Surname Sunday 3.0 - Hillinger/Hilinger

Starting a new version of my Surname Sunday posts. Hopefully these will be interesting to everyone. I'll go over major versions of my surname, and the places they are from, and the stats as found at the site Forbears.

Hillinger/Hilinger: 

According to Forbears, the name Hillinger is held by 1,361 people in the world. The largest number of which live in Austria. Germany is the second most populous, which is where my grandfather was born, and the US where we now live, is third. 

Here's the distribution of the Hillinger name throughout the world. The darker the color, the bigger the representation of the name:

Here is the distribution in Austria:

And here is the distribution in Germany, where my grandfather was born:

By all rights, I should look at the numbers in Poland, because that's where my grandfather's grandmother, from whom we get the Hillinger name, was likely born. However, there don't appear to be any now, so that map is entirely grey. But in this instance, her name was spelled with only one L, so I also did a glance of the distribution of the name Hilinger as well.

According to Forbears, the name Hilinger is only held by 92 people in the world. The largest number of which live in Spain. There are only three other countries with people using the name Hilinger in the world, Austria, Poland, and Sweden. I include this because I find it curious, with a possibility that perhaps our family has some Sephardic heritage because of this connection? I have no proof aside from this result, but it still fascinates me.

Hilinger:

The distribution across the world:

And the distribution in Spain:

Now, these are modern numbers, so it may mean nothing at all, but it still makes me wonder. I had hoped my DNA results might confirm this guess, but I presume it's either so wrapped up in my Eastern European Jewish results, or so slight that it just doesn't show. Or I never inherited that strain from my father. I don't know that this is a mystery that will ever be solved, given how hard it is to find records for this side of the family, but I can hope.

Surname Saturday 2.0: The Pughs

The Pugh Family

  

This is one of the more murky parts of my family tree. Like the Currans, who I knew little about when starting my family quest, I know almost nothing about this line, and did not even have the name Pugh attached to it until recently, when I found Selina Howell's death record on Family Search. I originally had Selina's parents listed as Hug Roberts and Ellen Griffiths, but in the record, her mother's name is listed as Pugh. As of yet, that is the only time I have found the name, so I still have not completely confirmed it, but it is possible that somewhere a generation or two ago, her maiden name was confused with another maiden name on this branch, though on a different side. My grandmother's paternal grandmother was a Griffiths, so it's possible that it was somehow attached to this woman by accident. Until I find more on her, though, I have no way of confirming that one way or the other.

Aside from that, I have very little on this line. I have no parents for Ellen, and no siblings for Selina, so I have no way of tracking further back at this time. I do know that at the time Selina was born, Ellen and Hugh lived in Northern Wales. I'm not sure if that was where they were from or not, or where they might have been born or married, but I continue to look. Their surnames are distinctly Welsh, so I continue to assume for now that they are at least Welsh.

This line, for those interested:

* Ellen Pugh (or Griffiths) married Hugh Roberts. I have no birth, marriage or death information for her aside from that, though I do know that she was likely alive when her daughter's family moved to Canada, or died at about that time, as there is a photo of her with my great-grandmother as a baby. I have only one child for them: Selina.

* Selina Roberts was born in Duffryn, Northern Wales in 1846. She married Gabriel Howells in 1874, and they had 8 children, two of whom died in a Whooping Cough epidemic in 1877. She moved with her husband and children to Southern Wales for a time, and from there to Canada, eventually settling in Vancouver, BC, where she died in 1933.

* For information on the Howells family and descendants, see the Howells surname post.

What I need:

* Some sort of confirmation of which surname was Ellen's maiden name.

* Information on Ellen and Hugh's marriage. When they married, where they married, how many children they had.

* Where and when Ellen born, who her parents were, and whether or not she had siblings.

More on this line:

* Brick Walls – A Different Listing

* Original Pugh Surname Post

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This post marks the end of my second round of Surname Saturday. I do have many other surnames in my tree, of course, but little to no documentation on most of them, and unlike this last generation, I know almost nothing about most of them, so I'll leave this for a time. Instead, I'm going to do posts starting next Monday about the women in my family, starting with my grandmothers and working my way back, in honor of Women's History month. I hope  you'll follow those as well.

Surname Saturday 2.0: The Jonses II

The Jones Family

 

So I have two Jones lines in my family tree. The first is my maternal grandmother's father's line. The second is his wife's father's mother's line. The latter is the one I will be writing about today.

