Since I got back I had not done much but did look into my relationship with Ernest some more and try to verify where Jacob Jr. lived when he got released from the indian captivity. He settled around Hardy county Va., which became West Va. during the civil war. Two of Jacobs sons were Daniel L. and Christopher Stufle, Daniel moved to Ohio and is in my line and Christopher stayed there and is in Ernests line.
When I was in Virginia and talked to a few people in Virginia and most of the time they said they were not related to the Halterman's in West Virginia, which I found hard to believe. I think that almost everyone with the name Halterman in this country are probably related if you back far enough. One explanation for split between the Virginia and West Virginia Haltermans could be the civil war. West Virginia was part of Virginia until 1863 when it was brought into the Union. Ernest told me that his great grandfather and three of his brothers were Confederate solders and Hardy county had alot of Confederate support and what became Grant county had alot of Union support. He said his great grandfather and two of his brothers moved to Missouri after the war and he thought that it may have been because of the animosity they felt. His great grandfather returned back to Va after a couple years.
It is interesting to here why people moved from one area of the country to another. With the large families, the family farms could only be devided so many times. My doctor told me that is why he became a doctor. His father was a farmer and he had 3 brothers and he knew he could not make a living off a smaller amount of land.

I got home last Tuesday night and have not had time to post anything since getting here. When I get some time I plan on looking into the Halterman history and try to put together in my own mind what happened back in the 1700's and 1800's. Not sure if I can get any answers to all the questions but with the internet resources now maybe I can figure out some things.

Where did Jacobs brother Christopher go after being released from the captivity?

What people were his offspring? It looks like Jacob settled in Hardy Co. WV.

What other kids of Christian came down to the Shenandoah Valley and did they stay after Jacob Sr.s family was killed?

Are there any Halterman's that are still Mennonites and where do they live?

Who are the ancestors of the people that live in Virginia?

Are the Haltermans that run the car dealerships in East Staudsburg, Pa decendants of Nicholas Haldeman(Christian's brother) as Milton Haldeman told me?

When did the Halterman's from Jacob Jr. become other religions? Eli was in the civil war so it looks like they had already converted to something else.

When exactly did Henry J. leave Ohio for Nebraska?

I am sure I will think of alot of other questions.

I am sitting at a table in a park in Front Royal, Va because when I got back to where I am camped they told me that the electricity was out, so no wifi. I drove about 10 miles to this town that has a good cell signal and I set up here, hopfully it doesn't start raining.

I talked to another Halterman last night and she insisted that the Haltermans on this side of the mountain were not related to me and that those Haltermans were in Mathias, WV which is a little over an hour from here. I got there before 10:00 and got the phone book from a convenience/gas station store and started copying the names of Halterman, which was 22. As I was copying the lady said I needed to talk to Earnest Halterman because he lived here all his life and he was the principal of the school before he retired. He was also the pastor of her church(Church of the Brethren) at one time and he had done genealogy on the family. There was no cell phone signal for about 30 miles and this was in the middle of dead zone. I did use a payphone which was in the sun and I did call and leave a message, then I asked her where he lived and she told me but their was a big remote controlled gate and it was closed. I drove south to Broadway that did have reception and later he was home and I went back to his place and spent 2 hrs which him and we talked about most everything but he did not know much more about the families that were killed by the Indians. We are sure that we are related but not sure how far back. He may come from the other surviving brother from being held captive.

While I was in Broadway waiting for him to come home I went to the guys place I talked to yesteday and took a picture of Halterman Rd. When I was in Mathias I took a picture of Halterman Hollow. Earnest said that all the Halterman in that area can trace their origins to someone on that road. I guess there is only one there now.

I do not think I could find anymore on where the killed families are buried if Earnest did not know. He said I could go to three county court houses and maybe find out but I do not have that much time. I am going to try to get my oil changed in the morning and have the van checked out and leave after that.

