Happy birthday, Grandpa!
Category Archives: Genealogy
The birthplace of Ezra
I have located where — the actual farmstead — my ancestor Ezra Darwin Darling was born in Ontario County, New York in 1830. The land is at the southern end of Canadice Lake on the eastern side. His father, Jabez Darling, appears to have settled there in 1829, residing only for a year. On the map, the owner is listed as P. C. Swarts.
“In 1829… Jabez DARLING settled the Peter C. SWARTS farm. At the expiration of a year, Reuben HUFF bought him out. Then came Silas REYNOLDS, Horace WINFIELD, Albert McINTYRE, Floyd RICHARDS, and Joseph WINFIELD.”
Some of the Northrup clan lived nearby. (Ezra married a Northrup.)
“Jabez NORTHRUP, with a family numbering 13, settled on the farm now occupied by Stephen MILLER. NORTHRUP was a carpenter, and erected a frame house; it was better and larger than those of his neighbors. Here he lived till 1837, when he died, aged 74 years. Before his death, his children, once 11 in number, had so settled about him that the conch shell could call all the living to their dinner. The family not only cleared the homestead, but 300 acres in the neighborhood. Anderson NORTHRUP, Dr. CAMPBELL, J. HEWETT, McCROSSEN and COLGROVE, were successive owners.”
Expanding the family tree
DISCOVERING DISTANT COUSINS
SOME ALIVE, OTHERS LONG DEAD
It is always fun and exciting expanding the family tree. I have talked with cousins from around the world, from Australia to Germany. That is often thanks to this very blog. People find my notes on so-and-so, and then write to me.
Recently I learned about a man named Milczewski — Zygmunt Milczewski. It is such a rare surname that I am sure he is a distant cousin, so I am working on learning more about him and his work.
I have a Google Alert set up for that name. Every time the Google bots find something with that name included, I am alerted via email. I highly recommend using Google Alerts.
I am particularly interested in the ethnic diversity of where my ancestors lived in Germany, near the Polish border. There were many Jews, Poles, and Kashubians living among the Germans, or Germanized people, in the Bütow area, where my great-grandparents lived before emigrating to America.
One of the questions I want to answer: Is the Milczewski name German or Polish? I am guessing that it is Slavic and that through the years some with the name became more and more Germanized, including a few of my ancestors.
ajh
Happy birthday, Grandpa!
Born 103 years ago on March 19ᵗʰ in 1918. This photo is from June of 1946, taken at the South Dakota State Fair, a year after he married Grandma. Their first wedding anniversary!
genealogy volunteers are the best
Someone just sent me this, an obituary for one of my ancestors, Maria Wolf Van Note. The genealogy community are great people!
ajh
How’s your German? Or Polish? Or Kashubian?
I am trying to figure out just what the heck this document is and translating the information therein, which I am assuming is German. But who knows! Is it Polish? Or Kashubian, a Slavic language spoken and written by few? Do you know? I’d love to hear from you.
A distant cousin who lives in Switzerland posted it to a forum on Yahoo! Groups related to genealogy in a region of Europe known as Pomerania.
It is apparently about my great-great grandmother, Caroline Radde. (The file is named Caroline.R.) But I am having a heck of a time deciphering it.
If you can help, please don’t hesitate contacting me by commenting on this post or writing to me directly via email, hillaj@outlook.com. And thanks in advance for any assistance!
ajh
Gotthilf!
His complete name is Gotthilf David Siegfried Lentz.
Recently I visited a friend, a retired Methodist minister, who has been visiting her daughter in Seattle.
For years she lived and worked in Seattle. The family is from Vermont, and she spent much of her youth in Switzerland, where her father was stationed with the State Department, I think.
While we talking one evening, she mentioned my tweet. She was curious about the name. We figured out the God part, but didn’t get farther than that. So later I decided to use the Google, specifically Google Translate, and after learning the meaning of his name, I sent off a note to her.
“Just learned that Gotthilf is ‘God’s help’ in English.”
And she promptly replied, after her return home to Portland via the Bolt Bus.
“That is fantastic…nice name.”
Get thyself on Twitter, Hager-Smith! And then ye may tweet me directly.¹
ajh
1. She is, or was, on Twitter, but hasn’t updated her account since 2014.
Ludwig of Gröbenzien
I’m so glad I’ve finally found a record of my great-great grandfather, Ludwig Lentz of Gröbenzien. Gröbenzien was a village in Germany, near the Polish border.
The images are from the Borntuchen church book, known in German as Kirchenbuch. This is the first time I’ve found Ludwig in any historical records. And there’s another unknown, his son Eduard. Most other surviving records from this branch of the family are in other church books.
I’ve included links to the image files of the complete record and the key at the top of the page.
ajh
The Missing Fromke Brothers | Friedrich Wilhelm, Carl August & Emil Gustav
In my pursuit of learning more about the family history, I discovered the names of three siblings — three brothers — of my great grandfather, a farmer born in Prussia who settled in South Dakota named Albert Fromke, which for some reason had been lost and not been passed down.
On this chart, Albert continues to be listed as the first born, a detail which I’ve always ignored for some reason.
The second born, another male, is new to me. His name was Friedrich Wilhelm Fromke. He was born in 1861 Borntuchen, Kreis Bütow, Pommern, Prussia. He died two years later, in 1863.
The next child unknown to me was Carl August Fromke, born in 1866 in Borntuchen. That’s all the information recorded.
The last brother, new to me, was Emil Gustav Fromke, born in Borntuchen in 1875.
Oddly, another brother who also immigrated to America, August Ludwig Fromke, isn’t included on this family tree. He was born on 1873 and died in South Dakota in 1909. He relocated to California for a while, but did not like life there and returned to South Dakota.
ajh
Well, this is strange. Did Emil make the trip to America or die in the Old World?
One of the puzzles on my family tree is my great grandparents’ son Emil.
Passenger records have him arriving with his parents at the immigration depot known as Castle Garden on the tip of Manhattan. He was listed as nine years old, having been born in 1878 or 1879. I found this odd because his parents didn’t marry until 1880. But I didn’t want to discount him being born out of wedlock.
However, someone else, part of the geni.com trove of material I discovered a few days ago, has an Emil August Rudolf Fromke being born to them on January 27, 1882 but only living for one day, before they emigrated in 1887.
So what’s the story? Who is the Emil who came to America? Unfortunately, I have more questions than answers at this point.
ajh
AARON HILL’S NOTEBOOK 