Sunday Search: Virginia Versus New Jersey

While searching through the pages and pages of Revolutionary War documents I happened to stumble across a very familiar name, Jacob Dufford. While we have been aware for some time of our immigrant ancestor providing supplies to the Continental Army on 17 December 1780, this document was completely different. This document which caught my attention was the “Names and ranks of those killed or taken on Long Island the 27^th day August 1776.” The second name on that list, clearly printed, is Jacob Dufford. While an exciting find to be sure, it was quickly tempered, as I am familiar with the various Dufford families in the colonies at the time which begged the question, is this the same Jacob Dufford?

First, let’s consider the candidates…

Given the death of their original immigrant in 1767, the New Jersey line of the Dufford family has one possibility, Jacob Dufford from Morris County who was born in 1745 and died in 1822. Note that Morris County is immediate west of Northampton County, Pennsylvania. When conducting a further search into records, no other reference could be found regarding this Jacob Dufford and the Revolutionary War. In the Virginia Dufford tree, given the fact that the second generation Jacob was only 12 at the time, there really is only one possibility being that of our original immigrant, Jacob Dufford who was born in Alsace Lorraine on 12 January 1734, arrived in Philadelphia on 27 October 1764, and died in Augusta County on 12 April 1800. At the time, Augusta County extended well beyond its current boundaries all the way to Pennsylvania. Those are the two possibilities, the only two names that match.

Second, let’s consider the service document…   

The document which I discovered listed Jacob Dufford as having been killed or captured during the Battle of Long Island on the 27^th day of August 1776. It also notes his enlistment date being 13 July 1776 and his discharge date being 1 December 1776 (the date on which the Flying Camps were disbanded). This information was confirmed when I was able to find his official service record. Despite his length of service being recorded as 1 month and 15 days, this second document, the only other document I could find and produced in November 1776 in Elizabethtown, provided me with some further details regarding the service of Jacob Dufford. As it turns out, he was a part of the Pennsylvania Infantry serving in Captain John Arndt’s Company of Colonel Baxter’s Battalion of Northampton County in the State of Pennsylvania of the Flying Camp… the Spartans of Long Island. While Baxter’s Batallion later fought at Fort Washington, it is doubtful that Jacob Dufford was present and/or able to fight as the prisoners taken by the British at Long Island were kept in inhumane conditions and nearly starved to death during their incarceration.

While this initial reading of the documentation suggests, based on county proximity, that this was a member of the New Jersey Duffords, I had to be sure and decided to look more closely into the history of the Flying Camps since I was unfamiliar with that term. Among the various writings on this obscure organization of militia forces during the Revolution, John Allen Miller’s article “The Flying Camp Batallion”, published on the Emmitsburg Area Historical Society webpage, proved to have the most complete history. In this article, Miller writes on the formation of the “Flying Camps”:

On June 3, 1776, the Continental Congress resolved "that a flying camp be immediately established in the middle colonies." For its part, Pennsylvania was called upon to provide a force of some 6,000 men. Delegations of one officer and two enlisted men from each of Pennsylvania's fifty-three associated battalions met in Lancaster, on July 4, 1776, for the purpose of selecting this force. Then, on July 10, 1776, the Bucks County Committee of Safety, citing "the Resolve of the late Provincial Conference for embodying four hundred of the Associates of this County," appointed the following officers to command. (Pennsylvania Archives, 5th Series, Vol. V; History of Bucks County, Davis)

The flying camp received little support from New Jersey. Pennsylvania sent some 2,000 associates, many of who were quickly drafted into service by Gen. Washington in New York. More men soon arrived from Maryland and Delaware, but despite the best efforts of Gen. Mercer the flying camp was fraught with difficulties almost from its inception, and never realizing its full potential was disbanded by the end of November, shortly after the fall of Fort Washington. (Pennsylvania Archives, 5th Series, Vol. V; History of Bucks County, Davis)

There was little mention of Virginia which seemed to strengthen the possibility of this being part of the New Jersey Dufford family history. And then I came across this paragraph later in the article which once again had me questioning which Jacob Dufford fought at Long Island:

A (Flying Camp) Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment was authorized June 17, 1776 in the Continental Army and was assigned to the Main Army. The Regiment was organized June 27, 1776 to consist of the three existing companies two from Maryland and one from Virginia, plus two new companies to be raised in Maryland, and four new companies to be raised in Virginia. The regimental organization was disbanded with the surviving Virginia portion being transferred on February 3, 1777 to the 11th Virginia Regiment and the Maryland portion provisionally reorganized in November 1776 as a single company under Captain Alexander Lawson Smith and attached to the 4th Maryland Regiment.

Taking all the evidence into consideration…

Given the later enlistment date of 13 July 1776 and the fact that few from New Jersey volunteered for service in the “Flying Camps” (and those who did volunteer would have likely done so in June and the early part of July, it is possible that the Jacob Dufford mentioned in this service record is, in reality, my immigrant ancestor. Of course, it would be nice to have additional evidence, even circumstantial, to now tilt the needle in one direction or another. While there seems to be little information about the Jacob Dufford from New Jersey (there is no service marker on his grave), there are a number of interesting facts regarding my Virginia ancestor that have swayed my opinion.

