Tim's Complicated French Canadian Ancestors

 I've been working on trying to map out Tim's French Canadian ancestry for several years (at least?) now. I was able to utilize DNA matches Tim had, in order to prove that his very not-French-sounding-surnamed Carter ancestors were Carto ancestors in upstate New York, and Harteau/Arteau/Hertau ancestors in Quebec. 

One of Tim's ancestors, Thomas B. Carter b. 1852 was married to an Elmira/Almira Blair. Elmira unfortunately died quite young but it seems she was very popular in her community because when she died on 23 Apr 1892 in Bay County, Michigan, she had a quite extensive obituary. That obituary gave me her birth date (27 Jan 1850) and a birthplace of Burlington, Vermont (prior to that, I just knew from census that she was supposed to have been born in Vermont). She also apparently founded the local chapter of the Rebekah Lodge.

Despite its length, the obituary did not mention the names of her children nor the names of any parents or siblings. She was buried alone in a plot bought by Thomas; no one else is there with her. Further complicating things, her marriage record with Thomas listed no parents and they were married by a Justice of the Peace. So, there were no church records to look for.

So, I had to dig into some of the more "non-traditional" records that I could find for Bay County, Michigan, on FamilySearch. I was lucky to find a probate file for Elmira, but it seemed somewhat incomplete, and wasn't started until years after her death around 1899. Interestingly, it mentioned an Eli Blair, and mentioned promissory notes he'd given her in 1885 related to a mortgage on land in Tuscola County, Michigan. The file went on to say that the land was sold under statutory foreclosure. There was not much else to the file beyond this and I had no idea what Elmira would be doing with any land in Tuscola County (true, it is only the next county over). I was also curious if this Eli Blair might be related or not. 

Eli was married in Bay County, too, and this record also listed no parents. Interestingly though, he was also born in Vermont- in 1855. His family appeared to have largely moved to Washington state after 1900. I found a death record for him there which listed his parents as Charles Blair and Mariah Ely.

From there I pursued those names, to see if there was anyone by those names in northern Vermont/Burlington, and if there might be any connection to Elmira/Almira Blair Carter. I found a family group in the 1860 census in Burlington, Vermont, that included a Charles Blair aged 35, wife Almira Blair aged 31, and children, Almira b. about 1850, Eli, Charles, and Leonora. This same family group lived in Burlington in 1850, with Charles aged 22, "Mariah" aged 21 and an unnamed female infant that was listed as being 6/12 months old. The census date was 10 Aug 1850 making this female infant, eventually named Almira, the right age for the Elmira/Almira I was tracking who'd been born at the end of January, 1850. A Leonora Blair had been a witness for Elmira Blair's marriage to Thomas Carter. Was I looking at the right family? I still didn't have anything direct from Elmira Blair Carter herself to show who her parents might be or any relationships to the names I'd turned up yet.

Charles, the potential father, had a sad death. He appears to have owned a boat called the W. W. Wright which was described as a sloop-rigged canal boat, which he sailed on Lake Champlain. Unfortunately, he died in an accident on Lake Champlain, when his boat was struck in the night by a steamer ship. From newspaper articles from the time, it seems his boat did not have any lights on it, and the steamer ship did not see his boat until it was too late. It seems he was killed almost immediately when the steamer ship struck his boat. 

There was a very brief probate file for Charles, which stated that he left a wife and dependent children, but doesn't list the children. One page has an Almira Blair signing off as his wife. However, separate from this, there was also a guardianship file (which I had to send for from the Chittenden County probate court). It only referred to two children, Eli and "Honora" [probably Leonora] Blair who were minors in 1869 when this was in court. Their guardian wished to sell the real estate that had belonged to Charles to better support them. "Almera Blair" was mentioned once; but no mention of the child Almira, nor of the son Charles who had been on the 1860 census. 

At the time I started this deep dive, I was still living in the northeast, so I went to a research library in northern Vermont which specializes in French-Canadian research to see if there might be any hints there. They had transcriptions of some of the churches in the area which gave some interesting if not incomplete clues. One of those was a recording in the marriages of St. Joseph's Catholic church in Burlington between Charles "Blais" and "Emilie Helo" (or possibly "Helie") which took place on 3 Mar 1851 and was listed as a rehabilitation. This meant they'd married somewhere else, outside of the Catholic church, prior to this date. 

I could find no baptism for a daughter Almira (or any similar first/last name). I found a baptism on 22 Nov 1854 for a Hilaire Blais in St. Joseph's to a Charles Blais and Elmire Elie. Hilaire seems to be pronounced similarly to Eli, so it seemed likely to be him. There was a baptism for the child Charles to parents Charles Blair and Emilie Elie. Leonora was baptized there also, to parents transcribed as "Lames Blain" and "Elmira Heli." 

The book of transcriptions of St. Joseph's indicates that Helie and Elie are referring to the same name. Other variations that appear in the transcriptions are Helo, Hely, Helot, etc. It seemed from these records I was looking at all the same folks from the census and probate files... but where was the connection to Almira Blair Carter? 

I kept plugging at these names. I found that there was a baptismal record at St. Joseph's for a Lucie Helie on 25 Sep 1855 which noted the child was 4 years and 6 months old at the time of baptism, and had been born at Castleton VT. The parents listed there were Andre Helie and Charlotte Gousy --- and the witnesses were transcribed as "Charles Blatt" and "Edmire Helie." I believe these are the same folks. Then wondered if maybe Elmira/Mariah Helie Blair was related to this Andrew Helie and Charlotte Gousy. 

Andre and Charlotte appeared to have a number of children who were baptized up in Marieville, Quebec, including Marie (b. & d. 1825), Marie Louise (1827), Magloire (1829), Andre Cleophas (1830), and it seems also a child baptized in St-Athanase-de-Bleury in 1837 named Charles Eusebe -- he was apparently born in the U.S. 5 months earlier. I found that Magloire went by Michael later in life, and interestingly, Tim had a DNA match to at least one descendant of Michael's. Could Mariah/Almira Helie Blair be the daughter born in 1827? (Baptized 20 Feb 1827)

I ran out of useful material at the French-Canadian library, unfortunately. With new names to look for, I started looking back at Bay County. Interestingly, I found an Andrew Ely who had died in Hampton, Bay Co., Michigan on 19 Nov 1874 (this was the same area the Blairs and Carters were living!) And who did I find buried with him in the same cemetery, but a Charlotte Ely who died 6 Nov 1872, also in Hampton. No maiden name or parents listed on Charlotte's death record - just an age of 65 years, 4 months given. I found what felt like a too-brief probate file for Andrew, but it did list children: Michael Ely, Andrew Ely, Charles Ely, and MARIA BLAIR as his heirs. 

I found what appears to be Elys on the 1860 census living in Bay City, Bay Co., Michigan, a "Charles" aged 54; a Charlotte Ely aged 50, and also in the household were Andrew aged 21 and a Mary aged 14. Who is this Mary? Who is Charles? Is this supposed to be Andrew and Charlotte? The ages would be right but the name Charles appearing is a bit odd.

