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.
Thursday, October 17, 2013
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.
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
MOVING FORWARD: NEW PLANS, NEW DISCOVERIES
I know I've been neglecting this blog of late and the thought of it nags at me from time to time. But that's how it is with amateur genealogists. We attend to the research in spurts, depending on the other demands of life. Of late, I've been working on "old people" stuff - preparing for my husband's retirement by changing phone, internet, and television contracts, figuring out if we can go from two cars to one, etc. Have also been volunteering at a new hospital in town and planning our next European vacation, though that won't be for another year. And since we'll be going to France and Belgium, I'm brushing up on my French with Rosetta Stone.
We've planned an October, 2014, Viking River Cruise in the south of France, and we've scheduled time in Paris, Normandy, and Versailles. Since my husband and I will both be retired by then, we want to stay as long as we can (as long as the money holds out) and so we'll be stretching out the trip to the Alsace Lorraine region of France and specifically the town of Nancy, where a distant Brennan cousin, Ralph Brennan, died defending a bridge and thus saving the town from the Germans during World War II. He is buried in a nearby cemetery, and there is a memorial to him and his company at the bridge. I'm told by another cousin that we will be welcomed with great enthusiasm there, for the Brennan name is held in high esteem because of Ralph.
From there, we will make a brief foray into Southwestern Germany, to a small town called Losheim am See, where my mother's Schulien relatives are from.
After that, we'll head up to Belgium, and the small village of Turpange, in the Luxembourg region, where my mother's Mueller relatives are from. Then we'll head up to Bruges and Brussels, before heading home.
Our 2012 vacation was, in part, an attempt to connect with my father's Irish heritage. This trip will be mostly an attempt to connect with my mother's ancestry, that is after we enjoy all the culture, history, and wine that France has to offer.
In the meantime, in addition to brushing up on my French, I'll be returning to my research into my family, checking out any new information in the Ancestry databases, and writing to a cemetery in New Jersey to see if I can find any records on a branch of the Brennan family that moved to Jersey City in the early part of the last century. This would be Tom and Mary Ann (Brennan) Ryan and their children. So far, I have been able to learn very little about them, other than the scant information in census records. Of the six children of Ned Brennan and Mary Fahey (my immigrant great, great grandparents), Mary Ann's family is the only one that remains a mystery.
Stay tuned. Hopefully, I'll be reporting more often.
We've planned an October, 2014, Viking River Cruise in the south of France, and we've scheduled time in Paris, Normandy, and Versailles. Since my husband and I will both be retired by then, we want to stay as long as we can (as long as the money holds out) and so we'll be stretching out the trip to the Alsace Lorraine region of France and specifically the town of Nancy, where a distant Brennan cousin, Ralph Brennan, died defending a bridge and thus saving the town from the Germans during World War II. He is buried in a nearby cemetery, and there is a memorial to him and his company at the bridge. I'm told by another cousin that we will be welcomed with great enthusiasm there, for the Brennan name is held in high esteem because of Ralph.
From there, we will make a brief foray into Southwestern Germany, to a small town called Losheim am See, where my mother's Schulien relatives are from.
After that, we'll head up to Belgium, and the small village of Turpange, in the Luxembourg region, where my mother's Mueller relatives are from. Then we'll head up to Bruges and Brussels, before heading home.
Our 2012 vacation was, in part, an attempt to connect with my father's Irish heritage. This trip will be mostly an attempt to connect with my mother's ancestry, that is after we enjoy all the culture, history, and wine that France has to offer.
In the meantime, in addition to brushing up on my French, I'll be returning to my research into my family, checking out any new information in the Ancestry databases, and writing to a cemetery in New Jersey to see if I can find any records on a branch of the Brennan family that moved to Jersey City in the early part of the last century. This would be Tom and Mary Ann (Brennan) Ryan and their children. So far, I have been able to learn very little about them, other than the scant information in census records. Of the six children of Ned Brennan and Mary Fahey (my immigrant great, great grandparents), Mary Ann's family is the only one that remains a mystery.
Stay tuned. Hopefully, I'll be reporting more often.
