The Stockdale Family Archives

Crowdfunding page established for the Stockdale Family

Following last week’s tragic double murder and attempted suicide in Ohio’s Stockdale Family, friends have established a GoFundMe page to assist them with funeral and medical expenses.

The close family is part of our bluegrass community, as they have toured as a bluegrass group for many years involving either three or four of the Stockdale brothers, often with their dad, Tim. On Thursday (June 15) 25 year old Jacob, who played fiddle in the band, shot his mother, Kathryn, and younger brother, James (21), and then turned the shotgun on himself. Both Kathryn and James died at the scene, and Jacob is being treated for serious injuries at Cleveland Metro Hospital. James was the bass player in the family group.

Needless to say, the family is devastated by the attack, both at the loss of two beloved members, and by Jacob’s actions, not to mention his own injuries.

The GoFundMe page is seeking to raise $40,000 to assist the Stockdales with the many costs associated with two funerals and what may be a lengthy hospital stay followed by therapy. Nearly a quarter of that was raised in the first day.

If you feel called to donate, you can do so online using a major credit card or PayPal.

It is an unimaginable tragedy to be visited on a single family, and all assistance will surely be appreciated.

Murder/suicide within Ohio’s Stockdale Family [updated]

The Stockdale Family: Calvin, Jacob, James, and Tim

The Stockdale Family, who have played bluegrass together in Canton, OH for many years, made the news today for a horrendous murder/suicide that occurred on their family farm in Stark County yesterday. Sheriff’s reports indicate that Jacob Stockdale shot and killed his mother, Kathryn Stockdale, and his younger brother, James Stockdale, with a shotgun before then turning the gun on himself. Jacob was seriously injured and is being treated at Cleveland Metro Hospital.

People in the area are shocked by the news, as the Stockdales were seen as the epitome of wholesomeness, partly stemming from their participation in the television program Wife Swap in 2008. The theme of that show was that moms from two very different families would swap roles, leading to all sorts of on-screen conflict. The Stockdale family came across as a squeaky clean, homeschooling, Christian family with very traditional beliefs, with no tension among family members or affinity for violence.

Jacob, 25, played fiddle with the family band, which was managed by his mom, and James, 21, played bass. At this point the Sheriff’s office has no knowledge of what transpired among the family members yesterday afternoon, or what may have led to the shooting.

Eldest brother Calvin Stockdale issued a statement on this tragedy for the family.

“My family appreciates the prayers and support we are receiving from our friends and the community. We are mourning the loss of my brother and mother and are waiting to learn more about what transpired yesterday afternoon. We thank Sheriff Maier and his staff for their help through this difficult day as well as the staff at Aultman and MetroHealth Medical Center.

While support is appreciated we ask for privacy while our family deals with this tragic loss.”

The Canton Rep newspaper is following this story as well.

UPDATE 4:30 p.m. – We received this additional statement from the family just now…

Late Friday morning Timothy Stockdale, father and husband of the family, issued the following statement regarding his late wife, Kathy Stockdale:

“Kathy has been my beloved wife of 32 years and a wonderful mother to our four sons. She loved nothing more than being a mother and grandmother. She had a strong love of learning and was passionate about her Christian faith, natural health, and organic farming.”

Late Friday morning Calvin Stockdale, the eldest brother of the family, issued the following statement regarding his late brother, James Stockdale:

“James, our youngest brother, has always been a catalyst of family fun. Aside from being a gifted musician, James enjoyed dancing and had a innate love of people. James was working on a business degree and hope to go into the business side of entertainment. He leaves behind many friends and a family that love him dearly.

My brother, Jacob, is still in critical condition and we are praying for his physical recovery as our family makes funeral plans and begins the healing process.”

Jacob Stockdale’s condition has stabilized but is listed as critical at Cleveland’s MetroHealth Medical Center.

Bluegrass Wife Swap on YouTube

If you missed last week’s episode of Wife Swap on ABC – which featured bluegrass family The Stockdales as one of the participants – don’t despair. As might have been expected, the show has appeared on YouTube, broken into five 7-10 minute segments.

These clips don’t appear to be authorized, so they may not be long for YouTube. Watch them soon if you are interested.

Should they disappear, you’ll be able to catch the show again during summer reruns.

Here’s the opening segment of the show, which aired on April 23 on ABC.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sT6gvAhanj8

Bluegrass family on Wife Swap

This week’s edition of ABC’s hit reality show, Wife Swap, will feature the Stockdale Family of Ohio as one of the subjects of the show’s family exchange experiment. Kathy Stockdale is both the matriarch of her brood, and the manager of their bluegrass group, The Stockdale Family Band. The band features her husband, Tim, and their four sons Calvin, Charles, Jacob and James.

Despite the salacious title, the actual concept of the show is to take two families with different life styles and parenting approaches, and have the moms change places for two weeks time. Of course, the cameras are there to capture the predictable conflict, all displayed on screen for your televisual entertainment.

Interestingly, ABC went looking for a bluegrass family band for this episode, and found the Stockdale family through David Russell, who manages both the Buckeyebluegrass.com and BluegrassMusician.com web sites. Russell says that they were contacted about this last year, and recommended their friends, the Stockdales, right away.

Initially, they were not interested in doing the show, but Kathy and Tim relented once they saw how eager the boys were to give it a try.

The episode was filmed last summer, and is scheduled to run on Wednesday (4/23) at 8:00 p.m. (EDT) on ABC. It is being promoted as a city/country culture clash, with Kathy Stockdale as the over-protective mom as against the more liberal mom who joins their family from town.

Kathy described the experience as one that, though trying at times, ended up being a positive one for her family.

“Being a farm, homeschooling, bluegrass band family, we enjoy a lot of common experiences, but we have to chalk the Wife Swap adventure as the grand family bonding experience for the Stockdales for which we will never be the same. We relate differently in that we have even more and deeper collective experiences where we overcame obstacles and accomplished a giant task together. No one else will understand the Wife Swap journey like we do and that is one of the things that will make our family unit different and special forever.”

I’m not sure if this is the way we want bluegrass to reach potential new converts, but no one asked me. If you are so inclined, look for the Stockdales on Wife Swap this Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. on ABC.