DNA Through the Ages

Well….I’m at it again!!!  Totally mired in one of my obsessions…..which at the moment is the family genealogy.  Been working on this project since long before desk top computers, the late 1960’s.  I used to spend hours upon hours in various libraries, pouring through books looking for any kind of a hint into our family history. 

I once spent 3 days back in the 70’s at the State Library of California in Sacramento.  There is a branch of the Hallsted family that went west for the gold rush.  Also, took a trip to the Cumberland Gap, Kentucky side, to find the gravestone of my Great-great grandfather Poff.  That turned into a rather eerie experience.   Was standing in the middle of an abandoned graveyard, with weeds as high as the gravestones, wondering how I was going to find him.  Looked down at the gravestone at my feet, and there he was!!!   

Marie Tullis Hallsted, My Grandmother...age about 15

Have worked on this project in starts and spurts for years.  Have binders, upon binders full of old documents, most of which I have not looked at in 30+ years.  Keep moving them with me though.  Of course the age of computers changed all my research habits.  I now have the Hallsted’s back to the 1100’s, the Poff’s to 1760, Lake (Lax) to 1722 and the Tullis family to 1680.  I have a laptop computer whose sole purpose in life is to house genealogical records.  So, I think I’m addicted.

This addiction, I’m sure is directly related to my love of history.  I’m always looking for additional individuals to add to my database.  But even more interesting now is learning about the details of their lives.  

Found a new website recently called newspapers.com.  That site has digitalized newspapers back to the 1700’s.  So, I started plugging in the Hallsted name beginning in 1845 in northern California.  Struck a gold mine!!!  Boy, the Halsteads were sure busy back then.  Three brothers landed in Plumas County, CA and became successful miners and members of their community.   It isn’t gold they found, but granite…and evidentially there was quite a market for the rock.  The newspapers of old printed a bunch of ‘gossip’ stories.  Like one posted an advertisement by a Halstead who was offering a 37.5¢ reward for the return of his wheelbarrow; to be paid in Confederate script!

Research in New York in the early 1800s turned up a Halsted who was a HMS captain in the British Royal Navy who had a very impressive career.  His father was also so engaged as well as his 3 brothers.  

In my early research I was very confused finding a distant relative who had several children.  The first was born in New York, the second in Pennsylvania, the third in New York, the fourth in Pennsylvania, etc. etc.  Was very confused as to why this would happen.  Finally found the answer in a book on the county history in Pennsylvania.  Turned out there was a group of French, partnering with the local Indians, who drove this party of Englishmen from the territory every time they showed up.  My ancestor was tenacious to say the least, because from there the family headed west to the Ohio River Valley, where I sit today.

Theodore G. Hallsted, High School Graduation....my father

And so I meander on.  Thinking always about those people who carried that DNA forward, century after century, always thinking about their lives and their role in history.  For me, fascinating, absolutely fascinating.