Matrilinial Monday – Merle Tydfil Bordewick

Name: Merle Tydfil Jones

Called by Grandkids: Grandma

Birth: 1915, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Death: 2012, Belleveue, Washington, USA

Spouse: George Robert Bordewick

Marriage: 1939, Vancouver, Canada, USA

Children: Two boys, two girls, all currently living

Parents: Daniel Thomas Jones and Eliza Anne Howells

Siblings: Marjorie, Edwina, and Ivor

About: Merle was the third child of four born to Daniel and Bessie Jones, both immigrants from Wales who had settled in Vancouver, BC, Canada. When she was born, her father set off to the office to report her birth, but upon arriving, instead of using the name he and his wife had agreed on, which it has been suggested he forgot, he decided to name her for his home town of Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. She grew up in a happy home, surrounded by siblings and cousins. As a teenager she became involved in a church youth group, and there she met a young man by the name of George. The two began to see each other, and she continued to date him throughout her youth. After he had finished basic training for the military, the two married before he was sent off to the east coast of Canada to begin his officer training.

Their first son was born while George was overseas serving in the war. Merle lived with her parents during that time, and spent a great deal of time with her mother and father-in-law as well, especially after their other son was lost soon after departing Canada for the front. George returned home safe and sound, and they had two girls, and the family settled happily into a post-war world. In 1956, only a month after George lost his only remaining family member on his father's side, their final child, a boy, was born. Soon after, George's job went south, and so he began to look for a new job, eventually finding a place in Washington, and moving the whole family across the border to the US. Our family has lived in the area ever since.

George and Merle were very active in the community, both in church and social groups, as well as Masonic groups due to George's membership in that organization. The two traveled and socialized and hosted many family gatherings until George's death in 1992. Merle lived for many years after in their home in Bellevue before moving into a retirement community, then to a group home where she lived until her death in 2012.

Her funeral was attended by all of her children, grandchildren, and both of her great-grandchildren, as well as many more distant family relations and friends, all of whom remembered her fondly. She is greatly missed.

The Bordewick Girls at Merle's birthday

Brick Wall People – Part 6 – Hannah Griffiths

Hannah and family ca 1920s

Name: Hannah Griffiths

Birth: 1849, Newcastle Emlyn, Wales

Death: 1933 Merthyr Tydfil, Wales

Marriage: before 1882, in Wales

Location(s): Newcastle Emlyn, Wales; Merthyr Tydfil, Wales

Relation to me: Hanna Griffiths is my maternal grandmother's paternal grandmother, which makes her 5^th generation before me.

Alias(es): None known at this time.

Parents: unknown

Spouse(s): Benjamin Jones

Children: Daniel, David, Joseph, Jack, William, May, Sophia

Other Family: No other direct family known.

Details: Like Benjamin, the majority of information I have on Hannah comes from my grandmother. She was lucky enough to travel to Wales with her family once before her grandmother's death, and told me often about meeting her and being allowed to sleep with her in her bed. I only know a slight bit more about her than I do about her husband, though I have a great deal more pictures of her. As I said, she continued to run the Post Office in Merthyr Tydfil after her husband's death. I also know she blamed herself for her son Davey's death, as he ran into a lake to catch her hat one day when he was still recovering from a cold or the flu, and fell sick with pneumonia, and died.

Other than that, I know little about her, and would love to learn how she came to Merthyr Tydfil from Newcastle Emlyn.

Proof:

1)      Like Benjamin, all my details on Hannah in my family tree came from my grandmother, and through her father. Beyond that, I had no specific proof for many years.

2)      My first actual proof came from the record of my great-grandfather's death on Family Search, which lists Hannah as his mother. I assume this came from my grandmother or one of her siblings, as with Benjamin.

3)      Like I said above, we have many photos of Hannah, both from her life in Wales after Daniel's departure, as well as his visit back with his family.

4)      And I also have the stories I mentioned from my grandmother about her visit. There are not many of them, but there are a few that I do recall.

Needed:

I have more precise BMD information for Hannah than for her husband, though I still want their wedding record, and it would be nice to have more exact information for her birth and death info. What I really want to know is who her parents were and if she had siblings, and how many there were. Other than that, I'm actually pretty happy with my knowledge about her, though I do look forward to learning more about her as I find more information.

If you're a member of the Jones family who knows more about Hannah, I'd love to hear the stories you have, and I'd love to share what I have as well. Please feel free to contact me.

Matrilinial Monday – Margaret Hansen Hillinger

Name: Margaret Hansen aka Maggie

Called by Grandkids: Nana

Birth: 1919, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

Death: 2010, Issaquah, Washington

Spouse: Sam Hillinger

Marriage: 1948, Frankfurt, Germany

Children: Two boys, two girls, unnamed here as all are still alive.

Parents: Holger Skov Hansen and Julie Oline Hansen.

Siblings: Marilyn and Torben.

About: Maggie was the first child of three born to Holger and Oline Hansen, Danish immigrants. She grew up in a happy home, her father building houses, her mother tending to the children and their home and sewing. Unfortunately, Oline got Pneumonia in 1929 and died, and Maggie did not get along with her new stepmother or step sisters. She left to go to boarding school, which set her up as a secretary immediately after she graduated. In 1942, when the WAC corps were created, she was quick to volunteer, along with her younger sister. She moved around the states during the war, climbing the ranks until she achieved one of the highest ranks for a woman at the time. Once the war was over, she volunteered to go to Europe to help with rebuilding, and ended up near Frankfurt on the base there.

