Sunday's Stories, 52 Ancestor Weeks, Week # 48, Exum Eley

Copyright 2014, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

This is week 48 of my participation Amy Johnson Crow's, once a week challenge to blog about one ancestor a week, tell their story, biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on that one ancestor. More about the challenge can be found at her Blog, No Story Too Small.

Exum Eley, was born around 1788, presumably in Isle of Wight County, Virginia to Mills Eley and his wife, Catey Lanford Eley.

On February 10, 1809 Exum married Polly B. Moody in Isle of Wight County, Virginia.

Exum served his country during the War of 1812.  His compiled service record shows he served from August 28, to September 13, 1814, 17 days for which he received $17.00.  He appears as a Lieutenant on the Pay Roll of Captain John Blunt's Company of Infantry, 29th Reg't Virginia Militia, stationed at Camp Ware Bottom Church.  He appears as a 1st Lieutenant on a Muster roll for the same company which states that he was present at Smithfield for the same dates in 1814 as he was paid for.

Note that in 1879, his widow, Martha Eley filed a "Claim of Widow For Service Pension, War of 1812" according to the Act of March 9th, 1878. In her application she stated that Exum served from June 23, 1813 for 17 days and that he received an honorable discharge on July 10th, 1813. She also stated that he was about 25 years old at the time of his enlistment, he was a farmer and was 5 foot 9 inches tall and had black hair.

It should also be noted that in Martha's Widow pension application a "Service Pension, War of 1812, Widow's Brief" signed by Alex R. Speel, Pension Searcher and dated Jan 8, 1879, Exum's record of service is stated as "in Capt Jno Lawrence's Co, Va Mil from June 25 to July 10, 1813 and in Capt John Blunt's Co, Va Mil from Aug 28 to Sept 13, 1814."  The pension was approved in the amount of $8.00 per month, retroactive to March 9, 1878.

According to Stuart Lee Butler's work, "A Guide to Virginia Militia Units in the War of 1812", Lt. Exum Eley's Detachment was active from May 24 - 30 1814.  He notes, "Lt. Eley was discharged June 8, 1814, and his detachment was mustered with Capt. William Parsons Company, June 3 - 28, 1814."

Exum and Polly had the following children:

Captain William H. Eley
Exum L. Eley
George Washington Eley
James M. Eley
Sally A. Eley
Rebecca J. Eley
Thomas J. Eley

Polly died sometime around 1830, probably in Isle of Wight County, Virginia.

Exum married second Martha "Patsey" Darden Marshall (widow of John Marshall, with six Marshall children: John Lawson Marshall, Adolphus Marshall, Polly Marshall, Lydia Marshall, Thomas J. Marshall and Martha Marshall.) Exum and Martha were married April 14, 1832 in Isle of Wight County, Virgnina.

Exum and Martha had three children of their own:

Virginia Catherine Eley
Stephen A. Eley
Solomon Benjamin Eley.

Exum died November 12, 1845 in Isle of Wight County, Virginia.  Exum's will was dated July 23, 1845 and presented to the court of Isle of Wight County Virginia on December 1, 1845.

Wish list for Exum:  Place of burial.  Review of documents I have stashed in digital and hard copy files and get them incorporated into the data base.

* Additional source data can be obtained by contacting me, see the right hand column for a yahoo email address.

** 52 Ancestors Weeks Button courtesy of Amy Johnson Crow.

*** I use many resources to research, FamilySearch.org is a free site.  Ancestry.com is a pay site for which I pay, no discounts, etc.  Fold3, is another site I subscribe to and pay for. None of these sites have asked me to review them, or use them.  See my Disclaimers page for further details.

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THE Trip, THE Encore': Klamath River Overlook and a Little WWII Undercover Discovery

Copyright 2014, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Please note the date of our visit in this area was over a year and a half ago, on May 24, 2013.  Yes, 2013!

Before we get started, here is a map of the area we were driving around in, just soaking up the coastline and discovering little surprises.

We had visited and hiked in the Fern Valley, time to go whale hunting, at the Klamath River Overlook.

Only we were there too late in the spring and no whales were sighted.  The view from the overlook parking lot (looking south) was spectacular tho.

Found growing on the hill side  (I believe it may be some form of a sweet pea?)

