Where We're From – England

Unlike the previous lists, which had at least one birth in the country I was making the list for, none of my family was born in England. It was just a way-station in the lives of my family. The dates I have for these are less confirmed, so they will be my best guesses according to what notes I have.

A map of these locations:

View English Locations for my Family in a larger map

1. Camp Douglas, Isle of Man
Yes, I know this isn't England per se, but it doesn't belong with any of the other lists, so I'm going to put it here, for lack of a better location. I do have some family who came from Northern Ireland, and a quarter of my family that was located in Wales, so I intend to do different lists for those two locations, so this one gets to be part of England, at least for my purposes.

This location is a less positive location to me than the others I have listed so far. My great grandfather, Alex Seneft (later Alex Hillinger), was sent here during the first World War because he was a German Citizen. I'm not sure if he was sent there alone, or if either of his brothers or possibly the whole family were sent there as well. I do know he stayed at the camp through the end of the war, when he was expelled from England. He returned to Germany, though he left at least one sibling, and possibly both of his parents behind in England.

2. London
The Senefts came to England from Galicia when my great-grandfather Alex was young, possibly as young as seven years of age, though all their children were born in the "old country." I believe they settled in London, and that Leon and Mindel, Alex's parents, died in England.

3. Grimsby
The Bordewick Family, Heinrich Bergethon and his wife Leonharde and their three sons, Bjarne (my great-grandfather), Hans, and Harald, settled in Grimsby for a time after leaving Antwerp but before moving to Canada shortly before my great-grandfather would have finished his schooling, sometime about 1910 or 1911.


That's all I have for England at this time, though I do have a huge batch of Wales coming soon. And at least one location in Ireland. I'll be curious to see if any others for the United Kingdom/British Isles turn up.

Again, if any of my family reading this knows more, I'd love to hear it.

Next up: Denmark!