This line came to me from a paper written up by my grandmother's youngest maternal uncle, written about his father's family. However, there is a problem in the way it was transcribed into family tree format that leaves me in some doubt as to this line.

Catherine Jones was born in northern Wales to the son of a preacher, Lewis Edwart. However, at the moment, we have her father listed as Evan Lewis. I have no doubt that Evan was her grandfather's son, but I am in doubt that he was Catherine's father, given naming practices in Wales. By their naming practice, her surname would either have been Lewis like him, or Evan or Evans for his first name. The fact that her surname has always been listed as Jones leads me to believe her father's name was John, or that his surname was Jones. So either her father was John Lewis, or her mother was a Lewis, or she was possibly adopted (this is the least-likely scenario in my mind, but for now, it's still a possibility. I'm sure there are facts here that I am missing, but as this is Welsh, I will need to buy a subscription to the UK BMD database before I will be able to sort it out. I do wish I could talk to my Uncle Ted to find out where his information came from, because I'm sure that would have given a great deal of insight, but he's long dead, having died the year after his sister, my great-grandmother died. I'm not even sure if I ever met him.

According to the paper written by my great-great uncle, his great-great grandfather was a Quaker minister shortly before the Quaker exodus to America. My branch (And Lewis) did not leave with the others, though I believe it is possible one or more of his children might have gone with them. Beyond my Jewish ancestry, this was the first religious group I'd come across with such a powerful story. I've since learned that one branch of my Welsh family (likely the Gabriels, Catherine's husband's family) were Huguenots. All of these stories fascinate me, of course, and I'd love to learn more. I think we often forget that there were Christian groups kicked out of European nations for believing in something other than Catholicism.

In any event, I would love to figure out the reason for Catherine's surname, and to learn more about her connection to Lewis Edwart. If anyone out there knows more about him or his family, I'd love to talk to you about them.

My Jones Line as I currently know it for anyone out there who's interested:

* Lewis Edwart was born before 1773 or so. I have no information on his wife or his children beyond the one I currently have. He died in 1815 in Northern Wales after taking a fall, quite a distance from his own home.

* His son was Lewis Edwart, born 1788 in Northern Wales, died in 1864 in Southern Wales. As I said above, I currently have him listed as Catherine's father, but I don't believe that to be accurate. Likely her father was his brother, or his sister her mother.

* I have two in the next generation:

+ Catherine Jones was born 1825 in Northern Wales. She married Howel (or Howell) Gabriel, and they had eight children. She died in 1912 in Northern Wales.

+ Lewis Jones was born in 1812, and died in 1854, also in Northern Wales. I have nothing else about him.

* Catherine and Howel's children were:

+ Gabriel Howells, born 1849 in North Wales. Married Selina Roberts in 1874, and had eight children with her. They emigrated to Canada shortly after their last child's birth, settling with his brother on his farm in Saskatchewan, then moving to Winnipeg. After their children began to grow, most migrated to the west coast, settling in and around Vancouver, BC.  Gabriel and Selina followed shortly after, and lived there until their deaths. Gabriel died in 1934. The rest of the Howells family lineage can be found in the Gabriel/Howells surname post.

+ Howel Gabriel was born sometime after 1852 but probably before 1854. I have a few possibilities of wife for him, and a daughter. The first possible wife was Lillian, but I do not know a surname, or if they had children, if this is my Howel (the Howel/Gabriel line reused the names in their family, so there were cousins with similar ages which makes it difficult to find the correct ones when I find records.). His second possible wife is Margaret Owen, with whom he had a daughter, Gwen. I know nothing else about this line.

+ Catherine Gabriel was born sometime between 1854 and 1855. She went to work for a family in England, and died there at the age of sixteen.

+ Evan Gabriel was born about 1855. I have nothing else about him.

+ Edward was born about 1857. He left Wales for a time, but returned to take care of their mother, Gabriel and Howel having moved on to find their own farms. He married Catherine Thomas, but I have no more about this branch of their family. I do know that his descendants were still living on the family farm in the seventies or eighties when my aunt and her parents went to visit, but I do not know names, or if they are still there.

