Hansen Placeline

I actually have several Hansen branches in my family tree, so I will clarify here that this is my grandmother's father's line, who lived in Jutland, Denmark for most of the time I have info on them. This line starts with my dad's mother, Margaret Hansen Hillinger, who was the first generation of her line to be born in the US.

As before, Bold is the location major life events such as birth, marriage, and death, and Italics is any other locations where they lived for at least a year.

1. Margaret Hansen Hillinger

A. Issaquah, Washington. When my grandmother needed more help in her daily life, she moved to a place close to both my aunts, settling in Issaquah. She passed at my aunts' home at the age of 90.

B. Seattle, Washington. She and my grandfather moved to Seattle with their young son (my father) after he finished his schooling at Ohio State because they heard it was close to skiiing, which tipped their decision of where to move in Seattle's favor. They raised all four of their children here, and all of their children still live in Washington today.

C. Columbus, Ohio. Nana lived here with dad and her husband while he attended Ohio state to become an accountant.

D. Frankfurt, Germany. Nana applied to help out cleaning up the war front after the war was over, and was stationed in Weisbaden, Germany, which is a suburb of Frankfurt. While here, she met and married my grandfather, and their first child, my dad was born. 

E. War years. Nana had several posts throughout the war, including: Fort Hays, Ohio, where she was first inducted into the US Army; Daytona Beach, Florida; DesMoines, Iowa, where she trained for Officer Candidate School; Fort Oglethorp, Georgia; and finally a position in Hot Springs, Arkansas, where she was when the war ended. After that, she transferred to the European front to help in the cleanup after the war.

F. Cleveland, Ohio. After finishing her schooling, she moved back in with her father full time, and worked in town as a secretary until she signed up for the war.

G. Willoughby, Ohio. Nana got the chance to attend Andrews, a boarding school for girls in a town near Cleveland, and graduated from there with a sense of purpose, wanting to make her way in the world. The school still exists today, now called Andrews Osbourne Acadamy, which is now co-ed.

H. Cleveland, Ohio. Nana was born in a growing community of Danes in Cleveland. Her father ran a business building houses, and the family moved often from one house to a new one as he finished houses. She and her sister and brother had a good life with their parents until their mother passed in 1929. After her death, their father remarried, and Nana struggled until she got the opportunity to go to boarding school, despite the fact that the whole country was in a depression.

2. Holger Skov Hansen

A. Cleveland, Ohio. After meeting his future wife, Oline, Holger moved to Cleveland, where they married in 1918. They had three children together before her death in 1929. He married again soon after to a woman named Rose, and the two raised their five children together in a difficult time. He continued his house building business until it became too difficult to do so, and she spent her time selling houses, so they worked well in tandem. She died in 1972, and he died five years later in 1977.

B. New York, New York. When Holger first came to the US, he landed in New York. I don't know a great deal about this time of his life. I haven't even been able to pin down when he first came. His paperwork says he was going to Long Island, where I think his aunt and uncle lived, so he may have lived with them full time, or may have lived on his own, but either way, he did bricklaying in the area to make a living until he met his first wife, and they moved together to Cleveland to marry.

C. Thyregod, Vejle, Denmark. Holger was born in a small town called Hinskov in the Thyregod area of Vejle, Denmark. His family had lived there for several generations, and he was only able to move to the US when the national train service chose to put a station near their home. He and his father worked on the project (which still stands today), and that was how Holger made the money he used to come to the US.

3. Jens Christian Hansen

A. Thyregod, Vejle, Denmark. Jens and his family lived and died in this area for two generations. His children scattered out across the country and the world as they married. One son to England, several more across the sea to the US, but he and his wife lived and farmed here until they passed.

4. Hans Knudsen

We're now in the murky area of this part of my family tree. What I have here is what I have found on Ancestry in large part, and therefore there may be incorrect. 

A. Thyregod, Vejle, Denmark. Like his son, Hans lived and died here, never moving from the place his father had found to farm.

5. Knud Knudsen

A. Thyregod, Vejle, Denmark. By the time Knud married, he was in the Vejle area. I'm not sure how he met his wife, or why he moved there (possibly because of the marriage, but perhaps not), but all of his children were born there, and he died there in 1866 at the age of 71.