We then drove back around to the West Klamath Beach Road, and drove the circle that included Coastal Drive and Alder Camp Road.  When there were views or something interesting, we pulled off for photo taking.  This is looking north back towards the River Overlook area.

We discovered a small family cemetery here.  As far as I can determine, it is not on Find A Grave, and since I don't really know the name, I doubt I will be adding anything.  We could not gain access, I took photos from the fence with the zoom on Sony Too.  Must say, what pretty view to have from your final resting place.

Believe these were azaleas.

Down the hill, on the river side, fishing boats await:

As we drove the Coastal Road, we discovered this building, and then signage, it was the Radar Station B-71. Here is a short Wikipedia article, fascinating stuff.

The last photo of the day,  looking south along the coast, a bit of sea mist, and a lot of AHHHH.

We are not finished with the Trinidad area tho, another day of beach hugging and scenic driving await.

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Sunday's Stories, 52 Ancestor Weeks, Week # 47, Amanda (nee Shireman or Sherman) Halterman

Copyright 2014, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

This is week 47 of my participation Amy Johnson Crow's, once a week challenge to blog about one ancestor a week, tell their story, biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on that one ancestor. More about the challenge can be found at her Blog, No Story Too Small.

Amanda Shireman (also found spelled Sherman), was born sometime between 1828 and 1830 possibly near Mathias, Hardy County, Virginia (now West Virginia).  She was the child of Conrad Shireman and his wife Frances Margaret Hall Shireman.

It is believed she married Adam Halterman around 1847-48, but, no marriage record has been located (yet).

Amanda and Adam had the following children, recorded in my data base:

George Halterman
Martha Halterman
Daniel Halterman
Samuel Halterman
Elizabeth Halterman
Rachael Hannah Halterman
Selestian Halterman
David Franklin Halterman, also known as Franklin David Halterman
Albert Halterman

Adam and Amanda are found enumerated on the 1850 US Census in the 56th District of Rockingham County Virginia.  In 1860 they were enumerated in the Mt. Clifton District of Shenandoah County Virginia.  They have not been found on the 1870 census.  They are found on the 1880 census enumeration in the Plains District of Rockingham County, Virginia.

Amanda, it appeared, out lived her husband by a few years.  Her death record has yet to be discovered, but, we did find an inventory for Amanda Halterman in Hardy County West Virginia, dated August 4, 1885, residence Hardy County, Amount $172.17, appraisers, Harvey Snyder, Benj. F. Patrick, Jos. N. Halterman.

Her burial place has not been discovered.  It is believed her husband Adam is buried on the family cemetery near Bergton, Rockingham County, Virginia.

Wish list for Amanda:  Marriage verification, data, and image of any document.  1870 census data.  Death verification, data and image.  Discover place of burial.




* Additional source data can be obtained by contacting me, see the right hand column for a yahoo email address.

** 52 Ancestors Weeks Button courtesy of Amy Johnson Crow.

*** I use many resources to research, FamilySearch.org is a free site.  Ancestry.com is a pay site for which I pay, no discounts, etc.  Fold3, is another site I subscribe to and pay for. None of these sites have asked me to review them, or use them.  See my Disclaimers page for further details.

**** Graphic courtesy of All-free-download.com.  This site sources the image to:  Author: www.openclipart.org view people lady silhouette woman person side.   Please note this is a generic graphic, NOT a silhouette image for Amanda.

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Abilene to Van Horn Texas, Two Days On the Road :: Winter Sojourn 2014/15

Copyright 2014, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

(Most notes from my Facebook page.  Photos taken with my iPhone.  Windows were spotted, dirty, had large dead bugs, ick.)  Substandard quality, but, I was lazy and Sony Too was buried in the back of the truck.  No excuse, really,  just lazy.)

On the way to Abilene. Stopped for fuel. Bio diesel. No fuel here. (Man will not put bio diesel in Jolly, unless forced too, warranty from Dodge states don't put more than 5% bio in this truck.  Becoming a issue.)

But someone had some serious ice.  (Believe it came off the undercarriage of a truck or car and dropped off here.)

Went right over us.  (Cool, eh? We were near an air force base.)

Cotton fields. Wind mills.  