Overall, it seemed this might be the same family group from the Quebec and Burlington church records... and we have Maria Blair directly tied to them. But what happened to Maria? Or Mariah? Or Almira? Or whatever name she went by - it seemed to change by the record? I couldn't find anything for her in Vermont past the 1869 guardianship case for her kids. I could not find ANY of these folks in the 1870 census. Not the Elys, not the Blairs, not the Carters even. I felt they'd likely moved to the Bay County, MI, area by then.. but they don't seem to appear on the census for some reason. I couldn't really find much of anything for Mariah/Almira Helie Blair in Bay County, either. 

I tried searching these various names in Bay County, including in the city directories, etc., and traced the children of Mariah/Almira Helie Blair, namely Eli and Leonora, hoping that would lead me to her and possibly a more defined connection to Almira/Elmira Blair Carter. Leonora Blair had first, married Charles Maxon in 1877. They divorced in 1897 (many years after he evidently ran off the California and married someone else) and later the same year she married a man named John Bovia/Bovbin?? (there are a lot of variations to this surname as well). In 1900, they live together on the 1900 census in Bay City, Michigan with her daughter Della, and her age significantly lower than usual (Nov 1864 rather than the Nov 1858 when she was actually born). They consistently appear in the Bay City directory at 725 Fitzgerald, until 1907 when it changes to 925 (it seems Fitzgerald street may have been lengthened around this time, so it would appear to be the same home). 

The name Bouvia/Bovbin/Bouvie sometimes even changed to Souvie, and while searching all of these variations, I stumbled on a death record for a Maria Souvie who lived at.... 925 Fitzgerald Ave. Her death record gave a lot of information, but some of it was perplexing. She died 26 Aug 1909 and her birth date was given as 19 Feb 1846, born in St. Marys, Canada. Parents were listed as Andrew Ely and Charlotte Berteau! Her first marriage was listed as having been when she was 22 years old; and she was listed as being the mother of 6 children, 2 of whom were still living. Now who was this?? Could this be Leonora's mother Maria/Mariah/Almira Helie Blair?? This Maria's birth year matched the 14 year old Maria Ely's age from the 1860 Bay City census with "Charles" and Charlotte. But if that 14 year old is a daughter of Andrew and Charlotte, she couldn't be Maria/Mariah/Almira Helie Blair, who was born about 1827/28 and was still living in Vermont with her husband and children. 

Why was she living with Leonora though? Was she a relative of Leonora's husband John Bouvia/Bovbin/Bouvie instead?? Interestingly, the birth date of 19 Feb would be correct to be the Maria Louise Helie baptized in on 20 Feb 1827, if she were to be Leonora's mother and the birth year was just wrong?? So many confusing name changes and birth year differences, it was very difficult to know what I was looking at. I contacted the cemetery where this Maria Souvie was buried and they found her listed as "Elmire" Souvie, aged 83 (though he said mayyybe it said 63, it couldn't be sure). No info was on the funeral/burial record than had been on the death record. 

I kept trying to figure out who this Maria/Elmire Souvie was, but couldn't find her in much of anything else. There were a couple of very brief death notices for her in the Bay City Times Tribune, which reiterated that she was survived by two children, but it did not say who those two children were. One notice listed her as "Marie Sousie" and one as "Marie Souvie." It could be Leonora's mother, as both Leonora and her brother Eli Blair were still living, but with the vague death notices there wasn't enough to go on. I could not find a marriage record that seemed to pertain to this Maria Souvie. The other weird part was the mother being listed as "Charlotte Berteau" on her death record. That didn't sound like Gousy/Gouzy.

So, I was a bit stuck, and Tim did not seem to have a lot of Blair/Ely matches to help clarify all of this. I found that in some records in Quebec, Andrew Ely/Helie's family sometimes had a dit name of dit Breton, and wondered if maybe that got conflated as Charlotte's maiden name. But overall I didn't have enough to tie this together for sure. I figured I needed to try to use DNA of an older generation on Tim's dad's side to try to see if there were more DNA matches to these families. His uncle had tested but didn't have access to his account anymore. I asked his dad's double first cousin if she'd be willing to test on Ancestry and let me access the results to do this research and she agreed to do so.

I took a break on the family in the meantime, and about a year ago got access to the cousin's results. However, her results revealed a very interesting puzzle on a different line, and I spent much of last year investigating that. I had not yet looked into the Blair/Ely puzzle. I recently got a message from a Carter cousin talking about land records in the areas those folks had settled, which got me digging into the Bay County land deeds. This got me looking for Ely/Blair folks in the land deeds as well. 

The earliest reference I can find of Andrew receiving land appears to be a land patent from the state of Michigan in 1865 (though I cannot view that record to confirm it is him). He then buys and sells various land in 1873-74. He is on several mortgage deeds between 1870 and 1874 as well. In 1874, Andrew sold 4 acres to a Maria Blair for $1. Maria Blair also appears to have bought land 29 Dec 1869 (40 acres) and sold some land on 8 Dec 1874 to a Charles Ely.

Charles Ely and his wife Mary buy and sell a bunch of different land between 1865-1880. Tracing Charles' purchases and sales I found a very interesting one - he sold 40 acres on 28 Apr 1876 to a MARIA SUSSEY of "Ackron," Tuscola Co., Michigan. He sold this to her for only $1. On that same day is a record for a "Maria Sussy formerly Maria Blair" of Wisney, Tuscola Co., MI, selling 20 acres for Charles Ely for $1. And the following day, "Mrs. Maria Sussy" of Wisner, Tuscola Co., MI, sells 40 acres to ELI BLAIR of Hampton for only $1. Later in 1876 (8 Aug) Maria Sousie "formerly Maria Blair" of Port Crescent, Huron Co., MI, appears again, and sells 4 acres to Olive King. 

This brought me back to that Maria Sousie/Souvie death record from 1909... so I looked for her in Tuscola Co. and found in 1870 a Mary A. Sousie b. ~1832 MI married to a Felix Sousie, in Geneva, Tuscola Co. This didn't seem right...and Maria Blair was still listed as such in land deeds in Dec. 1874, no Sousie name to be found. In 1880, however, Felix is married to a Maria Sousie, b. ~1829 in Canada.. this seems more likely, but they are now living up in Alcona Co., Michigan?? In 1900, it seems this same Maria is now listed as "Mina," (maybe "Mira" but the handwriting is suspect) living up in Alcona still, but her husband Felix is deceased (1894). Her birth is given on the census as Feb. 1827 (!) and she's listed as the stepmother of the head of household (George Sousie, a son of Felix's who also appeared on the 1870 and 1880 census records I mentioned). The census further states her years married as 51 years, that she had 6 children total but only 2 living.

I then find she is in the Bay City, MI city directory in 1902 at 723 Fitzgerald (!) listed as Marie Sousie (wid. Felix) and George is living there at the same address. 

So, this seems by all accounts to match the Maria Souvie death record I found, and the land deeds help establish she was indeed surnamed Blair prior to marrying Felix Sousie. Further, she is selling and buying between both Charles Ely (a probable brother of hers) and Eli Blair (should be her son if this is the correct person). The census ages in 1880 and 1900 match Mariah/Maria/Almira Helie/Ely Blair, including the Feb birth date, and the curious 1900 census notation of her married years being 51 years (which would've been about when she would've married Charles Blair, not when she married Felix). (Note that Felix appears to have been married to a different woman, Mary Ann ______ on the 1870 census, which makes sense.) The 6 children total and 2 children living match the death record and match Eli and Leonora Blair still being alive. And the other interesting piece in this, is that probate file for Almira/Elmira Blair Carter... remember it was Eli Blair on there with mention of ties to land in Tuscola Co., Michigan?? 

