Brick Wall People Redux – Part 11 – ? Dunlop

No Known Photo

Name: ? Dunlop
Birth: unknown
Death: unknown
Marriage: unknown
Location(s): Ireland
Relation to me: Miss Dunlop was my maternal grandfather's mother's paternal grandmother, which makes her 6th generation before me.
Alias(es): None known at this time.
Parents: unknown

Spouse(s): John Park

Children: Robert James Park
Other Family: none known

Details: Like John Park, I have made no more movement on Miss Dunlop. I am currently unaware of much else about her, though I do speculate that my great-grandmother Mary Dunlop Park might have been named for her, which would make her name Mary, but as of yet, I have no proof of this, so it is only speculation at this time.

Proof:
1) My only true proof of Miss Dunlop's existence is her son's death record in Vancouver, BC.
2) However, unlike her husband, I do have a secondary source for her family name. Even before finding Robert's death record, I had speculated that I would find Dunlop as a surname on one side or the other of this branch, as both my great-grandmother and her younger brother's middle names are Dunlop.

Needed:

As you can see, there has been no change on this branch at all. Every other wall on this generation, I've found at least a few more proofs of the ancestor, but with these two, Robert's death record is still the only piece of proof I have they even existed.

I still have absolutely no BMD info for her but I am at least sure she was alive in 1851, as that is about when her son was born. I also know she was in Ireland at the time, whether or not she was born there, as he is listed as having been born in Antrim, or possibly Ballymena according to one census record I have for her son, which lists his birthplace as there. Beyond that, I know absolutely nothing about her. I do hope to find more records on her, but without a first name, I've almost nothing to go on, and her husband's name is nearly as useless, as John is literally the most common name in the British Isles. All I can do at this time is to keep looking and hope that I find more. At this point, I'm really mostly desperate to know her name, whether it was Mary or something else entirely.

If my family or anyone out there has any more information on this family, I'd love to talk to you about them. I'd love to learn more on any of them, if at all possible.

Original Post
Other Posts About Miss Dunlop:

• Dunlop (Ireland)
• Brick Wall Update
• Surname Saturday 2.0: The Dunlops

Brick Wall People – Part 11 – ? Dunlop

No Known Photo

Name: ? Dunlop

Birth: unknown

Death: unknown

Marriage: unknown

Location(s): Ireland

Relation to me: Miss Dunlop was my maternal grandfather's mother's paternal grandmother, which makes her 6^th generation before me.

Alias(es): None known at this time.

Parents: unknown

Spouse(s): John Park

Children: Robert James Park

Other Family: none known

Details: Like John Park, I only recently learned that Miss Dunlop was my great-grandfather Park's mother. I am currently unaware of much else about her, though I do speculate that my great-grandmother Mary Dunlop Park might have been named for her, which would make her name Mary, but as of yet, I have no proof of this, so it is only speculation at this time.

Proof:

1)      My only true proof of Miss Dunlop's existence is her son's death record in Vancouver, BC.

2)      However, unlike her husband, I do have a secondary source for her family name. Even before finding Robert's death record, I had speculated that I would find Dunlop as a surname on one side or the other of this branch, as both my great-grandmother and her younger brother's middle names are Dunlop.

Needed:

I have absolutely no BMD info for her but I am at least sure she was alive in 1851, as that is about when her son was born. I also know she was in Ireland at the time, whether or not she was born there, as he is listed as having been born in Antrim. Beyond that, I know absolutely nothing about her. I do hope to find more records on her, but without a first name, I've almost nothing to go on, and her husband's name is nearly as useless, as John is literally the most common name in the British Isles. All I can do at this time is to keep looking and hope that I find more.

If my family or anyone out there has any more information on this family, I'd love to talk to you about them. I'd love to learn more on any of them, if at all possible.

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

Brick Wall Update

So a Brick Wall update is very overdue. I haven't done one of these since last year, and while I haven't gained a whole lot of new insight in that time, I like to keep posting about these, in hopes someone will find me who has a connection.

Brick Wall 1 -
The Seneft/Senft/Hilingers:
I still don't know a whole lot about my great-grandfather's family before he left England after World War I.

I know that he was born in Galicia, somewhere in what is now southern Poland. I've not been able to pinpoint the location exactly because there are several places with the name on his family record, or that are too similar to be discounted. The one I think most likely at this moment is some miles north of Krakow, Poland.

According to my paperwork, Alex/Alec (possibly Elias or some variant) Seneft was born June 2, 1883 in Sedziszow, Galicia to Leon and Mindel (nee Hilinger) Seneft or Senft. Unfortunately, until I learn more, that's as far back as I can officially go in time. I've no clue when his parents married or when or where they were born, though I assume that they were probably born in Galicia as well.

