Marion was born November 3, 1925 to Bob and Margaret Striger in Jackson, Ms . She has a twin sister, Margaret McKibben. Marion was married June 7, 1943 to Hugh D. Thompson, Jr. and they had three children: Margaret Claire (Peggy), Hugh Dow lll, and Anne Mason. Marion was divorced from Hugh and married Joe Tarver in 1979.

Margaret was born on April 26, 1902 and died December 12, 1985. She was named for Samuel Robert Smith's second wife. She attended Belhaven College in Jackson, Ms. Margaret married Bob Striger on October 4, 1924. They had twin girls, Margaret and Marion. Stated in the family history book Sweet Peas and Pink Layer Cake: "Good times, bad times always in good spirits- making a real effort to make everyone around her happy. Her real joy is helping others. She has made the best of every situation, and in the different places they have lived, has always made true friends." Her grandchildren called her Mammy.

Bob Striger was born in Covington, Ky. on March 24th, 1897. He died Sept.30, 1979. He graduated from Elbert Hubbard College, East Arora, New York with a degree in Engineering. Quoted in the "Sweet Peas & Pink Layer Cake" family history book, 'Few people had a mind like his. He studied and kept up to date with chemistry and mathemathics until the time of his last illness. He enjoyed church, family and friends. He was an elder at North Park Presbyterian Church. He called his wife Margaret "Maggie". His grandchildren called him Grandan.

Back in 1820, General Sam Houston married a young woman by the name of Eliza Allen, who left him after 11 weeks of marriage. It has been a great mystery all these years as to why they separated. Because of this separation, Eliza changed the course of history! Sam resigned as Gov. of Tennessee soon after. He had a good chance of being elected President of the United States, with the help of Andrew Jackson, had he stayed in Tn. A book has even been written about this marriage called "The Ravens' Bride". Seven years after their divorce in 1837, Eliza Allen Houston married our kin Dr. Elmore Douglass in 1840. They had three children, all of which died young in life from scrofula, so they are not directly related to us through bloodline. Eliza directed from her deathbed that all personal correspondences and portraits be burned in the fireplace in her room so she could see that they were truly destroyed. She also requested that her gravesite be unmarked. For at least 100 years, her wished have been honored, however in recent years, her grave was marked. She is buried in the Gallatin Cemetary in Tn. Alot of information can be found online by searching "Sam Houston and Eliza Allen". Eliza was his first wife.

The following was taken from the Douglass-Fulton-Fondren Family History book, by Kenneth Wills


In 1893, a young man named David Fondren opened a grocery store at the intersection of what were then the Tougaloo and the Jackson-Canton Roads. David Fulton Fondren was 23 years old and he and his young bride, Annie B. Smith, were just beginning a wonderful and fruitful life. In 1895, a post office was established in a corner of the "D. F. Fondren & Company Grocery Store". David was appointed Postmaster of the settlement, offically know as the Asylum Heights and informally as "Sylum Hill". Residents of the area objected to the offical association with the Insane Asylum, petitioned the post office accordingly and the name was changed to Fondren, Miss., a name still associated with the area, althought "the hill" has long since been incorported into the city of Jackson. David, who served as postmaster of Fondren for 33 years, operated his grocery store in the same location for 37 years. He sold "everything from horse collars up". A huge iron stove at the rear of the store was known as a gathering place for area residents. In 1906, David took his nephew, Elmore Douglass Greaves, into partnership. Shortly thereafter, David and Elmore branched out into the real estate business playing an important part in forerunners in North Jackson's real estate development. In 1917, David's daughter Marion (Aunt May) started working in the store in preparation for her assuming managment of the grocery business. Sometime around 1930, the Fondrens built a new store at 2715 North State St., just across the street from the old store, which was razed to make way for another commerical enterprise. This store operated in it's new location until 1953, where it was phased out of existance. "Fondren" was the location of Jackson's first major modern shopping center, "Morgan Center", opened by E. E. Morgan in 1946. The Fondren Station post office branch is now appropriately located at 629 Fondren Place. It is the cornerstone of the shopping center, now known as the "Woodland Hills Shopping Center". The town of Fondren still exist today http://www.fondren.org/index.html

The following is taken from http://www.fondren.org/history.html

The Fondren neighborhood began in 1833 as part of a large 5,000 acre plantation located three miles north of Jackson, Mississippi. Owned by the Garland family, it was broken up during the Reconstruction Era following the Civil War. A small settlement had formed at the extreme southwest part of the area, nestled in the fork between Canton Road and the old Tougaloo Plantation Road, now called North State Street. The fork was also the location of a state asylum which later became the area for construction of four Fondren area hospitals. The initial inhabitants of the community worked in the hospital, and the only store at the fork was David Fondren's General Merchandise and Fancy Grocery. In 1894 a government post office located in the store adopted the Fondren name for the community. The Fondren Post Office continues today, located about one-hundred yards to the north of the original store site.

**************************************************
(Another version posted online)
Most of the land north of Jackson had been farmed. Some five thousand acres of it had belonged to the Garland family, whose holdings were destroyed during the war. The Cade property came from these holdings. David Fondren purchased some of Cade’s land in 1893 and built a wood frame general store there. The location, at the fork between Canton Road and Tougaloo Road, also fronted on a rail spur which served the Insane Asylum Property. Fondren was thus well situated to serve the small but established community, the hospital, and the north-south traveler.The growing community was in need of a post office, and in 1894 one was established in the Fondren Grocery. Some residents felt ‘Sylum Heights was not a desirable name for a community, and they petitioned the US Post Office to establish the station as Fondren. A Fondren Post Office still exists today, less than a block away from the original location.