Well, the frustrating bit is, Tuscola County land deeds are not visible outside of a Family History Center. I also cannot find a marriage record for Felix Sousie and Maria Helie/Ely/Blair. I think based on the names on the land deeds in Bay County, Michigan, that they must've married between 8 Dec 1874, and 28 Apr 1876 - but where, and when? 

I stopped by a FHC the other day but the problem with this type of search is it takes a long time to page through the indexes of the land deeds. I found a few hints, but didn't get nearly far enough to make any conclusions; and while the indexes go a bit past 1900, the land deeds themselves can't be viewed past about 1886-87, so some things I found in indexes I cannot view! What I did find so far was Almira/Elmira Blair's husband Thomas Carter bought land in Tuscola Co. on 18 Apr 1884. Section 4, Town 13, Range 7. Helpfully, the Tuscola indexes list the section/town/range info for transactions, so even though I can't view some of the records I can see if it involves the same land.. 

I found that Thomas gave land involving 4/13/7 to Almira (can't view this record for a date). Then there is a record of Almira Carter selling land involving 4/13/7 (I can view this; it occurred 31 Dec 1885). It seems this sale was executed by a George P. Cobb, who on the following page from the above Warranty Deed, is named in a document as Almira Carter's power of attorney. I don't quite follow this, other than that Almira was living over in Bay County so wasn't wanting to deal with going to Tuscola Co. to deal with this land?? The other weird part is this sale from Almira to Eli Blair was for $600; and most of these transfers between people who seem to be related, have been for only $1. BUT, this 1885 transaction seems to perhaps be the originator of the mortgaged property/etc. that Eli Blair references on Almira's property.

I had hoped the origins of the mortgage/property in Tuscola Co. might be tied to Maria Blair Sousie, to help connect her further to Eli Blair and Almira Blair Carter but I did not find that.. at least not yet. There are a lot of index files to look through yet and it is going to take many hours. The FHCs are open only for very limited amounts of time when they are open, and only on a few days per week. So, that makes it tricky. I will have to keep looking!

The other piece of this is I haven't yet done a deep dive into the cousin's DNA for these Blair/Ely folks - I hope to do that soon to see if that might further elucidate/confirm things here. 

Walter Family Brick Wall: Gone!

I have finally broken through the brick wall of where my ancestor Simon Walter is from/who his parents are. To find an immigrant ancestor from Germany you've got to find a record telling you what town they were from -- Germany has states and there are no central repositories for vital records. Most of the time, records are still kept at the individual parish level only - so you really need to know exactly what town the ancestor was from.

Oftentimes, the only place in the U.S. that you'll find a birthplace listed for German immigrants before ~1907 is in church records (this being that before that time period, U.S. naturalization records did not tend to ask for, or document, exact birth places in the immigrant's home country). Civil records are often recorded by Anglo, English-speaking persons who both would not care where in Germany the immigrant was born nor would they understand/be able to spell it. But German immigrants would often belong to churches who had priests that also spoke German-- and it was these priests that were most likely to record this precious information for descendants to find.

Back around 2010-2011 I'd found out where Simon was buried in Wisconsin, and the cemetery adjoined a church. The church very graciously allowed me access to the records (literally, put me in their basement and allowed me to spend the whole day looking at them/taking photos of the books) and aha! His funeral record at the church stated a birthplace in Germany... "Neubeuren bf. Wiesenfeld." Awesome! A birthplace! I figured I was all set.

Not so fast. I discovered after that, that there are quite a few towns with names similar to Neubeuren and similar to Wiesenfeld. The second problem was that there was no area in Germany where there are towns so named that are next to each other. This resulted in many emails and letters written to archivs across Germany in areas where towns similarly named existed.. and many disappointing responses (if I ever did get a response) telling me that they did not have a record of Simon, or that they did not have the ability to search records for me.

So, I was stuck. Census records did nothing to help, either. The 1860 census said he was born in Hanover, the 1870 census said "Prussia" and the 1880s census said Bavaria. His Declaration of Intent from 1847 stated he was from Bavaria as well.

Over the years I had occasionally looked at DNA matches (for my grandpa whose direct line this is, as well as other cousins on the Walter(s) side who had shared their results with me. I had seen a Johann Walter in the trees of one or two matches, and he lived in Illinois. I had also gotten tripped up on a Christiana Walter who married a Dittmar and belonged to a parish just up the road from Simon Walters' parish. We even had a DNA match or two to descendants of that couple so it seemed somewhat promising. That Christiana Walter had come from an area known as Schlesien. It's a large area that is now parts of several different countries including Poland, and I'd never made enough progress in identifying where she was from, much less if there was a real connection between her and Simon.

In January of this year I decided to take another look at the DNA results to see if there were any new matches in common that might point to a connection. I found more matches who descended from the Johann Walter from Illinois. This Johann was born in 1807 in Bavaria and ha moved to the area around Waterloo, Monroe County, Illinois. His gravestone was excellent in that it provided exact birth and death dates (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/54573678/). He's only 3 years older than my Simon, and based on the DNA amounts shared with these matches, I became convinced that this Johann could be a brother of my Simon.

I couldn't find much about this Johann Walter so I contacted a couple of local places and one lady wrote back who just so happened to have an old photocopy of church records for the Lutheran church in town and his funeral record mentioned his birth in a town called Wiesentfels, Oberfranken, Bavaria --- very similar to the "Wiesenfeld" from Simon's funeral record. This seemed like a good sign!

I then turned to a Bavarian Genealogy Facebook group whose main membership is actually German and German-speaking folks, to try to get more information about Wiesentfels and whether records were available anywhere that I could access. Unfortunately, this is one of those parishes (Kroegelstein parish, to be exact) where records are kept at the church rather than being available online or at a larger archiv.

On my post, a man who lives nearby volunteered to help me and was willing to go to the parish to look at the records. He had a chance to go to look at the parish records today (yesterday for him), and he found them! Simon, and the Johann Walter in Illinois, are indeed from Wiesentfels, Oberfranken, Bavaria and they are brothers. Their parents are Andreas Walter and Anna Schmeusser.

The man sent me records of siblings of Johann and Andreas, as well as the marriage record for their parents -- both Andreas and Anna have fathers named Johann. I need to dig in now to see if I can find evidence of any of the siblings coming to the U.S. I also need to hope that some day the Kroegelstein parish records will be digitized and put online so that I can try to trace this line back further. For now, it's at a standstill until I can access more of the records. So- some questions still remain:

1) When I saw the name Andreas Walter that pinged something in my brain. I looked at the records from Simon's church in Wisconsin and was reminded that I'd found an Andreas Walter fathering two children (one in 1852 and one in 1854) who were baptized at the same church, with a godfather named Johann Walter. When I'd found those records initially I had not been able to find anything for this Andreas, Johann or the children. This Andreas is almost certainly not Simon's father Andreas, because he'd likely be at least 70 or so in 1852. He would be the right age to possibly be a sibling of Simon, but he's not among the records the man found for me today (though I do not know the date range he searched). So, something to look into further.