First, in looking at the family tree, there are no children conceived or born during the year 1776. Following his arrival through the Port of Philadelphia in 1764, he married his wife Christineh in Pennsylvania in the 1760’s and had his first child in the commonwealth as well. His subsequent children, Jacob and Johann (John), were born in Virginia and Maryland respectively. Later, the first mention of him owning land was when he purchased 268 acres in the newly formed Shenandoah County in 1778. He would later purchase 200, 205, 323 acre lots in Augusta County Virginia in 1780, 1788, and 1794 respectively. At the time of his death, according to the entry in the deed book on 29 October 1801, Jacob Teaford (Dufford) owned approximately 882 acres at the time of his death.

All of these things wouldn’t necessarily equate to anything except for the fact that when Jacob Dufford first arrived in the colonies he did so as a poor farmer. Somehow, over time, he amassed hundreds of acres by the time of this death. While much of this can be a testament of his work ethic, it is also logical to assume that some of this land acquired was from his service during the Revolution (not just a donation to the cause). This is why when considering both the hard evidence and the circumstantial facts surrounding the life of Jacob Dufford of Virginia, I believe that, despite his age at the time, he is the one who served in the Flying Camp as a member of Baxter’s Battalion and was captured at the Battle of Long Island.   

Sunday Search: Tracing Back To Yorktown

My Sons of the American Revolution application begins with a very concise statement which reads:

“I hereby apply for membership in this Society by the right of bloodline decent from John Redcross [my 5th great grandfather] who assisted in establishing American Independence while acting in the capacity of private in the Amherst County (Virginia) Militia in 1781 under Major Cabell, Colonels Gaines and Pope.”

While this is certainly true, and has been verified as such, it only tells a portion of the story about my ancestor.

John Redcross was born in Amherst County, Virginia in 1740 as a member of the Monacan Indian Nation. While there is little known of about his early life we do know that while we know he was one of many Monacan men who served during the Revolutionary War beginning his service in February 1779 as a member of Captain William Long’s Company of the 2^nd Virginia State Regiment commanded by Colonel William Brent. He served in this infantry unit likely until the spring of 1780 when most of the regiment was discharged. However, there is the possibility that he remained in the regiment and was reassigned to the Amherst County Militia under Major Cabell as both the 2^nd Virginia State Regiment and the Amherst County Militia participated in the Siege of Yorktown and were present at Cornwallis’ surrender.

It is also noted in the book Strangers in Their Midst: The Free Black Population of Amherst County Virginia that “In 1781 he [Rawley Pinn], John Redcross, and Benjamin Evans were part of the 2^nd Virginia Cavalry and left Amherst on June 21, 1781 under the command of Maj. William Cabell, Jr. Between Amherst and Yorktown, they joined the troops of the Marquis de Lafayette, and all participated in the siege at Yorktown.” It is fascinating to think about this unique band of brothers, bound together by heritage, by race, and patriotism, fighting for the freedom that their families would be deprived of for almost another two hundred years.

While the link to his previous service is something that still comes with a few questions, and despite the lack of acknowledgement in the history books, what is certain is the role that he played at Yorktown as his name can be found written in the hand of Colonel Daniel Gaines in his list of “Militia ordered into service from Amherst County… March to join the army commanded by the Honorable Major General Marquis de Lafayette, June 21, 1781” as well as the list of soldiers from Amherst County who served at the Siege of Yorktown published in the Lynchburg News on Thursday, May 22, 1884.

Officially discharged on April 25, 1783, John Redcross returned to Amherst County where he would continue raising his family until his death in 1800. And while there have been many instances when the family origins have been questioned, namely the registration as “mulatto” and as “free black” in the mid-19^th century, the attempted revision of ancestral history by Walter Plecker in the early 20^th century, and the ongoing surname associations with the Cherokee, the Redcross name is of Monacan, and therefore Sioux origin. In the aforementioned Strangers in Their Midst: The Free Black Population of Amherst County Virginia, the author writes the following while referencing Peter Houck’s book Indian Island in Amherst County,

“John Redcross (circa 1770-1861) is considered a second founder of the settlement. In 1783, his father (also John) was shown with 11 whites in his household, but Houck believes that the son and namesake “was probably the only pure-blooded Indian man in the original settlement” [page 66]… Redcross has been described as Cherokee, but the evidence does not support that, leading to speculation that he may have been Monacan or at least Siouan. John’s son Paul was said to have looked like his father, “… every inch an Indian… straight as an arrow, long haired, with high cheek bones and copper skin.”

This is a particularly interesting passage for my family as it follows three generations from which we are descendants.

While this lineage may have been lost to my family for decades, it is now a living part of who we are and has proven to be a valuable connection to our family’s history and participation in the Revolutionary War. This is a part of our family history that will never again be forgotten. And now, the next time we visit the Monacan Burial Ground on Bear Mountain, we can pay our respects not just to our ancestor but to man who fought for our freedom.

Sunday Search: Membership Approved!

On June 17^th my family, being descendants of Private John Redcross who served in the Amherst County Militia, was officially approved for membership in the Sons of the American Revolution. The wait is finally over and years of genealogical research has now been verified. A lineage that was absent from our tree only a decade ago is now ingrained in our collective identity. An identity that now consists of Monacan blood and a history of patriotism that traces back to the founding of this country including our participation at the Battle of Yorktown (more about this story in a future post). There is no longer a question or beginning our statements with “I think” or “we believe”, now we can respond with certainty and clarity. Now we know.

This is the first of many applications that I will be submitting to verify various lines of my family history. In fact, I am nearing the end of completing my second application (first supplemental application) this time tracing back to Private John Noblit on my mother’s side of the family. Like the first, this is a lineage which we were unaware of until only a couple of years ago. With little information having been passed down in the family, much of what I have found over the last decade, including this discovery, was forgotten but now can no longer be considered lost.

