta Belle Gresham Eason (1891-1981), and one more generation in the line. A small, persistent inheritance of a name across a century and a half.

    Anchored to Attalissa SparksSource: Parallel agent research session 2026-06-06

  4. 1758-1820s

    The Sellars line, back to the eve of Independence

    Bill Lorenz's deepest confirmed ancestor is David William Sellars, born 1758. He would have been eighteen years old when the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776 and of military age throughout the American Revolution. The Sellars line passes through Richard Sellars (1788-1860), Julia Virginia Sellars (1839-1906), Robert Edmund Lee Eason (1868-1917), Thomas Howell Eason Sr (1890-1954), Dorothy Mae Eason (1912-1994), and reaches Bill (b. 1949). Seven generations from David William to Bill.

    Anchored to David William SellarsSource: Eason Family History (typed)

  5. 1842-1903

    James Maskell the Fifth

    Edith's maternal grandfather signed his name James Maskell V. Roman numeral five. That suffix was not a flourish. It marked five generations of documented English James Maskells preceding him. He carried the line out of England, across the Atlantic, into Indiana, and served as a Civil War veteran for the new country. Born 1842, married Harriet Senseney (a young widow with a German-American Pennsylvania Dutch background) in 1867, died in Tippecanoe County in 1903. Buried Zion Cemetery.

    Anchored to James Maskell VSource: Parallel agent research session 2026-06-06

  6. 1923-1928 (Jim's earliest memories)

    Grandpa Lorenz spoke only German

    I don't remember much about Grandpa Lorenz, as he died of 'heart disease' at age 73, in 1928, when I was 5. He spoke only German, as I recall.

    Anchored to August LorenzSource: Jim Lorenz Reminiscences · page 1

  7. ca. 1903

    The girl's name on the family grave

    There is mention of a daughter who died as an infant. Herb thought she was born and buried in Germany, but Ella Marie said there was a girl's name on the family grave site at Grace Lawn cemetery in Elkhart.

    Anchored to Ottilie Emelia Kunkel LorenzSource: Lorenz Family Notes · page 2Research lead: A visit to Grace Lawn Cemetery in Elkhart should resolve whether there is in fact a Lorenz daughter buried there — this would name the unrecorded child.

  8. 1888-1891

    How Clark met Flora

    Clark Runyon Johnston came west from New Jersey as a journeyman carpenter, settling into the Lafayette / Frankfort / Rossville corridor of central Indiana. Flora's older sister Clara had married Allen Metzger and moved to Rossville in 1888. Three years later, on October 14, 1891, Clark married Flora in Clinton County. Their second daughter, Edith, would be born in Rossville on September 9, 1894. A sister's move had drawn the rest of the family forward into a new generation.

    Anchored to Clark Runyon JohnstonSource: Parallel agent research session 2026-06-06

  9. 1881-1948

    Ten ancestors in one Georgia cemetery

    Ten direct ancestors of Dorothy Mae Eason Lorenz are buried at Ellaville City Cemetery in Schley County, Georgia. The Dunns, the Easons, the Sellars, the Greshams all returned to that single ground over six decades. If you walk the cemetery today, you walk among Marion B. Dunn (Confederate veteran, died 1923), his wife Mary Frances Royal Dunn, their daughter Irene Rebecca Dunn Eason, her husband Robert Edmund Lee Eason, his father William Thomas Eason V (also a Confederate veteran, 5th Battalion Georgia Infantry), William Thomas's wife Julia Virginia Sellars Eason, and the rest. Ellaville is the family's physical center.

    Anchored to Irene Rebecca DunnSource: Parallel agent research session 2026-06-06

  10. ca. 1908

    811 Oakland Avenue and the Potowatomi deed

    Dad built this house around 1908; our deed on the land indicates it was part of an area bought from a chief of the Potowatomi Indians, who actually signed the deed with his mark. The house was two stories with a full attic and full basement, wood siding and asphalt shingles, AND no insulation!

    Anchored to Henry August Lorenz · Place: 811 Oakland Avenue, Elkhart, Indiana, USASource: Jim Lorenz Reminiscences · page 3

  11. 1912-1949 (Henry's working years at Buescher)

    The factory where Henry made saxophone mouthpieces was a piece of American music history

    Henry Lorenz spent his industrial career at the Buescher Band Instrument Company Building at 225 East Jackson Boulevard, Elkhart, Indiana. He started there around 1912 as an apprentice mouthpiece maker. He stayed until his retirement in 1949 — 37 years at the same factory. What the family didn't know was that the building Henry worked in was nationally significant. Ferdinand August Buescher had started his factory in 1904 with backing from John W. Fieldhouse, having previously worked for the rival C. G. Conn company. At its peak the Buescher factory employed over 300 people and made Elkhart the 'Band Instrument Capital of the World.' Buescher's most famous product was the 'C' Melody Saxophone, which drove the saxophone craze of the 1920s. At one point Buescher instruments accounted for 95% of all saxophones sold in the United States. They were the instruments of choice for Paul Whiteman, Fred Waring, and Rudy Vallee. Henry, as a mouthpiece maker, made the parts that produced the iconic 1920s saxophone sound. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 22, 1986. It was demolished entirely in March 1993. The site became a vacant lot. Jim Lorenz, writing in 1995, said the building was 'still standing on Jackson Blvd, but will be demolished for apartments soon' — but the demolition had in fact happened 2.5 years before he wrote that.

