History

My family history is really very simple in many ways. Most of my ancestors were farmers, few were wealthy and even fewer had much education. I know very little about many sides of my family for various reasons but what I do know I am going to separate into four groups, starting each from as early as I can and working my way up to my grandparents.

Troutman

The Troutman’s history is the most complete family history I have. It can be trace back to Wilhelm Troutman. We don’t have much information about him except that he was born in Europe, moved to Pennsylvania and met Elisabeth. Elisabeth was born in Pennsylvania in about 1732 in Greenwich Township, Berks, Pennsylvania. She married Wilhelm in about 1752 and together they had five children. Wilhelm died in 1790 and Elisabeth in 1808. Their children, of whom we have information of only two, William and Peter, moved to Somerset County Pennsylvania in the early settlement of this part of the state.

William settled one mile west of the town of Wellersburg on a farm known as the Troutman Farm. He married Catherine Uhl, who came across the ocean at the age of seven from Germany. They had eight children, six daughters and two sons, William and Peter. William Sr. possibly could have been a private in the Revolutionary War. William Sr. died at the age of 81 and Catherine at 77, both were buried in Wellersburg.

William and Peter were both born near Wellersburg, where William, the eldest, continued to reside. Peter moved to Iowa and was buried in Benton County. Peter was married three times. His first wife, Lydia Harden was a sister to George Harden Jacob Harden’s father. They had "quite a number of children," all but two died young and were buried in Wellersburg. Peters second wife was a German woman and his third a distant relative of Lydia Harden.

William (II) was born on August 27, 1792 in Bedford County, Pennsylvania. He married Christina Korns and together they had eleven children. The sixth child is my great great great Grandfather, Michael, born in Southampton Township, Somerset County, Pennsylvania on December 26, 1832. He married Rachel Winters and had twelve children. Michael was a farmer and a boarder, he also founded the Lutheran churches in Benedict and surrounding areas according to his obituary.

His son William George, born March 31, 1850, was born in Pennsylvania but moved to Illinois for nineteen years and then to York Nebraska in 1879. He married Malinda Harden who was the daughter of Jacob Harden, mentioned earlier. She was born in Maryland on April 30, 1851 but moved to Illinois as a child. William was a farmer and Malinda raised their six children. The youngest child, Forrest H., born in November 29, 1889 in York, Nebraska. He married Harriet (Hattie) Belle Hemphill. They had four children. William Forrest Troutman, my grandfather, was his second son. The youngest, Darwin Dale, died as an infant and Grace Louise, the second youngest died at the age of nine in an auto accident caused by a drunk driver. Each time the man who killed Grace was to be released from prison Hattie would go down to the courthouse and raise cane about it. He ended up serving twenty years in prison. Marjorie my grandpa’s oldest sister and her husband had no children and were killed when they pulled out in front of a truck on the highway in 1980.

My Grandfather married Margaret (Peg) Elloise Troutman. They had eleven children, my father was the fourth born ( 1943). Patricia was the first but died at the age of two whey she was burned by scalding hot water after she fell into a wash tub, the actual cause of death was kidney failure. The youngest was also killed at a young age. Fredrick Earl was twenty when he died in a car accident. He was riding in a jeep with his friends, they had all been drinking, and rolled. My uncle was the only one who was killed though. The roll bar on the jeep suffocated him. As a child I wasn’t aloud to ride in jeeps because of this accident and honestly I still have never been in one. My dads older brother, William Gale, has survived a lot. He was in a tornado which put him in a comma for several months, and later was paralyzed when he was hooking up a trailer to a truck and the truck rolled backwards hitting him in the spine. My dad remembers the first house he grew up in had no electricity and in door bathroom. Many of the houses they lived in were far from up to date. He typically lived in the country around Bradshaw, where his father rented land and farmed. My Grandparents were married for sixty years when my Grandma died in 1998. My Grandpa died two years later.

Gray

There isn’t very many papers describing or telling about the family tree, and anyone that I would have asked has passed away. My dad knows basics and a few interesting facts about this side of my family. My ancestors where pirates from England and were hung for this. They later moved to Canada and some say from there went to Kansas and then Nebraska.