(Later in the evening, I posted:)

So, now that we are as far south as we go this trip, for right now, we spent 4 nights freezing our backsides off near Weatherford Texas (as did almost everyone else in the USA, no, we are NOT special, we were C*O*L*D tho! LOL)

So, now, we are headed west. We had been told about the oil boom off of I-20 around Midland- Odessa- Pecos. Told campsites were tough to get and if you could find one, then, expensive.  So, rather than drive into the middle of that mess, we stopped east of it, for tonight.

(Next day.)

Oil and wind. Powering our nation.  

Have oil wells. Have storage. New ones are rusty till painted.  

Stunning what an oil boom does and looks like.  (And, then, I took some photos and posted.)

What oil boom looks like. Odessa Texas.  (Loads of equipment.)

(Jobs to be had.)

(Many new hotels and building going on.  By the way, if you needed housing, you could rent a small FEMA trailer for $400.00 a week.  Yep.)

(Further down the road.) Distant mountains. Ahhh. 

(Soon we passed from the oil boom and then, reality, ghost towns, many miles where you see little but scrub brush, I posted.)

Just drove by Toyah. More ghost town than not. Shock after all this oil boom we have been seeing. One out of maybe fifteen buildings were useful or lived in.

More Mountains:

I can look all day.

We stopped for two nights at Van Horn Texas.  

Next, Las Cruces, New Mexico.

There ya have it, two days on the road thanks to a crappy iPhone and Facebook.

Sunday's Stories, 52 Ancestor Weeks, Week # 46, William Seeds, Where DID You Come From?

Copyright 2014, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

This is week 46 of my participation Amy Johnson Crow's, once a week challenge to blog about one ancestor a week, tell their story, biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on that one ancestor. More about the challenge can be found at her Blog, No Story Too Small.

William Seeds was born, well, not sure, he is a brick wall of mine. Before his marriage, I have no record of him.  Still looking.

William marries Melia Morris (she is also known as: Permilia "Pamilia\Amelia\Melia" (nee) Battin) May 27/28, 1809 per Minister's Returns, Isle of Wight, Virginia. She is the widow of Hezekiah Morris, who died before December 1808.

William Seeds appears on the 1810 census (record taken from published book, not actual census report) of Isle of Wight, Virginia as follows: 2 males between 16 - 26 years of age, 2 females under the age of 10 and 1 female between 16 - 26 years of age.  I am not sure why there are two males, ages 16 to 26 listed, but I feel that one of them is William, the female between 16 and 26 would be his wife, Pamilia Battin Morris, the female under the age of 10 could be Margaret Morris, daughter of Pamilia and Hezekiah Morris, for who William Seeds is found to be the guardian (see Isle of Wight County, Virginia records).

There is a William Seeds listed in the 3rd Regiment of Boykins Virginia Militia in the Soliders of the War of 1812.  Is this is the same William?  I found William on the Index to Virginia Soldiers in War of 1812, however this work needs to be revisited. Further research may prove helpful.  Here is the compiled service card image, found at Fold3.  I looked up Addison Littleton, in the same record set, and did not find a reference to William.  More research I guess.  SIGH

In my data base I have recorded that William and Permilia had the following children:

Mary Ann Seeds
Edmund Seeds
Nancy Seeds
Permilia "Pamilia" Seeds
William Seeds.

On January 1, 1827 William Seeds is the surety on a marriage record for Mary Ann Seeds and Armstrong Turner.  Per work by Mable Van Dyke Baer (Research for James Otis Wright, 6100 Wing Lake Road, Birmingham, Michigan), titled Darden-Lassiter Lineage of Isle of Wight and Nansemond Counties Virginia in 1965, Mary Ann Turner is William's daughter, as stated in his will of 1835.

William Seeds appears on the 1830 census of Isle of Wight County, Virginia as follows:  1 male 10 - 15 years old; a male 15 - 20 years old; 1 male 40 - 50 years old; 2 females 5 - 10 years old; 1 female 40 - 50 years old, and 9 slaves.

It is believed William died in or around Isle of Wight County, Virginia before January 4, 1836.

William has a Will recorded in Will Book 20, pages 198, 199 & 200, Isle of Wight County, Virginia.  I do not seem to have a copy of that will digitized or recorded on the data base.

