Having just finished the Shaw family history book, British Roots, Colonial Branches, the book documenting my paternal grandmother's mostly English family, I am starting in earnest on my fifth family history book. This book will document the Schulien family who originally came from the town of Losheim in the Saarland area of Germany. Several branches came to this country in the 1800s, one of which was that of my maternal great, great grandfather Mathias Schulien.
Mathias and his wife Maria Petry had four children in Germany before they emigrated and settled in Ohio. After arriving in America, they had one more child, Joseph, who was my great grandfather. Joseph married Mary Gertrude Frecker, also from a German family, and they had 8 children, including my maternal grandmother, Mary Bernadine Schulien or "Bernie," as everyone called her, including some of her grandchildren.
Bernie and her husband Alfred Mueller had 5 children before Alfred was killed in a train accident. The youngest child was my mother, Frances.
While I had a close relationship with my grandmother, aunts and uncles in the Schulien-Mueller clan, I did not know too many extended family members. I remember hearing my mother speak fondly of all of them, so I do remember names. And I did visit a few, so I have some memories of those visits. But other than that, I have had to start from a place of ignorance regarding the larger extended family. Fortunately my cousins Jim Lisk and Tim Schulien, who lived in Ohio in their youth, have helped me get started and fill out much of the more recent generations.
And so, for the past few weeks, I have buried myself in the Schulien family tree and I have to say, the task is monumental. These Schuliens certainly did not have fertility problems. Most of the families, in both Germany and the United States, had at least five or six children, and many had ten or twelve. Needless to say, in trying to trace each branch of the family to the present day, the sheer number of individuals is overwhelming. And it is easy to get lost. Then, just when I think I have a handle on things, I find that there are several intermarriages, making me loop back to another family which is already in the family tree, whereupon I get completely lost in the weeds.
This afternoon, I've spent hours on just a handful of people. I was working on some descandents of one of the Schuliens, whose family name is Kehres. I found three men with the same first name and surname Kehres, all born within a year or two of each other and it took me two hours to figure out which one belonged in my tree. I tell myself I shouldn't care about these second cousins, once removed, or 1st cousins, 3 times removed, but I have this need for completion, and unless I can come close to completing this tree, I won't be satisfied.
It's hard to explain to someone who doesn't do genealogy, but it's sort of like trying to finish a jigsaw puzzle or a crossword that you've started. It isn't good enough to have the puzzle finished except for a few pieces the dog chewed up, or that might have gotten lost. It isn't okay to be minus two or three words in that crossword. You won't rest until you finish.
Of course, doing a family tree that dates all the way back to 1790 is a bit different. No, it's a lot different. To find all the records and verification on just one person can take hours or days. Other people are much easier to find. But I have learned that every family history book I do takes about a year of full time work - work that is a labor of love, I might add, as I get no income from this. This tree, however, might take a bit longer. The fact is, I don't want to work full time on it as I have other things I enjoy doing, so it might take more like two years.
Sometimes, because of the way it drives me to continue searching, I wish I had never started. Other times I tell myself that this is something I'm really good at - finding hard to find people - and I know the finished product - a family history book that will endure long past the time when I'm on this planet, will be something I will be proud to complete.
So I continue ..... and will post updates as the project continues. Next post will be about the steps I take to find hard to find people.
Sunday, June 28, 2015
Friday, May 22, 2015
Genealogy Fatigue
I just looked at my last post and was shocked to see how long it had been since I've posted - 3 months. I'm not sure anyone is still out there reading the blog. I wouldn't be surprised if they stopped. But after spending a good year working on a family history book project, sometimes you just have genealogy fatigue and need to take a breather. And that's what I did.
The book - The Brennans of Ireland, Ohio and Beyond - was finished in February and I began taking orders and mailing out copies of the book as well as a CD of pictures to accompany it. I've already put in two orders from the printer - one for 70 books and one for 10. I still have a few left. Several relatives have asked me to reserve one for them, but so far I haven't received an official order from them. I'm quite proud of the book, even though as always happens, I (or a few relatives) spotted a few mistakes, although I must have edited and proofed the book dozens of times before sending it to the printer.
This was my third family history book. The first was a book on my husband's paternal side, the Croatian family. The book was professionally designed and printed, with a beautiful photograph of the island of his grandparents' birth on the cover. The second was a do-it-yourself project, a book I wrote and printed on my computer, and then had spiral bound. That book was on my husband's maternal side and included the discovery I made and confirmed several years ago that there are three Mayflower passengers in the direct line. This last book, as I've posted before, was also professionally designed (by my very talented daughter in law) and printed. It's a book I thoroughly enjoyed researching and writing because it told the story of my father's Irish side of the family. In writing it, I met many relatives I had never met before, nor even heard of. Most were in America, but a few were in Ireland.