It is Hot here, 98 with high humidity. I feel sorry for the people that are camping out in tents or do not have any air. I got here before 1:00 and set up and went to Shenandoah which is less than 30 miles away. I just drove around and looked for awhile and saw the police station and thought maybe he knows Halterman's from town and not locked up. He had been there 10 years but did not know of any and did not know anything of Haltermans being killed by indians in 1758. He did tear out a page of his phone book with about 30 Halterman's in it. I called about 8 but only talked to one and left a message on a couple others and the rest said disconnected. Not sure why because if they were different area codes it seem like the phone book would have it. The guy I talked to had the road in front of his place named after him but he was on his way to the beach for a few days. The reason I haven't called anymore is where I am camped has no cell signal at all. I am doing this at the visitors center where they have wifi. This phone book did not have anybody in West Virginia so I guess I will head over there tomorrow. Hopefully it will be cooler and I can find a park with a signal. The guy I talked to did not know any family history but he was going to ask his brother when he got back. He had never heard of any killings either and did not think that the Halterman's in West Va were related to him. I bet they are if you go back far enough because as far as I know Jacob Jr. who was captured by the indians must have came back to Shenandoah. I have also noticed that Christian's wife also died in 1758 and wonder if she was also killed in the attack. The information that I have on Jacob Sr. wife died in Aug of 1758 in the attack and it said Hawksbill, Shenandoah, Va. I could not find a Hawksbill, Va but did find a Hawksbill diner which was about 15 mi north of Shenandoah and I thought maybe this area was named Hawksbill and was changed to Stanley. I asked the owners but they knew nothing. Better go to my black hole of no signal.

I made it to the HD factory this morning for the tour and was told that it was a modified tour because they were assembling the new model year and I guess the dealers get upset if the people that come off the street see it before them so we saw the machines that make the fenders, laser trimmers, and machines that make the kick stands. They make all of the softtails and touring bikes here since 1998. They opened up a plant in Kansas city to do some of the others so they could fill orders because customers were on waiting lists. Could not take cameras with us so I have no pictures of the line.

I then made a trip to the Amish area and looked in a phone book and did find one Norman Halterman and I left a message giving my cell and email. Haven't heard back but maybe I will someday. Not all people that live out their are Amish and if they are Mennonites, they have adopted the modern ways. I did stop by a Mennonite church but was told there were no Haltermans there. You can see one picture at the top was a car I spotted in the parking lot of HD so I took a picture of it and I assume it was from East Straudsburg. I also emailed the dealership and asked if they could pass my information on to a Halterman that may know about his ancestors. I was told by Milton Haldeman that they are from Nicholas(Christian's brother) which means we are related, just one generation back to Michael. That would be our Great(x8)grandfather.

I did make reservations for Virginia, which is just across the mountains from Hardy county WV. Figured I would park the trailer on this side near Interstate 81 and just drive the car over the mountain. I had some data that the Indian attack happened in Hawksbill, Va. I looked for a Hawksbill Va on the internet and all I got was a Hawksbill Diner just north of Shenandoah. I am pretty certain this is where it happened and there are Haltermans that live in this area so I am pretty excited about what I will find.

I did not go to East Straudsburg because it was pretty far from here and I think I will actually come back to that area because my timeshare company has resorts in the Pocono Mnts. Another reason I may want to come back is I wanted to eat one meal in the Amish country and I did that this afternoon. I got it from two different sources that the best place was called the Shady Maple and when I got there could not believe how big it was. They can feed 2200 people and the food was as good as I have ever eaten.

I did some tourist things today by going to Gettysburg and tried to get a tour of the Harley-Davidson factory but did not get back in time for that. Made a trip to Hershey, Chocolate town and planned on going to the museum but missed the museum by 30 min. Spent 30 min in Chocolate World with thousands of kids on sugar highs. I am Civil Wared out and do not think I will make it back to Chocolate world.

Tomorrow I am going to try to make the Harley-Davidson on my way to the Amish area east of Lancaster. I will maybe try and see if their is any Mennonite Church that has records of names. Maybe I will find some Haltermans. Plan on eating an Amish meal while there.

Christian Halterman(born in Switzerland) came to Lancaster but moved to Shanandoah County Virginia. Milton had records that most ended up in Hardy county Virginia, which is now West Virginia. I looked an the internet and there are Haltermans in that county so I am going to try and get a camp spot there on Saturday when I leave here.