+ Lewis Gabriel was born in 1859. He left Wales with his brother Edward, but never returned home. When Gabriel and his family moved to Canada, it was Lewis's farm the family settled on for a time. He had married Sarah sometime before 1883, and they had three children. With Gabriel and Selina's six remaining children, that made for quite a large household, and when Gabriel decided that he was not cut out for farming, they left to move to Winnipeg. Their three children were Winnifred, Howel, and Celt, though I have few details of their lives after the Howells left their farm. I do know that Lewis outlived his wife, and that their daughter married, but I know little else beyond that.

+ Hugh Gabriel was born about 1864. He married Catherine Norris, and they had four children together, of whom we have several pictures: Mary Catherine, Hugh, Drwynen, and Celt. I know little about this branch aside from what I have pieced together through the photos, so the information is spotty at best. I am not sure when Hugh or any of his children died, and I have only one marriage recorded for this branch—Celt's to a Joan. I would love more information on this branch if anyone out there knows more.

+ Gwen Gabriel was born about 1870 and married Grifith Roberts. They had two children, a son and a daughter, but I know no more about this branch.

What I don't know (Why is it the more you know, the more you know you don't know?):

* I would like to know more in general about Lewis Edwart, and his life, and his children and wife, and why he did not end up in America with the rest of the Quakers.

* I would love to know for certain who Catherine's family were, both parents and siblings, aside from the one I am certain of.

* I would love to know about all of Catherine's children and grandchildren, and would love to connect with anyone out there related to or descended from her. In particular, I'd love to know more about Edward, Lewis and Hugh, and what happened to their families, and if there are any descendants out there.

More on this line:

* Gabriel Howells (the paper mentioned above)

* Brick Wall Update

* Old Jones Surname Post

* Where We're From – Wales

Surname Saturday 2.0: The Blairs

The Blair Family

 

The Blairs are another relatively new branch of my family tree. Like the Dunlop family, I discovered them only after finding my great-great grandparents' death records in Vancouver BC. For many years, I had three sisters in the Curran family, but had no clue who their parents were. Then I discovered Elizabeth (Curran) Park's death record, and there were listed Thomas Curran and Jane Blair. Plugging that into Family search gave me not only several other children, but also a wedding record which listed both bride and groom's father.

So at this time, my Blair ancestors number two: Jane or Jennie Blair, who had at least seven or eight, possibly even more children; and her father, John Blair. I know little about him except for his name and that he had one child, but it is far more than I knew before. I continue to look for more periodically at Family Search and other sites, but I think this is one branch that will likely require a subscription to the UK BMD site to really get much further.

Like two of the other three branches in my Irish heritage, Blair is a very popular Scottish name, so I do think it possible that the family may have come to Antrim from Scotland at some point, though it is known in Ireland, so it's also possible they did not. I'll definitely keep my options open with this one. Of all the names in this branch of the tree, I think Dunlop's the most likely to be Scots-Irish over the others, and Curran the least likely. But you never know.

My Blair line, for those interested:

* John Blair has one child that I know about. I am uncertain where or when he was born or died, or the name of his wife, or anything about any other children.

* His known daughter is Jane or Jennie Blair, who is listed as having been born in 1838 in Ireland on her wedding record. She married Thomas Curran in 1860, and they had at least seven children from what I can find on Family Search: Anna, Sarah, John, Sarah Jane, Joseph, Rhoda, and Elizabeth. Elizabeth, Rhoda, and Sarah are the three sisters I had before I found anything on Family Search.

* Jennie and Thomas's children, as I currently have them listed:

+ Elizabeth Curran was born in Antrim, Ireland in 1862. She married Robert James Park in 1883, and they emigrated to America about that same year. The two had nine children, two of whom died in infancy. The two returned to Ireland soon after their last child was born, and from there to Canada, where they lived until their deaths. Elizabeth lived long enough to meet three of her great-grandchildren before her death in 1954.

+ Anna Curran was born in 1865 in Antrim, Ireland. I know nothing else about her.

+ Sarah Curran was born 1867 in Antrim, Ireland. She married John Stevenson, and I believe moved to Canada as well. I know nothing else about her.

+ John Curran was born 1870 in Antrim, Ireland. I know nothing else about him.

+ Thomas Curran was born in 1872 in Antrim, Ireland. I know nothing else.

+ Sarah Jane Curran was born 1874, and like her brothers, I know nothing else about her.

+ Joseph Curran was born 1876.

