Being an amateur genealogist really is like being a detective, hence the title of this blog.
In order to find some distant family members, you not only have to expertly navigate the web, you have to ask a lot of questions of relatives and other researchers, and you have to search through old boxes and files in your possession to find clues.
On the Irish side of my family, I have a number of treasures that continue to give me clues to the existence of quite distant members of the family.
For instance, my 3rd great grandmother is Sallie Fahey. Her maiden name was Finn. Until now, I haven't spent any time researching the Finn side of the family, but ever since my uncle Tom told me we are related to the Finns and there are still many in Ohio, I have been trying to find out what I could. The place to start would be with any brothers or sisters of Sallie who may have come to the United States. So I started with the Allen County Historical Society located in Lima.
Now I was just in Lima a few weeks ago and didn't think to search for Finns then, so I contacted the researcher there and asked her to look into it. She only found a Patrick Finn who married an Anna Delaney and had a large family, and I made a preliminary assumption that Patrick may be Sallie's brother. Hoever, I needed more confirmation. So I turned to one of my most reliable sources, Father Robert Brennan (Father Bob) my 1st cousin, twice removed (i.e. the son of my great grandfather's brother.)
Father Bob was an accomplished scholar, missionary, and writer and he left much of his writing behind. Besides a textbook on psychology and other academic works, he wrote a personal memoir: Irish Diary, about his days traveling around Ireland and visiting with family there. I have found many family clues in that book. However, some writings that have proved even more helpful are unpublished writings about his family. I found these in a box my father had stored in a closet, and I turned to them again, to see if Father Bob had written anything about the Finns.
Sure enough, within the first several pages of his writings, he mentions his great grandmother's brothers, John and Bill (William) Finn. He even mentions the names of the children of John. So I have a start now. While he did not mention a Patrick, it is still possible that Patrick was another sibling. I have more work to do, but at least I know the names of some Finns to whom I am related. I wonder if Father Bob ever imagined how valuable his writings (and sometimes scribblings in the margins) would be to future family members.
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Monday, June 17, 2013
RECORDS FROM GERMANY
Over the weekend, I received some information from my German researcher. The actual copies of records are still to come, but I have received information on the parents and grandparents of Hermann Frecker, and the parents of Christian Mathias Esch.
First, however, I had to de-code the sumbols used in German genealogical research. On the family tree were the following symbols: *, + , oo , and ~ . I did not know what they and other symbols meant, but thanks to Google, I was able to find out. * means born. + means died. oo means married and ~ means baptized. So with this code, I was able to decipher the various dates offered. However, there were still some words under the names that I did not understand.
For instance, I did not know the meaning of the word Colon or the word Colon followed by a name, such as Thomes. I found out that Colon is the word used to designate that the person is a "farmer" while Colon Thomes means that the person is a farmer on the Thomes farmland. In some cases, it means the farmer inherited the tenancy through marriage and changed his name to that of the farm. This is what happened to my ancestor Christian Mathias Esch who changed his name to Wrocklage when he married so that he could claim his wife's farm.
Up until I had this research done, I did not know the names of the parents of Christian Mathias Esch Wrocklage (my 3rd great grandfather), nor the name of the father of Hermann Frecker (my 2nd great grandfather). Now I have all four names of the parents. The father of Christian Mathias Esch Wrocklage is Conrad Esch and he was a farmer. Christian's mother was Maria Angela Gartmann. They were married October 26, 1777, so they were probably born around the mid-1700s.
I knew previously that the mother of Hermann Frecker was Angela Monter, but I did not know the name of his father. Angela had come to this country either with or close to the time her adult children, Clara Philomena Frecker and Hermann Henry Frecker, had emigrated. She is buried in Delphos, St. John's Cemetery. I do not believe Hermann's father emigrated and it is likely he died before the rest of the family left Germany. He was a soldier and his name was Franz Eberhard Frecker. He was born in 1787 in Oesede. Hermann's mother's name on her birth and/or baptismal record was Cahtarina Engel Monter. Engel means Angel, hence the use of the name Angela in America.
I'm hoping to soon receive more information on the siblings of some of these ancestors which will help me to identify any relationships with other emigrees from Germany who have the same surnames. For example, there are several Monters who lived in Delphos, the town where Angela Monter Frecker and her two children settled. I would like to know if any of these Monters were Angela's siblings or cousins. It seems likely that Angela would have settled in an area where she had kin, yet without more information, I do not know how closely related these Monters are.
In the meantime, here is a picture of the interior of the Cathedral in Osnabruck where some of my ancestors were married.