Pictures above are of Major John Cessna's grave and memorial placed there in 1930 by the Gov. of Pa.

I spent the morning at the Mennonite/Amish Information Center this morning. Two films explained their history starting in Switzerland and Germany. Mennonites were the first to form and the Amish spun off from them. Things were really bad for them in Europe an thousands were killed because they did not believe in the state supported religion. Anyway the difference is that the Mennonites started to adopt more modern tech stuff, what ever that could have been back then. I then went to the research library at this center and the person that worked there gave me a book titled "Decendants of Christian Haldeman" I thought I had hit the motherload but looking into it further, this Christian was the nephew of Nicholas Haldeman. The book was written by a Milton Haldeman and I was able to get his phone number and talked to him on the phone for about 45 min tonight. He told me where all the documentation on the Haldemans was which was in Philly. I do not think I will make that trip as he had done that and spent months copying stuff. He did say that their were Haldemans in Mongomery and Chester counties that are still Mennonites. The Haltermans in East Straudsburg that have the car dealerships are from Nicholas according to Milton. I have only 2 more days before I have to leave and I want to make a trip to Gettysburg and maybe do a couple other things. They have Harley Davidson tours in York which is only 30 min away. I almost lost this whole post because I have to use the touch pad mouse and it is funny.

I drove over to Bedford today(110 mi) to find the John Cessna grave and memorial. He was our Great(x6)grandfather. I am going to post this before I loss it.

I made it to just south of Harrisburg, Pa today. It took about 7.5 hours but I am between all the places I want to go to. The camping area does not have sewer or was but does have electricity and the cell phone signal is good which means I can call and use the computer internet. I also have TV reception so I can see some TV now. One thing that bugged me on this trip is it is so quiet so in the mornings I use the internet to pipe in a Dallas station.

I am going to stay here for four nights because there is so many places I want to go. Lancaster is where Christian Haldeman came in the early 1700's. His son Jacob was born here in 1715. John Cesnna was the sherriff in Bedford, Pa and today I noticed on the internet that there is a Cessna, Pa, which looks like a suburb of Bedford. There is a memorial to Major john Cessna in Bedford that I would like to see.

I am not sure if I can find out if any Amish or Menonites are named Halterman. They do not have phones. I did find two names of people named Halterman in East Straudsburg, Pa. This is the place that had about three major car dealerships named Halterman, Toyota, Hyundia, Chrysler and Chevrolet.

Not sure if I told you but Eddie remided me that Halterman means "man who lives on a slope or hill"

Had a busy day today. Drove up to Washigton CH, Ohio where Eddie Halterman and his wife Barbara live and spent over 4 hours going over all the ancestors and stories. Daniel L. Halterman , (who was my Great(X4) Grandfather), moved from Pa. to Pike County Ohio in the early 1800's and of all the kids he had one son was Levi and one was Jacob. Levi was my great(X3) grandfather and Jacob was Eddie's.

They live between Washington CH and Jefferson which is a town of 1200 people and Eddie started getting things organized to build a memorial to the veterans. He was able to get it done and it cost about $150,000 but when he started he told them it would be alot less otherwise it never would have gotten started.

The other picture above is a lane leading up to where some of the early Haltermans had a place. I didn't go up because there was a cable accross the lane.

Need to get to bed to get up early to head for Pa. Just south of Harrisburg in a state park. I will leave this for a home base and go into Lancaster and make a trip to East Strausburg. I hope to have enough time to see Gettysburg so not sure how long I will be there. Eddie said he did hear that there was a Halterman Church somewhere around there also.

This is also the area that Major John Cessnie lived after the revolution in the late 1700's. There is a memorial on him that I have the location on.