After completing that book, however, I was exhausted and for a while, I didn't even want to deal with genealogy. So in between times when I was busy packaging and mailing off books, I tackled some long neglected projects around the house, and took a vacation to see two of my sons in Seattle. I've painted the dining room, organized my closets, had a garage sale to rid myself of unneeded possessions, and done some gardening. I'm also looking forward in June to my grandson Sean's 8th grade graduation, my granddaughter Grace's 12th birthday and my 50th high school reunion. Sometimes you just have to get away from documenting the past, and have fun with much-loved family members here and now.
I will be returning to genealogy soon, however. Even as I was finishing my Brennan family history book, I was putting together another do-it-yourself project - the history of my father's maternal side of the family - the Shaws. Once again, I will be printing it myself and having it spiral bound. This one won't be sold to the family, as I'm not in contact with any of them, with the exception of my aunt Sheila. So I will make a few for myself and my children, and my aunt, and then move on to a much larger project: the first family history book for my mother's side of the family.
This is the Schulien family, from Germany, and after having met a few family members when we were in Germany last year, I will look forward even more to getting started. And I am going to have help on this one from some very dear cousins who have some very interesting stories to tell.
Stay tuned.
The book - The Brennans of Ireland, Ohio and Beyond - was finished in February and I began taking orders and mailing out copies of the book as well as a CD of pictures to accompany it. I've already put in two orders from the printer - one for 70 books and one for 10. I still have a few left. Several relatives have asked me to reserve one for them, but so far I haven't received an official order from them. I'm quite proud of the book, even though as always happens, I (or a few relatives) spotted a few mistakes, although I must have edited and proofed the book dozens of times before sending it to the printer.
This was my third family history book. The first was a book on my husband's paternal side, the Croatian family. The book was professionally designed and printed, with a beautiful photograph of the island of his grandparents' birth on the cover. The second was a do-it-yourself project, a book I wrote and printed on my computer, and then had spiral bound. That book was on my husband's maternal side and included the discovery I made and confirmed several years ago that there are three Mayflower passengers in the direct line. This last book, as I've posted before, was also professionally designed (by my very talented daughter in law) and printed. It's a book I thoroughly enjoyed researching and writing because it told the story of my father's Irish side of the family. In writing it, I met many relatives I had never met before, nor even heard of. Most were in America, but a few were in Ireland.
After completing that book, however, I was exhausted and for a while, I didn't even want to deal with genealogy. So in between times when I was busy packaging and mailing off books, I tackled some long neglected projects around the house, and took a vacation to see two of my sons in Seattle. I've painted the dining room, organized my closets, had a garage sale to rid myself of unneeded possessions, and done some gardening. I'm also looking forward in June to my grandson Sean's 8th grade graduation, my granddaughter Grace's 12th birthday and my 50th high school reunion. Sometimes you just have to get away from documenting the past, and have fun with much-loved family members here and now.
I will be returning to genealogy soon, however. Even as I was finishing my Brennan family history book, I was putting together another do-it-yourself project - the history of my father's maternal side of the family - the Shaws. Once again, I will be printing it myself and having it spiral bound. This one won't be sold to the family, as I'm not in contact with any of them, with the exception of my aunt Sheila. So I will make a few for myself and my children, and my aunt, and then move on to a much larger project: the first family history book for my mother's side of the family.
This is the Schulien family, from Germany, and after having met a few family members when we were in Germany last year, I will look forward even more to getting started. And I am going to have help on this one from some very dear cousins who have some very interesting stories to tell.
Stay tuned.
Monday, February 16, 2015
THE BRENNANS OF IRELAND, OHIO AND BEYOND
The Brennan Family History Book is finally here.
After nearly 5 years of research, two years of writing, and several months of editing and designing, the book recording the history and genealogy of my father's Brennan family finally arrived from the printer. I have been busy in the past week sending out copies to those members of the family who ordered it. I still have some extra copies, so if anyone from the family reads this and would like to order a copy, they cost $48, plus $5 shipping cost. For an extra $3 I will add a CD of all the pictures in the book, plus many not in the book. Some of these pictures go back to the late 1800s.
This is the third family history book I have written and published. The first two were histories and genealogies of my husband's family: his father's Croatian family and his mother's Swiss and English families (complete with 3 ancestors who came over on the Mayflower). Each book has involved thousands of hours of research and writing, all of which keeps this retired woman out of trouble. And as I write each book, I believe I get better at it. This current volume is, I believe, the best of all. It is comprised of over 220 pages recording the names and occupations of nearly every descendant, both living and deceased, of my thoroughly Irish great great grandparents, Ned Brennan and Mary Fahey who came to Ohio in 1861. It also includes a chapter on the history of Ireland, and a chapter on the state of Ohio, focusing on the city of Lima, where many of Ned and Mary's descendants were born.
