Matrilinial Monday – Else Katrine Hansen

Name: Else Katrine Larsen

Called by Grandkids: Likely farmor on my side of the tree, which is Danish for father's mother, because she was my great-grandfather's mother, though I don't know that my grandmother or her siblings ever met her.

Birth: 1865, Ringive, Denmark

Death: 1934, Vejle, Denmark

Spouse: Jens Christian Hansen

Marriage: 1855, Vejle, Denmark

Children: Hansine Kristine, Hans Jørgen, Holger Skov, Aage, Alfred, Ida Kirstine, Hans Knudsen, Adolf

Parents: Jørgen Larsen & Ivare Kirstine Christensen

Siblings: Kristine, Birte Marie, Mette Margrethe, Lars Kristian, Maren Kirstine, Søren, Dagmar Augusta, Ane Marie

About: Else was the eldest child of Jørgen and Kirsten Larsen's nine children. I know little about her life, though she lived all of it in and around Vejle as an adult, where she married her husband Jens and raised their eight children. Life was good, if poor. They often went without things, even such simple things as shoes for the children, according to her son. Her husband was a farmer, but also made a living as a mason, a skill which he taught at least one of his sons, my great-grandfather Holger, which helped him earn enough to come to the US as a young man. She lived long enough to see many of her children leave Denmark, one to England, and several more to the US, where they married and raised children of their own.

By the time Else died, her children had given her eleven grandchildren, and a twelfth was named for her shortly after her death. Her descendants live many places around the world today—Denmark, England, USA, and even Australia.

Else (l) with her daughter-in-law, granddaughter, son, and mother ca 1926

Brick Wall People – Part 14 – Lars Andersen

Note: I apologize for not posting the past couple weeks. Life's been distracting. I still have a few more of these to post, and several more Matrilinial Monday posts to put up, so there will be lots coming.

No Photo

Name: Lars Andersen

Birth: about 1794, Vejle, Denmark

Death: unknown

Marriage: 3/26/1820, Vejle, Denmark

Location(s): Give, Vejle, Denmark

Relation to me: Lars Andersen is my father's mother's father's mother's father's father. He is the 7^th generation before me.

Alias(es): None known at this time.

Parents: unknown, though his father's name is likely Ander or Anders.

Spouse(s): Birthe Marie Sorensen

Children: Anders, Mette, Else Marie, Johannes, Peder, Soren Christian, Jørgen, Elias

Other Family: none known

Details: I found Lars and his wife only recently, after many years of having them listed as Lars Christensen and Oertha (someone had made a B with a squished top part of the letter, so that when it was copied, it got cut off and the bottom of the B looked like an O, so that's how it's been written for years). I decided to take a second look at their son's information and tried to track down his birth record, which listed his parents. From that, I got his parents' names, and that led me to a record on Family Search which no longer seems to exist that gave other children, and more about her family, but nothing more on his. Unfortunately I know little about them except that they were from Vejle. I hope to learn more soon, now that I have the proper names.

Proof:

1)      As I said above, for many years, my only information was that his name was Lars Christensen, which is actually his son's wife's surname, so I think that's where that actually came from, but I could be wrong. The original information came from my grandmother's cousin, Tula, whose mother was Jørgen's daughter.

2)      The next real info we got on Lars and his wife was from Jørgen's baptismal record. That gave me their names, though little else.

3)      The last is both the most information and the least substantial, as I had no clue who had created the record, nor was I able to verify the records included outside of that record. The Family Search tree included children and dates, but little else, so my only true information comes from that baptismal record until I can find more.

Needed:

Unlike most of my brick walls, I have a suggestion for a birth date, and a marriage date as well, though little else. I assume that Lars was a farmer, as that was the most likely occupation in this area at this time, but beyond that, I have nothing else.

I would love to know the names of his parents, if he had siblings, and when he died, though I assume it was in Vejle.

As always, if my family or anyone out there has any more information on this family, I'd love to talk to you about them. I'd love to learn more on any of them, if at all possible.

Brick Wall People – Part 12 – Hugh Roberts

Name: Hugh Roberts

Birth: unknown

Death: after 1885

Marriage: before 1846

Location(s): Northern Wales

Relation to me: Hugh Roberts was my maternal grandmother's mother's maternal grandfather, which makes him 6^th generation before me.

Alias(es): None known at this time.

Parents: unknown

Spouse(s): Ellen Pugh (or possibly Griffiths)

Children: Selina Roberts

Other Family: none known

Details: Hugh Roberts is one of the oldest people in my family tree that I actually have a photo of. I assume he was born sometime in the early 1800s, and we have a picture of him holding one of his daughter's children. We believe it is our great-grandmother Eliza. Aside from that, I really know very little else about him. His daughter was born in Northern Wales, which likely means he was from that area as well, but as I have no absolute information on him, I simply can't be sure.

Proof:

1)      Hugh Roberts has been in my family tree from the time I initially put it together, which was pieced together with the help of my grandmother, her uncle Ted, and my father. None of whom knew the man, unfortunately, which makes the information sketchy at best.

2)      Then there is the photograph of Hugh, Ellen and the child we believe to be Eliza back in Wales. I am uncertain of the actual date of the photo, but fairly certain of the two Robertses's identities.

3)      However, my best proof of his identity is his daughter's death record. It is there he is listed by name, which is a slightly more valid proof than from family stories, where his name might have been mistaken over the century since his death.