I still have not figured out how to do the pictures right. I had another picture but one came up wrong. Anyway there are alot of signs as shown above and I have seen a couple of Amish carts going down the road. Yesterday I told you that Eddie Halterman (Scotts Dad) was on a trip to Iowa and got back at 8:00 Sunday night so I had all day yesterday so I thought I would drive north to Amanda, Ohio because John Sale Bryan lived there over 100 yrs ago and I noticed that there was someone named Bryan there. I called them but the guys wife said they were not related and didn''t act like she was interested. The Bryan family is documented well so I have decided I did not need to look into this any more and concentrate on the Haltermans.

I made another trip to Beaver, Ohio which is only 15 miles from where I am staying to a Mount Ridge Cemetary where alot of the earlier Haltermans are buried. I found quite a few but some of the tombstones are so old they are impossible to read or they are broken or gone. I talked to Eddie last night and he said over 20 yrs ago when he was there Daniel's marker was in pieces but he was able to get an impression.

I then went into Beaver and noticed 3 old guys sitting on a bench on one corner under a tree so I went around the block talked to them telling them who I was and was looking for Halterman's and one guy pointed to a house accross the street and said I need to go over there and talk to Shirley Halterman. Her last name is not Halterman now because she is married but we spent about an hour talking and she showed me pictures and figured out how we are related. My great great grandfather Henry J Halterman, who came from this area was a brother of Eli Halterman who was her great great grandfather. Eli was in the Civil War and was wounded badly and was unfit for service for awhile but did go back before it ended and was honorably discharged. Shirley was not aware of Scott Halterman who lives in Waverly or Eddie. I think Eddies people moved to another part of Ohio and I guess I will find out how we are related to him and what his people did.

I was going to load a picture of Shirley here with a picture of some of the graves but for some reason they were put at the top of this post. The picture of the graves show that some have trees growing through them and I found more than this one like this or worse. A couple graves you can hardly see a marker even with ground level.

I am going to meet with Eddie at 1:00 today and he is about 2 hrs from here. Besides figuring out how we are related I am hoping he knows alot more history of the family. Shirley did not know that the Haltermans were Menonites so just because you live here doesn't mean you know all about the Haltermans. Some of the questions I have for him is if he knows if there are still any Haltermans that live in Pa. that are still Menonites or if he knows of other Haltermans in Pa. or has he been to Pa to look into this. There are some Haltermans in East Strausburg Pa because I have found alot of car dealerships that are Halterman dealerships.

While talking to the three old guys on the corner they told me that the Amish are buying up alot of the farms around here. They own alot of land in Pa and they sold the mineral rights to some of it and they got alot of money for it and must be there are more Amish so they decided they need to expand so they are buying farms around here and moving families in. They think that Beave will be a tourist attraction some day because of it. One of the guys was the secretary for the Beaver Valley historical society and they got me to join it, so for $20 I get a newsletter for a year.

Unexpected find

I met with the Jackson county historian yesterday, Bob Ervin at the library and he knew where all the articles on the Halterman's were but most was what I knew except for a Eli Halterman that was in the Civil War and was wounded badly and at the battle of Keneasaw Mountain, June 27, 1864 and was unfit for duty until almost the end of the war. I did find his grave at Beaver Union Cemetery in Beaver Pike Co., Ohio. Very confusing names of towns here, there is a Beaver Jackson Co., Ohio, a Beaver Pike Co., Ohio and a Beaver, Ohio and a road called Beaver Pike Ohio.

I went to Waverly, Ohio, which is the County seat for Pike County and went to the county library and looked in their research library in the basement where there was a nice lady that tried to help me find some stuff and they did have a file on the Halterman's but not much I did not know or could get on the internet. I did look at her phone books and their was only one Halterman in the phone book, "Buffy K. Halterman". The image that came to mind was some teenager or someone that might not want to talk to me. I went to eat a late lunch at the Bob Evans and when I was checking out I thought I would ask the young girl if she knew of any Haltermans and she said sure Tyler was her age and his mother was Buffy but she did not know what the fathers name was. So I asked the obvious, if she was divorced and she said no so I worked up the courage to call her. When I called her and explained she gave the phone to her husband Scott Halterman and he had me come over. He was a great guy probably about 40 and he heard of all the names on my chart and we were from the same Haltermans. The best thing was his father who is 76 has turned into a geneology nut since retiring and has a large amount of stuff on the Haltermans. He is returning from a trip to Iowa Sunday night so I will stay here at least one more day and hopfully see him on Monday.