2) Something has always made me think that Simon might've been married before he was married to my ancestor Maria Magdalena Kaemmlein. When they married in 1852, Simon was already 42 years old. The other thing that has always puzzled me was that they were married literally two weeks after Maria Magdalena Kaemmlein had immigrated to the U.S. (her passenger list is dated 11 May 1852 and she was married in Milwaukee on 27 May 1852). How?? I now know that Maria Magdalena and Simon were not from the same area (she was from just north of Stuttgart in Baden-Wuerttemburg) -- so how did it happen that she arrived and was married so quickly, unless they'd met in Germany prior? Simon immigrated in June 1847 according to his naturalization papers. So had he gone somewhere in Germany prior to immigrating to the U.S., and somehow met her/someone in her family then? Was it just chance that they met and married as soon as she arrived? Had he been married in Germany and left when something happened to that wife and any children he might have had with her? Or was he simply unmarried, setting off to the U.S. and marrying older?

Of course, there are many other questions as well -- but those are for another day.

Are you doing everything you can to preserve your family history?

[Preface]
The idea for this post has been rattling around in my head since April of (2017). Truly, the inspiration stems from the events of December of 2015, when my maternal grandfather died unexpectedly. Those events started a cascade of hectic life in which I've not been able to finish several projects- some of which I'm attempting to get taken care of now. When he passed away, I realized I had made a mistake in my approach to documenting and preserving my family history. I had spent a lot of my time talking to my grandparents about what they knew about their family history, as well as listening to stories of their own lives. I hadn't been able to write down everything, but in the years since I started my research, I tried to record as much as I could. But what I suddenly realized when my grandpa passed away, was that I had never recorded audio or video of him talking and telling his story. Right now, his voice is mostly a memory. And in today's technologically advanced world, I am kicking myself for not realizing this while he was still alive.

Anyway, as soon as I did realize this, when he passed away, I realized I needed to do more to record my other grandparents. I grew up with my Grandma Mayville telling me lots of stories about her family. I'd listened to many of the stories over the years. I'd written some of them down, and memorized others, but I realized I needed to record her telling her stories. Grandma Mayville died unexpectedly in April 2017, which was a major blow to me and my family. While I am very sad that I don't have any recordings of my Grandpa Mayville telling stories, I am grateful that his loss caused me to record my grandmother. I now have over 100 recordings of her, and have worked to also record my paternal grandparents.

That leads to my post today. What are some of the key things that we can be doing to preserve as much of our family story, especially from the oldest generations of our families, while these is still time? In a world still ravaged by a pandemic and increasing natural disasters (tornadoes, wildfires, floods, etc.), we are receiving more reminders daily about how fleeting life (and family photos/heirlooms) can be. This post may be long, but its contents are important. 

You should start working with the oldest generation of your family, then work towards the present generation in terms of documenting memories, photos and other aspects mentioned below. If you ARE part of the oldest generation of your family, it's even more important that you start documenting your knowledge and memories. You likely have knowledge and information that will die with you if not documented, preserved, and shared.


What can we do to preserve our family history?

1) Label & Scan Family Photos

    Can it be time-consuming, tedious, and a hassle to label and scan all of those photos? Absolutely. My grandmother had, almost certainly, over a thousand photos of her side of the family. How many of those photos were labeled when I came across the boxes of photos? Probably a few dozen at best. Getting these labeled was IMPERATIVE, because in many cases, she was likely the only person who could identify some of the folks in some of the family photos she had. I sat with her for hours to identify and label the photos. I then scanned them into the computer, and uploaded a majority of them online, where I further created a website displaying many of the photos. This helps me preserve the photos, while also making it easy to share them when I meet a new cousin. 

You should even dedicate time to scanning and preserving photos for whom the identities or subjects are unknown. Why? When you meet new cousins you can share those photos and see if those cousins can identify the subjects of your unknown photos. I do this all the time with new cousins I meet via DNA testing- I send them a link to my family photos website and ask them to take a look at the unidentified photos in particular. Every once in a while, I find a cousin who knows a subject or location in one of my family's photos! Once, I was able to help in reverse-- a man contacted me who was related to the ex wife of my grandma's uncle. Because I had a similar photo with people labeled in it, he saw it in my family photos and was able to identify a photo he had in HIS possession, which contained people unknown to him. It turns out he had a photo of my own grandmother!

Why is it important to label photos? I cannot tell you how many times I have been to an estate sale or antique store and seen a pile of unlabeled photos. When you die and leave unlabeled photos, there is a tendency for family to throw out, sell, or otherwise get rid of photos when they don't recognize who is in them. If you label photos and they still end up leaving the family somehow, the identification you put on the back can help rescuers return photos to other family members.

Why is it important to scan/preserve copies of photos? This is important in the event that something were to happen to the original copies- fire, flood, being lost or otherwise damaged. Having digital copies allows you to preserve the photos no matter what might happen to the originals. It also makes it much easier to share your photos with other family members, etc., especially those of whom you might meet in the course of conducting genealogical research and/or DNA testing.

 How do I do it?
    -Set aside time specifically for the project. Pick a couple of hours per day, assigning whatever time frame you need to make sure it gets done.

    -To label photos, write on the back with a pencil or other photo-safe marking pen (see universityproducts.com). Alternatively, you could purchase acid-free plastic sleeves and label the sleeves rather than directly writing on the back of the photos.

    -When labeling, try to clearly indicate who is in the photo, and if possible to accurately do so, indicate the approximate year and location the photo was taken. Don't forget to label photos of yourself, other immediate family members, etc. The common error in the history of our families is to think "well, I know who that is so I don't need to write it down!" Future generations might not know, so label it and save a headache down the road.

    -When scanning photos, use a high resolution scan to catch as much detail as possible. A standard flatbed scanner or printer/scanner option should work fine. For small photos, I love my FlipPal because it catches the small photos in extremely high detail, allowing me to preserve details most other scanners can not. FlipPal has gone out of business, but the machines occasionally sell on eBay and other marketing platforms. I do NOT trust or recommend "scanning" apps or features on smartphones, but if it is the absolute only option you have, it is better than nothing. 

    -When scanning, you want to scan both the front and back of each image in order to preserve any information (and your labeling) whenever possible. If possible, you should also rename the image file name to include identifying details such as who/what is in the photo. Do NOT include spaces in the file name.

    -See further down the page for more detailed advice on preserving/storing scanned images.


2) Label & photograph family heirlooms or artifacts

Why is it important to label and photo-document family heirlooms/artifacts? Much like above with photographs, labeling heirlooms, artifacts, family furniture pieces, etc. helps those left behind understand that it's an important piece of family history, and helps them understand why. Too many estate sales and antique malls are full of objects and heirlooms whose importance and familial context was unknown to heirs. For example, we have a small wooden chair that was my grandfather's when he was young. We have photos of him in this chair as a baby (and it may have even been in the family generations before him). We would have never known what this chair was when we found it in the basement, had he not provided that information and context to us!

How do I do it?

   -Set aside time specifically for the project. Pick a couple of hours per day, or whatever time frame you need to make sure it gets done.

    -Label the item in regards to what it is; who it belonged to/where it came from; time period IF KNOWN; and any other details that might help preserve the history of the item.

    -Generally, it is a good idea to create a spreadsheet of all items and keep in a safe place (see below for more details on preserving/saving data such as this). Your spreadsheet should include at least one photo of the item, and a description of the item.

