My genealogy work slows down this time of year, even though many of my ancestors and family members are on my mind as we approach Christmas. The people I miss the most, of course, are my parents and brother. My brother only shared 20 Christmases with us before his premature death, but I have some wonderful memories. I especially remember the Christmases in Illinois. I remember, for example, the Christmas we both got sleds from Santa, the one where we learned to ice skate, and the Christmas Eve when my mother sent my father, brother and I out to look at Christmas lights while she stayed home "to hang up the laundry in the basement." When we arrived home, Santa had already left his stash, and my mother insisted she thought she "heard something" while she was down in the basement which caused her to rush up to find the source of the noise. When she arrived in the living room, she could see that Santa had arrived early. My mother never could wait for Christmas to arrive. She loved to find presents we had hidden, and was very adept at peeling the tape off the wrapping paper to peek and then reattaching it so we wouldn't know. We always knew, though.
After that, I figured out the secret about Santa Claus, and as soon as my brother caught on, my mother began the big celebration of Christmas on Christmas Eve. That's when we opened our presents and when my mother fixed the big meal of ham, scalloped potatoes, and various desserts. When I married and had children, she continued the tradition, and we brought our own children to my parents' house for Christmas Eve. When they were young, they had two Christmases: one on Christmas eve at Grandma's and one Christmas morning, when Santa came. As they got older, everything centered on Christmas Eve, until they ventured out and got married, when the tradition finally ended.
At this time of year, I also wonder what Christmas was like when my grandparents and great grandparents were young. Fortunately, I have some idea of what life was like when my great great grandparents, Ned and Mary Brennan, were raising their family in the late 1800s, from the writings of Father Robert Brennan, their grandson. He tells us what Christmas was like in the Brennan household, which he calls "Vinegar Hill." Vinegar Hill was the name of a great battle in Ireland, and my grandparents named their property after it.
"Christmas on Vinegar Hill was always a time for great merriment, but Grandmother was strict about the fast that goes before feasts - a habit she brought with her from Ireland. On Christmas Eve, therefore, there was only one full meal, taken when the family was assembled in the evening. Traditionally, it consisted of oyster stew and potato cakes, and the custom is still observed among some of the present-day members of the clan.
A Christmas candle burned all night in the window, another of the lovely customs that the Irish brought with them to America. The candle was made from tallow by Grandmother's sister, Julia... Springs of green, hung here and there about the house, gave a homey atmosphere to the Yuletide festivities.
On Christmas morning, the first Mass in St. Rose Church was at five. Grandmother always attended it along with some of the children. It is easy to picture her picking her steps through the snow drifts that covered Vinegar Hill; glancing up from time to time at the stars overhead that were singing for joy at he Birth of our Saviour. On returning home, the fire was built up and the good goose that was plucked and prepared the day before was set in the oven. All morning there was the fragrant odor of roasting fowl filling the house. This, like the fare of the night before, was alaso a traditional dish among the Brennans, served with mashed potatoes and thick gravy. Mince pie was the usual dessert, with nuts and hard candies and an occasional orange to finish off the meal.
Friends and relatives were in and out of the house all day; and, to the "Merry Christmas" greeting of one, the answer of the other, "The same to you, and many of them," never varied."
So I wish a "Merry Christmas to you, and many of them," and I'll be back to my genealogy work after Christmas.
Monday, December 9, 2013
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
WHY WOULD I CARE ABOUT THEM?
When I first began my genealogy quest, I had a discussion with my mother in law. She related a story to me about a cousin of hers who was also interested in genealogy. He apparently showed an aunt all the names of ancestors he had found, and she said "Why would I care about them? They're all dead."
I think that's how a lot of people feel who have never caught the genealogy bug. And although I personally never felt that way about my ancestors, I do have to admit I was largely indifferent to a search for them - until a few years ago, shortly after I had lost both of my parents, when I realized I had no ongoing connections to any of my mother's or father's families. Sure, I still had a few cousins and an aunt and two uncles, but they lived across the country from me, and I had little contact with them. From the time my parents decided to move from the midwest to California (when I was ten) I had only sporadic contact with anyone in either family. And so I largely grew up without extended family. This was a huge contrast with my husband's experience. He grew up with dozens of relatives in his very large Croatian family.
Once I began building my own family tree, I also began to learn a lot about the two families of my parents. My dad's Irish family (the Brennans) was incredibly interesting, as I had a lot of written material about them, thanks in large part to one relative who became a priest and wrote down much about his immigrant grandparents and his experience growing up around them. I also learned some about my paternal grandmother's family (the Shaws), with some branches going all the way back to the early American colonies. And I had a good understanding of my mother's maternal family - the Schuliens from Germany - much of it thanks to one of my second cousins, Tim, who not only has been doing genealogy himself, but lived near all the relatives and has an endless reservoir of stories about them.
But one family I knew very little about was my mother's paternal ancestors: the Muellers who hailed from Belgium. The reason I knew little about them was because they were never part of my life. My mother's father, Alfred, died when she was only 4 years old, and so I never even had a chance to meet my grandfather. I also have no recollection of meeting any of his relatives. So although my mother's maiden name was "Mueller" and I knew her siblings and nieces and nephews named Mueller, I knew no one else from the Mueller family. For all the years I've been working on genealogy, I've had a desire to know more about them, and to contact someone who still bears the Mueller name in the extended family. Until now, that desire has remained unfulfilled.
