Brick Wall Update 2018

I haven't posted one of these in I don't even know how long. The problem is, I've really not made any further movement back, no matter how hard I try, though I have managed to fill out some of the tree around the people I am looking for, mostly with children, but the occasional other ancestor thrown in for good measure.

The lines I want to focus on are still nearly the same ones I've been looking for since the very beginning:
Seneft (also Senft and Senefft) and Hillinger (also Hilinger)
Kresch and Reich
Park and Dunlop
Curran and Blair
Jones and Griffths
Roberts and either Griffiths or Pugh

Oline Hansen's line has gotten a little further, though I'd still love to get further back, but I think that one's less of a priority now. As is the Gabriel/Howells Line. While I'd love to trace the family back to our Huguenot ancestor, we've actually got quite a bit along this main line. Looking through the Brick Wall People posts I did, I actually went back far enough that I was having trouble figuring out who the people were initially, so I definitely don't need to trace some of those, either, though I do recommend it as a good exercise.

So with no further ado, my brick walls, all six of them:
The Seneft/Hillingers–

Leon and Mindel were my great-great grandparents. Their children were Isaac, Alex, Annie, Jack, and Jennie. Isaac is a new discovery from this past year. Before that, I knew he existed, but didn't know his name, nor the names of any of his children but one. They came from an Eastern European country called Galicia, then came to London to escape the danger and hardships there. Their descendants now live in the US, Israel, England and Canada.

While I have made a lot of discoveries in this family since my first Brick Wall post back in 2010, I've gotten no further back along this branch.

Looking back at previous posts, I now know exactly where Alex's family were from: Sedziszow, now known as Sędziszów Małopolski, now located in Southern Poland.

Leon I have found listed alternately as Lewis and Leib. His birthdate I still haven't managed to pin down exactly, but he was born somewhere between 1849 and 1854. He died almost ten years later than I'd had listed, in 1931. I have been told he was a Rabbi, and the Census record I found listed him as a greengrocer/hawker, meaning he had a cart he sold fruits and vegetables from. The same census also gives a general marriage year of 1871 between he and Mindel.

Mindel I have seen listed as Mena, Minnie and Millie (though the last could be a misunderstanding due to accent). I found a cemetery record for her that gave me a general birthdate of about 1851. According to the tombstone, she died in 1913. According to the 1911 census I found the information about Leon, by that point, she was blind. I'm not sure if this was a condition that came from before their arrival, or something that developed after, though I suspect it could be because of diabetes, which does run in the family.

The same census record also listed a nephew, though I'm unsure which side he comes from. His name was Lewis Greenbaum, and he was a tailor. If I could learn whose child he was, I might be able to get further back in this branch of my tree.

I've found a few more bits of information on my great grandfather, Alex, that help me pin down his timeline a little more. According to my grandfather's citizenship papers, his father served in the English military during the Boer war. I don't know that he served in the war itself, but he definitely served during that time. I also discovered that he visited the US before he brought his family in the thirties. I'm not sure when he came, but I believe it may have been between his expulsion from England, and his arrival in Frankfurt.

My questions now:
• Who Leon and Mindel's parents were.
• Who Lewis Greenbaum was in relation to Leon and Mindel.
• When the Seneft family came to England.
• Where Leon and Mindel were born.

The Kresches –

Benzion and Feige were my great-great grandparents. Their children were Mendel, Dora, Minna, Haim, Esther, and Aharon. I have learned nothing new about them this year, but I have firmed up some of the information I learned from my cousin in Israel a few years ago.

Looking back at my old entries, I see that I mentioned a cousin Selma. I learned after posting that she was from the South American branch, so she is likely related to the Kresches, as my great-grandmother's brother and his wife and daughter and her family escaped the war by immigrating there. I also now know that Dora and her siblings were born in a small village called Czudec in what is now Southern Poland.

While I have firmed up names and location, I still have very little else on this branch of the family.

My questions now:
• Who Benzion and Feige's parents were.
• Exactly how does cousin Selma connect to this family?
• Where were Benzion and Feige born?
• What happened to Haim, who vanished after World War I?
• When did Benzion die?

The Parks –

Robert James Park was born to John Park and a Miss Dunlop. I don't know her first name, though I suspect it may have been Mary, as that was the name of my great-grandmother, Robert's daughter. Robert is the only child I know of John and his wife, and I know nothing about them beyond their names.

I did find a record this year that listed his birthplace as Ballymena, which is definitely new information. It hasn't gotten me any further, though. And really, that's all I have. A short one, but there just isn't much on this part of the family tree.

My questions now:
• What is Miss Dunlop's first name?
• Where were she and John Park from?
• When were they born?
• Did Robert have any other siblings?

The Currans –

Thomas Curran and Jean (Jennie) Blair were my third-great grandparents. According to the records I found for them, they had eight children: Elizabeth, Anna, Sarah, John, Thomas, Sarah Jane, Joseph, and Rhoda. They lived in Antrim, Ireland, which is the county in Northern Ireland where Belfast is located. What I do know is that Thomas and Jennie were married in 1860. Thomas's father was Francis, and Jennie's father was John.