    Anchored to Henry August Lorenz · Place: Buescher Band Instrument Company Building, Elkhart, Indiana, USASource: NARA Catalog API v2 queries for Lorenz family WWII and Buescher Building recordsResearch lead: The current Elkhart site at 225 East Jackson Boulevard / 215-225 Jackson East is the place Henry worked for nearly four decades. A photograph of the empty lot today (modern street view) would complete the visual story for the memorial site.

  12. March 11, 1887

    Where Emma was really born

    Jim Lorenz's family memoir from 1995 records his half-sister Lorena's mother Emma Rodde as having been born in 'Kastopol, Russia.' For decades the family knew Emma simply as 'Russian' — born in a place that wasn't in any modern atlas. In May 2026, a place-name resolution against the GeoNames database identified Emma's birthplace as Kostopil, a town in the Rivne Oblast of modern Ukraine. In 1887 when Emma was born there, Kostopil was part of the Russian Empire — hence 'Russia' in the family memory. After WWI it became part of interwar Polish Volhynia, then was incorporated into Soviet Ukraine, and is today part of independent Ukraine. The phonetic spelling 'Kastopol' has slowly drifted across three different sovereign states without the family realizing it. Emma's descendants could now visit the actual place where she was born.

    Anchored to Emma Rodde · Place: Kostopil, Kostopil, UkraineSource: GeoNames place authority queries for Lorenz family historical place namesResearch lead: Polish and Ukrainian state archives may have civil registration records for Emma Rodde and her parents. The Rodde surname suggests German-Volhynian ancestry — likely Lutheran settlers in 19th-century Russian Empire territory. JewishGen and Volhynian SIG could help refine.

  13. 1913-1919

    How Mae came to the family

    Lorena was born April 4, 1912. Emma became ill (we think it was T B) and after 5 years' of illness died March 13, 1917. Dad, at this time, had a small grocery — Kunkel & Lorenz — at Ninth Street and Harrison Street, some five blocks from his house. When Emma became ill in 1913, Dad hired Fannie Mae Shafer — a 21 year old practical nurse — to care for her. Dad married Mae, as she liked to be called, February 14, 1919.

    Anchored to Fanny Mae ShaferSource: Jim Lorenz Reminiscences · page 1

  14. ca. 1933-1940

    Mom's mangle and the lawyers' laundry

    Mom expanded her washings — by word from her satisfied customers — who included lawyers, bankers, officials. She bought a mangle — a commercial type iron which could press big sheets or tablecloths. This was set up in our dining room. Customers would drop off and pick up their laundry — so I got to meet them all (useful for me later on).

    Anchored to Fanny Mae ShaferSource: Jim Lorenz Reminiscences · page 5

  15. ~1911-1914

    Edith left home at seventeen to become a drapery maker

    Edith Grace Johnston was the second of eight children. At seventeen, due to family issues, she left her parents' home in the Wolcott / Remington area and moved to Elkhart, Indiana on her own to find a career. She trained as a drapery maker and built a life of her own there, returning to Remington only to marry Edward Frederick Lorenz at her family home on Christmas Eve, 1914.

    Anchored to Edith Grace JohnstonSource: Ancestry.com message thread with Pamela Miller Todd

  16. ca. 1955-1984

    The three-story house and the name tape

    Per her great-niece Pamela Miller Todd: 'As a kid I loved the three story house she lived in. She was the only person I knew that had that kind of house. She kept toys in the bench I think it was in the foyer. When I moved into my first apartment Aunt Edith took me to her linen closet and gave me drapes for the windows and a few other things. She was older and had moved to a smaller house. That day she took me around the house and showed me that she had put a piece of tape with a person's name on it under each piece of furniture, shelf or knick knack. That's who she wanted to have her things when she was gone. Bless her heart I thought it was so sweet. She had even included me. She had a shelf that my grandfather had made in shop class with my name on it.'

    Anchored to Edith Grace JohnstonSource: Ancestry.com message thread with Pamela Miller Todd

  17. 1914-12-24

    A Christmas Eve wedding in Remington

    Edith Grace Johnston and Edward Frederick Lorenz were married on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1914, at the Johnston family home in Remington, Indiana. Edith was twenty, Edward was twenty-one. She had been living independently in Elkhart for about three years already, working as a drapery maker.