While I am uncertain as to the order of subsequent applications there are many lines which I need to investigate further. Of the dozens and dozens of possibilities it will all come down to a simple process of proceeding with the one which holds the most promise and, more importantly, the most documentation. It will be a lifelong project that will never be “complete” and I am okay with that as each application, each patriotic line that is verified, strengthens the roots of our family tree.

There will be many applications that will be submitted but it is this approval that means the most. This is the first step to that lifelong process and is something that I am proud to pass down to my son. We are part of a greater history of this country and our family, like many others past and present, can now make the honest claim that we helped to form and shape this nation. This is the next step in our continued effort to strengthen our ties with our heritage which was started decades ago when those initial family lines were revealed to many of us. This is our history and we can never again allow it to be forgotten. This is an important part ensuring that we will always remember.

Sunday Search: Other Genealogy Groups

More piles of paperwork like this one should be expected...  

While I should hear back soon, I am still waiting to hear back from the Sons of the American Revolution regarding my application tracing back to John Redcross. As this process continues, I am looking into a variety of other genealogy, specifically hereditary and lineage based, organizations. The first group consists of those closely tied with the current outstanding application and the supporting documentation already compiled. This should streamline my application for the Sons of the Revolution. And while currently under consideration through a different line, it is possible that I may submit an additional application tracing back to John Redcross to the Monacan Indian Nation… we just need to find that one additional document!

Of course, while compiling the other supplemental applications to these aforementioned organizations, there is the possibility that I could uncover additional information prior to the revolution or find ancestors who served as commissioned officers. In these instances I will be sure to process additional applications to the Order of the Founders and Patriots of America, the National Society Sons of the American Colonists, The Society of the Cincinnati, and the General Society of Colonial Wars. All of these organizations have varying genealogical requirements so there really is no guarantee that I will be able to successfully gain membership but I can always try so long as I have the evidence to support my claim.

Given the broad history that we have uncovered in my family, on both sides, it is interesting to see where I can submit applications for membership. After all, not all lines can be traced back to the Revolution, or involvement thereof, so it is quite useful to have a number of other organizations to join for not only the purpose of enjoying the company of others with a common family history but also as a means to confirm and verify the research and genealogy work that we have done. Depending on the family line, there are a variety of other organizations for which I have already pulled together the necessary documentation which include the Society of the War of 1812 (Jacob Teaford), the Sons of Confederate Veterans (George William Clapsaddle), and the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (Jacob Worth).

The only other organization that offers some certainty as to whether or not we will be able to gain recognition is the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania which recognizes the First Families of Pennsylvania. This recognition is achieved by a “GSP member who can prove descent from a resident of what is now Pennsylvania” during one of the following time periods: Colony and Commonwealth: 1638–1790; Keystone and Cornerstone: 1791–1865; or, Pennsylvania Proud: 1866–1900. There are plenty of ancestral options on my mom’s side of the family and, surprisingly, a few possibilities on my dad’s side as well. These will, most likely, be submitted as I pull together information for some of the aforementioned organizations when there is an overlap in the genealogy.  

Those are the organizations where I have a certain level of confidence that I will, at one point or another, be submitting an application for membership. However, there are some other lines that I have been tracking which, while I have yet to fully document, could provide some additional opportunities to submit applications to the Military Order of the Stars and Bars (Confederate Officers), Aztec Club of 1847 (Mexican War), The Huguenot Society of America (French Huguenots), and the Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York (ancestors living in New York prior to the Revolution). Again, I consider these the long shots but if the documentation is there I will gladly submit the applications.

Less Than Some, More Than Others

Having paid closer attention to the number of miles that I accumulate over the year, it is a bit staggering to think about all of the driving that I have done over the past year. Given recent circumstances, it is difficult to determine a truly accurate number but I still have a good sense about how many miles I can expect to put on the new car. This is especially true given the fact that I have already tallied about 2,500 miles over the first nearly three weeks since I picked it up. Of course, that includes some of the usual trips just to get acquainted with the car during the first week.

For someone who used to put 10,000 miles or less on a car annually, the numbers are pretty surprising when I sit down and calculate my travel from the past year. Just between the miles that I put on the Jeep (22,500/ 9 months) and those that I have put on the Mercedes to this point (2,500 / 3 weeks), I can already expect to see approximately 25,000 miles annually. Add in the miles that I put on the rental cars over the month and a half of use (3,000) and the additional miles that we put on my wife’s car over the past year during family trips and while driving the rentals (4,000) and the total miles over this past year jumps up to 32,000. Yes, this pretty much ensures that I will be replacing my car every three years to keep from driving beyond the warranty.

To put that total in perspective, I drive enough miles annually to travel around the Earth along the equator (24,900 miles), complete a cross country trip across the United States and back (2,800 miles each way), and I would still have 1,500 miles remaining in case I wanted to take a detour to two. Of course, that adventure would be much more interesting than the vast majority of the miles that I have driven this past year as the bulk of my total (over 25,000 miles) consists of my daily commute to and from the office during the week. Especially given recent events, this is not a fun nor interesting part of my year behind the wheel.

In fact, I remember more about those other 7,000 miles than I do about my time commuting. In addition to the 2,500 miles that we put on my wife’s car exploring Virginia last summer, we also put some miles behind us driving over the Pittsburgh, Hershey, and a few day trips here and there. It was also enjoyable (and highly annoying) driving up, down, and across different streets during our prolonged home search. I would like to experience more miles exploring this year. Not as many as a couple of years ago when we traveled all over the Commonwealth (and then some) but somewhere in the middle. Of course, it helps that our son enjoys exploring new places and doesn’t mind (too much) being on the road.