As for the Seneft surname…I've seen both spellings, but I keep coming back to this version, though I think given the fact that they probably wrote it in Hebrew, it could go either way. I do have one issue with it, though. Seneft is not a common Jewish name, so I can't help wondering where it came from, or how long it was a family name. I do know that at one point the Germans forced the Jews to take German surnames, so perhaps it came from that period? Either way, I've not found a whole lot of Senefts or Senfts in Jewish lists from the time my great-grandfather was born.

I'm not sure at what point the family moved from Galicia, or even how many siblings my grandfather had. I have record of four others, but there may have been more, since my records are not complete. I only have names for three, though: Annie, Jennie, and Jack. There was also another brother, but I've no name for him at the moment.

I did find one more interesting piece of information on this side: Jennie and Jack may have been twins, which is something that runs in our family, so it makes it more likely. I found one record of a Jack Seneft who died in New York, where I know my great-great uncle lived, which gave me a birth year of about 1893, and I found an Ellis Island record for Jennie Seneft which also gave me an 1893 birth date. Neither is confirmed, of course, but it would make sense, given that my grandfather was a fraternal twin, and that his younger daughter had fraternal twins as well.

The Kresch/Reich Family:
I really know even less about Alex's wife, Dora, and her family. I never separated her side from her husband's before now because I knew so little, but with the amount of information on Alex's family, I didn't want hers to get lost. Starting out my search for her side, all I had was her and the names of her parents. This past year I've learned a little more, but not much.

Dora was born January 15, 1892 in Czudek, Galicia to Benzion Kresch and his wife, Feige Golda, formerly Reich. I have record of only one other sibling for her: Minna, but I don't know if she was older or younger.

I found Czudek on a map very close to Rzeszow, Poland, so I'm fairly certain of their location, and the paperwork I found list her father's occupation as teacher, so I have that as well. But other than that, I have nothing about this family until after Dora and her sister moved to Frankfurt after World War I.

Unfortunately, Kresch is a very common name in this area, so narrowing things down is nearly impossible, though I did find a possible record at one point for a Benno Kresh's death—Benno was my grandfather's older brother, and I believe he may have been named for their grandfather.

For this side, I'm hoping to find a record proving their location and whether or not she had any other siblings. I'd also love to find her parents' birth dates and locations.

Brick Wall 2 -
The Hansen Family:
I've recently made a little more progress on this side. I know have confirmed that Rasmus Hansen's parents Were Hans and Maren (Rasmussen) Nielsen. I've found several different Census records showing Rasmus living with his parents, including one that shows he and his first wife living with them, so I've got record of their general birthdates and locations, but nothing before that.

Hans Nielsen was born about 1816, and his wife Maren was born about 1817. Both were born in Soro, though I don't have a town listed yet. The two had at least six children: Ole, Niels, Rasmus (my great-great grandfather), Jorgen, Jens, and Ane Lisbeth. I've got general dates for them all, and assume that they were all born in the Soro area.

According to the records my great-aunt got from Fjenneslev when she sent for information about her mother's family, my great-great grandfather was born in Knudstrup, so likely all his siblings were born there or near there as well, as it looks as though the Nielsens had a farm which my great-great grandfather took over when he married. I'll have to look a bit into his older two brothers, to see why they didn't. Perhaps they went to America? Possibly died in a war, or of some sickness? Or found another place to live? Either way, the first Census record after his marriage shows that he and his wife are living there with his parents still in residence.

Sill have nothing further back, and I'd love to firm up birthdates, but at least now I have somewhere to start. :)

The Olsen Family:
When my great-aunt got the information for her mother's family, my information only went as far back as her grandparents, my great-great grandparents, Rasmus (above) and Maren Sofie Olsen. So I had her birth information—June 27, 1855 in Slots-Bjergby, Soro, Denmark—but absolutely nothing else on her family or his.

I was lucky enough to find her birth record, though, which listed her parents as Ole Larsen and Birthe Marie Schrøder. However, once I started digging before, I found a rather interesting story. It seems that my great-great-great grandfather, Ole, came here to the states (he is now officially my earliest relation in the US) sometime around/shortly after my great-great grandmother was born. Like many men of the time, he left his wife and child behind, stating he'd send for them once he was settled. But like many of those men, he never did.

So Maren Sofie is an only child, and it looks as though as soon as she was old enough to work, she was sent off to work for other families. I do have a possible record of her being a seamstress, which seems likely not only because of the time, but also due to the fact that her daughter, my great-grandmother, also made a living that way for a time, so that may be an inherited talent.