    Anchored to Edith Grace JohnstonSource: Edith Johnston Lorenz Family History

  18. 1967-1975 (Reagan's California gubernatorial years)

    Ronald Reagan stayed with Grandma Lorenz

    Family memory: Ronald Reagan stayed overnight at the Lorenz home while he was Governor of California, during one of his travels.

    Anchored to Dorothy Mae EasonSource: Lorenz Family History (typed)

  19. January-February 1994

    Thirty-nine days apart

    Orval and Dorothy retired together to Sun City, Arizona. Orval died at Sun City West on January 19, 1994 at age 75. Dorothy died thirty-nine days later, on February 27, 1994, at age 81. They were buried together in the same niche at Sunland Memorial Park — Garden of Peace Mausoleum, Haven of Memory GF Niche 124.

    Anchored to Orval Edward LorenzSource: Find a Grave memorials extracted for Lorenz/Eason/Johnston lines

  20. 1932

    When Roosevelt closed the banks

    In grade school, students were encouraged to bring a few pennies every week to be banked in a real 1st National Bank. I usually was given a nickel — but there was a grocery store on my way to school and they had great penny candy. Of course I had to live some, so I usually banked only 3 or 4 cents, to get the 2% interest. When the banks were closed by President Roosevelt in 1932, I had $12.55 in my account. I went to the bank to take it out — on advice — and they gave me only $4.00. The balance they would keep and maybe give to me later. So much for my financial beginning. The bank eventually did return all the money — after some years.

    Anchored to James Henry LorenzSource: Jim Lorenz Reminiscences · page 5

  21. ca. 1934

    The corn sheller and the thumb

    On one of our farm visits, around 1934, I almost lost my left thumb. I was playing with a corn sheller — a 3 foot high cast iron, hand operated machine. It had an 18 inch fly wheel of iron, with 1/2 in knobs on it, to hold and then eject the corn cobs. One cob didn't eject, so with the fly wheel still moving, I reached in with my left hand to pull out the cob. My thumb jammed in the machine caught on one of the knobs and stuck. They reversed the wheel and found my thumb had a big tear at the knuckle over 1/2 way around. Grampa Shafer ran some cold well water over it — and I passed out. Mom had come out that day with Eddie and Lorena to pick us up. We then went to the lady country doctor down the road (Maybe she was veterinarian, I don't recall.) She suggested cutting off my thumb — Mom said 'NO.' So they wrapped it up and took us home. Our old family Doctor Wagner said it might heal if we use enough peroxide. 'Soak it for 15 minutes four times a day for a week in hydrogen peroxide, then put this salve on it.' It sure looked like boiling water when I soaked the thumb in the peroxide. And it worked. My left thumb is almost 1/2 inch shorter than my right one — but I still had it — with only a scar at the knuckle joint.

    Anchored to James Henry LorenzSource: Jim Lorenz Reminiscences · page 6

  22. 1941-12-07

    Hearing about Pearl Harbor

    I well remember Dec. 7, 1941. Rex, Corvin, Bob and I were driving over to Goshen about 4 pm Sunday afternoon when the flash came over the car radio — Pearl Harbor had been bombed and most of our navy ships sunk. We could not believe it. It became real on Monday, as the entire school assembled to hear Congress and President Roosevelt declare war on Japan. Even then, we didn't think too much about it — our lives so far had hardly changed. We all had to register for the draft — but that was next year.

    Anchored to James Henry LorenzSource: Jim Lorenz Reminiscences · page 9

  23. 1944-09-05

    First mission: emergency landing at Amiens

    On Sept. 5, I flew my 1st mission as co pilot with Lt. Kinsey's crew in 'Gran Slam' — to Karlsruhe marshalling yards. This was Kinsey's crew's 13th mission. And we did not get back to base that day. Flak was heavy and accurate, as we bombed at 26,000 feet CAVU with 10 500 pound G P bombs. We had a FLACK hit in no. 4 engine, lost oil and feathered it. We hit clouds at 20,000 feet and lost the formation. We went under the clouds at 2000 feet to try to tell where we were. A landing strip appeared below, so we started to land. However, the strip had been badly bombed out, and as we pulled up to go around, we lost no. 1 engine and feathered it. We saw a field ahead where gliders and fighters were landing. We fired yellow flares and broke into the pattern and landed. This turned out to be B-48 Advance Field Base near Amiens, France, taken by Canadian forces 2 days earlier. We were fortunate they had a few aircraft mechanics who helped our crew fix the oil leaks and cylinders. We were low on fuel, so they gave us 100 5gal jerry cans of motor fuel. We had to haul it up on top the wing and filter the water out with a chamois as we poured it in the tanks. We officers did this while the crew went to town with the Canadians. We stayed overnight and were not too happy with the German snipers around. The next morning, we took off on four engines, but lost one on takeoff. Flew to England on three engines. Our radio codes were out of date, so we requested 'Colgate' fighters to escort us to base around the London balloon nets. All were glad to see us, as we were reported MIA for 36 hours.

