Ancient Names

Long before computers I was working on my family genealogy.  Being the history nut that I am, I was always curious about where the Hallsteds and the Poffs came from. 

Never got very far with the Poffs, that’s a whole other story, but over the years I have done very well uncovering the Hallsteds. They arrived in North American approximately 50 years after the Mayflower.  I currently have 2,632 related names in my database.  I’m always thrilled when I uncover a new ancestor, and that just happened recently.

Last week I did a tour of Memorial Hall in downtown Cincinnati. An events venue constructed in 1908 as a commemoration to Civil War veterans. On the second floor there was a very large plaque recognizing Revolutionary War veterans listing the names of a whole bunch of vets from that war who are buried in Hamilton County.

Guess what, I found an ancestor listed there. A John Halstead (1754-1841) who is buried in Miamitown, OH. Got the plot number and today I had the opportunity to visit the cemetery. Miamitown is on the far west side of Cincinnati so it was about an hour’s drive for me to find my way there. 

It isn’t a large cemetery, but unfortunately the section numbers and lot numbers were not identified.  I even had a photo of the headstone (thank you ‘Find A Grave’) but still did not find it. 

Per my database I did find him.  He is not a direct ancestor as he only had one child, a girl whose married name was Hopping.  And he goes back several generations, basically a great uncle several times removed.

What was really interesting, per the photo, it says on his headstone that he is a descendant of King Edward I of England (1239-1307).  I did a little research to see if I could find a link between the King and the Hallsteds, however, unfortunately, between two wives Edward  I had 17 children….I won’t live enough to track that down. 

So, for now, John sits as another name in my files.  But I will be checking him out further to see if I can get more info on him.  And I might go back again to the cemetery and give it another try.  Will see.