I have heard it said by other members of the Overman clan that all Overmans in the United States are related. I don’t know how true that is, but so far the Overmans I’ve met had the same or very similar origin stories. It goes something like this: the Overmans came to America about the same time as William Penn. After arriving they settled in Virginia, then moved to North Carolina. Their migration took them to Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana, with a possible stop-over in Kentucky; some of what would be my father’s family finally settled in Kansas.

My father, Bobbie Neal Overman, provided additional details to the story. He said the family came over with William Penn and that all seven Overman brothers were Quakers. Seven Overman brothers for some reason puts me in mind of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and seems rather mythical, but I’ll keep an open mind about that for the moment.

My research up to this point has only gotten as far back as Cornelius Overman (1805 - 1886) who was the father of John Milton Overman (1852 – 1948). John Milton was my great grandfather. His son, John Carven (1880 - 1968) was my grandfather.

Being an Overman always carried a sort of pride I don’t see in many other families. My father and his brother Ray enjoyed telling stories about family members they had known, but were long dead by the time the stories were told to me. Photographs have provided faces to the names I became familiar with but there is a great deal more to learn. So the journey begins...