Peter Stalcup, Washington County, VA

Peter Stalcup Deed - 1792

Peter Stalcup Deed - 1801

I have been trying to use Google maps to help plot the land that is described in the deeds issued to Peter Stalcup (Stolkup) - my gr-gr-gr-gr-grandfather who was born in DE, moved to Orange County, NC with a big group of Stalcop's, then moved to Washington County (now Smyth County), VA. I had been getting close to figuring this out since I ran into a fellow researcher of the Gollehon family who indicated where their land was located. Remember - lots of Gollehon/Stalcup connections starting with them being neighbors in old Washington County, now Smyth County, VA (one being Peter's son John - my gr-gr-gr-grandfather - marrying Rachel Gollehon). ANYWAY - before I forget, I found the deeds posted as digital copies in the Virginia State Library archives online. I also have deeds from Peter selling some land to John, and some land going to his oldest son William - but I need to convert them to pictures. Long story short, I was searching for some Stalcup items online, and ran into a website about the Lefever family in Washington Co, VA that a Jeffrey LaFavre put together. On his site he has a map he put together from original land deeds in that area of Washington (and present-day Smyth) Counties, and amazingly - there is 257 acres listed to a Peter Stolkup! Voila - I don't need to put the map together anymore! I did use Google maps to get an aerial view of the plot - it is just on the south side of I-81 as it goes through Chilhowie, VA. You can almost see what appears to be old structures or the site of old structures right about in the middle of the plot where an old road runs to them away from some newer houses along the road - I wonder if that is the remains of where the Stalcup's lived. Peter and his wife Mary are buried in St. Clair's Bottom cemetery, which is just a little bit south of his land. In a previous post I placed a picture of Peter's gravestone - there is no picture of Mary's that I can find. Peter died in 1827, and Mary passed away in 1833. Right around 1837 John and his family, along with his older brother William and his family, took off for Monroe/Shelby Counties in Missouri. Other brothers moved to TN or KY, leaving almost no Stalcup's in Washington/Smyth Counties in Virginia after the 1840's. More on Stalcup migration from Virginia in another post.

Stalcop/Stalkup/Stalcup's Arrival to North Carolina

So a good start for this blog entry would be a review of the most excellent website "Stalcop Family History" by Larry Stallcup, which chronicles the beginnings of the Stalcop family starting in Delaware (the Wilmington area), and the migration of a large number of the family around 1767 to Orange County, North Carolina. The land is now in Alamance Co, NC after a few changes to Orange Co. Anyway - I was able to get a copy of a land survey/deed from 1781 to a Peter Stalkup. I'm checking with Larry Stallcup to be certain - but I don't think this is my gr-gr-gr-gr-grandfather Peter Stephen Stalcup, who did move from DE to NC, then to Washington Co, VA (in VA around 1782) - but it could be...we'll see. Anyway, thanks to the magic of Google Maps on the internet, I think I've located where that tract of land is located based on the deed survey - fun detective work! I have similar information - albeit only a word description - from land deeds for my Peter Stephen Stalcup in Washington Co, VA, and will blog about where I think I've narrowed that tract of land in VA. Another fun aspect of tracking all of this is looking at what the roads and routes were that folks took back then - so I included a couple of maps - looks like the Stalcop's traveled on the "Fall Line" road from DE to NC.

Stalcup Bookstore, Shelbina, MO

Recall from an earlier blog entry that I was able to find a picture of the Stalcup Bookstore dated 1906. Dr. Jim Foster - a cousin related through Robert Lee Stalcup's younger brother Taylor Stalcup who is a veternarian who lives in Shelbina, MO - recently found an old ad for the Stalcup Bookstore dated 1911. Jim has been a huge help in finding a lot of Stalcup pictures and information from the Shelby County area - I can't thank him enough!

William Stalcup - Fiddle King

I have recently been reading 'Frontiersman - Daniel Boone and the Making of America' by Meredith Mason Brown. Mainly because I didn't know much about him, but also because many of my old Stalcup's lived in the frontiers of North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky in the late 1700's (with many Stalcup's still in the Appalachan areas) and I wanted to get a feel for what life may have been like for them. The book is a great read, and it got me thinking - I wonder if there were any connections between the Boone family and any Stalcups. A quick search on Google didn't really turn up much - but I did find one curious link that highlighted both 'Daniel Boone' and 'Stalcup.' As so often happens in my family tree web searches, something quirky and unexpected comes up when I least expect it, or when the link seems like it might not be quite what I was looking for. In this case, Google pointed me to a book in the online Google library about the Carter Family (Appalachian Bluegrass music super-family). It mentions a 66 year old William Stalcup winning the 1923 King of Missouri Old Timers Fiddling crown. As you can imagine, I was immediately intrigued, and within a few minutes I had figured out through my family tree on Ancestry.com that the best match was a certain William Stalcup (1861 - 1933) of Shelbina County, MO, son of a James Stalcup (1835 - 1864) who had died during the Civil War. He was a Union soldier who was massacred at Centralia by Bloody Bill Anderson and Jesse James. This is a whole other blog post - but this should help fill in the gaps for now: Shelby County and the Centralia Massacre.

