Family History Trip w/Dad & Mom

Taking a trip out to Pennsylvania has been of dream of mom's for quite a while, so Wendy and I decided to take her and dad out there to visit some of the places where mom's ancestors had lived and to see if we could find any new information while we were there.

 Lancaster County is so breathtakingly beautiful! We stopped there first on our trip.

These are some pictures of St. Mary Anne's Church in North East, Maryland, where William Cloward, Jacob's grandfather, attended church, he is the earliest known Cloward in the United States

We stopped again on this trip in Chadds Ford and visited the Friends Cemetery there as Wendy found a link to her husband Bob's family, can you believe Wendy was able to do
a crayon rubbing and get the information off of this gravestone!

 At the Wilmington Delaware Historical Society looking for new leads

 ...and at the Cecil County, Maryland Historical Society,

we found cameras work really well and a lot cheaper than photocopies,

and most places will allow you to use your cameras.

We drove out to Elk Neck, Maryland and visited Elk Neck State Park, where William Cloward owned land according to the land records of Cecil County back in the 1700's, I got to go view the original records in the Cecil County Courthouse, it was awesome! Can you imagine living in such a beautiful place right out on the Chesapeake Bay! Wendy and I walked up the trail a ways but didn't want to leave dad and mom alone in the car for too long...there is a beautiful lighthouse at the end of the trail...didn't quite make it that far.

We went in to Philadelphia the next day with Alisha and visited Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, a must see when you visit out here.

then we had to stop at Reading Market to try a Philly Cheesesteak

and get some Amish Sticky Buns

There are over twenty covered bridges in Lancaster County, we saw about half of them

The dogwood trees were out in bloom and everywhere, beautiful!

We went to church on Sunday in Pottstown, where Jacob and Ann Cloward were married and had their first three children, the Meads, good friends of Ryan and Shanda's (my brother and his wife) had us over for dinner after church.

The Winter Encampment at Valley Forge

 

We visited Valley Forge on the last day before we headed home, 

above is George Washington's quarters at Valley Forge

Family History Trip - October 2011

I had been interested in taking a Family History trip to Pennsylvania for years, I would get out maps and look at the areas where our ancestors had lived, Jacob & Ann Cloward lived in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland, but all the locations were within a 30 mile radius, Jacob was born in Cecil County, Maryland, he and Ann were married in Pottstown, Pennsylvania according to the information I have found from others so far, Wendy and I traveled to Pottstown, but haven't been able to confirm this information yet, and Jacob's brother Thomas and his family lived in Delaware, I'm assuming that Jacob and Ann moved there to be closer to Thomas and his family, and possibly for work,  from the information I have gathered so far, they struggled financially early on.  At least one of their older daughters went to live with an uncle by the name of Miles, we are still looking for more information on him.  Anyway, in the spring of 2011, Alisha, our oldest daughter, and her husband, Brad announced that they had decided to move to Philadelphia so that Brad could attend Dental School at the University of Pennsylvania.  As hard as it was to have them move away, I was excited at the prospect of finally going on not just one but probably several Family History Trips out to Pennsylvania, because now I would have another reason to go visit.

Pottstown Historical Society, Pennsylvania

Malia, a member of the Pottstown Historical Society helped us out so much 

while we were looking for information on our ancestors

The Wilmington & Brandywine Cemetery in Wilmington, Delaware

There are 5 generations of Clowards buried here, starting with 

Thomas Cloward and Eliza Jane DuShane, 

Thomas being a brother to Jacob, our direct ancestor

 Thomas Cloward's Headstone

 His wife's headstone, Eliza Jane DuShane

 The Cloward Family Plot Headstone

 We went to Amish Country for just a few hours while we were on our trip, 

so beautiful!

 This is the George Harlan Cabin, built in the late 1600's, we stayed here a couple of nights while we were on our trip.  It is owned by the sweetest lady, here pictured with Wendy, Wendy had called to find out information about the Friends Cemetery in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, Beverly answered the phone, and Wendy and her got to talking, she told Wendy that she owned a Bed & Breakfast right by the cemetery, so Wendy set it up for us to stay there for a few nights. After Wendy got off the phone with her, I told Wendy that we are related to Harlan's, and I got to looking and we are distantly related to George Harlan, it was pretty amazing to stay in his family's home!

Alisha drove out of the city to join us this day, it was so much fun to have her with us

Ask me about these last two pictures sometime if you are interested, 

quite an amazing experience!