I truly love doing this research and writing the books. Each one is a labor of love, and each one teaches me something. I write a history of the countries from which the ancestors came in each book, and that is an education in itself. I learned about Switzerland and the Mayflower in writing my mother-in-law's history, and about Croatia in writing my father-in-law's history. For the Brennan book, I learned so many things about Ireland I never knew. Now, I am nearing completion on my paternal grandmother's family history and I am learning about the history of England and Wales, as so many of her ancestors came from there.
But I learn so much more than names, dates, and history. I learn about the everyday lives of people, their joys and tragedies, their struggles and triumphs. I gain a larger picture of how we humans are all connected in one way or another and I learn that we are not that different from each other. It highlights for me the frailty of the human race, but also the courage. And, sadly, it reminds me of what a short time we spend on this planet. For that reason, it makes me more determined to leave something of value behind, and to practice acts of kindness towards those who surround me.
After nearly 5 years of research, two years of writing, and several months of editing and designing, the book recording the history and genealogy of my father's Brennan family finally arrived from the printer. I have been busy in the past week sending out copies to those members of the family who ordered it. I still have some extra copies, so if anyone from the family reads this and would like to order a copy, they cost $48, plus $5 shipping cost. For an extra $3 I will add a CD of all the pictures in the book, plus many not in the book. Some of these pictures go back to the late 1800s.
This is the third family history book I have written and published. The first two were histories and genealogies of my husband's family: his father's Croatian family and his mother's Swiss and English families (complete with 3 ancestors who came over on the Mayflower). Each book has involved thousands of hours of research and writing, all of which keeps this retired woman out of trouble. And as I write each book, I believe I get better at it. This current volume is, I believe, the best of all. It is comprised of over 220 pages recording the names and occupations of nearly every descendant, both living and deceased, of my thoroughly Irish great great grandparents, Ned Brennan and Mary Fahey who came to Ohio in 1861. It also includes a chapter on the history of Ireland, and a chapter on the state of Ohio, focusing on the city of Lima, where many of Ned and Mary's descendants were born.
I truly love doing this research and writing the books. Each one is a labor of love, and each one teaches me something. I write a history of the countries from which the ancestors came in each book, and that is an education in itself. I learned about Switzerland and the Mayflower in writing my mother-in-law's history, and about Croatia in writing my father-in-law's history. For the Brennan book, I learned so many things about Ireland I never knew. Now, I am nearing completion on my paternal grandmother's family history and I am learning about the history of England and Wales, as so many of her ancestors came from there.
But I learn so much more than names, dates, and history. I learn about the everyday lives of people, their joys and tragedies, their struggles and triumphs. I gain a larger picture of how we humans are all connected in one way or another and I learn that we are not that different from each other. It highlights for me the frailty of the human race, but also the courage. And, sadly, it reminds me of what a short time we spend on this planet. For that reason, it makes me more determined to leave something of value behind, and to practice acts of kindness towards those who surround me.
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
PUBLICATION OF BRENNAN FAMILY HISTORY BOOK
One thing I have learned in writing family history books is that nothing goes according to plan. I learned this in spades with the writing of the Brennan family history book:
THE BRENNANS OF IRELAND, OHIO AND BEYOND
I sent out a letter to my cousins in December, informing them that the book would be on the way to the printers that month, and might even be available to ship before Christmas. As it turns out, a series of changes and problems made that impossible. My book designer, who is also my lovely daughter in law, Tere Mendez, did an amazing job of creating a beautiful book. She then sent it to me for review, just after Thanksgiving. While I was proof reading and seeing if there were any major changes I wanted to make, she was proof reading as well. We both found a number of mistakes that needed correcting, and I had a number of changes I wanted to make. So Tere got back to work. The changes, combined with the upcoming holiday season, and other design jobs she had on her plate, led to a delay until she and my son, Matt, came down for Christmas.
During their visit, Tere and I spent many hours going over the book, chapter by chapter, paragraph by paragraph, sentence by sentence. (It should be noted that even this extensive proof reading missed a few things which we corrected later.) Tere took the work back to Seattle, where she lives, and made sure she had all the corrections in place. We both agreed that the manuscript would finally be sent to the printer the first week in January. I felt bad that my relatives would have to wait even longer for a book once promised in late December, but it was what it was and I was just happy to be finally getting the book in print.
Late Monday, the day Tere was going to send the completed book to the printer, she called and said she had printed up a few pages of the book to see how they looked and decided she had used a font size that was too large. As she humorously said, "You can read it from outer space." That meant she had to change the entire book to a smaller font, which would shorten the chapters, cause difficulties in aligning the text with pictures, and change the page numbers in the Table of Contents. So she set to work, correcting the book at night, while she worked on her other projects during the day. And while she was doing that, I did one more proof and found many mistakes in capitalization and punctuation that had gone unnoticed before. One of many things I have learned as a writer is that proofing your own book is very difficult. After having read it so many times, your eyes just skip over mistakes, filling in a missing letter or punctuation mark, not seeing a misspelling, your mind not even registering incorrect capitalizations. But this time I found a number of them, and when Tere finally had her part of the changes done, we corrected the last batch of mistakes. I'm not going to say they were the final mistakes, because I know there are minor mistakes I have not found. I only hope I have not made any major ones.
