David Randall Walvoord, a native of Racine, Wisconsin, married Naomi Ruth “Peggy” Phillips, a native of Shamrock,Texas on April 13, 1952 in Locust Grove, Texas.

After being set up on a blind date by David’s sister Joann who worked with Peggy at the phone company, David and Peggy started dating.

Five months later, on April 13, 1952, David and Peggy married each other in Locust Grove Baptist Church in Locust Grove, Texas.

The pastor that married them was Clayton Watkins who was the same pastor that baptized Peggy at age 13. Joann (Walvoord) Forbes was Peggy’s Matron of Honor and Bill Forbes was David’s Best Man.

David, is the second of seven children born to  Randall and Elizabeth Walvoord.

Peggy is the fourth of five children born to Elmo and Callie (Henshaw) Phillips.

David and Peggy had three boys, Keith, Kit, and Scott.

Kit, their second son died in 2014.

David and Peggy have six grandchildren. Kirk, Tyler, Preston, Caroline, Catherine, and Katie Grace.

Gary Eugene Walvoord, a native of Denver, Colorado married Bonnie Kay Weber of Seattle, Washington on June 25, 1961.

Gary and Bonnie met on a blind date while they were both attending The University of Colorado.

They were married in Scarsdale, New York where Bonnie’s parents lived.

They have two children, Eric Walvoord and Traci Gleason, and two grandchildren, Connor and Katie.

Gary is the second of four sons born to Oliver Wendall Walvoord (1908-1989) and Evelyn Elizabeth Greenway (1910-1995).

He is the grandson of John Christian Walvoord Sr. (1879-1964) and Sarah Cornlia Trompen (1881-1966).

David Randall Walvoord who once reportedly “won” the Middle Weight Championship of the World against Robert Villemain in 1951 (see accompanying link) turned 90-years-old today.

David was born February 27, 1931 in Racine, Wisconsin. In December 2020, just before Christmas, his entire progeny, gathered in Amarillo, Texas during a world-wide pandemic, in-person in a socially-distanced and masked birthday party (masks were removed for photos).

The Walvoord family also celebrated their mom’s/grandmother’s (Peggy Walvoord’s) 87th birthday at the same gathering.

Here are some photos of the family from the party:

To read more about David’s life including his “Middle-weight championship” see his biography here: David Randall Walvoord (1931- )

One of the neat things about living in Nashville is the great music here and the people who create it. A one-time neighbor of mine that lived one block over was Andrew Peterson. Occasionally, we’d run into each other on the mountain bike trails behind our house and our kid, his kids, and others would play in the common area out back.

Andrew is a well-known singer-songwriter and is now an accomplished and award-winning children’s book author of The Wingfeather Saga.

Years ago, Andrew wrote a song of the Genealogy of Christ outlined in the Book of Matthew called “Matthew Begats.” It’s a fun song that makes Christ’s family tree come alive through many, many, generations. It’s really a Christmas Song.

My Begats….starting in 1620..

Derrijck Gesinck had Herbert
Herbert, he had Derk
Derk, he had Jan Derk Geesink In ‘T Walvoort and his kin
Then Jan Derk and Elisabeth Ten Bokkel
Then Came Derk Anthonij Walvoort and from his woman Janna Beestman
begat Salomon, he brought Hendrik up
And then came Gerrit Jan, then Henry
Who with Henrietta fathered John Garrett
he married Mary who had Randall
Who had David along with Naomi Ruth, called Peggy
had Scott who we know made this website… he had Katie Grace by Amy….

…well, not quite as catchy as Andrew’s song. but still fun to try and sing. So who begat you? We were all brought into existence by that same Creator who begat us all.

Amazing to think about as that Creator stepped into human history as a little baby who was begat by all these lowly humans to show us what humanity is all about.

Merry Christmas.

After immigrating to America in 1847 (to Wisconsin) and 1870 (to Nebraska) the native Dutch Walvoord Families celebrated their new American freedoms by gathering together and celebrating America’s birthday. This was an annual reunion event for many years in both Wisconsin and Nebraska.

In the first picture are descendants of the Henry and Henrietta Walvoord Family of Cedar Grove and Amsterdam, Wisconsin about 1912. My Great-grandfather (John G. Walvoord) is seated along the left side of the wagon in the middle wearing a white straw hat. My grandfather (Randall Henry Walvoord) is the boy seated in the back corner of the wagon holding an American Flag.

