Itinerary Update

With just two months until departure, we've made a few changes to the last several days of our itinerary in order to make a visit to DH's family in Tennessee and Kentucky.  One of his family members is dealing with some serious health issues, so we decided to re-route and come home by way of the relatives.  The change is adding three states (17 total) and two days (33 in all) to what we had planned before.

So after leaving Shenandoah National Park, we'll head to Roanoke, Virginia.  This works out well because there is a congregation we can worship with in Roanoke - we had been having trouble locating one on our other route.  One of our favorite things about long road trips like we've been doing is meeting fellow Christians in other parts of the country.  We've made new friends, seen old friends, and found we knew people in common with others.  

From Roanoke, we're headed on to Pigeon Forge, TN, and after a night there, we'll head over to the Nashville, TN area.  We'll hop up to Kentucky for a night to see family there before heading home by way of DeSoto State Park in Alabama.  We stayed at the lodging at this state park in 2017.  

Want to make your own map?  I used MapChart to make the one in this blog entry.

~ Cindy D.

Traveling back in time (11 generations)

I've taken over the role of unofficial family historian for DH's family since his cousin passed away.  We recently picked up a box of materials her sister had been holding to pass on to us, and what a treasure-trove it has been!  Her work and collection of documentation, combined with what I can corroborate via Ancestry and other resources has allowed me to trace a branch of their family back to mid-17th century Delaware!

In 1641, a 14-year-old named Johan Anderson arrived in New Sweden (Delaware) having been hired and sent from Sweden to work as a farm hand.  When he was 19, he became a soldier for the Governor of the territory.  As a gunner, he wore armor, and as a result, he picked up a nickname - stahlkofta - which is the Swedish word for steel coat.  His nickname became a name of reference for him and was anglicized to Stallcop / Stalcup.  

Johan (John) Anderson Stahlkofta (Stalcup) is DH's 9th-great-grandfather.  Church records and other documents from the area confirm the descendants of Johan that we were able to connect through 11 generations.  DH's ancestors lived in New Castle County, Delaware, for five generations before being located in North Carolina.

While reading through the records, I realized that the older generations are buried at the Old Swedes church in Wilmington, Delaware.  We have a day on the itinerary where we are driving through northern Delaware, so I had to see whether this was somewhere we could stop for a bit.  It's now known as the Old Swedes Historic Site - and they offer tours of the church and property as well as a self-guided tour of the cemetery.  

We had planned to go to the Fort Delaware State Park on our way from Rehoboth Beach to Winterthur Museum and Gardens just outside Wilmington.  Timing doesn't allow us to do both the state park and visit the Old Swedes church - so we're opting for a visit with DH's multiple-great-grandparents who are recorded as being buried there.  If we're lucky, we'll be able to find the exact locations in the cemetery.

I know, I'm a little bit excited about making this family connection with our trip.  I think it's so cool to find connections that go back that far.

~ Cindy D.