Thursday, July 4, 2013
SOME MYSTERIES SOLVED, OTHERS CREATED
A few days ago, I received a packet of records from my researcher in Germany and breathed a great sigh of relief. I had never met this researcher before, had been given his name by another researcher that I contacted (whose price was too high) and thus was not sure whether or not the money I wired for the work would prove worthwhile.
The packet was more informative than I had imagined it would be. There were typed birth records, death records, and marriage records. There were names of siblings of some of my ancestors. And for nearly every typed record, there was at least one copy of a church record, usually written in Latin.
The records I was seeking were those of my maternal grandmother's family. Her name was Mary Bernadine (Bernie) Schulien. Bernie's father was Joseph Schulien, her mother Mary Gertrude Frecker - obvious German names. Since I already had much information on the Schulien family (from research that had been done in Germany some years ago) I was concentrating on the Frecker family, namely the paternal and maternal ancestors of Mary Gertrude Frecker, surnames Frecker and Wrocklage.
Mary Gertrude's father was Hermann Henry Frecker. For the years I have been doing genealogy, he has been the most mysterious person in the family tree. All I knew about him was that he had been born around 1837 in Lower Saxony in Germany, and come to America sometime before 1860, when he married Mary Bernadina Wrocklage. The couple had five children between 1861 and 1869, the same year Hermann died of a cancerous tumor. Hermann had an older sister, Clara Philomena Frecker who married and had several children. Hermann and Clara's mother, Angela Moenter Frecker, came to America as well and presumably their father had died in Germany before their departure. This is all I knew prior to the recent research.
Now I have much more information on the Freckers. For instance, Hermann's father was in the army in Germany. The family moved around a bit and thus I do not know for certain the town in which Hermann was born. It had always been a puzzle to me as to why no one researching this family had an exact birth date for Hermann and now I know why. Without the name of the town where someone was born, you cannot find the birth date. I have been told that the records are probably in a separate place, with military records. However, I have learned the name of Hermann's father - Johann Gerdt Frecker - as well as the names of Hermann's grandparents and great grandparents, going back to the birth of his great grandfather, Johann Cordt Frecker in 1697. I also know that the name of Hermann's mother was Catharina Engel Moenter. Engel in German is translated Angel or Angela, like the current prime minister of Germany. In addition, I have the names of Angela's parents, and a surprising fact - Angela was a twin. The records indicate that she only had sisters, so her relationship to any Moenters in Ohio cannot be that of siblings.
I also have some new information on the Wrocklages. Mary Gertrude Frecker's mother was Mary Bernadina Wrocklage. I have written about her family before. I had previously learned that the name Wrocklage was attached to a farm in Lower Saxony, and that the patriarch of the American Wrocklages had to change his surname from Esch to Wrocklage in order to inherit the tenancy rights to his wife's farm. His birth name was Christian Mathias Esch, but he used the name Christian Mathias Wrocklage after his marriage to Anna Maria Catharina Wrocklage. Much research has been done on the Wrocklage name, and there is even a comprehensive website dedicated to it. However, I knew nothing of the Esch family, and since this is Christian's birth family, I wanted to learn more. Now I have the names of Christian's parents, as well as his brothers and sisters. I also have the names of the godparents of his children, some of whom are his siblings.
There is more I want to learn. I'd like to trace Christian's family back further, and clear up a few mysteries about his wives and children. I still don't know whether Christian had two or three wives and whether the mother of his youngest child was his second or his third wife. His will names only his second wife, while some records indicate he was married a third time. I'd also like to find Hermann Frecker's exact birth date and learn whether he had other siblings.
However, none of this matters all that much. Whether I do or don't find these facts, my life will not change. But there's something that happens to you when you start to research your family tree. You become a solver of puzzles, and there's always a new puzzle to solve. I guess it's a bit like trying to finish a crossword, although at least once you finish a single crossword, you can put your pencil down and refuse to begin another. (Most crossword fanatics will tell you that's impossible.) I suppose I could draw an imaginary line in the sand and say "Once I find this out, I'm stopping," but somehow I can never do that. So I suppose I will dig into my pocket and find a little more money to pay the researcher to pursue the answer to these mysteries. After that, who knows?
