I'm currently putting together binders on each of 7 families in the hopes of eventually writing family history books about them. I realize this is a huge project, but I wrote two family history books for my husband's family and loved every minute of it.
These are the 7 families:
Brennan - of Ireland and Ohio
Lippincott - of England and numerous states including Ohio
Frecker - of Germany and Ohio
Shaw - of Scotland or England and Ohio
Schulien - of Germany, Ohio and Illinois
Mueller - of Belgium and Ohio
Wrocklage - of Germany and Ohio
The biggest problem I have is deciding which book to do first. Brennan is the one that grabbed me first, and my trip to Ireland last year only made me more interested. The problem is that I have been unsuccessful in tracing the family back before my 2nd great grandparents, the original immigrants to this country, Ned Brennan and Mary Fahey. And I want to spend some time familiarizing myself with the long and sad history of Ireland before I begin writing. No one, I believe, can understand his or her Irish family without understanding that terrible history.
Each of the other families has its own mystique and each attracts me in its own way. The Lippincott family can be traced back to the 1100's and it is through intermarriages that the family can trace some ancestors back to the time of the Mayflower. The Shaws are interesting, but the original immigrant is, at this time, unknown. The Muellers of Belgium can be traced back quite far, but I know very little about them at this time. And I hope to enlist the aid of one or more cousins to help me learn more and write that book. The Wrocklages and Freckers are also interesting, and I have recently hired a researcher in Germany to trace the families back further than anyone else in the United States - at least to my knowledge - has ever traced them.
But it is the Schuliens who are currently grabbing my interest, and with the help of my cousin Tim, and a few other cousins, I hope to put together a comprehensive picture of two large families, connected by a common ancestral couple: Mathias Schulien (1790-1868) and Elizabeth Jung (1790-1857). With this family, there is already a family tree that dates back to the 1600s, written by a Schulien descendant who lives in Germany. All that remains is to continue the tree with those immigrants who came to America in the mid to late 1800s. But this is no small task.
My maternal grandmother was a Schulien by birth. Her grandparents, Mathias Schulien (1816-1870) and Maria Petry (1819-1885) came to America in mid century and settled in Ohio where their descendants were farmers and businessmen. Their youngest son, my great grandfather, Joseph Schulien, was an engineer for the waterworks plant in Delphos, Ohio, and then started a foundry that he managed with his son Rod.
The immigrant, Mathias Schlien, had a brother, Johann Schulien (1818-1896) who appears to have come to America but eventually returned to Germany. Several of Johann's children settled in America, and I know the most about Joseph, who settled in Chicago and, after driving a beer wagon for several years, decided to open a saloon/restaurant in about 1899.
Four generations of Schuliens kept that restaurant in business for the next 100 years and Schulien's became a landmark in Chicago, famous for its owners who were highly respected magicians as well as saloon keepers. During Prohibition, Schulien's transformed itself into a speakeasy, with liquor supplied by none other than Al Capone. Schulien's closed its doors in 1999, just one year after its last proprietor, Charlie Schulien (Joseph's grandson), died.
I'm hoping to learn more about both of these Schulien branches, and contact known cousins, as well as unknown more distant cousins to gather pictures and stories and fill in gaps in the family tree.
In addition, next year I will be visiting Losheim am See, the small ancestral town of the Schuliens, where a distant cousin lives. There I hope to see some ancestral homes, still standing, and learn more about this interesting immigrant family.
Friday, October 18, 2013
Thursday, October 17, 2013
LAYERS
When I first took up a study of my family history, I had no idea how much effort it would require, nor how much I would love it.
I began four years ago when I joined Ancestry.com and began building a family tree. Because of the work my father had done, I had many names to put into the tree and immediately leaves popped up that indicated there were records I could access regarding specific ancestors. I clicked on those leaves and was directed to census records, birth, death and marriage records, immigration and naturalization records, land and tax records, and many family trees belonging to other ancestry members. These records gave me the names of many other ancestors and the family tree began to fill out more than I could imagine. Since many of my ancestors lived in Ohio at one time, and Ohio has a number of good records to search, I found much information.
After a number of months, however, I began to hit brick walls and could not figure out how to go any further. So, since I loved working on the family tree so much, I decided to start building a tree for my husband. I went through the same process and found many ancestors for him. I was fortunate with his family, as I had been with mine, because his recent paternal ancestors had all lived in California at one time, and California has extensive records online. But when I tried to go back before his grandparents immigrated from Croatia, I hit a brick wall. I also hit brick walls with his maternal ancestors. I realized at that point that genealogy was more than just building a tree with readily available information. I had only uncovered a first layer.