Now the book is at the printer. I have paid a deposit and they will begin the process, sending me a printed proof to read and approve before they do the final run. The book should be completed by early February, and I am hoping to send out the first copies shortly after I receive them.
THE BRENNANS OF IRELAND, OHIO AND BEYOND
I sent out a letter to my cousins in December, informing them that the book would be on the way to the printers that month, and might even be available to ship before Christmas. As it turns out, a series of changes and problems made that impossible. My book designer, who is also my lovely daughter in law, Tere Mendez, did an amazing job of creating a beautiful book. She then sent it to me for review, just after Thanksgiving. While I was proof reading and seeing if there were any major changes I wanted to make, she was proof reading as well. We both found a number of mistakes that needed correcting, and I had a number of changes I wanted to make. So Tere got back to work. The changes, combined with the upcoming holiday season, and other design jobs she had on her plate, led to a delay until she and my son, Matt, came down for Christmas.
During their visit, Tere and I spent many hours going over the book, chapter by chapter, paragraph by paragraph, sentence by sentence. (It should be noted that even this extensive proof reading missed a few things which we corrected later.) Tere took the work back to Seattle, where she lives, and made sure she had all the corrections in place. We both agreed that the manuscript would finally be sent to the printer the first week in January. I felt bad that my relatives would have to wait even longer for a book once promised in late December, but it was what it was and I was just happy to be finally getting the book in print.
Late Monday, the day Tere was going to send the completed book to the printer, she called and said she had printed up a few pages of the book to see how they looked and decided she had used a font size that was too large. As she humorously said, "You can read it from outer space." That meant she had to change the entire book to a smaller font, which would shorten the chapters, cause difficulties in aligning the text with pictures, and change the page numbers in the Table of Contents. So she set to work, correcting the book at night, while she worked on her other projects during the day. And while she was doing that, I did one more proof and found many mistakes in capitalization and punctuation that had gone unnoticed before. One of many things I have learned as a writer is that proofing your own book is very difficult. After having read it so many times, your eyes just skip over mistakes, filling in a missing letter or punctuation mark, not seeing a misspelling, your mind not even registering incorrect capitalizations. But this time I found a number of them, and when Tere finally had her part of the changes done, we corrected the last batch of mistakes. I'm not going to say they were the final mistakes, because I know there are minor mistakes I have not found. I only hope I have not made any major ones.
Now the book is at the printer. I have paid a deposit and they will begin the process, sending me a printed proof to read and approve before they do the final run. The book should be completed by early February, and I am hoping to send out the first copies shortly after I receive them.
Sunday, November 23, 2014
GENEALOGY IN EUROPE: PART II
Two days after our visit the bridge at Flavigny, my husband and I drove over the border to Germany. There we spent the day in Losheim Am See, the small town where many of my mother's ancestors once lived. In effect, we transferred our attention from my Brennan relatives, on my father's side, to my Schulien relatives on my mother's side.
We had set a meeting time of 10:30 at what the Schuliens call the "Little Castle," a building that two Schulien brothers built in the 1890s.
There we met Janine, who is a distant cousin of mine, as well as her mother, Birgit, and her aunt, Claudia. Her 5 year old daughter was there as well. Janine led us through a tour of the little castle, which as recently as the 1980s was home to some Schulien descendants. She also pointed out that the building next door, which is now a simple storefront, was once another home built by the Schuliens, and had a glamorous façade.
We then had lunch at a very nice brewery (picture below) next to the hotel where we would be staying that night, and then returned to Birgit's house where we had tea and cookies, met Janine's sister in law, Sarah, and examined photographs and genealogy books.
After meeting with Janine and her relatives, I had a much better understanding of the Schulien family, as regards genealogy. For instance, I learned that we are all descended from Mathias Schulien (1790 - 1868) and Elizabeth Jung. This couple had ten children, five boys and five girls. Three of the sons (Michael, Johann Adam and Mathias) came to the United States. Two stayed in America (Michael and Mathias) but Johann Adam returned to Germany. However, most of the children of the three sons remained in the United States and raised families there. I also learned that there are at least three spellings of the surname: Schulien, Schuligen, and Schulgen. These may exist because of the way the priest spelled the surname in the baptismal registry, at a time when most of his parishioners could not read or write.
Michael (1813-1883), the eldest son of Mathias and Elizabeth, used the spelling Schulgen, married Anna Reinert and had 8 children. This family settled in Illinois, near or in Chicago.