Sunday Search: Three Months In Norfolk

In September 1814, as the first draft of the Star Spangle Banner was being drafted by Francis Scott Key in Baltimore Harbor, my 4^th great grandfather, Jacob Teaford, was standing guard at Fort Norfolk over 200 miles away. During his time at Fort Norfolk, much of the combat was taking place elsewhere as, having been soundly defended in June of the previous year during the Battle of Craney Island, the British had turned their attention to other ports in the Chesapeake Bay. However, there was much with which Jacob had to cope during his service which frequently fails to gain mention in the history books.

Born around 1790 in Augusta County, Virginia, Jacob Teaford enlisted in the 6^th Regiment of the Virginia Militia on July 14, 1814 for a term of 6 months and served in Captain Joseph Larew’s Company of Infantry under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Henry E. Coleman. When he first was assigned to Fort Norfolk, Captain Samuel Thayer of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had just begun work on improving the defenses which would continue through the summer and early autumn of 1814. There is little doubt that many of the men assigned to the Fort at that time participated in the completion of the necessary improvements.

However, by the fall of that year, the soldiers at Fort Norfolk faced a new challenge as disease ran rampant through the ranks of the militia. As the weather continued to get colder, the casualties continued to mount to the point that mass graves were dug in what is now the city of Norfolk. While there is little evidence to substantiate this claim, it is likely that Jacob fell ill during late September or early October of 1814 as he was discharged from service on October 14, 1814, exactly three months since he first enlisted.

Following the war, Jacob Teaford married Sophia Catherine Snider on May 4, 1820, had ten children, and supported his family by continuing in the “family business” as a farmer in Augusta County, Virginia. Having lived through two wars and being predeceased by over half of his children, Jacob passed away on April 19. 1877 in Mount Solon, Virginia. While he received a pension for his brief service later in his life, as did his widow following his death, there is little known about those three months of his life during the war beyond that which has been reconstructed above.

Sunday Search: Confederate Service

Following my records request that I filed with the National Archives a few weeks ago I decided to do a little more digging into the service of George William Clapsaddle during the Civil War. It seemed odd that he would have been discharged less than a year after enlisting in the 28^th Virginia Infantry. This was especially intriguing as there was little information on ancestry.com including the vague details found in his application for assistance from the Federal Government that he filed on 10 November 1902. 

While I am still waiting on the documents from the National Archives, the next logical step was to reach out to the local chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. With the few details that I had been able to record, I posted my query to their Facebook page and, through the assistance of a very helpful member of the group, I was able to learn about a few more details about my 3^rd great grandfather. Following our discussion, I turned my focus to fold3.com (I have a membership but, too often, I neglect to search this site) and was able to get a much more complete picture regarding his service in the Confederate Army.

George William Clapsaddle was born on August 29, 1834 to John Jacob Clapsaddle (who also served in the Confederacy even at his advanced age at the time) and Catherine Rinehart. One of four known children, he grew up on a farm in Botetourt County, Virginia. According to records, he enlisted in the 28^th Virginia Infantry (Company K) in Amsterdam, Virginia by Lieutenant Robertson on 20 July 1861 (one day before the regiment’s participation in the First Battle of Bull Run (Battle of First Manassas) and, despite originally enlisting for a period of one year and having not received any pay, he was “Discharged from military service… by Secretary of War” at Fairfax County Court House in Virginia on 30 September 1861. Later documents recording the receipt of back pay show that he was discharged on December 28, 1861.

While there is no supporting documents from 1862, it is likely that, after having received compensation for his previous service, he immediately reenlisted in the Confederate Army this time serving in the 12^th Virginia Calvary (Company E and D). It is possible that, during this time, George Clapsaddle participated in what would late be called Stonewall Jackson's Valley Campaign in the spring of 1862. However, it was while in service of this company that he was captured by Union forces at Charleston, Virginia on June 15, 1863, charged with assisting in the capture of cavalry officers and sent to Fort McHenry, Maryland and later Fort Delaware, Delaware.

After being included in a prisoner exchange on July 30, 1863, he returned to the 12^th Virginia Calvary where he was once again discharged. In early 1864, he enlisted for a third time this time serving as a private in Captain W. Hays Otey’s Company of Virginia Light Artillery in charge of local defense and assigned to the Confederate Arsenal Ordinance Depot in Danville, Virginia as a machinist where he served until the end of the war.

After the war, George Clapsaddle returned home, resumed farming, and married Margaret Ann Bowyer (daughter of Joseph Brown Bowyer and Elizabeth Betsy Stevers) on November 30, 1865 in Fincastle, Botetourt County, Virginia. They would go on to have eleven children including my 2^nd great grandmother, Sallie Betty Clapsaddle, who was born June 20, 1870 and married Roy H. Teaford on June 21, 1892.  

Late in life, while living with his oldest surviving son, Ray, he did apply for assistance from the Federal Government which he filed on 10 November 1902. While it is unknown whether he ever received assistance, what we do know is that he passed away on December 16, 1916 at the age of 82 not from old age but rather “epithelioma of upper lip, nose, and cheek”. While not specified, it is likely that it was a cancerous growth from which he has been living with for two years prior to his death. He was laid to rest, along with his story, in the cemetery at Galalia Church in Gala, Virginia.

Sunday Search: Genealogy Shows Return!

