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Curtis Dean
LOFTIN
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LOFTIN:
Beatty
Corzine
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Fisher
Givens
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Johnson
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SETZER:
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Ikert
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GOBLE:
Babst/Bobst
Douglas
Faber
Fulbright
Hefner
Meinhert
Miller
Muller
Pabst/Bobst
Robinson
JOHNSON:
Corzine
Fink
Hamilton
Kaiser
Leslie
Lewis
Moore
Sherrill
Upright
Wilkinson
Keeping Our Family Memories Alive
Happy Birthday
Happy 103rd Birthday Lois
Happy 101st Birthday Marie
Arthur Lee Loftin's daughters
at the 2010 Loftin Family Reunion
[Left to Right]
Lois Loftin Mundy (age 103 in Dec 2011), Helen Loftin White (age 85 in Jun 2011),
Marie Loftin Robinson (age 101 in Dec 2011), Bernice Loftin Gilmer (age 95 in Oct 2011)The world has changed a lot in 100+ years. Lois and Marie have seen it all - cars, trains, airplanes, telephones, TV, computers and much, much more.
The Latest News
Trip to Israel
Carolyn & Curtis from atop the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, ISRAEL
Curtis & Carolyn Loftin have returned from a 12-day-trip to Israel during October 2011. Traveling with a group of 20 friends, they toured from the Golan Heights & the Sea of Galilee area in the north - to Jerusalem, Qumran and the Dead Sea. Curtis took over 3000 photos and has uploaded the best of them to the internet. The see the photos and travel with us to Israel, go to
ISRAEL 2011Frances Ivy Loftin Drum
I've had the opportunity to connect with 2nd cousin Dee Dee Drum Jordan (our fathers, Garvin Loftin Drum and Sam William Loftin, were 1st cousins). Dee Dee is the only granddaughter of Frances Ivey Loftin and John Wesley Drum. Frances was a sister to Alonzo Lester Loftin, Arthur Lee Loftin, W. Garland Loftin, Zettie Wilson Loftin Beatty, Hattie Pearl Loftin and Cordie Bland Loftin Wilson and was the daughter of William Alexander Loftin and Laura Rossie Cranford. Dee Dee provided numerous wonderful photos and information on her branch of the family. There's even a new photo of Alonzo's daughter Floye Hovis Loftin Ellers. Thanks Dee Dee.
Check out all the photos and information on the Frances Ivey Loftin Drum webpage
Oliver Cromwell Loftin
Recently I had the opportunity to connect with another cousin - Cecelia Burr - when she emailed me. Cecelia is the Great Granddaughter of Oliver Cromwell Loftin. Oliver Cromwell Loftin, nicknamed "Crum" according to my Dad (Sam William Loftin), was a son to James Franklin Loftin and Frances Elizabeth Fisher and a brother to William Alexander Loftin. Cecelia shared a great photo of Oliver and his second wife Zettie, as well as many of their children.
Eva McAlister, Birdie McAlister, Bidwell Loftin, Roy Loftin, Maude Loftin, Lucy McAlister
Ervin McAlister, Oliver Cromwell Loftin holding Mabel Loftin, Zettie holding Ada Loftin, Ada McAlister, Ruth LoftinCheck out the Oliver Cromwell Loftin page
The Ancestor Photo Quiz
How many of these family ancestors can you identify? They come from many different branches of the family including: Loftin, Setzer, Goble, Johnson, Witherspoon, Miller, Gilleland, Cranford, Lowrance and Aderholdt.
1. Goble family - her maiden name was Douglas. Click Here 2. Setzer family - her maiden name was Witherspoon. Click Here 3. Loftin family - her maiden name was Cranford. Click Here 4. Goble family - he was the father of Martin, Otis & Rebecca. Click Here 5. Setzer family - he was a major land owner in Catawba County in 1860. Click Here 6. Setzer family - he is buried at Bethlehem Methodist Church Cemetery in Claremont. Click Here 7. Setzer family - her maiden name was Aderholdt. Click Here 8. Loftin family - he was the middle child and son son of "Alec" - married twice. Click Here 9. Goble family - her maiden name was Miller. Click Here 10. Loftin family - had brothers named Lafayette & Cromwell. Click Here 11. Loftin family - her maiden name was Gilleland. Click Here 12. Goble family - she's the mother of No. 4. Click Here 13. Loftin family - youngest brother to Alonzo Loftin Click Here 14. Setzer family - youngest daughter of Patrick & Margaret Setzer. Click Here 15. Loftin family - Alonzo Loftin's 1st wife - she died from pneumonia at age 28. Click Here 16. Loftin family - 3rd child of Wm. Alexander Loftin - married Charles Beatty. Click Here 17. Loftin family - 3rd child of James Franklin Loftin - brother of Wm. Alexander Loftin.