    -What you use to label objects/furniture/etc. depends greatly on what the heirloom/object in question is. If it is a framed portrait or piece of art, consider writing identifying info on a piece of (acid free) paper and incorporating that into the back of the frame if possible. If it's a piece of jewelry, card, coin, or other small memorabilia, you can use an acid-free baggie or sleeve, including both the object and a piece of (acid free) paper in the bag. For bigger items you may need to rely solely on the spreadsheet discussed above, or if the piece has an enclosed space (such as a drawer, lid, etc.) insert an acid free piece of paper with identifying information, into that enclosed space. One example, we have a vase that my grandmother's aunt left a piece of paper inside of, describing the item, who it belonged to (her own grandmother), where it came from, and who was to get the piece after she passed away.

    -Do not use pins, tape, or other materials in direct contact with the object - this could damage the item you are trying to preserve. 



3) Scan/photograph & document important family documents

It should go without saying that your grandparents' marriage record; a military document for your great-great grandfather; prayer cards documenting the deaths of family members; a baptismal certificate; the family Bible; an old diary; and many other examples are important documents for your family's history. Even old school papers can be important pieces to preserve. These documents share the story of ourselves and our ancestors. Scanning these items and preserving them (see below for more details on preserving scans) is an important way to flesh out details of our/ancestors' lives. 

One example of this: When clearing out my great-uncle's home after he passed away, family members found a 5-year diary of his from the time that he was in middle and high school. This is a dated diary he kept for a 5 year span, in which he noted seemingly mundane things such as going to work, getting paid, going to school, etc.; but also recorded time and activities spent with his parents, grandparents, cousins and other relatives. This was such an amazing and valuable way to learn more about what life was like for my ancestors back in that time!



4) Record our family members telling their stories

 

   -I used a simple point-and-shoot Canon camera to record videos of my grandmother (and since then, my paternal grandparents and other family members) speaking about their memories, speaking about photographs or certain heirlooms, telling stories they were told about their ancestors, etc. If you have a camcorder or other recording device that should work fine-- just make sure to consider what file format you will end up with and how easy or difficult it may be to preserve that format.

    -Record whatever family members you have available to you-- great-grandparents, grandparents, aunts/uncles, great aunts/great uncles, parents, and others! Just make sure you have permission.

    -Remember that if you are the oldest generation, you should record yourself speaking (or consider writing down) details and memories of your life, of your relatives that came before, etc. Is it potentially awkward to sit and record yourself? Sure - but your recordings will be cherished and valued by family members generations in the future - even cousins!

    -For ideas of prompts to ask family members or record of yourself, see this previous blog post on family surveys.

    -I recommend making the videos/recordings relatively short (2-3 minutes in length, maybe a bit longer). This helps ensure the file does not have issues being preserved down the road. Very large video files can be difficult to transfer or may have copy errors, etc., causing an inability to access the file.

    -When possible, creating a transcription (i.e., writing out what is said in each file, verbatim, into a text file), is a good backup to the video in the event that the video/audio file were to be corrupted or have some other issue in the future.



5) If you are the holder of family photos, heirlooms, or other important documents or keepsakes, make sure you have a plan for who happens to those items when you are gone

    -Have a written plan in place, preferably indicated in a will or other relevant legal document, for who should get specific objects after you pass away. It's not pleasant to think about, but passing away without a plan may mean important family photos, documents and heirlooms end up getting sold, donated, or worse, thrown away. I recently bought some items at an estate sale of a single woman who had a huge array of family heirlooms and photos. She left no descendants and the person handling her estate had seemingly not contacted cousins. I contacted a cousin who was devastated to learn their family heirlooms had all been sold at an estate sale without them having a chance to attend themselves. I was able to return just a few things to them, but having a plan in place would have prevented this scenario.

    -If you are not able to indicate such wishes in a legal document, clearly label items with your wishes (though this may not pass legal muster depending on local laws regarding estates), or pass items to their designated caretakers ahead of time. 

    -If you do not have descendants or have discussed the situation with descendants who have indicated they are not interested in family photos or heirlooms, consider your cousins, however distant. There are many people researching and interested in their family history nowadays, so you may find when discussing with 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th cousins or their descendants that one of those family members is interested in a particular family heirloom or set of photographs pertaining to their branch of the tree.

    -If all else fails, consider designating a local genealogical society, a historical society, research library or other institution which may accept donations of your family photos or heirlooms. If you have ancestors from different locations, you may wish to look at multiple institutions local to those particular areas your ancestors were from.

Once you have labeled, documented, and scanned...
BACKUP your data! All of those photos, documents, and videos add up. Make sure you backup these files in more than one location. Having everything on your computer is great until something happens to that computer! I usually back everything up on at least one flash drive and one external hard drive. Some folks have an extra external hard drive that they store in a different location such as a safety deposit box, a fireproof safe, etc. For some items, like the recordings of my grandmother telling her family stories, I made many copies and distributed these to family members. This helps ensure that if my copies get destroyed in some way, there should be other versions available elsewhere as backup.

In addition, finding an online storage solution is beneficial in case something happens to the physical file(s). Some store on the Cloud. I have a domain name and online server I pay for (through GoDaddy.com), where I have uploaded most of my family photo scans and videos. Other online storage platforms that include both free storage and additional paid storage, are Dropbox and Google Drive. Both of these sites allow easy sharing with family members as well. Some folks have established Facebook groups for their specific family groups, and upload photos and documents there as an additional means of preserving and sharing information/data with their family members. 

Make sure you utilize local and cloud-based storage in a complimentary manner- do not rely solely on backing up your data on your computer OR the Cloud (or vice versa). Utilizing both a computer, external hard drive and the cloud is the best strategy to help ensure your data isn't lost.


Organize your photos/documents

Some people use acid-free, archival quality sleeves, folders, binders and boxes. I store my photos flat, in acid-free plastic sleeves placed in bins, that are organized loosely by family name and size. Large photos are stored in archival boxes purchased from universityproducts.com. Old books, particularly fragile ones, are stored in acid free cardboard (again from University Products). Old cloth is stored in acid free tissue paper, in an acid free box. Overall, there are a lot of storage options, and some objects may require specialized storage or preservation care. You may need to consult an archivist at your local historical society or museum, for tips on proper care of your specific item. 

Make sure you're using archival quality products to label/organize/store your photos, documents and heirlooms! 

If you use paper with acid in them, this can eat at or otherwise destroy objects you are trying to preserve. If you use a non-archival quality pen, that pen can bleed through or otherwise damage a photo or other object. I have used universityproducts.com for years to purchase safe materials to use in preservation of photos, documents, and other objects.

While long, the above is a brief overview of steps you can take today to more completely document and preserve your family's history, photos and objects. It can seem like a daunting task, but breaking it up into manageable chunks can help you accomplish this important task. Future generations of your family, both closely and distantly related, can benefit from your action today. Please note that I am not a professional archivist but have studied various techniques for preservation. What works best for me may not work best for you. If you have specialty items (especially old clothing or other difficult materials) you should consult a professional for assistance in properly preserving your object(s). 

I will *probably* update this post if I think of more topics related to the above discussion.

Exploring Ancestral Places in Vermont!

It has been a long while since I have updated this blog, due to a lot of real-life things going on. I'm going to try to get a post in now and see how it goes. Bear with me! Long post ahead..

