What an excellent introduction to our list members on your Van Buren Co. ancestors! Hopefully, among our 128 subscribers, one or more will be able to find a connection with your lines. Anyone? Rich At 07:28 PM 9/4/01 -0700, you wrote: >Thank you for the offer to introduce myself. > >My name is Steve Hissem and I am currently living in San Diego, CA, but I >trace my ancestory to Van Buren County, and more specifically to Milton. I >am aware of a Hissem cemetary in the county, was told by my Dad of a Hissem >school and read somewhere about a Hissem school district. I visited Milton >many years ago and was introduced to a number of old men who claimed they >remembered my Dad and the family. > >My father, Darrell Dean, was born in Milton and raised on the family farm >there. He attended the local high school, although he left after the 11th >grade. His parents were Leo Worth Hissem and Lena May Six Hissem. Leo was >a WWI veteran (of the Rainbow Division perhaps?) and suffered all the rest >of his life from injuries received in the war, dying in 1945. I never knew >him. I believe he is buried in the Sunnyside cemetary. I am aware of a >cousin named Royale. > >Lena May was the daughter of George Six. They were both born in Illinois, >subsequently moving to Van Buren County. Lena was living with my folks in >Tempe, AZ, when she died in 1976. > >My Dad's siblings included Alice (children Marlena, Carla, Shawn, Leora and >Zena), his twin brother Garrel Gene (children Susan and Linda), and Loisell >Herbert (child Keating Lin Hissem). All three are now deceased. Garrel is >buried at the Rock Island military cemetary. Both he and Loiselle died of >cancer when I was a very young boy. > >My father left Van Buren county upon joining the Army Air Corps in WWII and >spent the next 20-some years of his life moving around the country in the >USAF, finally settling in Tempe, AZ, where he continues to reside with my >Mother, Jeanne Katherine Offerman Hissem, of Davenport. > >My grandfather, Leo, was born in 1891, in Milton. His father may have been >named Homer. In my researches I have found two Hissems (sometimes spelled >Hissom, Hisson, or Hissone), perhaps brothers, who settled in Chequest >Township in the mid-1800's. Thomas Hissem, born in 1828 in Virginia, came >first, according to the 1860 census. Abner Hissem, born in 1830 in Tyler >County, West Virginia (the same area as the pre-Civil War Virgiia of >Thomas?), came in the mid-1860's, according to the 1870 census. There is >also biographical information on both of them dating from 1878. > >Thomas married Arvila J., born in 1840. Their children, as of 1878, were >Jessie Thomas, born 30 Aug 1866 (or 1867) and Susan E., born 1868. Jessie >married, I think, Theoria "Alice" Morrow, born 4 Sep 1870 (my aunt Alice may >have been named for her). He died 13 Oct 1954 and is buried in Leando >Cemetery, Douds, Iowa. > >Abner married Caroline, born in 1832, while living for a time in Meigs >County, Ohio. Aner had a daughter by a previous marriage, Serrena J., who >appears to have married Floyd Nicklin on 6 Oct 1877 in Van Buren County. >Abner and Caroline's children, as of 1878, were Martha J., born in 1861 in >Ohio and Arthur W., born in 1866 in Iowa. > >I want to think that my great-grandfather was a son of one of these two men, >but if his name really is Homer, he would have been born after 1878, which >makes the date of birth of my grandfather difficult. To resolve this issue >I need access to the 1900 census to learn if my grandfather Leo was really >born in the county and who his father was. > >Abner and Thomas are frequent first-names amongst all the historical >Hissem's I have located. Most of the Hissem surnames are found in the Tyler >County, WV area. Researchers there trace the name from there through >Pennsylvannia to New Jersey and as far back as the early 1700's. Three >Hissems were in the Revolutionary War, two appearing on prison ship lists. >It appears that the spelling of the name changed frequently and, at least >once, two brothers spelled their names variously Hissem and Heysham. >Heysham, pronounced "Hee-sham" and at one time spelled Hessam, is also a >village in Lancashire County, England, on the countries' western coast. I >have at least one reference, from circa 1200, referring to a leading citizen >as Brian de Hessam, though that may mean nothing more than "of that >village." > >I've also heard the name referred to as German (perhaps as a variation on >Heismann) and as Dutch. A Martin Luther Hissem, born in the 1860's, a >steamboat captain on the Ohio, appears to have had a grandfather, also >called Martin, who may have taken ship from Holland. > >For added color, there is also a WWII hero in the extended family. The Navy >destroyer USS HISSEM (DE-400) is named for Ensign John Metcalf Hissem who >was killed in the Battle of Midway while flying as a navigator in a torpedo >bomber. > >My interest in geneology is mainly internet-focused - I am truly amazed how >much information is out there and how much fun it is locating it. That task >is eased by the relative rarity of my name. But also, as I go older, and >have sons of my own, I feel I owe them a knowledge of where they came from. > >Thank you again for your time and for any assistance you may be able to >provide, > >Steve > > > > > >==== IAVANBUR Mailing List ==== >- Van Buren Co. Obituraries Database - >Be Sure to Leave One Behind .. for Every One You Find >http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Ia/VanBurenObits