My Great, great, great, great Grandfather was Martin Funk. He was born on December 21, 1819. He married Anna Newswangle. They lived in Scotland. Anna was born on November 13, 1816. Their son Henry Washington Funk was my great great great grandfather. Martin died on October 5, 1890 and Anna died on July 29, 1906. Another of my great great great great grandfathers was George Washington Sleezer. He was born in 1789. His second wife was Polly Woodard. Their daughter was Susannah Sleezer, my great great great grandmother.

My great great great grandfather was Thomas Gray. He was born on February 20, 1834. He married Doris Dirrs. Doris was born on February 28, 1834. Their son Arthur Wellington Gray was my great great grandfather. Thomas died on April 28 1910 and Doris died on March 3, 1900.

My great great great grandfather Henry Washington Funk was born on September 28, 1841 to Martin and Anna Funk. He married Caroline Bloom. Caroline was born on May 5, 1839. They were the parents of Francis Amanda Funk. My Grandma remembers Henry as looking like Santa Clause. Both Henry and Caroline were deaf due to scarlet fever. They met at a home to learn how to use sign language. Henry died on March 18, 1922 and Caroline died on September 5, 1918.

The last of my great great great grandparents on the Gray side of my family that I have information on is John Henry Piper. He was born on February 26, 1833. He married Susannah Sleezer. Susannah was the daughter of George and Polly Sleezer. I was unable to find the dates of the births or deaths. Their son Henry Piper was my great great grandfather.

My great great grandfather Arther Wellington Gray was born on June 19, 1866 in Dunham, Ontario Canada. He married Caroline Funk from Scotland. Francis was born on May 9, 1870. They were also the parents of my great grandfather Earl Eugene Gray. Arther built the house my uncle William lived in for many years. He was also a blacksmith and every day he would wake up at about 4:30 in the morning and he would follow the creek to York where his shop was located on the corner that is now Chance’s R. He would leave York as soon as it got dark. He did it every day of the year, even in the winter. Arther died on November 25, 1948 and Francis died in 1944. My great great Grandfather, Henry John Piper was born on March 9, 1863 in Gridley, Illinois. For some reason that is all of the dates and names that we know up until my grandmother Margaret and her sister Dorothy.

Sloans

I was able to find information back to four of great-great-great-great grandparents. The first is Johnston, whose first name is not known. The only information I could find about him was that he came to America from Ireland and apparently was married before he arrived. He and his wife had four children, including my great-great-great grandfather Jonathan Johnston who was born while they were still in Ireland. Another of their sons, Andrew, later became a senator for Iowa. Jonathan married Rose Ann Shank and they had John Johnston, who was a Civil War vet. He moved to Bedford County Pennsylvania and later after marring Angeline Kelly Jay from New Jersey, moved to Stromsburg. Their daughter Eliza Nora was my great grandmother.

Edward Cheney, my great-great-great-great grandfather, lived in Kentucky and was the father of Hannah Cheney. Hannah married Cornelius McKissick and had Martha Jane in 1943. She married Charles Mason Sloan and they had Thomas Milton my great grandfather. Charles came directly from Ireland. We know nothing of what he did before coming to the United States. Another great-great-great-grandfather I could find information on was Benjamin Franklin Jay. He was from Luzene County in Pennsylvania. He was married to a woman named Phoebe who was originally from Scotland. They had ten children. My great-great-great grandfather Alexander Nelson Jay married Amelia Colcher from Scranton Pennsylvania.

Eklund

The Eklund’s have a relatively short known history. My great grandfather, Gustav came directly from Sweden. Betsy Berlund’s, his wife, parents came directly from Sweden. They only information we have of either side is that when Gustav came to the United States he changed his name from Nelson to Eklund. He came to Nebraska by working on the railroad.

My grandfather, Clarence, married my grandmother Florence and together they had eight children. Richard the second child died as a baby from smoke inhalation. My mother, Beverly Jean, was the third child and the first of three girls. My grandmother Sloan passed away in 1992 because of heart problems. My grandfather Sloan is my last surviving grandparent, he lives in York and I visit him as much as possible.

Which brings me to my parents today. They met when my mother got a job at a laundry service and my dad was her boss. He was twenty-five and she was twenty when they married in 1969. They had a total of four children but Jeff and Chad, both died shortly after birth in 1970 and 1975. My sister Jennifer Jean is four and a half years older than I am and is married with one little girl, Hannah and another on the way. Both my parents and sister still live in York.