Wish list for William Seeds, birth information, including parents.  Find out more about possible service in the War of 1812. Information on death, and place of burial.  Digitize Will and transcribe into the data base.

* Additional source data can be obtained by contacting me, see the right hand column for a yahoo email address.

** 52 Ancestors Weeks Button courtesy of Amy Johnson Crow.

*** I use many resources to research, FamilySearch.org is a free site.  Ancestry.com is a pay site for which I pay, no discounts, etc.  Fold3, is another site I subscribe to and pay for. None of these sites have asked me to review them, or use them.  See my Disclaimers page for further details.

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Rough Roads, Ridiculous, Rants :: Winter Sojourn 2014/15

Copyright 2014, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

The three "R's"  of RVing??  Rough roads, ridiculous (behavior by others) and rants (by moi).

Rough roads, well, we have sure seen some in the last 2 days of travel (from Effingham Illinois to West Memphis to Little Rock to Texarkana Arkansas.  Good grief.  Tana held up well, so far, we have not seen anything broken or lost.  Truly a miracle that a rig can take this kind of mistreatment and still keep on rolling.

Before we started out on Wednesday morning, Cappy decided to go for a walk in the leaves. The leaves just about swallowed him up.

(From my FB page.)

Yes. We are rolling. Jolly's nose pointed due south.  looking for sunshine.

(Several hours later, from my FB Page.  The first of several rants about the ridiculous.)

We are ok. Read that again before you read the rest.

That was just too close. Way too close.

You all know how I feel about animals.

But if I have to choose between a dog or deer or anything loose on the xpressway or more than 10 vehicles. Well I choose vehicles and human life.

Little car I hope you realize what a catastrophic event you almost caused. I hope you have wet ones. Cause you should have shit your pants when that 18 wheeler missed running over you cause you stomped on the breaks for that dog. Do you have any idea about the other trucks and Rvs that were dodging and pulling onto the shoulder?

I doubt you realize how close that really was. I doubt you have any idea.

Just way too close.

I hope my blood pressure stabilizes soon.

(No photo, I thought about it, but, was a bit shaky at the time and decided to pass.)

(From my FB page.)

Will chat more about the dog incident. Right now we have power issues at this campground. Man is a bit testy at the moment. Stay tuned.
It's one of those "not all days are created equal" kinda days.
Oh and I don't want to whine so this is a simple statement.
It is freaking cold out there. Dang!!!— feeling cold

(Let me tell you it was brutal, miserable cold.  The wind was blowing the door out of my grasp every time I opened it.  Brutal I tell ya.  It was not the best of times to be assigned a campsite with a messed up power pole.  Wayne, the work camper, came down, replaced a lot of parts, Man and Wayne became quick buddies, but, it was touch and go for a few moments.  Just not a good way to end the day after the little car/dog event earlier.)

(From my FB page)

POWER IS A WONDERFUL THING. YES I AM YELLING!!

(Once Wayne fixed the power pole, all was well, and soon, it got warm!  Ya us!!)

(From my FB page.)

Now, that dog issue.

It was a gorgeous, black, huge, well taken care of German Shepherd.

We were driving a decent distance behind the 18-wheeler in front of us, in the far right lane. In the left lane a small car, either just in front of, or even with the 18-wheeler.

As far as we know, nothing beside us.

What was behind us, I have no idea.

I saw the truck brake lights, and then right away, the car brake lights, I started making "slow down" noises, right off. Then, I saw the dog. I started making "dog on the road" noises.

The car went from slow down to dead ass stop in the middle of the expressway in no time, the 18-wheeler beside is braking hard, Man is braking hard.

Next thing we see is another 18-wheeler flying by us, but, appearing to be braking hard, I swear his nose was down from the attempts to brake. But, it sure looked like he was going to run right over that car.

The 18-wheeler in front of us was still braking hard and maybe he saw what was going on, cause he dove to the shoulder and stopped.

The 18-wheeler about to run over the car dove in front of us, and missed taking out the car by feet, it looked like inches, of course, but, most likely was more like 3 Feet. Maybe. Of course, he may have rolled that rig and if he had we would have hit him I am pretty sure. Man was braking, everyone was braking.