Johann Adam (1818-1896) Schulien married Susanna Klesser or Glasser and had 5 children. His sons emigrated before he did and settled in Chicago. His son Peter married and had a daughter, Susan, but he died in an accident in the Idaho territory and his orphaned daughter was adopted by his brother, Mathias. The youngest brother, Joseph, married Mary Egle and had five children. Joseph settled in Chicago and opened a pub, which remained in the Schulien family until recent years, though the location was moved twice. Johann Adam returned to Germany where he died, but his sons remained in the United States, though Joseph did return to Losheim for a number of years in the 1890s.
My ancestors are descended from Mathias Schulien (1816-1870) who married Maria Petry. Mathias and Maria were both born in Germany, as were their four eldest children. My great grandfather, Joseph, was their youngest child and he was born in Ohio. He married Mary Gertrude Frecker, also from a German family.
Joseph was the father of my grandmother, Mary Bernadine Schulien Mueller. I never met him, but my mother always told me how much she adored him. He had been an engineer at the city waterworks plant for many years, and later was an entrepreneur, opening a foundry with his sons. During WW II, a number of German prisoners of war worked in Joseph's foundry, and on Sundays, his wife, Mary Gertrude, would cook a German meal for them.
I recently discovered that Joseph had also gone to Colorado at one point to try to make his fortune in a gold mine, but had to return home because he could not tolerate the altitude. He did carpentry in his spare time, and I have in my possession a doll cradle he made for my aunt when she was a child.
Returning to Mathias and Elizabeth Schulien, I learned that one of their sons, Jacob (1810-1890) remained in Germany, married Maria Treinen and had six children. One of those children, Johan (1857-1888) married Angela Jacobs and had four children before his premature death. This is the family that Claudia and Janine descend from. A picture of Johan is below.
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Claudia's father (and Janine's grandfather), Reinhold, is the grandson of Johan. Reinhold wrote a comprehensive genealogy of all the families in the town of Losheim. It comprises three volumes, and it is from these pages that I have gathered much of my information on the Schulien family.
The visit to Losheim was most interesting and informative. The women we met - Janine, Birgit, Claudia, and Sarah - were lovely and could not have been more hospitable.
It would have been wonderful to stay a few more days and visit, but we were on a strict time schedule and had to depart the next day. I do want to emphasize how much a visit to distant relatives in the ancestral home of one's family can help one understand not only the genealogy of a family, but also the culture in which they lived, and the cultural elements they brought with them to the "melting pot" of America. Though travel to ancestral homes is costly, if one can afford it it is well worth the trip. I now have found relatives in both Ireland and Germany, with whom I am acquainted and can correspond and that is priceless.
We had set a meeting time of 10:30 at what the Schuliens call the "Little Castle," a building that two Schulien brothers built in the 1890s.
There we met Janine, who is a distant cousin of mine, as well as her mother, Birgit, and her aunt, Claudia. Her 5 year old daughter was there as well. Janine led us through a tour of the little castle, which as recently as the 1980s was home to some Schulien descendants. She also pointed out that the building next door, which is now a simple storefront, was once another home built by the Schuliens, and had a glamorous façade.
We then had lunch at a very nice brewery (picture below) next to the hotel where we would be staying that night, and then returned to Birgit's house where we had tea and cookies, met Janine's sister in law, Sarah, and examined photographs and genealogy books.
After meeting with Janine and her relatives, I had a much better understanding of the Schulien family, as regards genealogy. For instance, I learned that we are all descended from Mathias Schulien (1790 - 1868) and Elizabeth Jung. This couple had ten children, five boys and five girls. Three of the sons (Michael, Johann Adam and Mathias) came to the United States. Two stayed in America (Michael and Mathias) but Johann Adam returned to Germany. However, most of the children of the three sons remained in the United States and raised families there. I also learned that there are at least three spellings of the surname: Schulien, Schuligen, and Schulgen. These may exist because of the way the priest spelled the surname in the baptismal registry, at a time when most of his parishioners could not read or write.
Michael (1813-1883), the eldest son of Mathias and Elizabeth, used the spelling Schulgen, married Anna Reinert and had 8 children. This family settled in Illinois, near or in Chicago.
Johann Adam (1818-1896) Schulien married Susanna Klesser or Glasser and had 5 children. His sons emigrated before he did and settled in Chicago. His son Peter married and had a daughter, Susan, but he died in an accident in the Idaho territory and his orphaned daughter was adopted by his brother, Mathias. The youngest brother, Joseph, married Mary Egle and had five children. Joseph settled in Chicago and opened a pub, which remained in the Schulien family until recent years, though the location was moved twice. Johann Adam returned to Germany where he died, but his sons remained in the United States, though Joseph did return to Losheim for a number of years in the 1890s.
My ancestors are descended from Mathias Schulien (1816-1870) who married Maria Petry. Mathias and Maria were both born in Germany, as were their four eldest children. My great grandfather, Joseph, was their youngest child and he was born in Ohio. He married Mary Gertrude Frecker, also from a German family.