While many television shows are wrapping up for the season, there is another batch of programming that is just starting their new seasons. While Who Do You Think You Are? started it’s short season a few weeks ago and is already approaching the finale, Genealogy Roadshow has yet to begin with PBS scheduling the premier for May 17^th at 8:00pm. Here is the preview for the new season:

Thankfully for many of us, having the genealogy shows starting now allows us to indulge in our passion for family history without having to miss some of our favorite dramas and sitcoms. While I am a fan of both, it is nice to take a break from the fictional world to watch people discover new aspects about their ancestors. And, in reality, some of the connections that people make to historical events and people would not be accepted as plausible in the eyes of many television producers. History will trump fiction just about every time. I have seen it and I have experienced it firsthand… it is hard to believe the stories that the facts provide sometimes.

What is also interesting to watch during this time of year are shows like “TURN: Washington’s Spies” on AMC which bridges the gap between history and fiction not only in the story itself which has elements of both but in the production as well. While you may watch scenes taking place in colonial Philadelphia in reality, many of those scenes were filmed in Colonial Williamsburg. It is actually quite interesting to watch an episode and see some of the buildings that I had walked by and through just last summer.

In fact, Colonial Williamsburg has started a sweepstakes this year for fans of both the show and the historic site. All you have to do is tweet at @colonialwmbsurg using #IspyCW every time you catch a glimpse of the colonial capital during each episode of TURN: Washington's Spies, for a chance to win. The winner will receive the following: roundtrip airfare for two, a $500 gift card, two nights' hotel stay at the Williamsburg Lodge, and two Colonial Williamsburg admission tickets.

This is one of my favorite photos from our trip to Colonial Williamsburg last summer... 

While these three aforementioned shows are quite different from one another I hope that the results are the same. I believe that history is an essential part of our knowledge and understanding the world around us and knowing your own family history can have the same impact on understanding ourselves. And the best part about it, at least for me, is that this is a never ending process. I know I will never be able to learn about every aspect of my family history let alone history in general but that doesn’t stop me from learning, researching, and sharing what I know with family, friends, colleagues, and anyone who reads this blog. After all, we must preserve history and perpetuate the ancestral knowledge that we have worked so hard to obtain in the hope that every succeeding generation knows just a little bit more.

Sunday Search: Local Resources

One of the first resources, beyond that of family members, pictures, and documents, which we all use when we begin our genealogical journey consists of numerous memberships to various websites. Websites like Ancestry.com are great resources and powerful tools to build the basic framework of your family tree but they are by no means the only resource out there and, in fact, there will be numerous holes still remaining once those databases are exhausted. Where the real work begins is when there are still questions to be answered. This is when the local and offline digging begins.

Too often, local resources are overlooked in recreating the lives of ancestors. It may seem obvious to many of us that have been researching for years but these museums, schools, societies, groups, associations, libraries, and local records offices are frequently forgotten by many. It is a sad reality of the current state of genealogical research as most people starting out and many that have been working on their families for some time often fall into the trap of marketing and instant gratification. This is particularly astounding when you consider the fact that these local resources were once the foundation of countless family histories.

And I must admit that there are many times when I too have overlooked these tremendous resources. Sometimes the most obvious places are overlooked, sometimes they are places that we frequent every week or every month. A great example of this is my local masonic lodge where I have access to all of the records. Knowing that my family has at least a little history with this building and fraternity has made it possible to find some supplementary information that added to the lives of many in my tree. Taking the search to grand lodge widened that group of ancestors even further.

When my family and I traveled to Virginia last summer some of the stops we made we to these local places unavailable online. And, of course, sometime just being in the places, the communities, where my family lived proved valuable to offer perspective to the stories that have been passed down and in adding dimension to the lives of ancestors. Sometimes local depositories are also the only place where the information will be found as has been the case for me with some of the cemetery records near me.

The other important factor is that sometimes when I business closes or moves out of the area, much of the company history is left with the local government, library, or historical society. If you know that an ancestor spent their life working for that company it is certainly worth the time to talk to those local resources. However, the most important aspects to all of this are the simple truths that local resources have local experts who are usually willing to assist you with your research without the exorbitant costs that can sometimes be charged by general sites and/or firms and this research can serve to strengthen your ties with that community whether or not it is the place you call home. After all, those communities are also part of your family history.

Mortgage Monday: Directions

We have yet to find the roads like the ones we found exploring in Virginia. 

Every time that my wife and I have moved it has taken us a while to get our bearings. Generally speaking, when we have moved to a new place we have known one or two ways to get to certain places while there were other destinations that remained a complete mystery as to what roads we needed to take. This inevitably led to studying various maps of the area just to figure out a few roads that took us to places where we could figure things out from there. Having been looking in our current area for the past two years and driving around on the roads from time to time since our first visit, this map studying was less of a factor than it had been in the past.

However, there are still plenty of places where we drive that it is nearly essential to pull up the directions on the cell phone and, as we proved this past week, we are still not confident in our navigation to simply just get in the car and drive. When driving to my sister’s house last week, I knew how to get there but having never taken this particular way in the past, the landmarks were unfamiliar and some of the route numbers weren’t as clearly marked as I would have liked. Driving back was an entirely different story altogether as the way with which I was familiar was nearly unmarked and we found ourselves pulling over and pulling out the cell phone.

While we can manage to get to most places without much forethought, they are still the rudimentary ways of getting from point A to point B. The next step for us (and my wife is well ahead of me on this one) is to find the back roads that cut out the truck traffic and long lights. For me, that has always been the best sign regarding my comfort level with a particular place and how well we know the area. That being said, I still stink with giving directions as I am more of just knowing where to turn rather than recalling the specific street names.