B. Hammer, Skanderborg, Denmark. According to the records I currently have, this is where Knud was born. I have no idea when he left the area and came to Vejle.

6. Knud Madsen

A. Hammer, Skanderborg, Denmark. I have even less information on Knud Madsen than I have on his son. I don't have a birth location beyond Denmark for him, but his marriage record locates him in Hammer, and I know his son was born there as well. I presume he likely lived in the area until he died, though I don't have more than Denmark as his death location as well. 

I have a seventh generation back, but as of yet, I can't be certain I have the right names, as I have an alternate as well, so I won't put him here for now. As you can see, this gets sketchier as I go back in time, but I keep working to find more information on this line, so hopefully someday soon, I will find more.

Nine locations for this one. Less than the previous two, but still a good number. I'm finding it fascinating that even back in the "old world," my family moved around a lot more than we think they did. 

52 Ancestors: Courting - Daniel & Bessie and Holger & Oline

So for the second time this month, I can't resist doing a twofer for this prompt, because both of these stories are just too lovely not to share for it. I actually have a third, but it's a different generation, so I'll hold onto that for something else.

1) Daniel and Bessie (born Eliza) were both born in Wales, less than five hours walk from each other, as I posted in the Maps post. 

Bessie (Eliza) Jones Nee Howells

When Bessie was young, she and her family moved away from the mining town she was born in, and to Canada, where her uncle lived, running his own farm. The family eventually settled in Winnipeg, as her father wasn't interested in farming. As her brothers and sisters grew up and married, they all, in their turns, felt the need to move away from the snow of Manitoba, and so they all moved west, eventually settling in and around Vancouver, BC. I'm not sure when Eliza moved there, but I do know that she was here in Seattle for the Alaskan Yukon Goldrush Exposition, which took place in 1909. I'm not sure if she was living in Vancouver at that time, but if not, it was probably around the time she decided to settle there. I do know that she was married and living there in 1911, so it probably wasn't much later.

Daniel Thomas Jones

Daniel lived with his family in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales until he was a young man. Then he and his friends decided to take a trip to Canada, just to experience life before settling down. By the time they got about halfway across Canada, they knew they needed to make a choice. Either continue on, and stay in Canada for another year, or start back to the east coast. They chose by flipping a coin--and moved on west. When they got to Vancouver, Daniel met Bessie. According to stories my grandfather told, Daniel said he remembered seeing her before, when he was in Winnipeg, though Bessie disagreed that could have happened. But either way, Daniel decided this lovely girl was the girl for him. By 1911, they were married, and Daniel only returned home with family in tow to introduce them to his family back in Wales.

2) My other lovely romance of my great-grandparents is the story of how my other grandmother's parents met and married.

Oline Hansen

Oline Hansen was born on the island of Sealand, Denmark, right in the center. She was the third of six children born to a farmer and his second wife. When she was nine, her father died. She and her older siblings attempted to take up the slack. But from what I have been told, she didn't enjoy farming. So she ended up going to work for a neighbor, becoming their cook and seamstress. That neighbor was Ole Hansen (no relation, I believe), who was already involved in local politics when she began working for him. Eventually he became the first non-noble to act as a minister in Denmark. See this post for more info. His family moved to the outskirts of Copenhagen during his time in office, and Oline moved with them. Eventually, she decided to use her good fortune working for the family to move to the United States, to see if she could make a better living there. We know that she moved to Chicago, but not much of her time there, though we believe she again worked for other families as a cook and seamstress.

Holger Skov Hansen

Holger Hansen was born in Jutland, Denmark, also in a farming town. The family was not well off, and I have been told a story (which I have since proven using a census record) that when Holger got sick with pneumonia, the family had to walk with him to town because they had no cart they could use to transport him, and so afterwards, he stayed with his grandmother until he was well enough to walk home. As a young man, his father taught him bricklaying, and they made extra money around their town doing bricklaying for the people around town. When they got the chance to work on the train station that was finally being built in their area, Holger and his father (and I believe a brother or two as well) quickly joined in. This was how Holger earned the money to come here to the US. His mother had a sister in the US, and so he traveled and stayed with his aunt and uncle until he could make his own way doing brickwork in the New York area. 