God was driving with those two truck drivers, they may have made judgement errors in the beginning but, when the shit started hitting the fan, they did good. REAL GOOD!

I don't have the numbers, but, I know the physics. A 4,000 pound car, with decent brakes can stop in a very short distance. Jolly and Tana run about 23,000 pounds (if my memory serves). We cannot stop 23,000 in the same distance said 4,000 pound car can stop. 18-wheelers loaded cannot stop as fast as we can, they weigh more.

We know this, have been aware of this for years! We drive with that lurking in the back of our minds.

This is not the first time we have almost been involved in a car getting run over by a large rig because the car has done something, well, STUPID! We had a little gal pull in front of us and stop on a dime on a yellow light change because she was mad that we were going 5 MPH under the speed limit. We were thankful that Man could negotiate into the center turn lane. When we stopped, we were in front of her, in other words, if we had connected we would have pushed her into the 4 lanes of oncoming traffic. She was like a little jackrabbit, jumping around like that, pulling in front of us and almost taking off our bumper. She almost ended up as rabbit stew cause of her temper and not understanding physics. Normally, she would have run that yellow, you know she would have.

This one today was as close as we ever want to be. I could see lots of torn up rigs, a possible fatal for whomever was in that car. It WAS that close. Don't doubt it. We don't know what else was going on behind us, we do NOT want to know. We hope someone rescued that gorgeous dog, and hope no one got hurt trying.

Rant over. Where's the Jack?

(Of course there are some that don't appreciate our take on small cars slamming on the brakes.  It is their right to think that way.  There was a bit of a discussion on my wall. Nothing new there, we do have some heated and interesting and educational discussions. We also have just a bit of silliness, well, a LOT of silliness.

Later, after relaxing, from my FB wall.)

Well, it has been quite the day. We are just north of West Memphis Arkansas. We did not stop at Cauthersville as we had thought. Despite the "thrill" with the dog, we managed to do more miles than we had planned on. Man had me drive for a while. I think, snicker, he is over the "new" truck syndrome. LOL Ya, took that long. Dude really loves his truck.

SOOO, thought I would end the day with a bit of humor. Those that visit a campground or two know that we usually get a list of the campground "rules" when we register. They are interesting, some gruff, some to the point, some more, some less, but, almost every campground we have been in have a list of rules. Most are basic, quiet time, pool rules, dog rules, etc. etc. etc.

This campground has some of the most light hearted, well written, we have ever seen, repeated here for your late evening enjoyment:

1.) Frowns are not allowed. If you have one, leave it at the Dump Station and pick it up when you leave.

4.) No lifeguard on duty at pool. All kids under 14 must take an adult to the pool. Parents like to feel needed.

6.) All leashes must be accompanied by a dog.

12. Your neighbors should be quiet between the hours of 10 OM and 7 AM so that you can get a good night's sleep.

17. No clothes lines. This isn't the place to air your clean or dirty laundry.

We have been blessed today. We count those special blessings. Today gets bonus points!

To all our friends and family, thanks for the travel prayers, they worked wonders today.

Be happy, and may no German Shepherds cross your expressways of life.

(Over night Mother Nature blessed us with temps below freezing and a bit of frozen precip, yummy.)

(From my FB wall first thing Thursday morning.)

Back to my blankies. Frozen mix over night. Bridges now iced over. Extra zzzs for this gal.

(So, I did just that, I went back to sleep!)

(From my FB wall.)

Outside with Tana this morning. I-55 is rolling northbound. Not so southbound. Tis a parking lot. Yes I personally observed that parking lot.

Coffee is brewing. I found sun. We are waiting and warm and very happy we are NOT stuck in the parking lot. — feeling blessed.

OK, traffic is rolling on I 55, we are going to packemup.

Have a wonderful day folks, pray for us as travelers. And, if you own big dogs, leashes and fences may keep them OFF the expressways.

Blessings, roll em out doggies. (Pun intended.)

(Next post at FB)

On the ground. What WAS on the slide topper. Rolled right off.

(After purchasing a bottle of propane, we headed out.  Our nice work camper, Wayne, from the campground told us how to sneak around some back roads and miss a lot of this traffic. From my FB page.)