While there were few places one could easily relax in Europe at the time, the Army had set up special trips to vacation spots for the volunteers, and so it was that Maggie found herself headed to St Moritz. On that train ride she met a young private, Sam Hillinger, and together they learned to ski. After returning to the base, the two continued to date, and in 1948, they were married. Their first child, my father, followed soon after, and the couple returned to the states once he was old enough to travel so Sam could get his degree. After his graduation, the family moved again, this time to Seattle, where our family has resided ever since.

Sam and Maggie had four children, six grandchildren, and now have four great grandchildren. They lived long and happy lives together until Sam's death in 2000. Maggie continued to stay as active as she could, though she slowed down quite a bit after that, moving from their large house in North Seattle to a small apartment in a retirement community, and then to a nursing home near her two daughters near the end of her life. She died in 2010 surrounded by memories and family.

We still miss her.

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.

Brick Wall People – Part 5 – Benjamin Jones

Benjamin Jones with his wife & daughters

Name: Benjamin Jones

Birth: my records read "Before December 24, 1865." I have him listed as being born in Caio, Wales.

Death: before 1915, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales

Marriage: before 1882, in Wales

Location(s): Caio, Wales; Merthyr Tydfil, Wales

Relation to me: Benjamin Jones is my maternal grandmother's paternal grandfather, which makes him 5^th generation before me.

Alias(es): None known at this time.

Parents: unknown

Spouse(s): Hannah Griffith

Children: Daniel, David, Joseph, Jack, William, May, Sophia

Other Family: No other direct family known.

Details: The majority of information I have on Benjamin comes from my grandmother, his granddaughter, who only knew of him from her father, as he died before she was born. I do know that he and his wife apparently ran the post office in Merthyr Tydfil, and that Hannah continued to run it even after his death.

Beyond that, I really know nothing about this man. I don't know how he moved from Caio to Merthyr Tydfil, or when and where he married his wife, or if he always worked in the post office, or anything.

Proof:

1)      All my details on Benjamin in my family tree came from my grandmother, and through her father. Beyond that, I had no specific proof for many years.

2)      My first actual proof came from the record of my great-grandfather's death on Family Search, which lists Benjamin as his father. I assume this came from my grandmother or one of her siblings, but it at least is a more concrete proof of Benjamin's existence than the family tree I had.

3)      The last piece of proof I have is from family photos dating to around the turn of the century, one of which shows Benjamin with his wife and daughters. I do not believe we have any other shots of him, but it is lovely to have the one we do have.

Needed:

I have no exact BMD information for Benjamin, though I know if I want to pay for it, it should be available on the UK BMD records website, along with marriage information for he and Hannah. This is obviously my next step, but I worry that I will pay for something and find nothing, which is why I have continued to put off paying for any services that offer it.

I'd love to know more about his life, especially life before Merthyr Tydfil, and who his parents were, how many siblings he might have had, and how he met Hannah.

And really, that's all I have on Benjamin. If you're a member of the Jones family who knows more about him, I'd love to hear the stories you have, and I'd love to share what I have as well. Please feel free to contact me.

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

Brick Wall People – Part 4 – Feige Golda Reich

Fiege in Frankfurt, ca 1920s

Name: Feige Golda Riech

Birth: about 1870

Death: about 1929

Marriage: Before 1890

Location(s): Czudek, Galicia (Poland); Frankfurt, Germany

Relation to me: Feige Golda Reich is my paternal grandfather's maternal grandmother, which makes her 5^th generation before me.

Alias(es): none known

Parents: unknown

Spouse(s): BenzionKresch

Children: Naftali Mendel, Dora, Minna, ?, ?

Other Family: No other direct family known.

Details:

I know only a little bit more about Feige than I do about her husband Benzion. Like all of my Jewish great-great grandparents, I have no BMD information aside from what I have gotten from family, so my dates for her are vague at best. I do know she lived a good deal of her life in Czudek, and raised her children there, then moved to Frankfurt after her husband's death. I also know, from a photo we have of her in her later life, that she lived until the late twenties, thanks to my great grandmother. But other than raising possibly five children in a small town in Galicia, I know very little else about her life.

Proof:

1)      Like the rest of my Jewish great-grandparents, I got all my information on Feige from my grandfather.  Up until my sister and I started a book about our family, this was most of the information I had on her.

2)      As stated above, I also have one photo of her with a note on the back from my great grandmother stating that this was her mother during her time in Frankfurt, and that she died sometime in the late twenties.

3)      Like Benzion, she is also mentioned in the Hillinger Family book. Mostly, it refers to her as Dora's mother, and as having lived in Czudek.

4)      She is also listed on her son's immigration record to Brazil. She is only mentioned on it, but it gives Mendel's birth as Czudek, so that is confirmed, at least.

5)      My last piece of information is the wedding invitation in the Hillinger family book. It lists her as inviting people to attend her daughter's wedding. She and Leon are the two parents on the invitation, so that has led me to assume that they were the only parents the couple had alive at the time.

Needed:

Like Alex's parents, I have no BMD information on Feige, only word of mouth and guesses from the documentation I do have, so I can only speculate at those dates. Like the others, I have no clue where to even start looking for information for her, as most of the paperwork in Frankfurt was likely destroyed by the Nazis. If there were any records for her in Czudek, those are likely long gone, too.

Like with Benzion, I would also love better records about her children. I am lucky to have what I do, but I would love to know more, despite the pitfall I am rather certain awaits with the two missing Kresch children.

I would love to learn about her family as well. Parents, siblings, ancestors…I speculate that she was born in Czudek, as most people didn't travel far from home, especially women at that time and in that area. They tended to move in family groups or not at all. But unless I find records, I am unlikely to find out more.

That's everything I have. I'd love to know more about her, especially about her ancestors, but for now, I'll just take what I can find as I find it. As always, any help would be greatly appreciated.