In 1916 or so, both Holger and Oline decided to go visit their families in Denmark, and ended up on the same boat together. Holger found himself drawn to this young woman, and spent most of his time on the boat with her. Shortly after they landed, the Germans imposed a blockade on the US, so they were not able to return to the US for a time. Holger, being the enterprising young man he was, decided to take a chance and visit the lovely young lady he'd met on the boat. Looking at Google maps, these days the trip is 2-3 hours. Back then, it was probably a little longer, given technology. Either way, that's a long trip, but Holger did it. I don't know how long he stayed, or if he just visited often, but either way, when the couple returned to the US, they were absolutely a couple. They made plans to move to a new city together, choosing Cleveland, Ohio, where they lived and raised three children together before Oline died in 1929. They had just over ten years together, but they lived a lifetime in those years.

So there are the stories of how two sets of my great-grandparents met and married.

Bordewick Placeline

 Here's the second part of my family placeline, this time starting with my mom and working back from her. Her paternal line is Norwegian/Germanic, but the family as a whole has hit a block with my five times great grandfather, Hans Henrik, who came to Norway from Germany. Bardoweick, or so the family story says. But as of yet, no one in the great extended family has been able to find his family back in Germany.

Same note as before here: Bolded locations are ones where a major life event happened, either Birth, Marriage, or Death. Italicized locations are places where the family lived, but there were no big events in that person's life at that location.

1. My Mom: Ruth Anne Hillinger nee Bordewick

My mom's story is similar to my dad's. She was born outside the US, and came here with her parents. Unlike him, her parents weren't already citizens when she came here, but because she did come with her family, she met my dad, and the rest, as they say, is history.

A. Seattle, Washington. The place my mom lived for most of my life until she passed.

B. Port Orchard, Washington. Where mom and dad lived for a few years after my sister and I moved out before coming back to live in Seattle.

C. Bellevue, Washington. When my mom's family came to the US in 1960, they settled in Bellevue, where mom attended high school, and where she eventually married my dad.

D. Vancouver, BC. Where mom's family lived when she and her siblings were all born. Her family lived there until her father went looking for a better job, which lead them to moving to the US in 1960.

2. My Grandfather, George Robert Bordewick

My grandfather was the first generation on both sides of his family born in Canada, and all his children were born there as well. If he had not chosen to leave the country to find a better living, our family likely would have stayed there for at least another generation, if not more. But we did, so here we are.

A. Bellevue, Washington. Where my grandparents lived together through the remainder of their children's childhood, three marriages, and right until his death.

B. While serving in the war, Grandpa stayed mostly in the south west of England, and even went north to visit his in-laws' families when he had leave time. 

D. Truro, Nova Scotia. His training before he was sent overseas was here, and grandmum came to live here while he was here.

C. Vancouver, BC. Grandpa is another one of my family who really didn't move around much. He ws born in Vancouver and lived there with his parents until he married, went off to war, then settled down with his bride and their growing family after the war was over. I don't have strong details about grandpa's time in the army, but I may add more if I am able to find it.

3. Bjarne Bordewick, born Bordewich

A. Vancouver, BC. Where Bjarne finally settled with his parents after travelling halfway around the world from their home in Norway. Another of his mother's siblings lived here in Vancouver with her husband and their family. Here he met my great-grandmother, Mary. They married here and had two boys, George and Henry (aka Harry), and lived here until he died in a car accident near their new home in 1950.

B. Cleethorps, England. When things went bad in Belgium, the family moved here to be close to Bjarne's mom's younger brother, who I believe lived in Hull. Bjarne spent several years here, and was even starting his testing to go to Cambridge when his family moved again, this time to Canada. I believe he came separate from his family, but the records are a little scattered. It's possible I have records wrong, and he came with his family, but at this time, I do not have a record of all five family members together on a boat.

C. Antwerp, Belgium. When fishing in the Lofoten Islands became difficult, Bjarne's dad and his uncle Eivind tried to set up a fishing venture, sending their fish to markets where they could charge more for them. Unfortunately, Bordewich in Norway became Bordewick in Belgium, and the Belgians heard it as an English name. This was around the time of the Boer War, and feelings about English were at an all time low. The family still tells stories about the family being spit upon on the street. We don't think they even lasted a year here before they moved again.

D: Henningsvaer, Lofoten Islands, Norway. Bjarne was born in a small town south of the town his grandfather ran. He lived here until the family moved when he was young.