Joseph was the father of my grandmother, Mary Bernadine Schulien Mueller. I never met him, but my mother always told me how much she adored him. He had been an engineer at the city waterworks plant for many years, and later was an entrepreneur, opening a foundry with his sons. During WW II, a number of German prisoners of war worked in Joseph's foundry, and on Sundays, his wife, Mary Gertrude, would cook a German meal for them.
I recently discovered that Joseph had also gone to Colorado at one point to try to make his fortune in a gold mine, but had to return home because he could not tolerate the altitude. He did carpentry in his spare time, and I have in my possession a doll cradle he made for my aunt when she was a child.
Returning to Mathias and Elizabeth Schulien, I learned that one of their sons, Jacob (1810-1890) remained in Germany, married Maria Treinen and had six children. One of those children, Johan (1857-1888) married Angela Jacobs and had four children before his premature death. This is the family that Claudia and Janine descend from. A picture of Johan is below.
Claudia's father (and Janine's grandfather), Reinhold, is the grandson of Johan. Reinhold wrote a comprehensive genealogy of all the families in the town of Losheim. It comprises three volumes, and it is from these pages that I have gathered much of my information on the Schulien family.
The visit to Losheim was most interesting and informative. The women we met - Janine, Birgit, Claudia, and Sarah - were lovely and could not have been more hospitable.
It would have been wonderful to stay a few more days and visit, but we were on a strict time schedule and had to depart the next day. I do want to emphasize how much a visit to distant relatives in the ancestral home of one's family can help one understand not only the genealogy of a family, but also the culture in which they lived, and the cultural elements they brought with them to the "melting pot" of America. Though travel to ancestral homes is costly, if one can afford it it is well worth the trip. I now have found relatives in both Ireland and Germany, with whom I am acquainted and can correspond and that is priceless.
Sunday, November 16, 2014
GENEALOGY IN EUROPE: PART I
My husband and I just returned from 3 weeks in Europe and, having now had three weeks to recover, I am ready to share some of the amazing experiences we had, especially as they relate to family.
The family part of the trip occurred in the third week, but I must take a few lines to talk about the first two weeks.
The first week was spent in Paris. I had never been there before and wasn't prepared for all that I saw and encountered. Paris has a well deserved reputation for being one of the most glamorous and sophisticated cities in the world, and in fact, Paris truly is magnificent. My only wish was that I had been able to appreciate it when I was a little younger and more mobile. Paris is not made for older people. Still, there was so much to see that in one week, you could barely begin. We visited two gardens: the Tuilleries and Luxembourg. We saw three museums: the Orsay, the Pompidou, and L'Orangerie - home to Monet's famous water lilies. We visited two departments stores, two cathedrals, and, of course, the Eiffel Tower. We ate at an amazing assortment of restaurants and took a Seine River Cruise. All were wonderful.
On one of the days, we took the train to Bayeux, in Normandy, where we saw the 1000 year old Bayeux Tapestry which records the victory of William the Conqueror in the longest piece of embroidery in the world.
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We traveled to Lyon to take a river cruise for 7 days. We saw Roman ruins, sampled the foods of Provence, went to local wineries, saw the Papal Palace in Avignon and an intact medieval village dating back to the 1200s. It was a remarkable week.
Then we rented a car and drove up to the Lorraine region of France. Here is where the genealogy part of our travels began. We had made arrangements to meet a very colorful Frenchman by the name of Jerome. Jerome has dedicated much of his life to helping people remember WW II and the sacrifice made by so many. He has built a museum that houses countless artifacts from the war, and has created many replicas and miniature displays.
Jerome spent the day with us and took us first to the bridge at the town of Flavigny where a cousin of mine, Ralph Brennan, died in September of 1944. There is a plaque on the bridge with Ralph's name on it.
Because I was the first of my family to visit the memorial, the mayor of the town and a few other dignitaries came out to greet us and have pictures taken for the local paper.
Jerome then drove us around the area and introduced us to a 93 year old man whose father had been mayor of Flavigny when Ralph's brother, Dominican priest Father Robert Brennan, asked if he could have a cross carved into the newly rebuilt bridge where Ralph died. Decades after the cross was carved into the bridge, a plaque was finally placed on the bridge in Ralph's honor and a new bronze cross inserted into the space where the old cross was once the only reminder of what had happened on that bridge.