First, however, I had to de-code the sumbols used in German genealogical research. On the family tree were the following symbols: *, + , oo , and ~ . I did not know what they and other symbols meant, but thanks to Google, I was able to find out. * means born. + means died. oo means married and ~ means baptized. So with this code, I was able to decipher the various dates offered. However, there were still some words under the names that I did not understand.
For instance, I did not know the meaning of the word Colon or the word Colon followed by a name, such as Thomes. I found out that Colon is the word used to designate that the person is a "farmer" while Colon Thomes means that the person is a farmer on the Thomes farmland. In some cases, it means the farmer inherited the tenancy through marriage and changed his name to that of the farm. This is what happened to my ancestor Christian Mathias Esch who changed his name to Wrocklage when he married so that he could claim his wife's farm.
Up until I had this research done, I did not know the names of the parents of Christian Mathias Esch Wrocklage (my 3rd great grandfather), nor the name of the father of Hermann Frecker (my 2nd great grandfather). Now I have all four names of the parents. The father of Christian Mathias Esch Wrocklage is Conrad Esch and he was a farmer. Christian's mother was Maria Angela Gartmann. They were married October 26, 1777, so they were probably born around the mid-1700s.
I knew previously that the mother of Hermann Frecker was Angela Monter, but I did not know the name of his father. Angela had come to this country either with or close to the time her adult children, Clara Philomena Frecker and Hermann Henry Frecker, had emigrated. She is buried in Delphos, St. John's Cemetery. I do not believe Hermann's father emigrated and it is likely he died before the rest of the family left Germany. He was a soldier and his name was Franz Eberhard Frecker. He was born in 1787 in Oesede. Hermann's mother's name on her birth and/or baptismal record was Cahtarina Engel Monter. Engel means Angel, hence the use of the name Angela in America.
I'm hoping to soon receive more information on the siblings of some of these ancestors which will help me to identify any relationships with other emigrees from Germany who have the same surnames. For example, there are several Monters who lived in Delphos, the town where Angela Monter Frecker and her two children settled. I would like to know if any of these Monters were Angela's siblings or cousins. It seems likely that Angela would have settled in an area where she had kin, yet without more information, I do not know how closely related these Monters are.
In the meantime, here is a picture of the interior of the Cathedral in Osnabruck where some of my ancestors were married.
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS
There are several lines within my family that have come to a dead end. In other words, I simply can't get back any further than a particular ancestor, usually the immigrant ancestor.
That's the way it was with my husband's Croatian family. While we had names of his great grandparents, we had nothing beyond them, and no way to access any records here in the United States. So two options were open to us - either travel to the small island of Brac in Croatia and try to locate (and translate) church records or hire someone in Croatia to do it for us. Since we weren't planning to travel to Croatia any time soon, I hired a researcher and she found many records. I also hired a researcher in the Czech Republic to find records of one member of the family.
And now, I'm faced with the same situation in my own family. I've already traveled to Ireland and even hired a research firm to find out what I couldn't find on my own of my father's family. The firm was able to locate a few pieces of information, but records are scarce in Ireland and I fear this dead end is permanent. But my mother's German family is a different story. There are more records available and with someone skilled in searching through them, I think I may finally find out something about three family names: Moenter; Frecker; and Esch.
My great, great grandfather was Hermann Henry Frecker, born in Germany in 1837. He married Maria Bernadina Wrocklage in 1860 and died in 1869 after fathering 5 children. One of those children was my great grandmother, Mary Gertrude Frecker. I know the name of Hermann's mother and sister. They are Angela Moenter Frecker and Clara Philoemena Frecker. But I do not know the name of Hermann's father, who probably died before Hermann, his mother and sister came to the United States. I would like information on this family and their ancestors.
Hermann's wife, Mary Bernadina, was a Wrocklage, though her father's surname, before his marriage, was Esch. In those days, in the area we now know as Germany, there were strict laws of inheritance. Large farms were generally subdivided and tenant farmers could work the land for a fee to the landlord. The eldest son usually inherited the rights to tenancy, but if there was no son, or if the son forfeited his rights, a daughter could inherit the rights through her husband, but only if her husband changed his name to her family name. So in the Wrocklage family, Anna Maria Caterina Wrocklage married Christian Mathias Esch and when her brother forfeited his rights to the farm, Christian Mathias Esch changed his name to Christian Mathias Wrocklage. I would love to know more about the Esch family from which he came.
Although I have hired researchers before and always been pleased with their findings, it feels like a defeat whenever I do. Genealogy is like a puzzle that you want to solve yourself. Hiring someine is like using a dictionary to solve a crossword. It just isn't quite the same and takes some of the fun out of it. But I've been looking for four years now, and haven't gotten any further than when I started with these families, so I have decided the only way to get the information is to ask for assistance. Therefore, I have hired someone in Germany to look into these three families, and hope to hear something in about a month.