So I began to implement new strategies. I contacted those with trees containing the names of my ancestors and got direct information from them. I emailed, wrote letters, and spoke by phone with relatives of mine and my husband. This helped me discover another layer of information and filled in some gaps. This blog even became a source of information as people searching for information on their families ended up at the blog and emailed me when I had questions or had wrongly speculated on the details regarding the life of one or more ancestors. One person I contacted was a third cousin of my husband - on his mother's side - a cousin he had never met. Prior to speaking to him, I had found that one branch of my husband's tree led to 3 Mayflower passengers. At first I didn't believe it, as there is information on Ancestry that is incorrect, and since so many people are anxious to claim Mayflower ancestry, I knew I needed to verify what I had with other sources. This cousin, who had been doing genealogy for over 20 years, confirmed the information and directed me to a source book.
I still wasn't satisfied, however, so I started a search for the book and found that there was a copy in the Los Angeles County Public Library. So my husband and I made a trip to L.A. The book was held in a locked room, but once we were given access I was able to find the information I needed. My husband is indeed descended, on his maternal side, from 3 Mayflower passengers.
I also used Google to find pieces of information. I tried all kinds of words in the search bar - names, dates, towns, family names, etc - and was rewarded with many websites dedicated to the genealogy of specific surnames as well as stories and legends about specific people in my tree. One piece of information I found was regarding my husband's maternal ancestors. His mother's surname was Ruby and so when I typed in "Ruby genealogy" I was directed to a website that advertised a book: "Ruby-Ruby Family of Switzerland and America." Although I suspected this would not direct me to the correct information (as my mother in law said the Rubys were Irish) I clicked on the link anyway. The book was out of print, but the son of the authors had put the entire book online in PDF format, ready to download. So I downloaded it, and sure enough, it was the correct family. My mother in law and her family had been wrong about their national origin. So searching on Google and finding rich internet sources led me to another layer.
Then I went to a genealogical conference, an experience that could easily rival a Star Trek convention in its collection of odd characters, although without the costumes.It was a strange 4 days, but I did learn how to use Google Earth and Google images to find information about places where ancestors lived, and how to search even further with researchers in Europe. I was given the name of a Czech researcher and contacted him to work on a small part of my husband's family. I had already contacted a Croatian researher and hired her to find a larger part of his family. These two researchers gave me the information I needed to write a family history book for my husband's Croatian-Czech family.
After two years spent mostly researching my husband's family history, I retured to mine. Many more databases had been added to Ancestry, so many more leaves had appeared. I followed them and found more dates and names and the tree got even bigger. I taught myself how to search through what I call back doors - searching information on the brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, etc. of my direct ancestors to see if it could lead to more information. It frequently did and in this way I solved some mysteries. I then took a trip back to Ohio, where both of my parents were born and grew up, and visited cemeteries, spoke with relatives, and spent some time in the files of a local library. This filled in more gaps, and I had discovered another layer.
With respect to my father's Irish family, I took a trip to Ireland, spoke to distant cousins, and toured sites of importance to my family. Then I returned home and looked up records (the scant few that remain) regarding the family. I actually found a few clues as to the identity of some ancestors.
Turning to my mother's German family, I hired a researcher in Germany who found the parents and grandparents of some immigrants who came to Ohio in the mid 1800s. None of my living relatives had these names. This excavated another layer. And next year, my husband and I are going to spend a little time in Germany and Belgium, visiting the towns where these ancestors once lived.
So I've learned that genealogy is more than just building a family tree and finding names, although that alone can take a lifetime. It is also hearing stories, fleshing out the lives of ancestors, seeing where they lived, learning the circumstances that made their lives unique. And as one researcher said to me: "Genealogy is a marathon, not a sprint." Genealogy is somthing that can occupy you for a lifetime and never gets boring. There are always new facts to learn, and more layers to uncover. And it never gets boring.
I began four years ago when I joined Ancestry.com and began building a family tree. Because of the work my father had done, I had many names to put into the tree and immediately leaves popped up that indicated there were records I could access regarding specific ancestors. I clicked on those leaves and was directed to census records, birth, death and marriage records, immigration and naturalization records, land and tax records, and many family trees belonging to other ancestry members. These records gave me the names of many other ancestors and the family tree began to fill out more than I could imagine. Since many of my ancestors lived in Ohio at one time, and Ohio has a number of good records to search, I found much information.
