John Alderman (1907 - 2007)

John Alderman was a consummate historian and genealogist. Here is a letter he wrote to a researcher in 1973. Perhaps some of the information given may be of value to one of you;

Alderman & Alderman John Alderman & John P. Alderman Alderman Building Hillsville, Virginia Phone Parkway 8-7042

May 17, l973

Mrs. Glenn Burrus 1311 Shelly Drive Vandalia, Illinois

Dear Cousin,

I was in the Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Grayson County, Virginia today, and Mr. J. Phil Bennington, the Clerk and Mr. Paul Bolt, the Attorney for the Commonwealth showed me your letter and requested I answer the same.

First I will tell you who I am. I was born in Carroll County, Virginia on October 16, l907, a son of George W. Alderman, (1857- 1943), who was a son of George Alderman (1808-1859), who was a son of Jacob Alderman, (originally Alterman 1773-1824) born in Germany and came to America in 1790, a Moravian, who lived for several years in the Old Moravian Settlement of Salem, North Carolina., now Winston-Salem. There he married a girl, born in Holland but orphaned at an early age and brought up by an Irish Family whose name she took and was known as Rosanna Flanagan. They came into what was then Grayson County, Virginia, which was formed into Carroll County, in 1842. I have been practicing law for more than 43 years and my son who is Attorney for the Commonwealth of Carroll Co. Virginia is my partner. I have another son, George Taylor Alderman, who is at the head of the English Department of Youngstown, Ohio. I served 12 years myself as Attorney for the Commonwealth.

The children of Jacob and Rosanna Flanagan Alderman were as follows: John who married Hannah Sutphin. he was born 1799 and died in 1886; Jacob (1801-1861 -about 60) who married Lucy Bolt, a daughter of Charles Bolt . Philip Alderman (1805- ) who married Polly Shouse. Elizabeth Alderman born 1811 married Elias Bolt in Grayson County, Virginia in 1833. George Alderman, my grandfather, who was born 1808 and died in 1859 married Thirsa Dunn. Frederick Alderman (1814-1893) married Rosanna Watson and Henry Alderman was married in Highland Co., Ohio.

Now I shall give you some material on the BOLT FAMILY. John Bolt and Charles Bolt and Frederick Bolt appear in Montgomery County, Virginia, of which our territory was then a part, in the year 1778. The name was then spelled Boult. Tradition states that this family was German. Frederick was later awarded a pension for Revolutionary War Service. Both John and Charles Bolt were listed in Captain Johnathan Leow’s (?) Company of the Montgomery Militia on April 28, l778.

This John Bolt adopted the English spelling, Bolt, and settled on Burks Fork Creek in what is now Floyd County, Virginia, then Montgomery County. This is only about one mile from the Carroll County line. I have been to the old cemetery where tradition says he was buried. There are only six to eight gravestones there now and none of them bear inscriptions. This John Bolt had three sons, who settled in what is now Carroll County, Virginia and reared their families. Hirsy Bolt, Charles Bolt, and John Bolt, Jr.

Charles Bolt was the father of a daughter Lucy Bolt, who married Jacob Alderman, brother to my Grandfather, George Alderman. They removed to Missouri in 1849. If you will read a recent book, “The Day Jesse James was killed,” which may be obtained from the Jesse James Museum at St. Joseph, Missouri, you will find mentioned a Charles Bolt, who sold Jesse James a horse and was a witness at the inquest. This Charles Bolt, an Alderman, was a son of Jacob and Lucy Bolt Alderman.

The family of John Bolt, Jr. were as follows: Elias Bolt married Elizabeth Alderman. Harrison Bolt married Juliann Hall. John Bolt , III married a Sutphin. Isaac Bolt married Penelope Box (?) William Alderson Bolt, the ancestor of Paul Bolt, and others.

I do not know the wife of JOHN BOLT, SR. but John Bolt, Jr. married Susanna Cock August 28th, 1805. She was a daughter of Andrew Cock, who lived on Burks Fork Creek and died in 1822. This John Bolt, Jr. was buried in an old abandoned cemetery within sight of the house where I was born and reared about 3 1/2 miles east of Hillsville on Primary Highway No. 58. His death occurred in 1859.

In the early days, there were many people sent from this section into Highland and Clinton Counties, Ohio. Henry Alderman, the younger brother of my Grandfather George, took his Mother and with Elias and Elizabeth Bolt removed to Highland County, Ohio about 1834 or 35. Uncle Henry married there and reared a family of two daughters. My Father had a sister, born in 1838, and the widow of a man named Frank Hurst, who spent considerable time with our family. She died in l927, in her ninetieth year. Her family left here before she was born, but in her old age, she would repeat many stories told by her parents in her childhood. She said that Elizabeth Bolt, wife of Elias was a German girl, hardworking and industrious. She was noted as being a splendid cook as was her Mother.

I own the land upon which Jacob Alderman was buried and also the farm owned by George Alderman upon which he, his wife, five of his sons and one daughter are buried. This is five miles east of Hillsville within sigh of Primary Highway No. 58. the old ace where the Bolts and Jacob Alderman lived in in Carrol County but some fifteen miles east of Hillsville. I have in my possession the Bible, a copy of Addison’s Spectator and Hisstory of the United States owned by John Alderman. I also have a shop mmer, a claw hammer and a wolf trap made by him from metal he milled and worked.

The Bolts were of Saxon blood, blond, very fair complexion and light blue eyes. I have often heard my Aunt Roxie say that it was common talk by all who knew them, how beautiful the girls were but the men were often quite homely.

It is strange , but I never heard any of my people say anything as what happened to the Elias Bolt Family after they went to Ohio. They talked very much about Uncle Henry’s Family , but in his old age, he returned to Virginia where he died in l887.

I am hoping that you can give me some information on the Elias Bolt family. I hope you will excuse my typing as I hav done little lately. My secretary is out and I have no typist present having come to my office to answer your letter tonight.

Should I be able to furnish you with any other information, I shall be glad to do so, if you will let me know.

Some of the Bolt Family still live in Floyd County but most of them are in Carroll with the exception of Paul’s immediate family, I know of none in Grayson County

With kindest regards, I am, Very truly yours,

John Alderman

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