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to do something I didn't expect I would ever have the chance to do- explore areas of Vermont where my Greeley, Tarbell, Thompson, Davis, and related ancestors came from. Being from Wisconsin, and living in Georgia, I'd never really been to the northeast before or had a good reason to go (it's a bit expensive). Luckily, I got a great excuse to go! Good friends of mine from college decided to get married in the White Mountains in New Hampshire, so I decided to plan some extra time around the wedding for sightseeing and exploring ancestral areas. I wish I had a little more time up there to explore northern Vermont, where my Mayville and Reynolds ancestors came from. We will have to go back sometime, because I've discovered Tim has some ancestors from Vermont (though we don't know where, yet!)

One of the biggest things I wanted to do during the day I planned to go to Vermont, was find the so-called "Greeley Cemetery" which is located on what used to be the land associated with my ancestors Hiram and Betsy (Davis) Greeley, before they died and family moved away. It's located in the Green Mountains just east of Mt. Tabor, Vermont, and the land itself is now protected national forest. From what I was told, there used to be a town up in that area on the mountain, but when the national forest was created, the people were all told to get out and all buildings, etc., were burned. The land has reverted back to forest for the most part, so the cemetery and graves within are pretty darn remote.

I was determined to find it but also very hesitant to go adventuring in this forest given my lack of experience mountain hiking and dealing with bears.. I tried to gather as much information as possible about locating the cemetery before going. My uncle had attempted to locate the cemetery in the '90s and at that time had been warned strongly by locals not to do it. More recently, I met some folks online who had gone to the homestead and cemetery before. They gave some instruction, which did provide some helpful information but there were a lot of unknowns that remained, such as "is there an actual path that goes anywhere near the cemetery or are we literally just trekking through this forest on an unbeaten path?" I really didn't want to go get lost in the middle of a dang forest!

Because of that, and the uncertainty over bad weather for the day, I decided we should start with a cemetery that, while remote, was still relatively accessible. So we went to Smokeshire Cemetery, which is kind of in the middle of nowhere between Chester and Ludlow, VT. This was interesting because it involved going onto a dirt road that was very steep and went on what can only be classified as an extremely sketchy bridge over a stream. I didn't get a picture of the bridge.. but it had holes in the dirt on it and I wasn't sure if we'd make it to the other side or not!

(part of the steep uphill to the cemetery)

We got to a turn off where a path splits off up to the cemetery off of the "road" we were on. While it was wide enough, I wasn't sure if the path up to the cemetery was intended for car traffic.. so we parked at the base of the hill and walked up. It was pretty cool to come to this clearing in the woods, with a small stone fence around the perimeter of the cemetery:

This cemetery has a lot of family in it, most of them off to the right when you go through the entrance. Some of the young children born to my 4x great-grandparents Corbet Tarbell and Amy Thompson are buried here, along with a bunch of Thompson relatives. Included in that are my 5x great-grandparents, William Thompson (below) and his wife Anna Putnam. Anna's stone unfortunately has snapped off it's base and also snapped in half in the process. It was leaning against a nearby monument. I was wishing there was something I could do but of course I have no means for a repair of this nature. Several of their children and other relatives are nearby in this cemetery. Here is William's stone:

My Tarbells that are known to be buried there are Corbet Tarbell Jr., Joseph N. Tarbell, Marcy Tarbell, and William Greenlief Tarbell. Thus far, their sister Wealthy Ann's burial has never been found. It's unknown if she died young (as the four children above did) or if she married. Their mother, my 4x great-grandmother Amy Thompson Tarbell's burial location is also unknown. She is supposed to have died to the southwest, in Mt. Tabor. She isn't buried here in Smokeshire to our knowledge, and I did not find her with Corbet Tarbell (later, below). There are many Vermont cemeteries that are not yet fully documented, so I hope someday to find where she was buried.

After wandering this cemetery for some time, we left and I decided we would go towards Mt. Tabor and try to locate the Greeley cemetery. All morning I had been wavering between being totally unconvinced that we should do it, and gung-ho to set off into the woods to find them. Now, just after noon, the radar was looking clear and I was feeling optimistic.


We had to drive around the mountains, basically, to enter them. So we drove a meandering route up through Ludlow and then west through Mt. Holly, all towns I recognized from my research and from the family photos we have of these folks. The road was blocked to go straight west to Wallingford then south to Mt. Tabor, so we had to go out of the way to the north, almost all the way to Rutland before coming down 7 to Mt. Tabor. Then, we were off into the forest/mountains....




















The following is what I wrote about our adventure to the cemetery, the night after we completed the hike. For some context, we were given two different possible ways/sets of instructions for reaching the cemetery. One involved walking primarily along part of the Appalachian Trail, called the "Long Trail." The other was via a so-called US Forest service, service road. Here's how we fared:

So, we decided to take the old service road because we thought that might be a more direct route to the cemetery, and John Arsenault had sent me a topographical map just this morning which seemed like it would be the most useful. The other thing we didn't know, was if there was actually a path of any sorts between the suspension bridge on the Long Trail, or if that route required just walking at random. We parked at the Long Trail parking area and walked the rest of the way down the road (as it became gravel right after this parking lot) - further up the mountain. We saw the “entrance” to the Long Trail and it really didn't look appealing, and this helped solidify our opinion.

(Pretty view among the trees up on the mountain, walking to the trail we were taking)

I think the walk down the road was about a mile, perhaps closer to 2 miles. We reached the point where the maps I had, indicated the old washed out service road would exist. On the right was a spot where old car tracks were (possibly a parking spot); and on the left were a row of about 5-6 posts, in the middle of which appeared to be a tramped down trail of sorts.

We at first had some doubts (or a lot) but we decided to try it and if it was a path to nowhere, at least we had a tramped down path to follow back to the road. Tim went first to knock down spiders, and especially so because of either of us he had way more experience in the woods (as a boy scout). By way more experience I mean, he has gone camping and I had no idea what I was doing other than educated guessing and pure logic.
We followed the footpath a while, it merged with a small stream for parts of it, then we ended up in a “path” that was clearly vehicle-width. We essentially surmised that this path had begun as a wagon trail, and I suppose at some point was used by service vehicles for the forestry department.. however it was clear it wasn't used any more because of how many downed trees fell across this road.

Along the whole left side of the road was a man-made “fence” of rocks-- basically a stone wall about 1.5-2 feet? in height. Clearly, this was some sort of border, theoretically the border of the land owned by the Greeleys. We followed this along, not sure if the gravestones would be right along this path, or if they were somewhere off to the left (east), because again, we had no explicit instructions on where this cemetery was located. About, I would say, 65-70% of the way down the trail, I noticed that the border rock wall curved inward, made an opening a little wider than the side of a car or wagon, and on the right, in similarly curved inward, then back out to make the rest of the wall, sort of like so (I couldn't get a good picture of this due to all the trees and brush):

   |      |

   |      |

 _______________________)      (______________________

Part of the "wall" veering inwards to the east, like part of a driveway: 

The view down the old wagon path:

I thought to myself.. and also told Tim, that it looked to me like the entrance to something, a driveway, or whatever, and speculated that perhaps it was the entrance to where their house had been. Tim decided to look down the path a little bit, while I decided to go through this "driveway" entrance and up the slope a little bit. I wandered in a straight line east, and couldn't see much. I was nervous of losing the path, since Tim wasn't nearby, so I decided to go back to the main path. Before turning back towards the path, I said out loud to myself, "I feel like I'm so close!"