Scott did tell me about where some of the Haltermans lived and about a road that used to be Halterman road. He also said 5 yrs ago there were alot of Haltermans around but most have died off. Scott has two sons so the name will continue on here but he said that the name here is also fading away.

He also did tell be about the skeleton in the Halterman closet. In 1927 a Leo Halterman was executed in the electric chair for killing his step brother, Charles Halterman, but I must also mention that there were also Haltermans that were doctors and other notable positions. I wished I would have taken a picture of Scott and his family but I will probably see him again. His father lives in Washington Court House, Ohio(another funny name) which is probably two hours away from where I am at in Jackson.

I plan on going up north to Ashland county to see if I can find anything on the Bryan's today.

I will post the graves of Eli Halterman and his family. I found Halterman's in three sections of this grave yard and they are in other grave yards.

They have a new golf course here and yesterday I looked at all 18 holes but did not find any ancestors or relatives.

I did go back and find the grave of Benjamin W. Sloan Sr. who died in 1843.

Went to Corbin, Ky today to see Col. Sanders original cafe. No ancestors there either.

Probably should have left today for Ohio but this did give me some time to relax, after 27 holes yesterday. Also found out that the Sloans that are having the reunion in Fraklin, Ky this weekend are not related to our Sloans so no sense trying to go to that. I will leave tomorrow and it will take me about 5 hrs to get to Jackson, Ohio which is close to where Daniel Halterman moved to (Beaver Pike) probably in the early 1800's. His son, Levi Halterman was born there in 1818 and died in 1877. His son, Henry J. Halterman is the one that moved to Shubert, Nebraska.

The Bryan family also lived in Ohio about the same time and I found out today that their is a John Bryan State Park. Not sure if he is related to us but we have a John Bryan born in Pa but moved to Polk Ohio in 1777. His son was John Sale Bryan that moved to South Dakota. The park was named for a John Bryan that was born in 1838 which is probably a generation down from our John Bryan.

Talked to a woman this morning that is a Sloan decendant and really into this stuff. She is having a reunion this Saturday in Franklin, Ky, but as of yet I cannot connect her Sloans with mine so I will probably leave here for Ohio on Thursday or Friday.

I did go out to the cemetary and did not spend much time but I did find the tombstone of Benjamin W. Sloans son of the same name but did not find his. So many of those old stones have no markings left anymore or they have been eated away by age and all that is left is a small rock.

I went to Lake City, Tn today to the factory that makes the trailer that I have. I did this because it was going to rain all day here. It was a interesting tour how they make them so light.

On the way back I took the long way and looked at Cumberland Falls.

When I left the cemetary I headed south to see if I could find Sloans Valley but all I saw was a road going left and right, left was Sloans Valley cir and right was Sloans valley lane. I went left and this road curved around through trees and next to a river and had alot of houses on this road. After about 10 min it looked like I was at the end when I saw a guy unloading his pickup and I said I was a decendent of the Sloans and he said he had the oldest hous in Pulaski county and wanted to know if I wanted to see it so he drove his four wheeler and took me to Johnny Cambell's. Johnny also told me that this area got the name from Benjamin Watson Sloan. All for now. Not sure how long I will stay here but there is a beautiful golf course here that I do have to try. I am also going to find out if there are any other Sloans here that I maybe related to that may have some information. The Sloan, Smith, Hale book may give me some leads.

This is where the road left the property. The rocks were part of the road. This is Jimmy Cambell

The flat part, left of the telephone pole is where the road came through. This was called the Jacksburrow(sp) road and went from Knoxville, Tn to Cincinatti, Ohio.

This is a picture of the original chimney that was built in 1798. When Jean Justice and the other people from Omaha came out to see this Johnny's daughter was living in this house and Johnny and his wife had built another about 50 yrds away. He said that when they came here in 1996 they wanted to take some of the hand hewned boards out of the house but he wouldn't let them and I cannot blame him.