Basically, the story of Ralph's sacrifice is this: On the night of September 10-11, 1944, Lt. Ralph Brennan was leading a group of men to try to retake the only remaining bridge over the Moselle River. (Having been wounded a few months earlier, he had only been back at the front for 3 days.) The Germans had destroyed all the other bridges in order to prevent the Allies, who had landed in Normandy a few months before, from marching further into France and ultimately to Germany. Lt. Brennan and his men crossed the bridge at night and were supposed to be followed by tanks and reinforcements. They hoped these support units would help them in fighting the Germans who were waiting on the other side. As so often happens in the fog of war, the reinforcements never came and the young lieutenant and most of his men were ambushed and either killed or seriously wounded. Lt. Brennan was mortally wounded, though he didn't die immediately. Having lost an arm and a leg, he lay dying near the bridge when a fellow soldier offered him a last cigarette. He died that night and was buried in St. Avold, at the Lorraine American Cemetery very close to the German border.
When my husband and I planned this trip, we had hoped we would have time to visit that cemetery, but our schedule was so packed that we simply couldn't arrange it. However, the next day, when we were driving to a small town in Germany to see some distant relatives on my mother's side of the family, we got lost. When our GPS finally got us headed in the right direction, we found ourselves in front of the cemetery. Though we didn't have time to visit Ralph's grave, we felt that fate had somehow taken us by that cemetery. And in finding myself there, looking at the final resting place of a man I never knew but have heard so much about, I felt a closeness not just to Ralph, but to the entire Brennan family who is proud to count this hero as one of them.
The family part of the trip occurred in the third week, but I must take a few lines to talk about the first two weeks.
The first week was spent in Paris. I had never been there before and wasn't prepared for all that I saw and encountered. Paris has a well deserved reputation for being one of the most glamorous and sophisticated cities in the world, and in fact, Paris truly is magnificent. My only wish was that I had been able to appreciate it when I was a little younger and more mobile. Paris is not made for older people. Still, there was so much to see that in one week, you could barely begin. We visited two gardens: the Tuilleries and Luxembourg. We saw three museums: the Orsay, the Pompidou, and L'Orangerie - home to Monet's famous water lilies. We visited two departments stores, two cathedrals, and, of course, the Eiffel Tower. We ate at an amazing assortment of restaurants and took a Seine River Cruise. All were wonderful.
On one of the days, we took the train to Bayeux, in Normandy, where we saw the 1000 year old Bayeux Tapestry which records the victory of William the Conqueror in the longest piece of embroidery in the world.
We traveled to Lyon to take a river cruise for 7 days. We saw Roman ruins, sampled the foods of Provence, went to local wineries, saw the Papal Palace in Avignon and an intact medieval village dating back to the 1200s. It was a remarkable week.
Then we rented a car and drove up to the Lorraine region of France. Here is where the genealogy part of our travels began. We had made arrangements to meet a very colorful Frenchman by the name of Jerome. Jerome has dedicated much of his life to helping people remember WW II and the sacrifice made by so many. He has built a museum that houses countless artifacts from the war, and has created many replicas and miniature displays.
Jerome spent the day with us and took us first to the bridge at the town of Flavigny where a cousin of mine, Ralph Brennan, died in September of 1944. There is a plaque on the bridge with Ralph's name on it.
Because I was the first of my family to visit the memorial, the mayor of the town and a few other dignitaries came out to greet us and have pictures taken for the local paper.
Jerome then drove us around the area and introduced us to a 93 year old man whose father had been mayor of Flavigny when Ralph's brother, Dominican priest Father Robert Brennan, asked if he could have a cross carved into the newly rebuilt bridge where Ralph died. Decades after the cross was carved into the bridge, a plaque was finally placed on the bridge in Ralph's honor and a new bronze cross inserted into the space where the old cross was once the only reminder of what had happened on that bridge.
Basically, the story of Ralph's sacrifice is this: On the night of September 10-11, 1944, Lt. Ralph Brennan was leading a group of men to try to retake the only remaining bridge over the Moselle River. (Having been wounded a few months earlier, he had only been back at the front for 3 days.) The Germans had destroyed all the other bridges in order to prevent the Allies, who had landed in Normandy a few months before, from marching further into France and ultimately to Germany. Lt. Brennan and his men crossed the bridge at night and were supposed to be followed by tanks and reinforcements. They hoped these support units would help them in fighting the Germans who were waiting on the other side. As so often happens in the fog of war, the reinforcements never came and the young lieutenant and most of his men were ambushed and either killed or seriously wounded. Lt. Brennan was mortally wounded, though he didn't die immediately. Having lost an arm and a leg, he lay dying near the bridge when a fellow soldier offered him a last cigarette. He died that night and was buried in St. Avold, at the Lorraine American Cemetery very close to the German border.
When my husband and I planned this trip, we had hoped we would have time to visit that cemetery, but our schedule was so packed that we simply couldn't arrange it. However, the next day, when we were driving to a small town in Germany to see some distant relatives on my mother's side of the family, we got lost. When our GPS finally got us headed in the right direction, we found ourselves in front of the cemetery. Though we didn't have time to visit Ralph's grave, we felt that fate had somehow taken us by that cemetery. And in finding myself there, looking at the final resting place of a man I never knew but have heard so much about, I felt a closeness not just to Ralph, but to the entire Brennan family who is proud to count this hero as one of them.