4. Henrik Bergithon Bordewick, aka Henry Bordewick, born Bordewich

A. Vancouver, BC. Where Henry lived with his wife and sons until his death in 1930, having moved from England in 1910.

B. Cleethorps, England. He lived here for several years with his family, becoming a UK citizen in 1910 before moving to Canada shortly after.

C. Antwerp, Belgium. Where he'd hoped to start a new business, which failed badly (see above for more details), causing the family to move again.

D. Henningsvaer, Lofoten Islands, Norway. Where he had his own small farm, and his three sons were born before fishing (which he and his brother used to supplement their family larder) became difficult, and he and his brother Eivind came up with an idea for how to make money from the fish they were able to catch.

E. Lingvaer, Lofoten Islands, Norway. Where he was born, and where his father was born before him. A small town his grandfather ran, first as the man in charge of the town trading post, but later also as mayor for a time.

5. Hans Henrik Bordewich

A. Henningsvaer, Lofoten Islands, Norway. When Hans's father Johan remarried, he decided to leave, since his father showed no signs of stepping aside so that his sons could take over his business. He and his wife moved to Henningsvaer, where his grandson was born, and where he passed away at the age of 59. 

B. Lingvaer, Lofoten Islands, Norway. I believe Hans Henrik lived his most of his life in the town he was born in. If not, he was one of the few of Johan's children not to be born there, but at the moment, my records are not concise enough for me to be certain.

6. Johan Petter Bordewich

A. Lingvaer, Lofoten Islands, Norway. Shortly after his first marriage, he moved to Lingvaer, and all of his sixteen children were born in Lingvaer, if what I believe is correct. He helped run a trading post there, and when his boss needed to leave (quite abruptly, from the family lore), he took over the post and ran it quite well for many years. He even became mayor of the town for a time. After his first wife's death, and a subsequent child by one of his family staff, he eventually married again, having four more children with his second wife. He died here at the age of 76, quite a good age for someone living back in 1879.

B. Trondheim, Norway. Johan was born here to a captain and his wife, and lived there until he was old enough to work. According to the family lore, he eventually began working in the Lofoten Islands for a man who ran a trading post there.

7. Hans Henrik Bordwig (or Bordvik, or many other variations)

A. Trondheim, Norway. Hans Henrik came to Norway and met and married his wife, Anna here. They had three sons, and he started up a shipping concern. He was captain of his own boat, and helped ship goods to many places in Europe before his ship ran aground on an island on the edge of the Lofoten Islands. It was winter, and while the men made it to shore, they all froze before they were found. 

B. Bardoweik, Germany. This is where we have been told that Hans was born, though as of yet, no one in the extended family has been able to find a record that precisely matches his information, so we have been unable to trace back further in his family line.

*

So there are all the locations for my Bordewick/Bordewich/Bordewig line. 11 locations. A very descent amount. The ones coming up next won't be quite as long, though they still extend back quite a ways, so we shall see.

52 Ancestors: Landed - Ole Larsen

 As soon as I saw this prompt, I knew who I'd be writing about. My first Ancestor in the US. When I first started working on my family tree, I believed that my Iris roots were the earliest in the US. The Parks came to Philadelphia in 1883 and had 9 children here, and for the longest time, I believed they were the first to be here in the US. As it is, my great-grandmother is still the first person in my direct line to be born in the US.

But when I started looking into my great-grandmother Oline's line, I learned that her grandfather, Ole Larsen, came here in 1867, according to the census records I have for his son. I know that they son came to America together. My great-great grandmother wasn't so lucky. He left her behind in Denmark. Her mother had died in 1858, so I don't know who took care of her after her father and brother left, though she did have two older half-sisters who were her mother's daughters, so it's possible she stayed with them, or with their grandparents.

Because of this, she spent much of her young life helping out at other people's houses, and only married when she worked for a widower who lost his wife. My great-great grandfather had his own farm, inherited from his father, and they had six children together, including my great-grandmother, Oline. 

Meanwhile, in America, Ole had remarried, and he and his son had settled in Minnesota. I don't know much of their life there, but I do know they had their own farm. I don't know if he kept in touch with his daughter. I do know he wrote to her at least once, though. When my great aunt went to Denmark to meet Oline's family, she learned that Ole had sent his daughter a vase, which had been passed down to the next generations as an almost joke. Rather than sending to bring his daughter to America, he'd left her behind, and in a sort of shameful way, paid her off for never sending for her. 