Of Ole Larsen, all I know is a general birthdate—1812. No location at all, though possibly Soro, given that that's where Maren Sofie was born. I know that he settled in Minnesota, but I've only vague ideas of where—I only have the information from my great-great uncle to go by, and I'm not sure if the names have changed in that area or not.

For Birthe Marie, things get even stranger. I have other records for her, but nothing I've been absolutely able to confirm yet, aside from a previous marriage before Ole. For her, I have four records. Her daughter's birthrecord, which is the most confirmed. Then I have her wedding record to Ole, which lists her birthdate as 1820, and shows her as having been widowed by that time. Then I have her wedding record to her previous husband, the one listed on the wedding record to Ole, which lists her birthdate as 1817. Finally, I have a possible birth record, which lists her birthdate as 1825.

For me, the birth record is the most interesting, though it really only lists her mother, and only gives her father's surname. But if I can confirm it, it will give me her birth location as well, which is much further south than her daughter, somewhere in the south of Sealand near the islands or on the islands, if I remember correctly.

I'm speculating that if this is the same Birthe Marie, that she wanted to get married, but was under the age of consent at the time, so they gave a much older age to whomever married them so she could. I know that birth ages weren't something as paid attention to in this time, but that much of a difference, I think she'd know. And the fact that the two wedding records have such disparate ages suggests to me that that was her way of trying to equalize things so that she was closer to her true age.

I also can't help but wonder if she married again after Ole deserted her, though I've no way to know that for certain right now. But I'm working on it.

Brick Wall 3 -
The Park Family:
Since finding my great-grandfather's death record online, I've gotten no further in this search. Finding a marriage record between a Park and a Dunlop is like finding a blue pen in a stack of pens—far too common to be helpful. If I had a first name for her, it might help, but John Park is just too common a name. And I don't even have a location to narrow things down that way.

I do still speculate that her name might be Mary, given that that was my great-grandmother's name—that is to say Mary Dunlop Park—so it would make sense she was named for her grandmother.

All I know for certain is that Robert James Park was born to John Park and his wife, a former Dunlop, on June 24, 1852, somewhere in Ireland (though I suspect Northern Ireland).

I was lucky enough to find a record of the 1911 census with Robert Park and his wife and their children on it, though. To this point, the only record I had of them was the 1901 US census, while they were living in Philadelphia, and before their final daughter was born. This lists them living in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1911, and shows that my great-grandmother was a shop girl at the time. Still not sure when they came to Canada, though it can't have been too much later—my great-grandparents married in Vancouver in 1917, so they probably left no more than five years after that census was taken.

The Curran Family:
The Curran family has been a bit less elusive. For Thomas and Jennie (Jane nee Blair) Curran, I've now got 8 possible children, a wedding record, birthdates, and even fathers for each of them.

Thomas Curran I now have listed as being born 1840, though still no location, to Francis Curran and his as-of-yet unnamed wife. Jennie Blair was born in 1838 to John Blair and his as-of-yet unnamed wife. They were married on July 31, 1860 in Antrim, North Ireland.

I've still only got three daughters confirmed: Elizabeth, Sarah, and Rhoda. I also have records for Jennie/Jane having six other children: Anna, John, Thomas, Sara Jane, and Joseph. All my records seem to indicate either Antrim as the locations or Belfast, though I know that Belfast is inside Antrim county, so I think that muddles things a bit.

So far, that's everything I've got. I'm hoping I'll be able to find more, but Irish records are scattered at best.

Brick Wall 4 -
The Jones Family:
Like the Jewish branches of my family, I've come to realize that unless I manage to connect with distant family still in Wales, I may never get any further back on this side. Benjamin and Hanna are far too common names, and Jones is just about the worst Welsh name to research, unless you have specific dates or locations. Hannah's surname of Griffiths is only a little better.

What I know:
Benjamin Jones was born December 24, 1865 (though my notes say 'before,' and I'm not sure why, so that's not an exact date at the moment) in Caio, Wales. Hannah Griffiths was born February 1863 in Newcastle Emlyn, Wales. The two were married sometime before 1882, and had seven children: Daniel (my great-grandfather), David, Joseph, Jack, William, May and Sophia.

I've done a little looking at Census records, but I don't have enough information on either of them to be certain I've found the records I need, though I have found a few interesting possibilities.