That's the way it was with my husband's Croatian family. While we had names of his great grandparents, we had nothing beyond them, and no way to access any records here in the United States. So two options were open to us - either travel to the small island of Brac in Croatia and try to locate (and translate) church records or hire someone in Croatia to do it for us. Since we weren't planning to travel to Croatia any time soon, I hired a researcher and she found many records. I also hired a researcher in the Czech Republic to find records of one member of the family.
And now, I'm faced with the same situation in my own family. I've already traveled to Ireland and even hired a research firm to find out what I couldn't find on my own of my father's family. The firm was able to locate a few pieces of information, but records are scarce in Ireland and I fear this dead end is permanent. But my mother's German family is a different story. There are more records available and with someone skilled in searching through them, I think I may finally find out something about three family names: Moenter; Frecker; and Esch.
My great, great grandfather was Hermann Henry Frecker, born in Germany in 1837. He married Maria Bernadina Wrocklage in 1860 and died in 1869 after fathering 5 children. One of those children was my great grandmother, Mary Gertrude Frecker. I know the name of Hermann's mother and sister. They are Angela Moenter Frecker and Clara Philoemena Frecker. But I do not know the name of Hermann's father, who probably died before Hermann, his mother and sister came to the United States. I would like information on this family and their ancestors.
Hermann's wife, Mary Bernadina, was a Wrocklage, though her father's surname, before his marriage, was Esch. In those days, in the area we now know as Germany, there were strict laws of inheritance. Large farms were generally subdivided and tenant farmers could work the land for a fee to the landlord. The eldest son usually inherited the rights to tenancy, but if there was no son, or if the son forfeited his rights, a daughter could inherit the rights through her husband, but only if her husband changed his name to her family name. So in the Wrocklage family, Anna Maria Caterina Wrocklage married Christian Mathias Esch and when her brother forfeited his rights to the farm, Christian Mathias Esch changed his name to Christian Mathias Wrocklage. I would love to know more about the Esch family from which he came.
Although I have hired researchers before and always been pleased with their findings, it feels like a defeat whenever I do. Genealogy is like a puzzle that you want to solve yourself. Hiring someine is like using a dictionary to solve a crossword. It just isn't quite the same and takes some of the fun out of it. But I've been looking for four years now, and haven't gotten any further than when I started with these families, so I have decided the only way to get the information is to ask for assistance. Therefore, I have hired someone in Germany to look into these three families, and hope to hear something in about a month.
Friday, June 7, 2013
RYAN FAMILY OF NEW JERSEY
Now that I have returned from Ohio with new information regarding my ancestors, I am anxous to fill in as many blank spaces in the family tree as possible. I have gathered much information on my Brennan ancestors, beginning with Ned Brennan and Mary Fahey (my great, great grandparents) who immigrated to the United States, settling in Lima, Ohio, in 1861.
Ned and Mary had six children: Mary Ann; Michael; Bridget; Sarah; Edward; and John. All of the children except Mary Ann remained in Lima, so their records have been fairly easy to find.
The only family that remains something of a mystery to me is the family of Mary Ann Brennan, who married Thomas Ryan and moved to Jersey City, New Jersey. They had, as best as I can figure, 9 children: Edward; Patrick; Thomas; Mary (Mae); Raymond; Sarah; Anne, Joseph and Rita.
Thomas died before 1920 and Mary Ann died in 1938 and is buried in Holy Name Cemetery.,
I have only been able to locate the married names of two of the daughters, largely via census records. Mary or Mae (born in 1890) married Samuel Pierce and they had two sons. Sarah (born in 1897) married a man named Thomas Nolley, or Molley, or Molloy. This information was taken from a 1920 census record and the handwriting makes the actual name unclear.
As the name Ryan is very common, and there are numerous Ryan families in Jersey City, it has been almost impossible to trace the children and grandchildren of Mary Ann Brennan Ryan.
If anyone comes upon this blog and is descended from this branch of the Brennan family, I would appreciate hearing from you. Just leave a comment and I will receive an email notifying me. I would love to hear about your branch of the family.
Ned and Mary had six children: Mary Ann; Michael; Bridget; Sarah; Edward; and John. All of the children except Mary Ann remained in Lima, so their records have been fairly easy to find.
The only family that remains something of a mystery to me is the family of Mary Ann Brennan, who married Thomas Ryan and moved to Jersey City, New Jersey. They had, as best as I can figure, 9 children: Edward; Patrick; Thomas; Mary (Mae); Raymond; Sarah; Anne, Joseph and Rita.