I will say that I originally thought that he'd come to America alone, and that he'd never sent for his wife or daughter, but somehow, this is worse. And unfortunately, a very common story for people who immigrated to America. The men came first, and left their family behind, alone or in part. There's even a word for the wives left behind by their husbands. A straw widow. Because she wasn't a true widow, so she couldn't just remarry. As it was, his daughter survived. But it definitely wasn't the happiest or most comfortable of lives.

It wasn't until her children left for America that our family got in touch with Ole's American descendants again. His son had had two children, though neither ended up having children, so that line is gone now. But Oline's line is still alive and well, despite her mother being left behind in Denmark.

Hillinger Placeline

So I have written here many times about how many places our family is from, and that most are recent places in our family history, so I thought it would be interesting to track each family name through the places we've lived over the history I have gathered. I will be starting with the most recent person in that family line and working back in time to the earliest time I have recorded for that line. So without further ado, here is the story of the places the Hillinger line has lived.

One note here: Bolded locations are ones where a major life event happened, either Birth, Marriage, or Death. Italicized locations are places where the family lived, but there were no big events in that person's life at that location.

1. Me

I'm not a person who has wanted to live anywhere other than where I currently live. Because of that, there are going to be only two locations in this part:

A. Seattle, Washington. I've lived here in Seattle from day one, and even had my wedding here in Seattle. I can't imagine living anywhere else.

B. Bellevue, Washington. My birth location was only a technicality, as my mother's doctor practiced in so that's where I was born, but that's the only other place I've lived, even if for just a short time after my birth, so I figured I'd include it here.

2. My Dad

My father's story is a little more complicated than mine, though he really hasn't moved from our city since the family moved here when he was quite young. 

A. Seattle, Washington. This is where my father lives as well, and has for most of his life, as I said above. 

B. Port Orchard, Washington, on the other side of the sound from Seattle. He and my mother did live here for a time in before coming back to Seattle again. 

C. Columbus, Ohio. Before Dad and his parents moved here, they lived for two years in Columbus while his father attended Ohio State. 

D. Frankfurt, Germany. Dad was born here. His parents had been serving there in the armed forces before my father was born, so that my father spent the first few months of his life there.

3. Sam Hillinger, my Grumpy

Grumpy is where my family journey starts to get interesting. While he and my Nana lived here in Seattle for more than half their lives, and nearly all of their married lives together, Grumpy lived many places in his time between his birth in Europe and settling here in Seattle.

A. Barcelona, Spain. Though Grumpy never actually lived here, it was the place he and Nana were visiting when he died. The only other location I will be including where we didn't truly live for at least a year, and only because a major life event happened there.

B. Seattle, Washington. As I said, Grumpy lived here most of his adult life, though he and Nana traveled a great deal in their lives together, including the place they had just arrived when he died. 

C. Columbus, Ohio. As I said above, he attended college at Ohio State here for two years. 

D. Frankfurt, Germany. Grumpy served in Europe during and after the war, and this is where he and Nana married. It is also where they started a family with my father. 

E: During the war, Grumpy was stationed a few places, starting at Camp Crowder, Missouri, and spending at least some time in Weissbauden, Germany. I'm not sure how long he spent in either place, though dad says he mentioned Weisbauden a lot, so it's possible that one deserves its own entry.

F. Chicago, Illinois. This is where Grumpy's family finally settled in the US after several moves around the Southern US. Grumpy lived there with them before he was finally able to enlist to join the Army during World War II. 

G. Before they settled there, Grumpy lived in several places between 1941 to 1942 in Arkansas and even Louisiana, doing odd jobs and attempting to join the war draft. 

H. Eldorado, Arkansas. Grumpy lived at he lived here for about a year. I believe this was either for a job of his own, or for his mother's job as a cook at various locations.

I. Hot Springs, Arkansas. The family lived here for two years while Dora worked as a cook in either a hospital or a school, though I'm not sure which. This is where Grumpy finished his schooling. 

J. Memphis, Tennessee. This is the first place the family lived in the US, where his Grumpy's aunt Anne and her husband lived. 