Well, a few more quick searches turned up a biography of William Stalcup from the 1911 General History of Shelby County, as well as a newspaper article in 1922 from the Pittsburgh Gazette (of all places) that mentions William losing a fiddling contest in Paris, MO (I guess he was second fiddle - groan!).

To add to all of the fun of this little side trip through Stalcup relative family history, I recently came across some pictures of fairly close Stalcup relatives (yet another blog post for that story!), and in those pictures that I found where pictures of William's brother George Washington Stalcup, as well as Willaim and George's grandparents William and Sarah Kimble Stalcup. Again, I'll post more about them in a future post. The cool thing is that William's grandfather William 1821 VA - 1916 MO) was the first born son of my gr-gr-gr-grandfather John Stalcup and an older brother to my gr-gr-grandfather Isaac Stalcup! Yet another picture that zeroes in on our direct Stalcup ancestors. I sort of imagine that John must've looked fairly similar to the picture of William. And of course, I imagine the fiddling William Stalcup to look fairly similar to his brother George.

Part of the fun for me in digging like I have through our tree is that many things that you just don't really think about when it comes to ancestors come to life. Since a big chunk of the family tree is spent in the frontier and back woods, it would make sense that certain family members would be good at things like playing the fiddle. I can picture it now - large families sitting on the porch after a long day of farming listening and dancing (and drinking!) to folks playing bluegrass and folk music. I've always liked that kind of music - must've been passed along in the genes!

More Robert Lee Stalcup Photos

Courtesy of my cousin Dr. Jim Foster of Shelbina, MO. Jim is related via Robert Lee Stalcup's younger brother Isaac Taylor Stalcup and Taylor's wife Annie Ensor Stalcup. Anyway, he came across these old photos recently and sent them to me. I can't thank him enough for that! Not sure of the date of the photos, but they might be from around the mid-1940's. First picture is of Robert Lee and Taylor's wife Annie Ensor Stalcup. Second picture is of Robert Lee, Taylor and Annie Stalcup's daughter Myrtle Stalcup Shatzer, and Harry Stalcup (son of Robert Lee's older brother John Larkin Stalcup). Also posted is a copy of a newspaper article mentioning Robert Lee Stalcup and his connection to the St. Louis Browns - courtesy of the Monroe Co, MO Genealogical Society and the Shatzer family - thanks to all of those fine folks!

Old Baseball Photos - Blair, Nebraska

I found these pictures while searching through the excellent Blair, NE Historical Society website. The top picture is from 1905, and while I know it is a huge stretch, I like to imagine that the player in the front row holding his son is none other than Robert Lee Stalcup (sans mustache) and his son, Chester. The child would appear to be the right age, and it wouldn't be a stretch to think that Robert Lee still played some local baseball in Blair after playing professionally for the St. Louis Browns.

The remaining pictures are the Blair High School baseball team from 1914 (the bottom pictures just being blown up from the main picture). In my head, I like to think that the kid on the very right, or the kid two kids away on the left (his right) is none other than my grandfather Chester Stalcup. I don't know if any of what I'm guessing is true - but who knows!

This was a particularly fun find in light of my son playing in a tee-ball league recently. My mom tells me that my dad was offered a semi-pro baseball contract when he was in high school, but his dad turned it down. I think my dad said he played third base. Anyway, he was certainly good at baseball. My dad mentioned that his dad (Chester) played baseball a little bit as a kid, and of course Chester's dad Robert Lee Stalcup played for the old St. Louis Browns from 1881-1885. I played a season of little league baseball when I was 10. Lots of baseball in the family, indeed!

Vermont Horse Stock Company, Catalogue of Blood Horses, Shelburne, VT, 1873

This is the book (booklet) from Charles Predmore that I've been meaning to post in its entirety. I apologize for the not-so-straight fashion that it was scanned - I blame the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library for that!