After a number of months, however, I began to hit brick walls and could not figure out how to go any further. So, since I loved working on the family tree so much, I decided to start building a tree for my husband. I went through the same process and found many ancestors for him. I was fortunate with his family, as I had been with mine, because his recent paternal ancestors had all lived in California at one time, and California has extensive records online. But when I tried to go back before his grandparents immigrated from Croatia, I hit a brick wall. I also hit brick walls with his maternal ancestors. I realized at that point that genealogy was more than just building a tree with readily available information. I had only uncovered a first layer.
So I began to implement new strategies. I contacted those with trees containing the names of my ancestors and got direct information from them. I emailed, wrote letters, and spoke by phone with relatives of mine and my husband. This helped me discover another layer of information and filled in some gaps. This blog even became a source of information as people searching for information on their families ended up at the blog and emailed me when I had questions or had wrongly speculated on the details regarding the life of one or more ancestors. One person I contacted was a third cousin of my husband - on his mother's side - a cousin he had never met. Prior to speaking to him, I had found that one branch of my husband's tree led to 3 Mayflower passengers. At first I didn't believe it, as there is information on Ancestry that is incorrect, and since so many people are anxious to claim Mayflower ancestry, I knew I needed to verify what I had with other sources. This cousin, who had been doing genealogy for over 20 years, confirmed the information and directed me to a source book.
I still wasn't satisfied, however, so I started a search for the book and found that there was a copy in the Los Angeles County Public Library. So my husband and I made a trip to L.A. The book was held in a locked room, but once we were given access I was able to find the information I needed. My husband is indeed descended, on his maternal side, from 3 Mayflower passengers.
I also used Google to find pieces of information. I tried all kinds of words in the search bar - names, dates, towns, family names, etc - and was rewarded with many websites dedicated to the genealogy of specific surnames as well as stories and legends about specific people in my tree. One piece of information I found was regarding my husband's maternal ancestors. His mother's surname was Ruby and so when I typed in "Ruby genealogy" I was directed to a website that advertised a book: "Ruby-Ruby Family of Switzerland and America." Although I suspected this would not direct me to the correct information (as my mother in law said the Rubys were Irish) I clicked on the link anyway. The book was out of print, but the son of the authors had put the entire book online in PDF format, ready to download. So I downloaded it, and sure enough, it was the correct family. My mother in law and her family had been wrong about their national origin. So searching on Google and finding rich internet sources led me to another layer.
Then I went to a genealogical conference, an experience that could easily rival a Star Trek convention in its collection of odd characters, although without the costumes.It was a strange 4 days, but I did learn how to use Google Earth and Google images to find information about places where ancestors lived, and how to search even further with researchers in Europe. I was given the name of a Czech researcher and contacted him to work on a small part of my husband's family. I had already contacted a Croatian researher and hired her to find a larger part of his family. These two researchers gave me the information I needed to write a family history book for my husband's Croatian-Czech family.
After two years spent mostly researching my husband's family history, I retured to mine. Many more databases had been added to Ancestry, so many more leaves had appeared. I followed them and found more dates and names and the tree got even bigger. I taught myself how to search through what I call back doors - searching information on the brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, etc. of my direct ancestors to see if it could lead to more information. It frequently did and in this way I solved some mysteries. I then took a trip back to Ohio, where both of my parents were born and grew up, and visited cemeteries, spoke with relatives, and spent some time in the files of a local library. This filled in more gaps, and I had discovered another layer.
With respect to my father's Irish family, I took a trip to Ireland, spoke to distant cousins, and toured sites of importance to my family. Then I returned home and looked up records (the scant few that remain) regarding the family. I actually found a few clues as to the identity of some ancestors.
Turning to my mother's German family, I hired a researcher in Germany who found the parents and grandparents of some immigrants who came to Ohio in the mid 1800s. None of my living relatives had these names. This excavated another layer. And next year, my husband and I are going to spend a little time in Germany and Belgium, visiting the towns where these ancestors once lived.
So I've learned that genealogy is more than just building a family tree and finding names, although that alone can take a lifetime. It is also hearing stories, fleshing out the lives of ancestors, seeing where they lived, learning the circumstances that made their lives unique. And as one researcher said to me: "Genealogy is a marathon, not a sprint." Genealogy is somthing that can occupy you for a lifetime and never gets boring. There are always new facts to learn, and more layers to uncover. And it never gets boring.