K. Paris, France. Grumpy and his family spent about a year in Paris while his father gathered the money needed to get them to the US. 

L. Frankfurt, Germany. This is not only where Grumpy got married, but also where his story began. He and all his siblings were born and lived there, attending school and enjoying the community of Jews that gathered there after World War I. They lived there until their father realized that they needed to get out of Germany while they could. So even though Grumpy and dad were both born in the same city in Europe, it was separated by a long period of movement for Grumpy, and a world war.

4. Alex aka Elias Hillinger, born Elias Seneft

Alex's journey from Birth to America is even more extreme than his son's. 

A. Chicago, Illinois. This is where the family had just settled when Alex passed. In fact, much of his paperwork still lists the family's location as Hot Springs for his death location, so obviously they were still settling at the time.

B. Hot Springs, Arkansas. Where the family lived for several years between Chicago and Memphis. 

C. Memphis, Tennessee. Where the family first settled near his sister and her husband after they arrived in the US.

D. Paris, France. Where the family lived between Germany and the US while he worked to secure visas for his family to go to the US.

E. Frankfurt, Germany. This is where Alex's story becomes different from his son's. He traveled there after the first World War because he had been expelled from England where he had been living with his family until the war. Despite being forced into a country that later tried to kill him and all his family, it did give him one bright spot. It was there he met and married my great-grandmother Dora, and all their children were born in the city before he felt they had to flee the country.

F. Camp Douglas, Isle of Man, UK. During the war, England imprisoned him in a place called Camp Douglas for people they considered enemy aliens. Since he was of Germanic descent, he was forced to go there. After the war, England forced him to leave the country. Because of this expulsion, our family name changed from Seneft, his father's name, to Hilinger (which became Hillinger in America), his mother's, because the German government did not recognize his parents' marriage as a legal one, because it was a Jewish ceremony. 

G. London, England. Before the war, Alex lived with his family in London for many years. They emmigrated there when he was young.

H. Shendishov, Galicia, also known as Sedziszow Makopolski. This is where Alex and his siblings were all born before the family left Galicia to find a better life in England.

5. Mendel Hilinger

I know very little about my great great grandmother. In fact, I might not know anything about her were it not for the fact that my great grandfather was forced to take on her surname as his own. But because we have a name for her, I was able to find a record that showed her gravestone in London in 1913. 

A. London, England. I know that she died in London, and that she and her family lived there for at least 14 years before that, as I have a record of her son being in the UK military in 1899, at the very least. As I said in Alex's part, I don't know when they arrived, but hopefully their life improved for her before she passed in 1913.

B. Shendishov, Galicia. Before England, I know she lived in Shendeshov with her husband and children, but I do not know if she was born there or not. So I currently only have those two locations for her. All I can hope is that someday I will find something more about her.

*

And that is all of the locations my Hillinger line has lived, from Galicia to Seattle, Washington. 14 locations total in this line. Quite impressive.

52 Ancestors: Maps: Alex Hillinger and Dora Kresch and Daniel Jones and Eliza Howells

 As soon as I saw this prompt, I immediately thought of two sets of my great-grandparents. Almost all of my great-grandparents were born outside of the US, and two of the four couples were actually born very close together.

Alex Hillinger was born in a small town called Shendeshov also known as Sedzizow Malopolski in a place that was once called Galicia, but which is now southern Poland, between Krakow and Rzezow, though much closer to Rzesow than Krakow. His family left Galicia when he was young, though I'm not sure exactly when they left. After World War I, he moved to Germany, and settled in Frankfurt

Dora Kresch was born in Czudek, also in Galicia, but now Poland. It too was fairly close to Rezezow. She lived in the town until sometime after World War I, when she and at least one if not both of her sisters moved to Frankfurt to get away from the Pograms happening in Eastern Europe.

You can see Rzezow on the far right of the map. So my great grandparents lived not even a half a day's walk away from each other. But they never met until they moved to Frankfurt after World War I.

But! They are not the only story like this as I have said.

On the other side of my family tree, my maternal great grandparents were also born very close together, but didn't meet until they traveled about halfway around the world.

Daniel Jones was born in the mining hub of Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. It was a major ironworks for all the mining in the area. His parents ran the town Post office, and he lived there until he got wandering feet as a young man and went on a trip to Canada with a few friends in the early 1900s. While there, he ran into a lovely lady who gave him pause, and when he met her again after he and his friends traveled to the West Coast, he knew it was fate, and married her.