You'll have to check out the children of Franklin & Frances to find the answer to this one. Click Here18. Loftin family - Oldest daughter of Alec & Laura Loftin married Wesley Drum. Click Here
My Own Personal Quest into Our Family Ancestry
I knew nothing about my family genealogy beyond my grandparents before I began this study in September 2006. Researching my family history has become one of the most exciting, interesting and consuming hobbies I've ever had. Researching them gave me a deeper look into their lives and a connection with previous generations of ancestors that I would never have the privilege of meeting.
I visited relatives, churches and cemeteries - spent hours in the genealogy department at the Catawba County Library as well as browsing through Ancestry.com and Roots Web - spent additional hours researching marriage licenses at the Catawba County Courthouse - connected with other family genealogy researchers - and there is still so much more to do. It just takes time. As days turned into weeks, and weeks into months - and finally months into years, I found myself remembering stories that my parents and grandparents had told me when I was a child - many of which I had forgotten. It was great to put additional substance to the old stories. This web site will look at the ancestry lines of my grandparents, Alonzo Lester Loftin and Ida Lillian Setzer, as well as Martin Luther Goble and Beulah Vernesta Johnson.
I've especially enjoyed finding photos of these distant relatives and I'll share those through this web site as I continue to add individual pages. There are also family trees with the names of our ancestors. My grandfather Alonzo Lester Loftin died before I was born. When I started my genealogy research in September 2006, I had never seen a photo of him and had just assumed there were none. I was wrong. Not only did I find several photos of Alonzo, I also found photos of his parents and siblings. Alonzo Lester Loftin, sitting, with some men at the old Gold Mine Store prior to 1912
Check out Alonzo's webpage
Windows Media Player Movie about Alonzo
(4.51 minutes long, 4.20 MB)
Looking Back at an Amazing Heritage
The Loftin family has an amazing ancestral heritage - going back almost as far as the Pilgrims who arrived on the Mayflower. Leonard "The Immigrant" Loftin/Laughton (b. Abt. 1610, Kent, ENGLAND) arrived in the US before 1635 - less than 15 years after the arrival of the Mayflower in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620. Leonard was transported to the Colony of Virginia before 1636 by Mrs. Elizabeth Parker (Packer) and was indentured to pay for his transportation.
During the time in which Leonard served as an indentured servant, their social status in the colony was not much better than that of a slave. Poor people in England who longed to improve their economical situation entered into a written agreement with families with money. The agreement assured free passage to the colonies with a commitment to serve a period of from 5 to 7 years. No pay was given for their services, however, they received clothing, board and room. At the end of the indenture, their employer was to provide them with two suits of clothing, two hoes and an axe. With these meager items and a grant of 50 acres of land from the Colonial government, they could take part in the government as members of the colonial life. Most of these indentured servants to Virginia were boys and young men. Three out of four were between the ages of fifteen and twenty-four.
By October 1638, Leonard had worked off his indenture and acquired 200 acres of land in the Colony of Virginia. This was an outstanding achievement - accomplished by hard work and determination.
The Goble family ancestral heritage is similar to that of the Loftins. Thomas "The Immigrant" Goble (b. 1590, Westergate, ENGLAND, d. 29 Dec 1657, Concord, Massachusetts), along with his wife Alice, and son John (who was about 3 or 4-years-old at the time), paid for passage on one of the many ships (probably the Abigail, Hopewell or Lion) headed for "the colonies" and migrated to America (specifically Charleston, Massachusetts) about 1633 or early 1634. (Like with Leonard Laughton, this was less than 15 years after the Pilgrims had arrived on the Mayflower in Plymouth, Massachusetts)
Charleston (or Charlestown) was first settled by English Colonists in 1628. The most famous conflict of the American Revolutionary War, the Battle of Bunker Hill (fought on June 17, 1775), occurred in Charlestown. American Colonists lost the battle but inflicted great damage to the British cause. What else was happening in Charlestown, Massachusetts when Thomas was living in the area?Charlestown Historic Timeline 1628: First Settled
1629: Massachusetts Bay Company obtains charter to colonize & trade in New England
1630: Massachusetts Bay Company settled by approximately 1000 Puritan refugees from England
under Governor John Winthrop
1634: First Board of Selectmen organized in Charlestown
1635: Government of Massachusetts Bay Colony established in the Great House at Market Square
1637: John Harvard becomes a freeman of Charlestown; later serves as assistant pastor of the First
Church of Charlestown - upon his death in 1638, Harvard leaves 1/2 of his money, along with
his collection of classical and theological literature to the recently created school in neighboring
New Towne (now Cambridge) founded in 1636 - the school is renamed Harvard College in
1639Thomas Goble and Alice were admitted to the first Church of Charleston, Massachusetts, on 30 Aug 1634. Thomas received his papers as a freeman on 03 Sep 1634 (at the General Court) and was granted four acres "planting ground on Newton (New Towne) Line" the same year. To become a freeman meant to be granted citizenship and freedom to live in a city or borough. Thomas eventually become a respected citizen of Charlestown. He was a very wealthy man by the standards of the time and place, and consequently was probably important in local government.