Thomas died before 1920 and Mary Ann died in 1938 and is buried in Holy Name Cemetery.,
I have only been able to locate the married names of two of the daughters, largely via census records. Mary or Mae (born in 1890) married Samuel Pierce and they had two sons. Sarah (born in 1897) married a man named Thomas Nolley, or Molley, or Molloy. This information was taken from a 1920 census record and the handwriting makes the actual name unclear.
As the name Ryan is very common, and there are numerous Ryan families in Jersey City, it has been almost impossible to trace the children and grandchildren of Mary Ann Brennan Ryan.
If anyone comes upon this blog and is descended from this branch of the Brennan family, I would appreciate hearing from you. Just leave a comment and I will receive an email notifying me. I would love to hear about your branch of the family.
Sunday, June 2, 2013
RETURN TO OHIO PART III
On Friday, we drove around Lima a bit more and discovered the Lippincott Bird Sanctuary. This interested us for two reasons. I have Lippincotts in my ancestry, and Tony is a bird watcher. So we spent a bit of time looking around. It was quite peaceful and lovely.
Then after lunch, my aunt Sheila and I spent a few hours looking through old family photographs. A few brought back memories. Others were of family members I never really knew. We spent the next day visiting with my uncle Tom, who is Sheila's brother, and part of his family, as well as Sheila and my cousin Jennifer. The visit was very moving. I hadn't seen my uncle since I was about 20, and I know he was thinking about his two brothers (one of them my father) who are gone. We had a good time, though, joking and laughing and getting re-aquainted. It was tough to say "good-bye."
After our visit, though, Tony and I cheered ourselves up by stopping for dinner at the Kewpee, a hamburger joint that was founded in Lima in 1926, the year my parents were born. It's still in its original location, with the same linoleum on the floor and the same vinyl countertops. It has a drive-through, and at the end of the drive-through lane is evidence of an old turntable which used to turn your car around in the cramped space so you could drive out.
It was odd to think that this same restaurant is where my mom and dad ate hamburgers as teenagers - long before the days of McDonald's.
On our final day in Lima, Tony and I drove around trying to locate the place where my great great grandparents had lived. They named the area "Vinegar Hill" after a famous battle in Ireland's tortured fight for independence. The location of the battle was a hill called (in Gaelic) "Fiodh na gCaor," which if you say it fast, sounds like "Vinegar." Hence, the name. We couldn't locate the exact area, so we went over to Sheila's house to visit some more and meet a few more relatives. Sheila, Jennifer, Brenna and I took a picture together.
A little later, Sheila took us to the exact location of Vinegar Hill, though we could find no house that might have been the Brennan homestead. Instead, there were several "newer" homes on the property. We drove Sheila back to her house and said another sad "good-bye" as the next day we would be flying home.
It's hard to put into words my feelings about this trip. I loved seeing my relatives, catching up on the past 37 years, laughing and talking about family members no longer here, and also doing some genealogical research. But nothing stays the same, and Lima is not the town I remember - at least, the old area where my grandparents once lived. The homes are in need of repair and I wonder how much longer they will stand. On the one hand, there was evidence of some construction and refurbishing about town, on the other, the industry that had made Lima a thriving city is gone. Lima was once a railroad town, and employed many people. It also had some oil wealth, but all of that seems to have disappeared, except for the occasional sound of a train whistle, as the few remaining trains work their way through town.
It was also bittersweet to be in the town of my parents' birth, childhood and adolescence, knowing they, as well as my grandparents, are no longer with us. There was a definite sense that much had changed and that, as a result of this trip, my memories were also going to be changed. I had a strong desire to find the money to renovate both of my grandparents' homes, and preserve them for another century, but that is simply impossible. You can't go backwards, no matter how hard you wish you could - for just a little while. And so I leave my reminiscing with one more photo - of the house where my parents lived when I was born.
This is my first home, the place where I joined the Mueller and Brennan families for the first time. It is a duplex that my parents shared with my aunt Kay, uncle Pete and their three oldest boys. Jim and I both lived there, as his mother was my aunt Kay, my mother's sister. I don't know which side of the house was ours. The house may be as worn as the other homes, but stories I have heard about it always make me smile. Like the time my 3 and 4 year old cousins got into their father's car, released the emergency brake and rolled the car out of the driveway. Apparently, they wanted to go to the store to buy bubble gum. And the time my mom and her sister let a cement truck dump a huge load of cement in front of the garage, so their husbands could use it to build a fence. It was much more cement than was needed, and it dried before the fence could be finished. The huge mound blocked access to the garage for the next year, until a tornado moved the garage. And the story my aunt Sheila (who was 6 years old when I was born) told me on this trip - that she and my grandmother used to walk to the house to see us, and they brought along Sheila's imaginary cat. Halfway there, she told my grandmother to pick up the cat and carry it, as it was tired.