The packet was more informative than I had imagined it would be. There were typed birth records, death records, and marriage records. There were names of siblings of some of my ancestors. And for nearly every typed record, there was at least one copy of a church record, usually written in Latin.
The records I was seeking were those of my maternal grandmother's family. Her name was Mary Bernadine (Bernie) Schulien. Bernie's father was Joseph Schulien, her mother Mary Gertrude Frecker - obvious German names. Since I already had much information on the Schulien family (from research that had been done in Germany some years ago) I was concentrating on the Frecker family, namely the paternal and maternal ancestors of Mary Gertrude Frecker, surnames Frecker and Wrocklage.
Mary Gertrude's father was Hermann Henry Frecker. For the years I have been doing genealogy, he has been the most mysterious person in the family tree. All I knew about him was that he had been born around 1837 in Lower Saxony in Germany, and come to America sometime before 1860, when he married Mary Bernadina Wrocklage. The couple had five children between 1861 and 1869, the same year Hermann died of a cancerous tumor. Hermann had an older sister, Clara Philomena Frecker who married and had several children. Hermann and Clara's mother, Angela Moenter Frecker, came to America as well and presumably their father had died in Germany before their departure. This is all I knew prior to the recent research.
Now I have much more information on the Freckers. For instance, Hermann's father was in the army in Germany. The family moved around a bit and thus I do not know for certain the town in which Hermann was born. It had always been a puzzle to me as to why no one researching this family had an exact birth date for Hermann and now I know why. Without the name of the town where someone was born, you cannot find the birth date. I have been told that the records are probably in a separate place, with military records. However, I have learned the name of Hermann's father - Johann Gerdt Frecker - as well as the names of Hermann's grandparents and great grandparents, going back to the birth of his great grandfather, Johann Cordt Frecker in 1697. I also know that the name of Hermann's mother was Catharina Engel Moenter. Engel in German is translated Angel or Angela, like the current prime minister of Germany. In addition, I have the names of Angela's parents, and a surprising fact - Angela was a twin. The records indicate that she only had sisters, so her relationship to any Moenters in Ohio cannot be that of siblings.
I also have some new information on the Wrocklages. Mary Gertrude Frecker's mother was Mary Bernadina Wrocklage. I have written about her family before. I had previously learned that the name Wrocklage was attached to a farm in Lower Saxony, and that the patriarch of the American Wrocklages had to change his surname from Esch to Wrocklage in order to inherit the tenancy rights to his wife's farm. His birth name was Christian Mathias Esch, but he used the name Christian Mathias Wrocklage after his marriage to Anna Maria Catharina Wrocklage. Much research has been done on the Wrocklage name, and there is even a comprehensive website dedicated to it. However, I knew nothing of the Esch family, and since this is Christian's birth family, I wanted to learn more. Now I have the names of Christian's parents, as well as his brothers and sisters. I also have the names of the godparents of his children, some of whom are his siblings.
There is more I want to learn. I'd like to trace Christian's family back further, and clear up a few mysteries about his wives and children. I still don't know whether Christian had two or three wives and whether the mother of his youngest child was his second or his third wife. His will names only his second wife, while some records indicate he was married a third time. I'd also like to find Hermann Frecker's exact birth date and learn whether he had other siblings.
However, none of this matters all that much. Whether I do or don't find these facts, my life will not change. But there's something that happens to you when you start to research your family tree. You become a solver of puzzles, and there's always a new puzzle to solve. I guess it's a bit like trying to finish a crossword, although at least once you finish a single crossword, you can put your pencil down and refuse to begin another. (Most crossword fanatics will tell you that's impossible.) I suppose I could draw an imaginary line in the sand and say "Once I find this out, I'm stopping," but somehow I can never do that. So I suppose I will dig into my pocket and find a little more money to pay the researcher to pursue the answer to these mysteries. After that, who knows?
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
PUTTING ON MY DETECTIVE CAP
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.
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)