We followed the path.. I found Tim down towards the end... at the suspension bridge we had heard all about. It turns out the path up from the suspension bridge is the same path that connects up to the road. Who knew. Well, now we did. We paused for a second to enjoy the rapids and falls that could be viewed from the middle of the suspension bridge, and I knew the Greeley mill must have been near here.

Anyway, now we knew we had gone past the spot where we needed to turn in and look for the Greeleys, and headed up this path now with the other directions of (from the suspension bridge, go 500 feet NNW, then go about 200 feet east). We now knew it was the path we were on, and that we must need to go in about 200 feet to find them.

Tim counted out about 200 steps up the path and wanted to turn in where we had seen some other evidence of activity long ago. One, was a square area that was all this weird green plant like a carpet. We had no idea why but it seemed like something may have been at this spot. Near this we saw a big depression/hole in the ground with a hewn stone in it. Below: 

The stone didn't appear to say anything. Near this hole was a big flat stone somewhat similar to many of the old, old, colonial markers were made of (possibly slate?) It was about 2.5 feet long, 5 inches wide, and thin.. like a doorstep or something.. it was really interesting and the edges of this stone also looked as if they were hewn by a person. Below:

 In addition, there were about four very old-looking red bricks sitting on a rock near this area. I wondered whether it was a house or maybe the mill that had been here? Here:

Obviously something had been here, but I was not convinced this was where the cemetery was, and I was leaning more and more towards that bigger clearing I had already seen, and thought maybe I just hadn't gone far enough from the path. So, Tim and I returned to the main path, and he continued counting out steps. Lo and behold, around 400-500 paces we were back in front of that opening. We decided to pace out 200 steps east and see what we could find. We knew from John's picture that the graves were near a stone wall.. but we also knew that the stone wall we had followed as part of the path, was not where the graves were. So, we counted back and around that spot found another stone wall:

At that point I had started hearing a rumble and wondered if it was thunder (we were under a thick canopy of trees, couldn't really see the sky!) A soft patter soon after confirmed rain. Tim was telling me that if we followed this stone wall, we would likely find the graves. I was (still) worried about getting lost by getting too far from the path. I said something about how I didn't know that this was even the right stone wall that the graves were on, and started to think we should head in, especially if there was a storm on the way. Just then I turned and looked to my left, and what did I see but two gravestones. Maybe a mirage. No, they were really there, about 30-40 feet SE of where we were standing, of course along the stone wall. The ferns were so high as to almost obscure the stones from where we stood. What I saw:

We walked towards them and photographed the surroundings, then I took a video walking out as the thunder was confirmed and the rain picked up. Overall it was a lot of fun. We got out on the road and back to the car as a downpour started, and luckily the lightning was just far enough away to be of little concern to us. Definitely an adventure!!

 Light shining down on the graves:

James Madison Sawtell, son of Amy Tarbell and James Sawtell:

My 4x great grandfather, Hiram Greeley:

His wife, my 4x great-grandmother, Betsey Davis:

After making it through this adventure, I had a long list of other relatives I wanted to try to find.. we decided to try to find as many of them as we could before we ran out of time (it was a 2+ hour drive back to our hotel in New Hampshire!) We stopped at an antique "store" (barn/house) in Mt. Tabor itself (Carr's Antiques) before heading on.. The lady who lived there was very nice but liked to talk and we were on a short time schedule!

I really enjoyed driving through these areas where my ancestors came from. The mountains were absolutely beautiful, and the roads often wound right alongside creeks or streams. This reminded me of up north in Wisconsin, outside of Appleton where many members of these same family members settled. Up in that area, many of the roads wind right alongside creeks, too (though without the beautiful mountainous backdrop!) In a way it felt like being back home. But trekking through the mountains made me wonder what possessed them to want to try to live here? And how did they maneuver this terrain with dirt roads and wagons during the winter?! Oh my gosh. It's no wonder to me that their children mostly moved west to the much flatter midwest and plains states.. While the mountains are beautiful I can imagine they were completely unforgiving back then.

We wound our way down towards Londonderry and found the final resting spot of my 4x great-grandfather Corbet Tarbell:

Next to him was his second wife, Nancy Bolster. No sign of his first wife, my ancestor, Amy Thompson. Other Tarbells, including some of Corbet's children who lived to adulthood, were scattered throughout this cemetery. There were a lot of Davises here, too, but we were running low on time and didn't have the chance to look thoroughly through this cemetery.

I then realized we were near Landgrove, where my Davis ancestors lived.. I wanted to find Gideon Davis's gravestone, so we went to the old Landgrove cemetery, established in 1810, hoping he would be there. Many members of his family were there, including his son Gideon Davis Jr. We didn't find a stone for the elder Gideon, though there was a lot of open space near Gideon Jr.'s gravestone. I wonder if he is there? Or perhaps elsewhere in some as-yet undocumented cemetery nearby?

We drove through Weston, VT, next. This was another familiar town name from my research. My ancestor Hiram Greeley had been given ownership of the 5th pew at the old meeting house in Weston. The meeting house still stands, though it was closed by the time we got there:

We then worked eastward towards Andover. On the way, we stopped to see Hiram Greeley's parents, my ancestors Lydia Cram and Nathaniel Greeley, in Middletown Cemetery:

Middletown Cemetery was right on a main road, but there was no marking for it-- just a vehicle-width path off to the right side of the road. Luckily Tim spotted it while we drove past.. then found somewhere to turn around. We had to just pull off to the side of the road and hope nobody hit our rental car, as there was nowhere remotely close to park. Middletown really meant, "middle of nowhere." This cemetery was peaceful and secluded. Many old stones, and quite a few Greeleys spread throughout.


By this time it was getting pretty late in the day. We headed east towards Chester, which was by far the biggest town we saw the whole time we were in Vermont (of course we never went far enough north to see Burlington or Montpelier. We were relieved that Chester was big enough to have a McDonalds, because by this point we were quite hungry and none of the places we had passed by had any sort of fast food. McDonalds is far from my preferred fare, and I would have liked to try a local diner, but we were on a big time crunch. I was trying to avoid driving through the Green Mountains after dark due to all of the animal crossing signs we had found on the way out of them to come to Vermont. Signs for moose, bears, deer, etc. Well, we still didn't make it back before dark, and narrowly avoided a deer that casually crossed the road in front of us. Before we crossed back into New Hampshire, we had time to stop at one covered bridge.

Overall, it was a great day exploring Vermont areas that my ancestors had lived in and once roamed. It was obvious that I could have spent probably 3-4 days exploring all of these areas, and tracking down every single cemetery I wanted to visit (there were quite a few I just didn't have time to get to). I had wanted to go to a few more antique shops, too, looking for Greeley and Tarbell stuff, but we just didn't have the time. I hope I will have the opportunity sometime to explore further, and to get a bit further north to Swanton and St. Albans someday, too.

Walsh Y-DNA Project

Hello!

I realized I should update this blog as it has been a while.