Eliza Howells was born in a small mining town called Pontypridd, Wales, just south of Merthyr Tydfil. Her father was a stonemason who worked on shoring up the mines there. However, he chose to leave the profession upon learning that it was bad for his health, so the family moved to Canada, where Eliza spent much of her youth in Winnipeg. In her early twenties, she moved to the West Coast, making hats for a living. It was there she first remembered meeting Daniel, and the two were eventually married. Daniel only returned to Wales to visit his family.

Daniel and Eliza were born even closer together. Not a whole lot, but as you can see, just a four hour plus walk again.

It's so much fun, seeing how close together they lived. The other two couples were much further apart. I know that Holger did go to where Oline's family lived once he'd met her, but that was a much longer trip, and definitely not a simple walk. And Bjarne and Mary were born continents apart. She in Philadelphia, and he in Norway. But I do find it fascinating that I have two of these kinds of stories in my family tree. I know they were common in the old country, but usually the tale is that they lived close together, so that was why they met. But not in either of these cases.

So does anyone else have stories like this in their tree?

Intro to new posts: Family Placelines

It's been so nice, getting back into the swing of things here that things have been percolating in my brain. Because of that, I have decided to do another set of posts. Back when I first started writing here, I did a series called Surname Saturday, where I made a post about the facts I had on my surnames. I took it a bit farther than I really had information on at the time, but I still learned a great deal about my family tree in doing them. I did revisit them a few years ago after doing family books about our family, and found even more things as I worked on them. So I figure it's time to do it again.

This time, I'm combining them with another set of posts I did, called Where We're From, where I looked into the locations my family were from. I focused generally birth, marriage, and death locations. It was a lot of fun, and very interesting to see locations in comparison to each other. 

This time, I decided I would start with the most person in that particular family line in direct relation to me (ancestors only), and work my way back in time from where they live now (or where they died if they are no longer living), and all the locations they lived in more than momentarily (about a year at least), all the way back to the place they were born to the best of my ability. I've already worked up a few of the more recent family lines, and it's been quite interesting to see how it stacks up. 

I'm very much looking forward to seeing how these turn out, and I hope others will enjoy them as well. 

52 Ancestors - Branching Out - Petra Bordewich

 I struggled this week with what to write for this prompt, but finally my friend Summer gave me the perfect idea. "Maybe [write about] a really peripheral family member? Somebody you've always taken for granted or overlooked." And that's when the idea came to mind, combining with my initial thought, which was to write about Johan Bordewich, who is the first of his family to really record his family members. But instead, I decided to write about someone I don't think I've ever written about here before. Her name was Petra Bordewich, and she was a half sister to my great-great grandmother, one of Johan Bordewich's gigantic brood.

Johan married twice. The first time, he and his wife had eleven children. She died due to complications from the last child, who died soon after her. The two were buried together. And it was this that caused Johan to start writing down all the information on his family. It's because of him that we have as much information on the Bordewich clan as we do. He later married again, and had four more children with his second wife. But...before her, he had an affair.

After his wife's death, he began a relationship with his younger children's nanny or tutor, and before long, she became pregnant. His elder children hardly wanted more kids in their family, or a new "mother" who would try to control things. They were adults, or nearly, and didn't want that. So they convinced their father to send the woman away, and their daughter, Petra, was allowed his surname, but probably little else from him.

I didn't even know of her for many years, until I found a site from the extended Bordewich clan online that showed her there. At first, I thought (as you would when finding a strange child in a family you are sure you have complete) that it was a mistake. A child attached to the family by mistake. But no. Petra was absolutely part of the Bordewich clan, even if a sadly discarded part.

Petra was born Petra Johanna Emalie Bordewich. Her mother's name was Jacobine Hansdatter. Because they are not a major part of my family, I haven't looked much into their lives, only what I've stated above. Petra was born November of 1852 in Johan's little town, Lyngvaer. I have heard that she worked as a servant until her marriage to a man named Solberg, who she was working as a servant for before they married. They had ten children together.

Petra Bordewich Solberg

So I'm glad to have her in my family, even if her father did force her and her mother away from the family. And I am glad to be able to tell at least some of her story.