There are a lot of pleasant roads around where we live and there are countless little shortcuts that we have yet to discover. For me, this is one of the fun parts about moving is being able to explore without ever being too far from home. The difference this time around is that the vast majority of these routes are nearly empty with the exception of the occasional car or buggy compared to the previous places we have lived when we would spend more time waiting at lights, pausing at stop signs, and following the slowly moving out of state cars. Now I can keep a steady pace and relax as the landscape rolls by the windows.

Sometimes fog hinders our ability to explore.

Sunday Search: A Second Marriage

On June 21, 1892, my great great grandfather, Roy Teaford, married for the second time to Sally Bette Clapsaddle. Roy, who can also be found under many other names, had lost his first wife, Mildred McNulty, earlier in the year and had employed Sally to care for his three young children. It is unclear exactly how the relationship developed over the months but, by summer, the two married and soon after began having children of their own. This included my great grandfather, Harry Gilmore Teaford, who was born just over three years after they first married on September 28, 1895.

Both Roy and Sally had deep roots in Virginia with both families predating the Revolutionary War. Roy had spent his life to that point laying track for the railroads through the Appalachian Mountains while Sally, 13 years his junior, was only just beginning her life beyond the walls of her childhood home. Roy came from a long line of farmers, from his great great grandfather Jacob Teaford who arrived in the colonies on October 27, 1764 to his grandfather, Jacob Teaford, who served in the War of 1812 and his father, John Wesley Teaford, who was the first to move the family out of Augusta County.

Sally’s family was long a mystery to me but the lines that have been explored in recent years are rather fascinating. Sally’s parents, George William Clapsaddle and Margaret Ann Bowyer, married shortly after George returned from serving in the Confederate Army during the Civil War and settled in Botetourt County. Ironically, both of her parent’s families trace their roots back to Pennsylvania having migrated down to Virginia around the same time that Roy’s family was arriving on the continent with both the Clapsaddle and Bowyer families intermarrying throughout the 19^th century and during parts of both the 18^th and 20^th centuries. Many of these records can be found in “The Related Families of Botetourt County, Virginia”.

When all the other lines from both Roy and Sally’s families are taken into consideration it is astounding how far the family tree stretches throughout Virginia as well as many of the other colonies. Some of those surnames include Cook, Bailey, Riggins, Pemberton, Stinson, Belcher, Snider, Wilfong, Veitheim, Stever, Brown, Schmucker, Steel, Hester, Rinehart, Mankey, Niday and Caldwell. Of course, there are alternate spellings for just about each one as well. Basically, if you scan the pages of the history books you are bound to find at least one of these surnames somewhere in the pages. All of these names tracing back to two people, my great great grandparents, Roy Teaford and Sally Clapsaddle.

Sunday Search: Land

The photo above is the barn on the original homestead for the Teaford family on Kerr's Creek, Virginia.  

Land is an important part of family history. It gives us the connection to previous generations, decades, centuries, and sometimes millennia after the lives of our ancestors. Knowing where we come from and finding those roots has always been something that has been of particular interest to me. This is part of what has driven me in recent years to find that land of our own where my wife and I can raise our family… and actual place, a piece of this earth, that we own. This was also important to the first generation of my family in the late 18^th century.

From Nellie Teaford Wood’s book which is included on the family website:

In 1780 Jacob Düfford bought his first farm in Augusta County at the foot of Sugar Loaf Mountain, a small round hill on property now part of Silverbrook Farms. With his wife Christenah and six children he came from Shenandoah County, where he had resided since 1774 on land in the Fairfax Grant.

Düfford had arrived in Philadelphia on the ship Hero on 27 October 1764, but his origin has eluded researchers. That he spoke and read and wrote German is established by his signatures in Philadelphia and in October 1792 in Virginia. He joined 193 residents in petitioning the Virginia General Assembly, citing their unacquaintance with the English "language" to publish laws in German so that "they may more cheerfully comply" because they have "always contributed their part of the support of government."

Virginia State claims show that he, along with other "Augusta Germans," did his part by furnishing flour for the Revolutionary army in 1780. 

…

The immigrant Jacob died intestate in 1801, owning three farms. The papers settling the estate in Augusta County Courthouse offer a wealth of genealogical and historical information. 

We didn’t have much when came to this country, colony actually, but we worked and slowly accumulated land. This was particularly important during this time in history as only landowners could vote and have any say in such petitions as the one to which he affixed his name in 1792. In the end, over the course of his life, Jacob had acquired over 200 acres in Augusta County. Makes my nearly 3 acres, purchased 235 years after Jacob bought his first farm, seem almost inconsequential in comparison.

In the years since that first generation, the family has seen land come and go in the family but those original farms, while not in the family, still exist. They still remain as a connection to our past regardless of who currently holds the deed. Being able to go down to Virginia, gather with those who have this same connection, and enjoy the area where we know our family has been for hundreds of years is something that we were able to enjoy over the summer and an experience I look forward to revisiting many times over in the future.

Sunday Search: Planning For 2020

Five years seems a long way off but if it goes by as fast as the last half decade (and especially the last six months) it won’t be long before we are all, once again, heading down to Virginia for another reunion. Over the last couple of months (yes, it has been that long already) I have been thinking about different things to include the next time around and what I would like to see organized by the next time we get together. Some of these things are general ideas while others are specific items I want to finally check off my list (a number of these things I have been meaning to get done for some time now).