The Setzer family arrived in the US about 100 years after the Loftins and the Gobles. Research indicates that the earliest immigrant of the Setzer family to the US was Johannes Adam Setzer (b. Abt. 1710 in Heidelberg, GERMANY, d. Abt. 1808) on the ship, "Patience" on 11 August 1750. Johannes immigrated from Heidelberg, GERMANY, along with his six brothers.
Johannes' son, Jacob Setzer I, was born in 1730 in Heidelberg, Germany. He settled in Catawba County by 1765 (at that time part of Lincoln County). He is believed to have come to America, along with his brother, Michael, on Captain William Muir's ship "Brothers" from Rotterdam, Holland. It is believed that Michael was also born in 1730 but it is not known if they were twins or not. The ship landed in Philadelphia, PA on September 26, 1753. Michael went west and Jacob came south almost immediately.
Jacob was a Physician and brought his medical books with him when he came to America. He settled on the farm of Conrad Bovey (Poovey) near Newton, North Carolina.
The earliest Johnson I have found to date is Robert Johnson (b. 07 Jan 1778, Iredell Co., NC, d. 16 Mar 1864, Alexander Co, NC). There is currently no indication who Robert's parents were or when the family emigrated to the US. Robert married Mary Wilkinson and settled in Iredell County, NC.
Life has numerous joys as you pass from childhood to adulthood and beyond. As you get older you take great joy in remembering the simple things from your childhood. June Bugs on a string, Lightening Bugs in a jar, making hats from leaves attached to each other by small sticks, collecting acorns and the dried shell-like skins of cicadas, visiting Grandpa and Grandma, were all simple forms of entertainment for me, as they would have been for my ancestors when they were children.
Theme Music, "Long Long Ago" by Thomas Haynes Bayly
Tell me the tales that to me were so dear,
Long, long ago, long, long ago,
Sing me the songs I delighted to hear,
Long, long ago, long ago,
Now you are come all my grief is removed,
Let me forget that so long you have roved.
Let me believe that you love as you loved,
Long, long ago, long ago.This song was written in 1833 by English songwriter and dramatist, Thomas Haynes Bayly (1797-1839). It was not published until ten years later, after Bayly had died. It achieved instant popularity and was the most popular song in America in 1843.
Feel free to copy the photos. What greater honor could we bestow on our generations of ancestors than to be sure their names, stories and faces are remembered and then passed on to our children and grandchildren. This web site is my attempt to be sure that happens. If you know who you're interested in finding,
you can access their personal information page quickly by going to the
Where To Find 'Em Page
The Family Genealogy Website has a great page called Recent Website Updates. This page was created to let you know the current pages that I have been working on, as well as new pages. This link will take you there. The link can also be found in the upper left corner of this page. Thanks for your continued support.
Thanks to ...
Thanks to all who have preceded me in working on these genealogy connections.
You've made my task to produce this web site much easier.
A special thanks to...
Frances Loftin Cook - The Loftin Family
Peggy Loftin Brotherton - The Loftin Family
John Smith - The Loftin Family
Willie Goble Loftin - The Goble Family
Boyd & Becky Goble - The Goble Family
Daisy Lemyre Sigmon - the Setzer Family
Linda Seamon Dymon - the Fink Family
Richard Roberts - the Hamilton FamilyThanks to all who have gone through family photos and then shared them with me
so that everyone in the family can enjoy them.
If you have additional photos or information, please contact me.
828-241-2233This web site was created April 2007
Contact Me
I'd love to hear from you!
Important Happy Birthdays Earlier This Year
Mae Loftin turns 101
Mae Morrow Loftin
Born: 14 Mar 1910
Spouse: Roy Henry Loftin
Mae Morrow Loftin (widow of Roy Henry Loftin) turned 101 on 14 Mar 1910. Most of you will remember her warm smile and pleasant personality from the yearly Loftin Family Reunions in Catawba. Happy Birthday Aunt Mae!
I recently visited with 102-year-old Lois Loftin Mundy and did a video interview - divided into 12 segments. Lois talks about her life, her parents & family and even shares memories of my Great-Grandfather William Alexander Loftin. To see those, visit Lois' webpage at
http://history.loftinnc.com/Loftin_Lois_Virginia_1908.htm#Lois_Loftin_Mundy_Video_FilesI also visited with my Aunt, Frances Loftin Cook, recently and did four short video interviews, where Frances discusses her parents, husband, siblings and "Setzer" aunts & uncles. To see those, visit Frances' webpage at http://history.loftinnc.com/Loftin_Glennie_Frances.htm
Death In The Family