In the second picture are descendants of the William O. and Janna Walvoord family of Holland, Nebraska in Lincoln County in September 1911. (Photo originally thought to be taken at one of the annual 4th of July family reunion picnics). William Walvoord is in the middle row 4th from the left wearing a vest. His wife Janna is standing behind him in black with her hands on his shoulders. William and Janna had eight children.

Operating WalvoordHistory.com is an amazingly enjoyable hobby for me. Updating and adding new photos and stories is a simply a lot of fun.

I’ve had web developer friends look at the website and give pointers and advice on what I’m wanting to accomplish. They’ve been surprised on how extensive this website is, in number of pages, posts, and photos.

But as much content as there is, I know from my genealogy research that I have only scratched the surface and entire branches of the Walvoord and Walvoort Families are completely neglected!

For instance, I knew for years that Walvoords had settled in Nebraska, but had practically nothing on that branch as far as stories and pictures until Ann Walvoord Graff and Cindy Walvoord Lett sent in a wonderful treasure-trove of photos and biographies a few years back.

Is your family underrepresented here? Send in your family history now!

We are up to 46 photos in the Walvoord Wedding Photo Album and adding more pictures weekly as they are received.

Here’s some ideas that you can send in to contribute:

• 2020 Walvoord Graduates Photos/News (or any year).
• More Walvoord Wedding Photos
• Anniversary Announcements/News
• Obituaries
• Birth Announcements and/or photos
• Biography of your Walvoord Ancestor

Until I get a new email for this site (eta late 2020 or early 2021) send all content through our Facebook page or Messenger.

Here’s a look at new content added in the past few weeks:

I am still loving the new NBC Series: Who Do You Think You Are?

Episode 3  featured Lisa Kudrow (producer of the series).  Lisa Kudrow’s roots date back to the Holocaust, which means her family connections, like many other Eastern European Jews, have been lost.

Lisa Kudrow interviews her dad, Lee, about their family history. Image Copyright 2010 NBC/Universal

Her father, Lee, has been trying to solve one of their family’s mysteries for almost 60 years. What happened to their family during World War II–and what became of a long-lost cousin who survived it? Lisa is on a mission to find out. Her father grew up impoverished in New York and then worked his way up to become a doctor. Lisa believes by trying to find out what happened to her great-grandmother and distant cousin she can find the answers her father has been searching for–as well as find some of her own.

Lisa’s grandmother, Gertrude, immigrated to America in 1921 for a better life. It is her family’s history that Lisa and her father want to research more deeply. Lisa remembers how Gertrude spoke about her mother (Lisa’s great-grandmother) and how Hitler stabbed her in the back with a knife. Lee, Lisa’s father, tells Lisa that he heard a story from a cousin, Yuri Barudin, back in 1947 or 1948. Yuri Barudin just came off of a Polish ship called the Batory when he visited Lee’s family in New York, Lee only being a young boy at the time. Yuri recounted his experience when the Germans came to the Jewish village of Ilya which was located outside the city limits of Minsk, Belarus. Lee remembers Yuri’s tale of seeing Jewish families shot down by the Germans from a wooded area; including Lisa’s great-grandmother. Lisa knows this story has always haunted her father and is determined to find out more about her great-grandmother and Yuri, especially since Lee was told Yuri died long ago.

Photo of Lisa's Grandmother Gertrude, Image Copyright 2010 NBC/Universal

Lisa knows that Grandma Gertrude’s mother was Meri Mordejovich. Meri, along with other family members, were murdered during the Holocaust. Lisa travels from Los Angeles to Minsk, Belarus. Here she meets with Tamara Vershitskaya, a researcher of Jewish history. Lisa’s worried that there will be no records, but learns that before World War II the village of Ilya had strong Jewish roots going back hundreds of years. This was drastically changed by the war all across Eastern Europe. According to Tamara, only five percent of the Jewish population were left alive after the Holocaust–10 percent at the most.

Lisa searches the archives in Molodechno and through these documents finds her great-grandmother’s name–which isn’t joyful news. Here, Lisa learns that Meri was killed and burned for being Jewish.

Lisa heads to the village of Ilya to search for answers about her father’s distant cousin, Yuri.

Lisa visits the site of the massacre in the village of Ilya. Image Copyright 2010 NBC/Universal

Lisa and Tamara visit a villager, Maria, who lived during the massacre in Ilya. After showing Maria pictures, Lisa learns that she knew Gertrude–they actually went to school together and they were like family. Maria retells the story of when the Germans came to town and recounts the haunting tale of what they did to the Jewish families: looting their homes and burning down their houses. According to Maria, some Jews escaped to the forest and others were collected by the Germans. Maria remembers trying to hide a small girl under her bed, but terrifyingly the girl was found by the Germans and thrown into a fire. Lisa feels the sadness of the history surrounding her as she stands in her Grandmother Gertrude’s yard.