Traffic on I-55. Appears to be construction related. Not ice or weather.

(From my FB wall just about an hour later)

Case in point

We are minding our own business. A little white car zooms by us doing at least 15 to 20 miles per hour faster than we are going. She pulls in front of us, close. Slows down to where we are now climbing up her little backside. We pass. She is on the stinking phone.

How in the world can we maintain safe distances with erratic drivers every where?

Drive as defensively as possible. Pray. Pray some more.

Good grief.

(And, again from the FB wall, about 3 hours later)

Really I am beginning to think the world has turned upside down. In last five minutes we were approached by a scam artist/beggar. And a lady rammed backwards out of her parking space without looking and came about two or three foot from slamming into Tana's side.

Really. Good grief.

After a few more traffic jams, and almost getting creamed by one more driver in a huge hurry, we arrived at Texarkana Arkansas for the night, the weather is mild in comparison, no wind, some sun.  We had no issues with the power.  We even took a stroll around the campground before turning in for the evening.  Peace at least.

I am reminded tonight, by friends and family fighting extremely serious health issues that as bad as all this was, as stressful as the last two days have been, we are alive and Tana  and Jolly are still rolling down the road.

Man and I hold many in our prayers.  We thank those that said special travel prayers for us. The last two days have been long and we are tired.  Now, it is time to rest.

* If you follow me on FB, you have already seen all this. Sorry.
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The Numbers of a Get-Away, 3, 50, 70, 380, 11 :: Winter Sojourn 2014/15

Copyright 2014, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Yesterday we rolled forward with Jolly and Tana, hopefully to points west.

It took 3 days to packemup and winterize the house.  We took a few hours on day 1 and day 2 to do errands and have a lunch with Son # 1 and his wife.  Day 3 was long and exhausting.  We moved into Tana, lock, stock and barrel and spent the night.

I slept about 50 % of the night.  Ya, don't cha just hate that.  Exhausted and still cannot sleep.

Yesterday we rose before the sun was up, see, there is still a moon.

And, yes, I saw the sunrise, pretty color.  Don't cha just love the "pig", aka, propane storage tank?

We finished up locking the house, put Tana's slides in, did our pull test, and down the drive we rolled.  I was so tired I thought this said 7:11, but, I guess the crappy iPhone photo does not lie, it was 7:21.

We were off.  Due to the early hour, we almost got to harvest some venison.  3 deer ran across the highways.  

About 1.5 hours later, the first coffee of the day.  I sure slugged this down.

When asked, when are you leaving, where are you going? I usually respond, when the time is right. I will know when the time comes and when I see Indianapolis in my rear view mirrors where we are going.  This rather sorry photo represents, when : yesterday.  Where, well, heading west on I-70 at this point. Tana in the side view mirror and the Indianapolis airport off to our right.

I totally missed the Indiana state sign, but, I did manage the Illinois line:

At a rest area just inside Illinois, we find:

"Hiram B. Trout and his brother, Everett Trout, were born on a farm about five miles north of this location. They operated a machine shop in Shelbyville, Illinois in the late 1800’s at which in time they invented and patented the unique design for this Pony Truss bridge. They built about 150 of these bridges between 1892 and 1897 which were erected in Shelby and neighboring counties. The design feature which makes this bridge unique is the use of round pipe in the top chords, end posts, and verticals instead of the usual rivet connected channel plates, and angle iron material. This bridge was erected on a township road near the small community of Fancher in Shelby County. It was in service for 88 years from 1895 until 1983 when it was reduced in width from 16 to 8 feet and moved 70 miles to this location for preservation by the Illinois Department of Transportation."

Isn't it charming?

We drove close to 380 miles.  Yes, we are tired.  No, we are not moving today, the weather is damp and would be along our intended route, so, we are resting.

Man discovered that all diesel is 11 % bio-diesel around here, Dodge warranties state max of 5% bio is allowed.  So, we either never drive Jolly again, or we fill up, go down the road and pray one tank will not gum up the works.

There ya go, the numbers of a get-away, 3, 50, 70, 380 and 11.

Tomorrow's numbers should involve 57 and 55.

Happy Veterans Day to all our vets.  Honor them, they earned it!  Thank them, they MORE than earned our thanks.

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