Bear in mind, these are things that I hope to do in order to enhance or build upon the fantastic work that has already been done in previous years. We are a big family and it is similar to herding chickens when it comes to getting us all together. Each reunion, from what I have heard since I have only been to two, has been a great experience for all in attendance and a tremendous success overall. Like putting the pieces together in the family tree, I hope to build upon what has already been done.

So, let’s start with the general, yet specific, things that I hope we are able to arrange. The first big one is a project that I am not spearheading (but I will be happy to assist) which is getting the family tree (all branches) loaded onto a website where all family members will have access and can notify us of any updates. This will also be a great place where documents and pictures can be shared and enjoyed by all. I really hope to see this up and running well before the next reunion.   

Personally, I hope to coordinate tours of some of the towns and places where our family once (and still does in certain instances) lived. This was a great experience when we walked around these places over the summer and I hope to have a larger group next time around. Additionally, I hope to have a listing of the local cemeteries where we can find our cousins, grandparents, great grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. Hopefully, we can add a few names to this list as well before the next reunion. Lastly, it would be nice to have access to the local records offices so that we can have basically a group research project. It should be a lot fast with each of us searching for pieces and putting them together at the end of the day.

Of course, there are also numerous goals that I hope to reach by the time we meet again. First and foremost are the applications to the Sons of the American Revolution and the Monacan Indian Nation. The former is purely a formality as we have more than enough documentation to satisfy the membership requirements. The latter is proving to be more difficult as specific documents need to be found in order to prove lineage. It is not an impossible task just a tedious one. However, it will all be worth it in the end.

In addition to the above, I hope to secure some donations for the raffle and coordinate what I hope will be some fun activities. As I think about it, Genealogy Jeopardy or Six degrees of family history could be interesting games to play. Pursuing raffle items could be interesting as well given that there are a variety of books that pertain to our family history, memberships and application fees that would be great auction items, as well as prints and other items that would be great to create (although I don’t think we could do better than the quilt that was raffled off this time around).

I am also curious to pursue various possible partnerships. It would be great to partner with a site like ancestry.com to add another dimension to the gathering. I hope to have mutually beneficial things like this coordinated so that we get some great insights into the family research while they (ancestry or some other site/group) have a perfect opportunity for a case study. After all, many of us are on ancestry already and can tell our family story through the leaves on the trees and the items that we have personally uploaded.

In the end, the most important thing for me to do personally is to keep working on the family history. Not just searching for and collecting the facts, documents, and photos but telling the stories of the family on this blog. Who knows, maybe I can pull enough stories together over the next few years to publish a book. The stories are certainly plentiful, it is just a matter of sitting down and recording the family history.

Sunday Search: Keeping In Touch

It's never too early to start coloring in the family tree!

After the reunion in July, I was determined to improve my communication with family members both nearby and far away. After all, there is only so much that I can do with regard to genealogy and it is always best to be in communication with numerous family members trying to fill in the different pieces rather than all of use trying to find all of the answers on our own. Additionally, we all have access to different documents, photos, and stories that we should be sharing with one another. That might have been the biggest takeaway from the weekend, there is so much that we all possess and it would be nice for us all to have access to those pieces of the picture and leaves of the tree.

While in the past this would have been a more exaggerated process full of letters and a lot of postage. That isn’t the reality in which we live today. While there are some that still require the letters, phone calls, and face to face meetings, most can be accomplished through email and social media (I will write about genealogy specific online tools in a future post). Thankfully, there has already been a group formed on Facebook to help facilitate those communications and I have been able to connect with those who were in attendance as well as those who were unable to make it over the past couple of months.

Sometimes it is also these simple things that get other family members interest in family history. I have been able to connect with many family members, some of whom to which I have not previously spoken, based on the simple fact that they want to learn more about the family. In other instances, different stories have been shared… some I have heard before while others are completely new to me. I doubt that the correspondences would have come as easily through any other means other than Facebook or email.

Of course, there are a lot more stories that have yet to be told and information that hasn’t as of yet been shared but the lines of communication are open and I am looking forward to collecting and sharing these new tidbits with the rest of the family. Additionally, there is an open invitation to family members (and other with stories they would like to share) to write a post to be included on this blog (the author will receive full credit). So, the reunion turned out to last much longer than the two days in Virginia, and I expect it to continue until we are able to get together again five years from now… we should have a much more colorful and complete tree by then.

Firearms Friday: Blame

Once again, we end the week looking back on another cowardly tragedy committed by a clearly unstable individual. Unfortunately, it was also no surprise that the shooting was politicized before the suspect was even found… the calls for more gun control range out louder than the shots fired early on Wednesday morning. Another heinous act blamed on inanimate objects and those who own them rather than the individual who committed the crime.

It wasn’t long before posts from my liberal friends on Facebook began filling my feed and with quotes posted my conservative friends following this initial deluge. The most commonly used of which was a quote from then Governor Ronald Reagan when he addressed the Republican National Convention in Miami Florida on July 31, 1968 amid a time of tremendous racial turmoil which erupted in riots. The excepted says simply “We must reject the idea that every time a law's broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.” Essentially, violence is an individual act and must be treated as such… the idea of railing against a group of people because of the acts of an individual must be rejected.   

