Connecting Cousins Branches

Hedger

The "Connecting Cousins" who began this site have all traced their common ancestry back to Luke Hedger and his wife Ruth Hayler. Luke was born in 1805 in the village of Burpham, Sussex, England, and his parents were Edward Hedger and Charity Downer, who married in Amberley, Sussex in 1791. Edwards parents were John and Jane Hedger also from Amberley.
Edward, Luke and their many 19th century descendants were mainly agricultural laborers who traveled around the rural villages of Sussex, probably looking for work on the farms. One exception was Alfred Hedger, who left the countryside behind him, and in 1881 was a mariner, living in Hove, Sussex, with his family. The women must have spent all their time and energy raising their large families, and coping with the poverty they no doubt experienced.
In the 20th century they ventured farther afield - to other parts of England, to Canada and to America.

Names from this branch with pages are:
Arrow, Carr, Fish, Francis, Hedger, Turrell (Turl)

Rogers

There are actually two branches of the Rogers family. Our main branch traces back to John born about 1810, and found in Christ Church, St. Saviour, Surrey on the 1841 census. The other is a little more complicated to get to.
William Rogers married Mary Ann Eliza Popple on January 26, 1874. Mary Ann Eliza was the daughter of William and Eliza (Rogers) Popple. Eliza was the daughter of George and Jane Rogers. Hence we have two branches. As yet they are not connected as George was found on the 1841 census as being from Scotland. Although later census has him born in Brighton, Sussex. This line does need more research.
William Rogers was a Confectioner and was rumored to have developed the process of running a picture through rock candy. Mary Ann Eliza was also quite a business woman in her own right. After William's death she bought sugar at the docks by the boat load, and sold sweets (candy) at a stall in Petticoat Lane, in London. She ran the family pub with her son William, the "Elephant and Castle", and had a lodging house in Staines. Running Pubs became a family thing as her other son David also had pubs, one of which was the "Prince of Wales" at 23 Oxford Rd in Windsor.

Names from this branch with pages are:
Beasley, Burgess, Burnell, Popple, Rogers, 2nd Rogers

Halfpap

The Halfpap's were from Carwitz Germany. Otto came to America on August 26, 1923, and brought his family over on January 2, 1924. Otto was sponsored by his sister's husband William Lubbert living in Quincy, Illinois. We find him on the 1930 census in Melrose, Illinois working at the Stove Foundry.
Otto's son Ingward's mother died in Germany when he was very young. It was his stepmother who he came with to the United States at 15 years old. He married Serita Biesecker in 1937 and they settled in Quincy, Illinois.
The Biesecker line can be traced back to Jacob from Eppingen Germany. His son Hans Jacob and his family came to America in 1732-1733 landing in Pennsylvania. They were in Pennsylvania for a number of generations until James Alexander ventured to Knox, Illinois. But he was only there a few years before settling in Chillicothe, Illinois. It was his grandson, Raymond who married Matilda Degitz in 1909. They were the parents of Serita who married Ingward Halfpap.
Matilda was the daughter of Valentine and Mathilda (Weber) Degitz. Valentine was a very popular barber in Quincy.

Nicholas and son Jacob Biesecker both served in the Revolutionary War. We have traced the line to membership in the DAR.

Names from this branch with pages are:
Biesecker, Degitz, Halfpap

Walker

The Walker side of the family has only recently be researched. Coming from Ford City, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania there is a wealth of information out there.
This side of the family actually consists of the Reitler's on one side. Christian Reitler arrived from Germany with his brother on April 27, 1888 in order to work at the new glass factory in Ford City. His family followed August 16, 1888, which included his son Henry. Henry married Martha Fry, and they had daughter Irene who married Raymond Walker.
The Walker line goes way back into the history of Armstrong County. The branches of the tree include many prominent names like Claypool, Bowser, Gillam, Easley, Younkins, and Livengood.
We are still working on the research of this branch, so pages are still in the works.

Names from this branch with pages are:
Claypool(e), Fry, Gillam, Reitler, Walker