My cousin Jim and I have both attempted to contact Mueller second cousins with no success, but just yesterday, Jim emailed to say he had contacted a Mueller and hoped to learn more about the family. His contact is one of the many second cousins we share, and I feel like a whole new part of the family has opened up to us. Jim sent part of a genealogy report he received on one branch of the family, and I have since included all the names into my family tree. Of course, these are just names, and my hope is that both Jim and I can meet one of two of these relatives at some point. I even believe a few may be in California, so there may be an opportunity for me to meet someone without traveling across country.
One of our hopes is that the family can send us a picture of our great grandparents, Charles and Susanna Wagner Mueller, both of whom died before we were born. We have never seen a photograph of them, and we are hoping someone in the family has such a picture. We are also hoping to hear stories about our ancestors who are "all dead" - our great grandparents, as well as great uncles and aunts, and cousins.
This brings me back to the question: "Why would I care about them?" I care about them because they are a part of my family. And even though I never knew them, they share something with me - other relatives, DNA, a heritage, family traditions, etc. And knowing them, if only by name, makes me feel less alone, and part of a much larger family.
But genealogy does even more than that. I'm reminded of the inscription on a plaque dedicated to another relative, Ralph Brennan, who died defending a bridge in France during World War II. On the plaque, placed on the bridge over the river Moselle in France, are the words: " Men die two times, once on the day of their deaths, the second time when no one speaks of them.By this gesture, we hope that Lt. Brennan will not die a second time."
That's what genealogy is to me - a chance to keep people alive in our memories, a way of preventing that second death, when no one speaks of them again. To me, these people are not dead. Their lives meant something, and should be remembered and celebrated. They added something to this world, and though they may not have helped to save a town, like Ralph Brennan, they made their own contributions, and I want to know who they are.
I think that's how a lot of people feel who have never caught the genealogy bug. And although I personally never felt that way about my ancestors, I do have to admit I was largely indifferent to a search for them - until a few years ago, shortly after I had lost both of my parents, when I realized I had no ongoing connections to any of my mother's or father's families. Sure, I still had a few cousins and an aunt and two uncles, but they lived across the country from me, and I had little contact with them. From the time my parents decided to move from the midwest to California (when I was ten) I had only sporadic contact with anyone in either family. And so I largely grew up without extended family. This was a huge contrast with my husband's experience. He grew up with dozens of relatives in his very large Croatian family.
Once I began building my own family tree, I also began to learn a lot about the two families of my parents. My dad's Irish family (the Brennans) was incredibly interesting, as I had a lot of written material about them, thanks in large part to one relative who became a priest and wrote down much about his immigrant grandparents and his experience growing up around them. I also learned some about my paternal grandmother's family (the Shaws), with some branches going all the way back to the early American colonies. And I had a good understanding of my mother's maternal family - the Schuliens from Germany - much of it thanks to one of my second cousins, Tim, who not only has been doing genealogy himself, but lived near all the relatives and has an endless reservoir of stories about them.
But one family I knew very little about was my mother's paternal ancestors: the Muellers who hailed from Belgium. The reason I knew little about them was because they were never part of my life. My mother's father, Alfred, died when she was only 4 years old, and so I never even had a chance to meet my grandfather. I also have no recollection of meeting any of his relatives. So although my mother's maiden name was "Mueller" and I knew her siblings and nieces and nephews named Mueller, I knew no one else from the Mueller family. For all the years I've been working on genealogy, I've had a desire to know more about them, and to contact someone who still bears the Mueller name in the extended family. Until now, that desire has remained unfulfilled.
My cousin Jim and I have both attempted to contact Mueller second cousins with no success, but just yesterday, Jim emailed to say he had contacted a Mueller and hoped to learn more about the family. His contact is one of the many second cousins we share, and I feel like a whole new part of the family has opened up to us. Jim sent part of a genealogy report he received on one branch of the family, and I have since included all the names into my family tree. Of course, these are just names, and my hope is that both Jim and I can meet one of two of these relatives at some point. I even believe a few may be in California, so there may be an opportunity for me to meet someone without traveling across country.
One of our hopes is that the family can send us a picture of our great grandparents, Charles and Susanna Wagner Mueller, both of whom died before we were born. We have never seen a photograph of them, and we are hoping someone in the family has such a picture. We are also hoping to hear stories about our ancestors who are "all dead" - our great grandparents, as well as great uncles and aunts, and cousins.
This brings me back to the question: "Why would I care about them?" I care about them because they are a part of my family. And even though I never knew them, they share something with me - other relatives, DNA, a heritage, family traditions, etc. And knowing them, if only by name, makes me feel less alone, and part of a much larger family.
But genealogy does even more than that. I'm reminded of the inscription on a plaque dedicated to another relative, Ralph Brennan, who died defending a bridge in France during World War II. On the plaque, placed on the bridge over the river Moselle in France, are the words: " Men die two times, once on the day of their deaths, the second time when no one speaks of them.By this gesture, we hope that Lt. Brennan will not die a second time."
That's what genealogy is to me - a chance to keep people alive in our memories, a way of preventing that second death, when no one speaks of them again. To me, these people are not dead. Their lives meant something, and should be remembered and celebrated. They added something to this world, and though they may not have helped to save a town, like Ralph Brennan, they made their own contributions, and I want to know who they are.
Friday, October 18, 2013
SCHULIEN FAMILIES OF OHIO AND ILLINOIS
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.
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.
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.
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?
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