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
MY GRANDMOTHER'S HOUSE
My aunt emailed me the other day and told me my grandmother's house was on the market in Lima, Ohio. I had two grandmothers in Lima, and they both had inviting and memorable houses, houses I loved visiting when I was a child. They were both two story houses and seemed massive to me from a child's perspective, although the details regarding my grandmother's house now on the market list its square footage as just over 1600 square feet.
I was fortunate to visit my grandmother's house when I was in Lima recently. My cousin Jim and I knocked on the door and were greeted by a very puzzled woman who lived there. Obviously, we were strangers to her and she was probably expecting a sales pitch of some sort. Instead, we told her this was once our grandmother's house, and we would love to come in and look around. I don't know about Jim, but I wanted to recapture some of the magic of my childhood there in that house. And while I loved being able to walk around inside that once warm and inviting space, the magic was definitely gone. The house was mostly empty, filled only with boxes, junk and very little furniture. The rooms were dark, the draperies closed, I'm not sure what the story was, but since the house is now on the market, perhaps they were getting ready to stage the place in order to sell it.
Since I've been back in my own home in Callifornia, I've thought about why the place seemed so cold and devoid of magic. It wasn't just that the place was run down, looking nothing like the home my grandmother kept so beautifully, nor dark as opposed to the bright, cheerful home where she lived. I now realize the magic was gone because the people I loved were not there. My grandmother, my aunt Marcie, and for a while my uncle Charlie, were not there. The kitchen did not smell of cookies baking or pot roast simmering. The living room did not smell of furniture polish or my aunt Marcie's perfumed stationery. The bathroom did not exude that distinctive aroma of Dove soap. And my grandmother was not there welcoming me with her smile and a big hug and saying what she always said, "Make yourself at home; what's mine is yours."
My cousin Jim and I asked the woman what she thought the value of the home was, and she suggested a price of about $40,000 to $60,000. We were stunned. In California, $40,000 might buy you a chicken coop, but little else. Each of us had the thought that at that price we could purchase it, fix it up, and rent it out, except neither of us lives nearby, so that would not work. The list price today is actually $75,000 and I will be curious to see if the owners get that price.
I would love to go back in 5 years and see if the new owners have fixed it up, though the area looks a bit run down and I imagine it's even possible that in 5 to 10 years the house will be torn down. It was built in 1921, and is in need of much repair. So while I hope someone purchases it and tends to it lovingly, for now I will just have to hang onto my memories and keep an image in my mind of what my grandmother's house looked like - and more importantly, felt like - in its heyday.
I was fortunate to visit my grandmother's house when I was in Lima recently. My cousin Jim and I knocked on the door and were greeted by a very puzzled woman who lived there. Obviously, we were strangers to her and she was probably expecting a sales pitch of some sort. Instead, we told her this was once our grandmother's house, and we would love to come in and look around. I don't know about Jim, but I wanted to recapture some of the magic of my childhood there in that house. And while I loved being able to walk around inside that once warm and inviting space, the magic was definitely gone. The house was mostly empty, filled only with boxes, junk and very little furniture. The rooms were dark, the draperies closed, I'm not sure what the story was, but since the house is now on the market, perhaps they were getting ready to stage the place in order to sell it.
Since I've been back in my own home in Callifornia, I've thought about why the place seemed so cold and devoid of magic. It wasn't just that the place was run down, looking nothing like the home my grandmother kept so beautifully, nor dark as opposed to the bright, cheerful home where she lived. I now realize the magic was gone because the people I loved were not there. My grandmother, my aunt Marcie, and for a while my uncle Charlie, were not there. The kitchen did not smell of cookies baking or pot roast simmering. The living room did not smell of furniture polish or my aunt Marcie's perfumed stationery. The bathroom did not exude that distinctive aroma of Dove soap. And my grandmother was not there welcoming me with her smile and a big hug and saying what she always said, "Make yourself at home; what's mine is yours."
My cousin Jim and I asked the woman what she thought the value of the home was, and she suggested a price of about $40,000 to $60,000. We were stunned. In California, $40,000 might buy you a chicken coop, but little else. Each of us had the thought that at that price we could purchase it, fix it up, and rent it out, except neither of us lives nearby, so that would not work. The list price today is actually $75,000 and I will be curious to see if the owners get that price.
I would love to go back in 5 years and see if the new owners have fixed it up, though the area looks a bit run down and I imagine it's even possible that in 5 to 10 years the house will be torn down. It was built in 1921, and is in need of much repair. So while I hope someone purchases it and tends to it lovingly, for now I will just have to hang onto my memories and keep an image in my mind of what my grandmother's house looked like - and more importantly, felt like - in its heyday.
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