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Richard Lippincott (1613-1683)
I never imagined that I might have ancestors who came to America before the Revolution.
I never imagined it because my parents and grandparents were all Catholic, and very few Catholics (especially German and Irish ones) made it to America before the 19th century.
But I forgot one thing. My paternal grandmother, Kathryn Marguerite Shaw, converted to Catholicism after marrying my grandfather, Keech Brennan, and none of her ancestors were Catholic.
I'm putting together her family history, and I'm discovering ancestors of many different Christian denominations: Puritan; German reformed; Quaker; Baptist and more. Many of these ancestors were quite religious, and others were religious as well as rebellious, moving away from one denomination as they were disillusioned by it, and joining another.
For example, my 9th great grandfather, an English aristocrat by the name of Richard Lippincott, born in 1613 in England, came to the colony of Plymouth in about 1640 and joined the Puritan Church. He married, had several children and moved to Boston. (Richard moved around a great deal which tells me he must have had considerable wealth.) His children, like other children of the time, had interesting names including: Remembrance, Freedom, Restore, Increase and Preserved.
While in Boston, Richard got into trouble with the church, believing they were too militant, and disagreeing with some of their dogma, and was excommunicated. Eventually, he decided the atmosphere was too hostile for him in Boston and he returned to England. There he met George Fox, the Founder of the Society of Friends, and became a Quaker. He was imprisoned in England for his beliefs, and eventually decided to try the New World again, this time in Rhode Island, where Roger Williams had established a religiously tolerant colony. Eventually, he helped to establish a settlement in what is now New Jersey and helped finance the building of the Quaker Meeting House in Shrewsbury.
According to the histories of the time, in 1672 George Fox came to visit Shrewsbury and stayed with Richard and his family.
While this story is mostly uplifting, in that Richard was a man of principle who followed his conscience, there is one part of his biography that is troubling. Richard owned a number of African slaves, having purchased them from the Dutch, who were engaged in a lucrative slave trade at that time. However, upon Richard's death, his wife, Abigail, freed all of them.
I am descended from Richard's son, Remembrance, who became a prominent Quaker in his own right. After many generations of male ancestors, my 2nd great grandmother, Rebecca Lippincott, was born in Ohio to Morgan Lippincott and Mary Elizabeth Warner. Rebecca was the mother of my great grandmother, Emma, who married Clifford Shaw. Emma was the mother of my grandmother, Kathryn Shaw Brennan.
I never imagined it because my parents and grandparents were all Catholic, and very few Catholics (especially German and Irish ones) made it to America before the 19th century.
But I forgot one thing. My paternal grandmother, Kathryn Marguerite Shaw, converted to Catholicism after marrying my grandfather, Keech Brennan, and none of her ancestors were Catholic.
I'm putting together her family history, and I'm discovering ancestors of many different Christian denominations: Puritan; German reformed; Quaker; Baptist and more. Many of these ancestors were quite religious, and others were religious as well as rebellious, moving away from one denomination as they were disillusioned by it, and joining another.
For example, my 9th great grandfather, an English aristocrat by the name of Richard Lippincott, born in 1613 in England, came to the colony of Plymouth in about 1640 and joined the Puritan Church. He married, had several children and moved to Boston. (Richard moved around a great deal which tells me he must have had considerable wealth.) His children, like other children of the time, had interesting names including: Remembrance, Freedom, Restore, Increase and Preserved.
While in Boston, Richard got into trouble with the church, believing they were too militant, and disagreeing with some of their dogma, and was excommunicated. Eventually, he decided the atmosphere was too hostile for him in Boston and he returned to England. There he met George Fox, the Founder of the Society of Friends, and became a Quaker. He was imprisoned in England for his beliefs, and eventually decided to try the New World again, this time in Rhode Island, where Roger Williams had established a religiously tolerant colony. Eventually, he helped to establish a settlement in what is now New Jersey and helped finance the building of the Quaker Meeting House in Shrewsbury.
According to the histories of the time, in 1672 George Fox came to visit Shrewsbury and stayed with Richard and his family.
While this story is mostly uplifting, in that Richard was a man of principle who followed his conscience, there is one part of his biography that is troubling. Richard owned a number of African slaves, having purchased them from the Dutch, who were engaged in a lucrative slave trade at that time. However, upon Richard's death, his wife, Abigail, freed all of them.
I am descended from Richard's son, Remembrance, who became a prominent Quaker in his own right. After many generations of male ancestors, my 2nd great grandmother, Rebecca Lippincott, was born in Ohio to Morgan Lippincott and Mary Elizabeth Warner. Rebecca was the mother of my great grandmother, Emma, who married Clifford Shaw. Emma was the mother of my grandmother, Kathryn Shaw Brennan.
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