+ Rhoda Curran was born 1878. She married John Carruth, and I believe they moved to Canada together and had at least one child, possibly more, and that there was at least one grandchild, though the person I am aware of may have been her child. Other than that, I know little else about this branch.

* Elizabeth and Robert's family can be read in detail on the Park surname post.

What I don't know:

* Where John Blair was born.

* Anything about the rest of the Blair family, even if that is only John's wife.

* I assume this branch was protestant, as is most of their descendants, but as of yet, I have no absolute proof of that.

More on this line:

* Old Blair Surname Post

* Brick Walls—a Different Listing

* Where We're From—The Unknown

* Brick Wall Update

Surname Saturday 2.0: The Dunlops

The Dunlop Family

 

I have mentioned many times on this blog about my grandfather's death, and how it was his side of the family I was most concerned with losing, particularly his mother's side. This is the dimmest line in her family, and one that at this time I have no idea how to start finding.

For a long time, all I had was my grandfather's grandparents further down on this branch. His grandfather, Robert park, was as far as I could go in his line for a long time. Then I found the BC, Canada death records on Family Search, and was delighted to find the information I had been looking for for almost two decades. There on his death record were listed his parents' names. Unfortunately, they get me little further. John Park is about as common in Ireland as John Smith in England. And even more unfortunately, it only gave his mother's surname. Dunlop.

Robert's mother is the only connection I have to this line, though he named two of his children for this line. My great-grandmother, Mary Dunlop Park (later Bordewick), and her younger brother, George Dunlop Park. My great grandmother's name being Mary Dunlop leads me to believe there is a possibility her grandmother's name was Mary as well—one of the two children Robert and his wife lost in infancy was named for her mother—Jenny Curran Park—so it leads me to speculate that my grandmother was named similarly for Robert's mother.

At this time, of course, that is only speculation, and even if it is true, it gets me little further, as Mary Dunlop would also be incredibly common. Still, at this time, it is the only connection I have to this family, so all I can do is keep looking.

My Dunlop line for those interested:

* Miss Dunlop may have been born in either Ireland (likely Northern Ireland, as that is where the rest are from) or Scotland (as it's a very popular name there). She married John Park sometime before 1851, when their son Robert was born. I have no idea how many children they had, or when she died.

* Robert James Park was born 1851 in Antrum, Ireland. He married Elizabeth Curran in 1883, likely in Ireland before the two emigrated to America. The two had at least 9 children in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, before emigrating back to Northern Ireland in the early 1900s. Robert died in 1930.

* Robert and Elizabeth's children were all born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:

+ Jennie Curran Park was born 1884, and died in 1885 in Philadelphia.

+ Helen Brown Park is unconfirmed as the second child they lost in Philadelphia. She was born 1885, but I am uncertain when she died.

+ Robert Curran Park was born 1887. He died 1912 in Vancouver at the age of only 25. He never married or left any heirs.

+ Elizabeth Park was born 1889. She married Louis Phillips, and died in 1966.

+ Mary Dunlop Park was born 1891. She married Bjarne Bordewick 1917 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. The two had two sons, George Robert and Henry Norman. George married and had four children with his wife, eventually settling in Seattle, Washington, where his descendants, including two great grandchildren of his own, all still reside. Henry died during World War II. Mary lived a great long life, and lived to meet both of her great grandchildren, dying in 1982.

+ Rhoda Park was born 1893. She married Wesley Standlick. She died in 1982 in Vancouver, BC.

+ Margaret Park was born in 1895, and never married. She was the longest-lived of her family, living in Vancouver until she died at the age of 106 in 2001.

+ George Dunlop Park was born 1897. He married Florence Williams, and died in 1993, a few years after his nephew George.

+ Florence Park was born in 1903. She married Ross Sexmith, and was the only one of the Parks to settle outside the BC area after their move to Canada in the early 1900s. She and Ross had four boys, and I have record of several grandchildren for her, but little else.

What I don't know:

* Robert Park's mother's name, though I suspect it may be Mary, as I said.

* Anyone outside of her in her family.

* If and when this family may have come to Northern (?) Ireland from Scotland, though it's likely during the period when a lot of Scots were pushed out of their land by the nobility.

* Really, anything on this branch at all.