My Walsh Y-DNA project has been successful. The main goal with doing to DNA testing was trying to prove a theory that my ancestor John Walsh (b. ~1811) had a half-brother, Martin Walsh (b. 1837). Sue Welch had shared records of my cousin, Thomas Leslie "Les" Welch that indicated Les believed John and Martin to be half brothers. In his papers, he wrote the following:

"My great grandfather, John Welch, came from Ireland and arrive in Wisconsin about 1851. With him were his wife Bridget and three children: Thomas 12, Judy 6, and Mary 2.

 "They settled in the Township of Springfield, Dane County, Wisconsin. The map of about 1861 shows that they were located in section 1. Nancy or Ann as she was known was born shortly after they arrive in Wisconsin and was shown as age 8 in the 1860 census. Bridget was born three years later and was shown as age 5 in 1860.

"There seems to be no record to show who the parents of John were but Martin Walsh, who came to Wisconsin about 1856 and who had previously gone to New Orleans after coming from Ireland, was a son of Patrick and Mary (Whalen) Walsh and this Martin was a half brother of John. Since the names were both originally Walsh it means that both were the sons of Patrick and that Mary (Whalen) Walsh was the stepmother of John. Martin and John had a brother who was a priest in Westport and a sister."

The document continues but these are the paragraphs most relevant to the discussion here. I found it really interesting that Les mentioned not only that Martin was John's half brother, but that it also mentioned two more siblings. I only wish he had mentioned who the siblings were! I have not been able to determine who the "priest in Westport" was. I assume he means Westport, Wisconsin, but it's unclear- could he mean Westport, County Mayo?

So, with Y-DNA testing, I sought to confirm Les Welch's statement that Martin and John were half-brothers. He hadn't mentioned where he got that information. I have not found any records that directly state that, but I had long thought that Martin was either a brother or son of John Walsh. I set out to prove that.

Not long after my post in January here, I got in touch with Steve Walsh who is a direct male descendant of Martin Walsh. After exchanging a few emails, we kicked off our project! He was generous enough to take the test for my project and split the costs with me. Then, with Sue's help we recruited a direct male descendant of John Walsh to also test.

I'm pleased to announce the project was a success! At 111 markers, our two lines matched at a genetic distance of 2. This fits with our theorized relationship. There is very little DNA shared at the autosomal level, but this is expected with what would be a half 3rd cousin once removed relationship between our two test takers. This is what makes Y-DNA so valuable. Based on the results I believe that John and Martin were half-brothers. I believe that if they were half brothers, or if Martin was John's son, we would have different results (particularly in the realm of autosomal DNA shared). I would be curious to see how other Martin Walsh descendants would match to us via autosomal DNA.

The other aspect to report is the haplogroup for our Walshes is R-Z255 at this time. There are more subgroups on the haplotree but we have not yet tested those SNPs to get the most specific haplogroup available to us right now.


On other testing fronts, I did find a Tice cousin willing to take the Y-DNA test, too. The test finished processing but no close matches yet. Too bad. I am hoping there will be others who test in the future!

I'm excited that I've had the chance to get most of my brick wall lines to Y-DNA test. I'm hoping that more matches will test in the future.

This year I have also received some new matches to Hurst cousins that have helped to prove my theories on James Hurst's siblings! We've received DNA matches to descendants both of Patrick Hurst as well as Ellen Hurst Rice, which have helped prove that we are on the right track with our information. DNA is changing so much of what we can do with our genealogy!!

Hess Family: Brick Wall Demolished

About a month ago I decided to try to act on a little notation I had found among information online, mentioning that my ancestor Louis Hess had married Theresia Kaiser at St. Anthony's Catholic Church in Chicago. Louis has been a brick wall for me for several years because no document I had been able to locate for him, ever listed where he was born. His death record mentioned he had been born in Alsace-Lorraine, and also mentioned that his father's name was Killian Hess. No mother's name had been listed.

Beyond that, I had no other hints as to where he was from. I had located the civil marriage record for Louis and Theresia and that gave no information. Their daughter Rose's birth record, similarly, gave no information. His naturalization information gave no information as to his birthplace, nor did his obituary. I had not been able to definitively locate immigration information such as a passenger's list. I had found a list for a ship called the "Denmark" which had a 22 year old Louis Hess on board, arriving in New York on 10 Sep 1872. On this ship were a Charles Hess, aged 18, and an Oscar Hess, aged 17. I had thought that if this was my Louis Hess, perhaps Charles and Oscar were siblings. But I had not been able to locate information on these other two men to prove any sort of connection.

So, just about a month ago now, I started digging into the Chicago Catholic church records on FamilySearch.org to see if I could find the marriage based on that random tidbit of information... a marriage at St. Anthony's Catholic Church. This was essentially a last resort after failing to find what I needed in every other record for Louis, so I did not have high expectations. I at first struggled to find the correct parish, but with the help of some folks on the Chicago Genealogy facebook group, I was able to find it (actually St. Anthony of Padua, and it was combined with another church in the records, which explains why it had been difficult for me to find the correct parish)..

And then I found the marriage record....

Wow. Interestingly-- and I never knew this until I found this record-- this was a double wedding! Theresia's sister, Anna Maria Kaiser, married a man named Jacob Michels on this same day at the same church. A good lead, since I knew that all of Theresia's sisters had immigrated, but had no idea what happened to them after they arrived, other than her oldest sister, Adelheid, who moved to Kansas.

Anyway, the marriage record above states that Louis was from "Niederneh, Elsass." Theresia's origin is listed as "Lingen, Hanover." This would be Kreis Lingen, and she was born in the town of Listrup, which is within Kreis Lingen in Hanover. Having that correct information on this record helped validate the new piece of information regarding Louis. 

So, what is "Niederneh?" I started Googling the name and determined that it may be an abbreviation for a town called Niederehnheim (in German) or Niedernai (in French) [Niedernai Wikipedia page]. This town exists in the Alsace region and changed back and forth between Germany and France, hence the two different names for the town. Nowadays the town is in France and is called Niedernai permanently.

This was good news for me, because the Alsace records are all online free here, including the civil and Catholic church records for Niedernai. I signed in to the site and in the Niedernai records immediately started seeing records for Hesses, which was a good sign. And then, I found it.. the civil birth record for my ancestor Louis Hess (named Francois Louis Hess on this record.. thanks to the French). I had known his middle initial was "F." so this fit. His family was German living in French-ruled Niedernai at the time of his birth, which is why the record is in French. His German name would be Franz Ludwig Hess, and his Rufname was Ludwig/Louis  (Rufname explanation).

I could not believe it when I first saw this record. I admit that I had a nerdy-emotional moment. I had searched so long that I had not thought it was possible for me to break down this brick wall. But, here I was, looking at his birth record, and seeing the name of his mother for the first time: Maria Elisabeth Lutz.

Since I discovered this record, I have been slowly filling in my family tree for this branch of the family, as time has allowed with a busy work schedule. It turns out that the Hess family (and associated ancestors) had been in Niedernai for over 150 years before Louis left in 1872. I have been working on getting the tree back as far as I can and so far have most lines to at least 1700 if not further back. It's still a work in progress as I work to interpret more records. Some records are missing so there are a few lines that may not extend as far back as the others.

I found that Louis did have a brother named Charles, and he was two and a half years younger than Louis. I believe now that the passenger list I had found is of Louis and his brother Charles immigrating, but I have not figured out yet who Oscar Hess is.

I'm very excited to see how much further back I can trace these lines! This also give me hope that someday I will figure out where in Alsace my ancestor Johann Diebold came from..