Yesterday, the coverage continued and, of course, the calls for more laws intensified. While there was plenty of political banter, the quote that really crystallized the debate for me was that of Senator Marco Rubio who was quoted by the New York Times at a campaign stop in New Hampshire having said “It’s not the guns, it’s the people who are committing these crimes. What law in the world could have prevented him from killing them?” And that is what this all really comes down to… we must hold individuals accountable for their acts especially those with premeditated plans who would have followed through with this act regardless of means. In the end, this is why there are more knife attacks and beatings in the UK… people find a way to accomplish their goals regardless of whether they are good or evil.

Lastly, the other part of this whole equation that is being overlooked is the fact that even when bills are passed, they are not being enforced and/or the funding is not being spent (i.e. The National Instant Criminal Background Check System). The NICS Improvement Amendment Act was signed into law by President Bush on January 8, 2008 with the explicate mission to improve the background check system in this country. The law, endorsed by the NRA by the way, allocated Congress $1.3 Billion to improve record keeping in states which would allow greater transparency and improve the Federal gun background check system. To date nearly 90 percent of funding has never been spent and the Obama administration will further reduce spending from its peak in 2015 of $78 million down to $55 million in the President’s 2016 budget request.

Why don’t we focus on the real issues at hand instead of the hype and politicization of tragedy? Instead of the hundreds of millions of dollars being spent by gun control groups (keep in mind that I am well aware of the money spend by gun rights advocacy groups in response to various proposals and campaigns calling for the stripping away of our rights), what if we focus and put our money elsewhere that would really have an impact on the issue at hand. What if we committed hundreds of millions of dollars to mental health? What if we actually improved NICS and spent the $1.3 billion? We don’t need more laws and we definitely don’t need to prosecute and entire group of people in this country. We need to improvements in mental health in this country and we need to improve the effectiveness of the background check systems already in place. This is not a debate… this is the solution!

More Trips This Summer?

It has been a busy summer which actually started in the spring. This year, in addition to the various day trips around the area, we have been to Hershey, Pittsburgh, Stone Harbor, and all over Virginia. Additionally, I took a short trip to Atlanta. It has been a lot of miles, provided us with a few challenges, and also been a great experience with our son. The question now is whether or not we want to continue traveling during the remaining summer months?

My wife and I have discussed taking a few day trips to revisit some places and introduce our son to some of our favorite spots. At the same time, we obviously have to take into consideration the fact that we are no longer traveling as a couple but as a family so some of our previous adventures are incredibly impractical at this point in our lives. We have been so busy this summer that it has been nice not having to be anywhere during our weekends. August is already well underway and there aren’t many days left before things get busy at work.

However, while it may not be this summer, there are a couple of spots that we will visit again and show our son some of the places that we have enjoyed over the last few years. Jim Thorpe is definitely on the list as it provides us with a nice relaxing place to walk and I am sure our son will enjoy riding on the train through the mountains. Maybe we should hold this off for the fall so we can finally experience it with the trees burning the horizon.

Gettysburg will definitely be another family trip. In addition to being a great place to walk there are a lot of things that we didn’t get around to seeing when my wife and I drove down there last time. However, with so much open space, this isn’t going to be the best place to go during the heat of August. This will, most likely, be a trip that we take in the spring.

The last place that immediately came to mind when we were thinking about other places to bring our son was Knoebels… didn’t really have to think hard about this one. It is a great way to introduce our son to an amusement park without the intensity of the huge crowds or the cost of parking and general admission. There are so many thing that he can look at and new experiences that we want to expose him to. I expect to be riding the small train quite a few times whenever we are able to get up there. I am thinking that this will be perfect for next summer.

Of course this doesn’t really answer the question of where we will be taking our son this summer but at least there are a few places planned out for the future. What can I say, he likes to travel and be out and about so we need at least a few of these things planned ahead of time. I guess you will find out where we bring our son this summer shortly after we return from our brief travels. Sometimes, that is the best way to plan out a summer anyway.

TMI Tuesday: Attempt Number Two

By the time Thursday rolled around last week we were finally getting our son back to his daily routine. It had taken some effort after our week and a half long trek through Virginia but we were getting things back to the usual daily routine. His sleep schedule was returning to normal, his wasn’t fighting his naps as much, his minor medication has been adjusted to accommodate his recent growth, and his happy demeanor was evident in the smile on his face. Everything was almost back to normal by the time my wife left for the shore on Thursday morning.

Throughout the short time near the Atlantic Ocean, our son took a few steps back. His appetite changed on a nearly hourly basis, he wasn’t sleeping, and his 'movements' were unpredictable. This of course changed his whole demeanor during the day and kept both of us, more so my wife, from getting a good night of sleep… this was on top of the fact that my wife and I are not really beach people to begin with and we were once again looking forward to the comforts of home. After our son’s experience, it is safe to say that none of us are really beach people.

Once we walked through the door on Sunday, we immediately noticed a change in his mood. He was happy to be home… just the three of us… and enjoyed playing with his toys for the better part of an hour before giving us the look that he was getting bored. At that point he was perfectly happy to lay beside mommy and daddy playing with his blanket and clutching or fingers as he yawned. But while some things improved immediately, other things were obviously still a little off. That yawning and eye rubbing was happening around 6:00… he was ready for bed and soon after let us know how much he wanted to be back in his own room and tucked into his own crib.

That first night back he went to bed two hours early, at 6:30pm, and woke up an hour late, at 8:30am, the following morning. Things are obviously off. So now we are having to get our son back to his normal routine… again! We are slowly readjusting his sleep, doing our best to calm him for his naps, and trying to get the eating schedule back to where it once was. It is one of those Groundhog Day moments when you know things are going to get better and move on but, when in the moment, they seem to take forever. Slowly, very slowly, we will return to his normal routine.