More on this line:

* Brick Wall Update

* Where We're from: the Unknown

* Dunlop Surname Post

Surname Saturday 2.0: The Ronesses

The Roness Family

 

I have very little information on this branch of my Norwegian family. My connection to this line comes from my grandfather's great-grandmother, Henrikke Roness. Henrikke was the second wife of Johan Petter Bordewich, and had four children with him, three after their marriage, and one before. I know little about her life, or how she ended up with Johan, as she is the age of one of his children, not to mention the above mentioned child out of wedlock.

Her firstborn was Johan's second child out of wedlock. He lost his wife when he was in his forties, already had ten living children, several of which were approaching adulthood. When he became involved with one of the family's help and got her pregnant, he considered marrying her, but his children insisted he send both the woman and her child away. Johan did, though he provided for his child throughout her childhood. He later became involved with Henrikke, and in 1858, she gave birth to their first child. Again, Johan's children blocked his attempt to marry, but this time he refused to send Henrikke and her child away. The couple married two years later, despite his children's' objections, and my great-great grandmother Leonharde Marine was born two years later. She was named for Johan's first wife.

The family has many fascinating stories about Johan, but I find myself wondering about this woman, who was not only willing to have a child out of wedlock in a family where many of the members obviously did not appreciate her presence, but ended up marrying a man twenty years her senior and proceeded to have three more children with him. Granted, such disparate ages weren't entirely uncommon in the "old world," but by this time they were becoming less and less common, but I still think it makes her an interesting person to look at.

Unfortunately, I don't know anything for certain about her family, aside from one record and what I have found online in others' trees, which unfortunately tells me little. I only have one generation before hers in my tree, though I think I have found trees that go much further back. For now, I have ended with what little I have found in the records, (her wedding record, birth record, and her parents' wedding record) but I always keep looking when I am working on this branch of the tree.

My Roness line for those interested:

* Henrik Hansen, born 1793, married Susanne Pedersdatter in 1819 in Norway. I only have Henrikke listed for them, though I am uncertain where the Roness comes in. One of my Scandinavian friends mentioned that the spelling is unusual, and I did at one point find another spelling, Ronæs, which he said sounds much more plausible. I do not know when Henrik died.

* Henrikke was born Pauline Henrikke Roness in 1828 in Trondheim, Norway. She married Johan Bordewich 1860 in Nordland, Norway. They had four children together: Ida Amalie, Leonhard Marine, Anna Magdalena, and Petter Roness. She outlived Johan and died in 1892 in Nordland, Norway.

+ Ida was born 1858 in Nordland, Norway. She married Peder Martin Olsen 1881 in Nordland. They had six children: Johan Peter, Johan Henry Sofus, Margit Elise Roness, Astrid Susanne Groth, Halfrid, and Hans Henrik Bordewich. I have two more generations after her children, but no information beyond that. She died in 1930.

+ Leonharde was born 1861 in Nordland, Norway. She married her cousin Henrik Bergithon Bordewich (later Bordewick) in 1887. They had three sons: Bjarne, Harald, and Hans Henrik. For more about their family, consult the Bordewick surname post. Leonharde died in 1944, shortly after meeting her first great-grandchild.

+ Anna was born 1862. She married Aksel Magnus Kjelsberg (later Kelsberg) in 1890. They had five children: Astrid, Gudrun, Peter Bordewick, Sverre Hegge (called Al), and Harald Bordewich. I have two more generations after her children, but no information beyond that. She died in 1949.

+ Peter was born 1867. He married Margaret Taylor Priebke in 1891 in Scotland. They had seven children: Frederick Johan, Anne Cormack, Peter Magnus Roness, Eric, Cedric Theodore, John Stuart, and one boy that didn't last past infancy. I have information on two generations after his children, but no information beyond that. He died in 1956 in London, England.

+ Leonharde and Anna both ended up in Canada, and Peter lived in the UK for his entire adult life. Only Ida remained in Norway with her family.

What I don't know:

* I would like to know where the Roness comes from, and to firm up the information about Henrikke's parents.

* I'd also love to learn if she had any siblings.

* I'd also love any information about Henrikke and Johan's children aside from Leonharde's family. I've made some contact with the Kelsburgs, but I don't know much about the other two branches. We've lost touch, given the fact that they are in Europe, and we in America. So any contact with anyone from those branches would be great.

More on this line:

* Original Roness Surname post

* Brick walls – A Different Listing

* Where We're from – Norway