I haven't made any progress on this branch this year, though I have done a little looking for them. The problem is, Irish records are hard to find.

My questions now:
• Where exactly Thomas and Jennie were born.
• What their mothers' names were.
• Where their parents were born.
• How many siblings they had.

The Joneses –

Benjamin Jones and Hannah Griffiths are my great-great grandparents. According to my records, they had seven children: David, Joseph, John, Daniel, William, Mary, and Sarah. They lived in a town on the eastern border of Wales with England called Merthyr Tydfil. According to family stories, they ran the post office there, though I don't have any records to show it.

I have complete birth information for both of them, but no names to go with it. I don't know if they had siblings or not. Benjamin was born in 1837 in Caio, Wales, and Hannah was born in 1849 in Newcastle Emlyn, Wales. I'm not sure how they met, or how they ended up in Merthyr Tydfil. I do have one possible census record for Benjamin's family that lists a mother and brother for him, but I haven't been able to verify that information yet, so I can't be sure it's correct.

My questions now:
• Who were their parents?
• Where were their parents from?
• What was the name of their post office, and was it the only one?

The Robertses –

The final branch, and one I haven't talked about quite as much here.

Hugh and Ellen Roberts were my third-great grandparents. At this time, I only have two children listed for them: Selina and Elizabeth. Hugh was born about 1819 in Northern Wales, and Ellen was born about 1824 in the same area.

I was lucky enough to find a census record for them that listed the four of them in 1851. At the time, Selina was five, and Elizabeth just a year old. I've not been able to find more, so I don't know if there were further children. I do know that Hugh and Ellen got to meet my grandmother, as we have a picture of her with them sometime shortly after her birth.

Ellen is a bit of a mystery for me, though I think it's more to do with getting this information from my grandmother through word of mouth. When I first began to put together my family tree, I quizzed my family for as much info as I could get. Some branches were easy. There were family trees that already existed that I was able to pull from. But some branches, like the Roberts side, I had to put together by hand, hoping I got all the information correct. Ellen and Hugh's were one of these lines. My grandmother gave me her name as Ellen Griffiths. This was interesting, as another line had the same surname. But Griffiths is not at all uncommon in Wales, so it didn't raise a red flag. Not until I found their daughter Selina's death record did I realize that the name might not be right. According to that record, her mother's name was Ellen Pugh. Unfortunately, I've never found records with either name for my ancestor, so until I do, I'll just have to keep looking for both.

I really know little else about this branch.

My questions now:
• What is Ellen's true maiden name?
• How many children did they have?
• What were the names of Ellen and Hugh's parents?

And that's all I have for now. If you have anything on any of these people, I would love to talk to you. Especially if you have knowledge that would get me another generation back.

Previous Brick Wall Posts:
• Brick Wall Ancestors (March 2010)
• Brick Wall Update – the Seneft/Hillingers (May 2010)
• Brickwall Update #2 (September 2010)
• Brick Wall Update (September 2010)
• Brick Walls – A Different Listing (October 2010)
• Brick Wall Update (August 2011)
• Brick Wall Update 2012 (February 2012)
• Brick Wall People Posts (2013):
  o Leon Seneft (Seneft/Hillinger branch, Jewish eastern European)
  o Mindel Hilinger (Seneft/Hillinger branch, Jewish eastern European)
  o Benzion Kresch (Seneft/Hillinger branch, Jewish eastern European)
  o Feige Golda Reich (Seneft/Hillinger branch, Jewish eastern European)
  o Benjamin Jones (Jones/Howells branch, South Wales)
  o Hannah Griffiths (Jones/Howells branch, South Wales)
  o Hans Nielsen (Oline Hansen branch, Sealand, Denmark)
  o Maren Rasmussen (Oline Hansen branch, Sealand, Denmark)
  o Ole Larsen (Oline Hansen branch, Sealand, Denmark)
  o John Park (Park/Curran branch, Northern Ireland)
  o Miss Dunlop (Park/Curran branch, Northern Ireland)
  o Ellen Pugh (or possibly Griffiths) (Howells/Gabriel branch, Northern Wales)
  o Hugh Roberts (Howells/Gabriel branch, Northern Wales)
  o Lars Andersen (Hansen/Larsen family, Jutland, Denmark)
  o Anne Sørensdatter (Oline Hansen branch, Sealand, Denmark)
  o Francis Curran (Park/Curran branch, Northern Ireland)
  o Hans Henrich Bordevick (Bordewich/Bordewick family, Norway & Germany)
  o Kresten Christensen (Hansen/Larsen family, Jutland, Denmark)
  o Else Katrine Ivarsdatter (Hansen/Larsen family, Jutland, Denmark)
  o Henrich Christian Schrøder (Oline Hansen branch, Sealand, Denmark)
  o Henrick Hansen (Bordewich/Bordewick family, Norway)
  o Susanne Pedersdatter (Bordewich/Bordewick family, Norway)
  o John Blair (Park/Curran branch, Northern Ireland)