So when I think of Lima, I will think of all the people I love, living and no longer with us, and I will smile when I remember the train whistle, and when I think of mischeivous kids in search of bubble gum, two young mothers and a pile of cement, and an imaginary cat that used to come to visit.
Then after lunch, my aunt Sheila and I spent a few hours looking through old family photographs. A few brought back memories. Others were of family members I never really knew. We spent the next day visiting with my uncle Tom, who is Sheila's brother, and part of his family, as well as Sheila and my cousin Jennifer. The visit was very moving. I hadn't seen my uncle since I was about 20, and I know he was thinking about his two brothers (one of them my father) who are gone. We had a good time, though, joking and laughing and getting re-aquainted. It was tough to say "good-bye."
After our visit, though, Tony and I cheered ourselves up by stopping for dinner at the Kewpee, a hamburger joint that was founded in Lima in 1926, the year my parents were born. It's still in its original location, with the same linoleum on the floor and the same vinyl countertops. It has a drive-through, and at the end of the drive-through lane is evidence of an old turntable which used to turn your car around in the cramped space so you could drive out.
It was odd to think that this same restaurant is where my mom and dad ate hamburgers as teenagers - long before the days of McDonald's.
On our final day in Lima, Tony and I drove around trying to locate the place where my great great grandparents had lived. They named the area "Vinegar Hill" after a famous battle in Ireland's tortured fight for independence. The location of the battle was a hill called (in Gaelic) "Fiodh na gCaor," which if you say it fast, sounds like "Vinegar." Hence, the name. We couldn't locate the exact area, so we went over to Sheila's house to visit some more and meet a few more relatives. Sheila, Jennifer, Brenna and I took a picture together.
A little later, Sheila took us to the exact location of Vinegar Hill, though we could find no house that might have been the Brennan homestead. Instead, there were several "newer" homes on the property. We drove Sheila back to her house and said another sad "good-bye" as the next day we would be flying home.
It's hard to put into words my feelings about this trip. I loved seeing my relatives, catching up on the past 37 years, laughing and talking about family members no longer here, and also doing some genealogical research. But nothing stays the same, and Lima is not the town I remember - at least, the old area where my grandparents once lived. The homes are in need of repair and I wonder how much longer they will stand. On the one hand, there was evidence of some construction and refurbishing about town, on the other, the industry that had made Lima a thriving city is gone. Lima was once a railroad town, and employed many people. It also had some oil wealth, but all of that seems to have disappeared, except for the occasional sound of a train whistle, as the few remaining trains work their way through town.
It was also bittersweet to be in the town of my parents' birth, childhood and adolescence, knowing they, as well as my grandparents, are no longer with us. There was a definite sense that much had changed and that, as a result of this trip, my memories were also going to be changed. I had a strong desire to find the money to renovate both of my grandparents' homes, and preserve them for another century, but that is simply impossible. You can't go backwards, no matter how hard you wish you could - for just a little while. And so I leave my reminiscing with one more photo - of the house where my parents lived when I was born.
This is my first home, the place where I joined the Mueller and Brennan families for the first time. It is a duplex that my parents shared with my aunt Kay, uncle Pete and their three oldest boys. Jim and I both lived there, as his mother was my aunt Kay, my mother's sister. I don't know which side of the house was ours. The house may be as worn as the other homes, but stories I have heard about it always make me smile. Like the time my 3 and 4 year old cousins got into their father's car, released the emergency brake and rolled the car out of the driveway. Apparently, they wanted to go to the store to buy bubble gum. And the time my mom and her sister let a cement truck dump a huge load of cement in front of the garage, so their husbands could use it to build a fence. It was much more cement than was needed, and it dried before the fence could be finished. The huge mound blocked access to the garage for the next year, until a tornado moved the garage. And the story my aunt Sheila (who was 6 years old when I was born) told me on this trip - that she and my grandmother used to walk to the house to see us, and they brought along Sheila's imaginary cat. Halfway there, she told my grandmother to pick up the cat and carry it, as it was tired.
So when I think of Lima, I will think of all the people I love, living and no longer with us, and I will smile when I remember the train whistle, and when I think of mischeivous kids in search of bubble gum, two young mothers and a pile of cement, and an imaginary cat that used to come to visit.
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