Needed:

Again, like many of my other brick walls, I have absolutely no BMD info for him. As I said above, I know he was alive around the 1880s, but I have no clue when he might have died beyond that. I would love to know the names of his parents, and if he had siblings, and where he was born. I would also love to know when he and Ellen were married, and whether or not they had any other children.

As always, if my family or anyone out there has any more information on this family, I'd love to talk to you about them. I'd love to learn more on any of them, if at all possible.

Matrilinial Monday – Feiga Golda Kresch

The sole photo we have of Feiga

Name: Feiga Golda Reich

Called by Grandkids: Likely Bubbe. I know she lived in Frankfurt at the end of her life, so at the very least, she knew my grandfather and most of his siblings before her death.

Birth: about 1870

Death: about 1929, Frankfurt, Germany

Spouse: Benzion Kresch

Marriage: unknown

Children: Naftali Mendel, Dora, Minna, and possibly two or more unnamed

Parents: unknown

Siblings: unknown

About: I know only a little more about Feiga because of a few extra documents and because we have photos of her, not to mention the fact that Grumpy knew her as a boy. But truly, it's not a whole lot more in the larger scheme of things. I do not know for certain where Feiga was born, though I suspect she may have been born in the same town as her daughter, Czudek, Galicia. She married Benzion sometime in the late 1800s, and they had at least three children there, though I assume she lived there until moving to Frankfurt to be closer to her daughters after her husband's death.

Feiga was able to attend at least one of her childrens' weddings, as she is listed on Dora's wedding invitation to Alex in 1919. Beyond that, I know little more. She died in the late 1929s, shortly before things began to get bad for Jews in Germany. I know that three of her children survived the Nazi regime, though I speculate that any others likely died in the camps, or even before, during the round-up of Jews in the German-controlled areas. Her descendants now live in the US and Israel, and we may also have distant relations somewhere in South America, where Mendel's family escaped to right at the beginning of the war.

Brick Wall People – Part 13 – Ellen Pugh (or possibly Griffiths)

Ellen and Hugh Roberts with a grandchild

Name: Ellen Pugh

Birth: unknown

Death: after 1885

Marriage: before 1846

Location(s): Northern Wales

Relation to me: Ellen Pugh was my maternal grandmother's mother's maternal grandmother, which makes her 6^th generation before me.

Alias(es): None known at this time.

Parents: unknown

Spouse(s): Hugh Roberts

Children: Selina Roberts

Other Family: none known

Details: I know little about Ellen or her husband, aside from their names and the photo I have of them. I assume she, like her husband, was born sometime in the early 1800s, probably somewhere in Northern Wales. We have a picture of her holding one of his daughter's children. We believe it is our great-grandmother Eliza. Aside from that, I really know very little else about either of them. Their daughter was born in Northern Wales, which likely means they were from that area as well, but as I have no absolute information on their lives, I simply can't be sure.

Proof:

1)      Ellen has been in my family tree from the first, which was pieced together with the help of my grandmother, her uncle Ted, and my father. None of whom knew her, unfortunately, which makes the information on her sketchy at best.

2)      Then there is the photograph of Hugh, Ellen and the child we believe to be Eliza back in Wales. I am uncertain of the actual date of the photo, but fairly certain of the two Robertses's identities.

3)      However, my best proof of her identity and her surname as Pugh is their daughter's death record. It is there she is listed as Ellen Pugh, which is a slightly more valid proof than from family stories, where I had always heard her referred to as Griffiths.

Needed:

Again, like many of my other brick walls, I have absolutely no BMD info for her. As I said above, I know she was alive around the 1880s, but I have no clue when she might have died. I would love to know the names of her parents, and if she had siblings, and where she was born. I would also love to know when and where she married Hugh, and whether or not they had any other children.

As always, if my family or anyone out there has any more information on this family, I'd love to talk to you about them. I'd love to learn more on any of them, if at all possible.

Matrilinial Monday – Mindel Seneft

No Known Photo

Name: Mindel Hilinger

Called by Grandkids: Possibly Bubbe, but I don't know for certain. I'm not certain she actually met any of her grandchildren, given she died before her children were married, I believe.

Birth: About 1851

Death: 1913, London, England, according to the gravestone record I found for her

Spouse: Leon Seneft

Marriage: unknown

Children: Elias (Alex), Jennie, Annie, Jack, and one unnamed son

Parents: unknown

Siblings: none known

About: Mindel is a cypher in my family tree, despite being the origin of our surname. Her son, my great-grandfather, was forced to take her surname when he returned to Germany to live because Mindel and Leon were Jewish, and married in a religious ceremony, so their marriage was not recognized by the government, which made him illegitimate.

I know nothing about her early life, or who her parents were, nor if she had any siblings. My knowledge of her starts with my great-grandfather's birth. Mindel and her husband had at least five children in Galicia, which is an old Germanic state in southern Poland and eastern Ukraine. I have yet to pinpoint exactly where they lived, but I know they moved while their children were still young. They settled in London, where her husband was a Rabbi. I am uncertain exactly when they moved to London, nor why, though I can guess. Galicia was a very poor country, and by that time, Jews were once again becoming scapegoats. Not that things improved for them much upon their arrival in England. Luckily Mindel never lived to the first world war, to see what was done to her family, or worse, to the second, to see the hate that was so poured upon her people.

Her gravestone was engraved with "By her loving daughter Jennie," or something along those lines in Hebrew. I have no idea where her husband's stone is, if it even exists at all, but I believe he lived for at least seven more years before dying sometime before Alex's second (and third—they were twins) child was born.