No one lives in the house now. His daughter got a doublewide a few years ago and he rented it to some other people and they really trashed it. I went inside with him and it really is a mess. Up stairs you can see the hand hewn timbers used in the house.

He also said their was a second story porch but when his grandfather moved in about 1940, he removed it. This was at the front of the house in the previous picture.

This was the house that Benjamin Sloan built in 1798. Found out that their was a major road that went in front of his house and he supplied fresh horses to the people traveling through. There was also a store there but Johnny Cambell was not sure if he owned the store or not.
George Washington "Dutch" Sloan was his son and he was the one that moved to Verdon, Ne.
He had a daughter, Louisa Marion Sloan that married Emerson Smith and they were the ones that had my Great Grandmother Mary Smith Halterman

This is the old Baptist cemetary in Tateville, Ky where Benjamin Watson Sloan was buried in 1843. He would be our Great, Great, Great Grandfather. From now on I will call this G3grandfather. He is buried here somewhere but I need better shoes to go look.

Finally set up and it is about 90 with high humidity. Turn on air and go to town to get something to eat. Drove through the middle of Somerset to see if I saw anything with the name Sloan on it but did not.

I am heading south to Tateville and Sloans Valley.

I stopped at the National Corvett Museum in Bowling Green, Ky which was on the way up. Would have been nice to taken the plant tour but I was in a hurry to get checked into the camping spot and get set up.

This is before I left home. I was going to put all todays pictures on but I guess I cannot figure out everything on this blogger.

I am going to try and leave Saturday or Sunday so I can be back home before the end of the month. It will take me two days to get to my first stop which is Somerset, Kentucky which is in Pulaski County where the Sloans, Smiths and Hales lived in the 1700's. I will try and stay at Burnside State Park which is also close to Sloans Valley. I will be taking the Bryan book and the Sloan, Hale and Smith books with me to help find some things. I am hoping to find more than just tombstones but hopfully there is someone in each of these areas that knows some of the history of all these families.

Thinking of doing this

I have been doing some genealogy on my family and have noticed that almost all of them came over here in the late 1600's to middle 1700's and most of them arrived in Pennsylvania and then some went to Ohio from there. Some people think I am a little crazy to go looking for people who have been dead over 200 years ago but if I do not do it I feel I may regret it later when I am unable to do it.

So here I am thinking about getting ready to make this trip, where to go, what to see, how long to spend in each place, who and how I will contact that may know something about our ancestors? The states they were in were Virginia (back then included West Va., and Kentucky) Ohio, and Pennsylvania. My ancestors are Halterman, Bryan, Cissnie, Smith, Sloan, Dappen.

This is my first blog so I am not sure if it is going to get started correctly but hopfully I will have the kinks worked out before I leave.
July 2, 2010
I have firmed up my thoughts on this trip some and in a week or so I think I am going to try it. I have my camper fixed up and ready to go, I think but most people that camp will tell you than you never know with one of those things.
My first stop will be Pulaski County, Kentucky where the Hales, Smiths and Sloans started out and I feel there are probably some of them left there. There is a Sloans Valley, Ky which I cannot help to think was named for some of them.
I figure a couple days there and then I will head for Pike County Ohio where my great great grandfather Henry Halterman was born and lived before he left for Nebraska. Also in Fairfield County Ohio is where the Bryan's lived at one time before moving to Iowa.
Monroe, Ohio is where some of the Cessnie's were at one time. This was my maternal grandmothers family. This would probably take me about 4 days maybe.
Then I will head for Pennsylvania. This will be the longest part of the trip and not sure how long it will take. The Haltermans were around Lancaster, Pa and there are Halterman's that run large car dealerships in East Strausburg, Pa. The Cessnies were in Friends Cove and Shippenburg, Pa. The Bryan's were in Dublin and Huntington Pa.
The Haltermans and Bryans were also in Virginia but I am not sure I will have time to go there.

My wife is not interested in trying to find people who have been dead for long so she will not be going with me. I have to admit that I am a little uneasy about doing this but most trips are that way anyway, it is a little more on this one because it is only the third time I will be camping with the trailer.