It was called “the selection,” where the Nazis used an ice storage unit in the ground as a mass burial unit for 900 Jewish men, women, children and babies from Ilya. All the Jews that were selected to be killed were ordered to remove their clothes and then they were shot on site, falling directly into the frozen pit. Then, the Nazi soldiers smeared oil on the walls of the building and set it on fire.

Lisa searches for the Polish ship Batory, and finds its manifest. However, the name Yuri Barudin never shows up but another name does: Boleslaw Barudin. Lisa travels to Gdynia, Poland to find the rest of her answers. There she visits the State Archives and is assisted by researcher Krzysztof Dzieciolowski. Lisa discovers that not only did Boleslaw change his name to Yuri, but that he was also married and had a son who was born on May 16th, 1949, right in Gdynia. Lisa, hopeful that Boleslaw’s son is still in Gdynia, uses a phone book to find his name. But what she finds is even better: the name Boleslaw Barudin, the long-lost Yuri from her father’s story. This could mean Boleslaw is still alive and has a family. Lisa makes the phone call and gets in touch with Tomek Barudin (Boleslaw’s grandson)–and finds out that Boleslaw is still alive.

Tonight, Amy and I watched the new NBC television series, Who Do You Think You Are? It airs on Friday nights at 7:00 pm Central.  Each episode features a celebrity who traces their family tree.  The first episode featured Sarah Jessica Parker.  She knew her mother’s side of the family was German in ancestry but learned from her mom that there was one branch that had the surname Hodge.  Sarah traces this line from Cincinnati to the California Gold Rush in 1849 and after learning that her fourth great-grandfather, John S. Hodge, had died during the Gold Rush, Sarah travels to New England to explore the Hodges in colonial times. In Boston, Sarah meets with genealogist Josh Taylor who tells her that Hodge is a big New England name. In fact, Josh found the estate of John S. Hodge and his father, Eber Hodge. Eber Hodge, Sarah’s fifth great grandfather, was born in Connecticut right after the American Revolution ended. In fact, he was the first generation born as an American.

Josh Explains to Sarah about her family tree. Copyright NBC/Universal 2010

Josh explains a long list of Sarah’s ancestors in New England. Eber’s mother was Abigail Elwell, and her father’s name was Jabez Elwell. Jabez came from three generations of Samuel Elwells. This places Sarah’s family five generations deep in New England, and the first Samuel was born in 1635, only 15 years after the Mayflower arrived.

Robert Elwell, who came over from England and was the first Elwell in America. Sarah discovers that Robert Elwell had been admitted to the Salem Church. Robert died before the Salem Witch Trials but his son Samuel and Samuel’s wife, Esther, were alive during that time. Josh tells Sarah that genealogists know that anyone alive in Essex, Massachusetts in 1692 was most likely involved in the Salem Witch Trials. Sarah is astounded by this news.

Sarah discovers that Esther Elwell, her tenth great grandmother, and two other women were on a list with a marked “warrant” label. Sarah is unsure of what that means–did the women issue a warrant or was it for their arrest?

Salem Witch Warrant, Copyright NBC/Universal 2010

Sarah learns that Esther Elwell had a warrant out for her arrest for practicing witchcraft. According to the warrant, Esther and two other women were accused of performing witchcraft on a neighbor, Mary Fitch, causing the woman bodily harm. Sarah reads the original 300-year-old complaint and learns that Mary Fitch died and Esther and the other women were accused of murder.

However, Esther Elwell was lucky. The date of the deposition, November 8th, 1692, happened after the dissolution of the Court of Oyer and Terminer and her case never went to trial. The court realized what a big mistake they were making in sentencing people to death on the basis of the devil’s work. Sarah is ecstatic to hear this news and more than that, Esther’s accusation is the last one in Salem Witch Trial history. Not only did Esther survive the witch trials, but she lived to be 82 years old.

Amy and I both loved the show and look forward to next week’s episode that features Emmitt Smith.  It is really inspiring to me, as someone who loves family history, to start digging again some of the interesting and various branches of my family, especially my mom’s side of the family that has one branch (Dismukes) that was in America before the Revolutionary War (all other branches in my family immigrated).  In my previous post about Andersonville, I learned some of Amy’s family tree and look forward to learning more of her Irish Allen roots and English Morford roots.