    Anchored to James Henry LorenzSource: Reminiscences: Lt. James H. Lorenz, Pilot at Attlebridge 466th Group 785th Squadron, August 14 1944 to May 6 1945 · page 26

  24. 1944-1945

    Never a scratch

    I feel I was very lucky, never getting so much as a scratch on my missions — and no member of my crew was ever wounded. I didn't miss not having a Purple Heart medal. I was offered the job of squadron operations officer with promotion to Captain as I completed my missions. I refused, as the point system for separation from the service had been announced — and I had enough points to get back to college life.

    Anchored to James Henry LorenzSource: Reminiscences: Lt. James H. Lorenz, Pilot at Attlebridge 466th Group 785th Squadron, August 14 1944 to May 6 1945 · page 31

  25. 1944-1945

    Providence

    I had attended the Grace Lutheran Church, but never joined as a member. I went to the chaplain, told him I would like to join now. He arranged a telephone joining for me with Rev. Alpanalp — the minister at Grace Church in Elkhart. This was only the first of many events that I can't explain why I did them — but they must have been Providence guided, as I did survive against great odds.

    Anchored to James Henry LorenzSource: Jim Lorenz Reminiscences · page 10

  26. 1945-1950

    Meeting Mary at the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority

    One of the dental students at fraternity, Paul Gregg, worked as a waiter at the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority — just four houses down the street. He asked if I would like to be a waiter for my evening meal — of course I did. Providence? I not only worked there, but my last two years was head waiter. Thus, I had a key to the house — to set up the breakfast for the girls — and me. The girls had to wear dresses for dinner and waiters were in white jackets. There was one girl who was a slow eater (guess who?) — and we had to clear all the dishes and get them washed before we could leave. We would chat with her, while we cleared all the other dishes, by the house mother's permission. We were not allowed to date the girls in the house. However, when I asked the house mother if I could date Mary, she ruled that since Mary lived in the sorority annex around the corner — she did not live in the 'house.' Thus we had our first date on a hay ride — and life has been a ball ever since.

    Anchored to Mary Jeanne BurtonSource: Jim Lorenz Reminiscences · page 12

  27. 2019-04-20

    A great-niece finds the family on Ancestry

    On April 20, 2019, Pamela Miller Todd reached out through Ancestry.com after recognizing the Lorenz surname in a DNA match. Her opening message: 'You have a last name that I recognize. I have a great-aunt Edith and Uncle Ed Lorenz. Edith is the sister of my paternal grandfather Charles R. Johnston. Could this be how we're related?' Pamela is the daughter of Donna Lea Johnston Miller (Charles's daughter), and grew up close to Charles's older sister Edith. The exchange that followed re-knit a family branch that had drifted apart by geography but never by memory.

    Anchored to Pamela Sue MillerSource: Ancestry.com message thread with Pamela Miller Todd

  28. 1974-08-01

    David Tidwell — gone at nineteen

    Aunt Dot and Uncle Jim's son David Edward Tidwell was born March 15, 1955 — actually before his parents' April 1956 marriage. On August 1, 1974, while at work, David was electrocuted and killed. He was nineteen.

    Anchored to David Edward TidwellSource: Edith Johnston Lorenz Family History

  29. 1923-1934

    How we heated the house

    The house was heated by the coal fired furnace — with heat rising by convection only to the first and second story rooms; one cold air return was in the entrance hallway = 3X3 foot square made of wood. A single chain control in the kitchen opened or shut the air supply damper on the furnace — our only control of how hot we wanted it. The trick was to 'bank' the fire by shoveling in ashes over the flame to hold it overnight. In the morning someone had to go to the basement, shake out the ashes, remove any clinkers — large sintered rocks which had to be removed by hand — and they were heavy, add more coal and open the damper. Amazingly, we seldom had to relight a fire.

    Place: 811 Oakland Avenue, Elkhart, Indiana, USASource: Jim Lorenz Reminiscences · page 3

  30. 1710-1761

    Out of colonial Virginia

    William Benjamin Sellers Sr was born around 1710 in Isle of Wight County, Virginia, one of the original English colonial settlements. The Sellers / Sellars surname is English, Lancashire-Yorkshire in origin, and arrived in Virginia in the seventeenth century. From William Benjamin in colonial Virginia, the line moved south into North Carolina (Duplin, Edgecombe, Chatham, Caswell), then west into Tennessee (Maury County), then southeast into Georgia. By the time the line reached Bill Lorenz it had been on American soil for nearly two and a half centuries.

    Anchored to William Benjamin Sellers SrSource: Parallel agent research session 2026-06-06