The Gabriel/Howells Family:
Nothing new here at all to relate, aside from the fact that I recently discovered that one of my Welsh branches is Huguenot-descended. After glancing through the Welsh surnames that I have, Gabriel seems a very strong possibility, as it is a French name. I also know that the Gabriels were known for weaving, and I found a reference to a Northern Welsh group of Huguenots who were known for just that, so I think that might be them. Right now, it's the only line that makes sense.

Since I've got three generations here before my family came to Canada, I think this one will probably be left off in the future until I get further back in other lines.

The Roberts Family:
This one is one I've never gotten any further with aside from finding Selina's mother listed as Pugh instead of Griffiths on Selina's death record. I have no clue where they were from, or when they were married, or if they had any children aside from Selina.

What I do have:
Selina Roberts was born May 26, 1846 in Barmouth, Wales to Hugh and Ellen Roberts.

And really, that's it. Any time I try to look up any of these three, I come up completely blank. Unfortunately, the names, even Pugh, are just too common.


Any help on any of these lines would be greatly appreciated. Particularly the Jewish and Welsh branches.

Where We're From – The Unknown

This post is the last of my posts on this subject. It's also going to take on a different form, because I've got no specific locations to point to with these. The locations in this post are either family rumour, my own conjecture based on names and locations, or my assumption based on the origins of certain groups.

I'll start with the Galician Jews. Though I've nothing before my great-grandparents' births in the late 1800s, most Galician Jews were German or Russian Jews. Because of the location and names involved, I'm inclined to say that my family were German aka Ashkanazi Jews. I don't know how many generations they lived in Galicia, but they probably migrated there at some point between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries, as that seems to be when most migration from Germany to Galicia took place for the Jews. And whoever my original Jewish German ancestor might have been probably came to Germany with the migrations from the Middle East in the tenth or eleventh century.

There's also the Hilinger/Hillinger family, whose origins seem to be from Austria, though I have not specific connection to my family as of yet. Nor do I understand how the Austrian Hillingers might have ended up in Galicia, if they are connected.

The next family origin I've speculated on is my Northern Irish roots. Three of the four names I have for those families are what we in America call Scots-Irish, meaning those Gaels who lived in Scotland but were transported out of Scotland and settled in Northern Ireland. Of the four names I have for my family (Curran, Park, Dunlop and Blair), only Curran is a well-known Ulster-based name. The other three all have strong origins in Scotland, leading me to believe it quite likely that at least one line, if not all three, probably trace back to Scotland, though as of yet, I have no proof. I guess time will tell.

The final and most-murky family mystery line is that of the possible Huguenot origins of one of my Welsh lines. I've only recently learned about this one, and though I have some speculation about which line it might be, it's really too soon to tell. But if that's so, that means at least one of my lines originally has origins in France. Which is one of those places I always assumed I had no connection to before this, which I find amusing. And goes to show—you should never just assume anything.


And really, that's it. I'd love to be able to prove even a tiny fraction of any of the above speculations, but that's going to take a lot of digging, and many more generations before I can prove or disprove any of them, so I guess I'll just have to wait to find out.

Thank you all for reading along (if you did), and if you have any insight into any of the above locations, I'd love to hear about it. Particularly if you have any connections to any of the following families: (Galician) Seneft/Senft, Hilinger/Hillinger, Kresch, Reich, (Northern Irish) Curran, Park, Blair, Dunlop, (Welsh) Jones, Griffiths, Gabriel (I believe this is the Huguenot line) /Howel/Howells, Roberts.

Resources:
* The History of Jews in Galicia
* The History of Eastern European Jews
* Ulster Scots People (aka Scots Irish)
* Huguenot

DUNLOP (Ireland)

Meaning/Pronunciation: Pronunciation: Dun-Lop Meaning: the fort (dun) at a muddy place (Lapach) from the olde pre 10th century gaelic

Origin: Irish (Gaelic)

Variations: I'm sure there must be, as most Gaelic names often have Irish, Scottish, and English variants, though I don't have anything more than Dunlop in my tree at the moment.

Relation to me: My mother's father's mother's father's mother's maiden name

Ancestors:
i: Dunlop, ?, ? – ?, Ireland?; John Park, 1 son known

Looking for:
As you can see, all I have in this line is the surname, but I'm hoping to have some kind of breakthrough here soon.

Miss Dunlop married her husband sometime around or before 1852, as that is when their son Robert James was born. I know he was born in Ireland, though I am not entirely sure where, as I have heard he may have been born in or near Dublin, but the woman Robert married was born in Belfast.

I've always had a suspicion that Dunlop was a family surname on the Irish line, as my great-grandmother (Robert's daughter) was named Mary Dunlop, and Dunlop was obviously a surname. Knowing naming practices a bit, I figured it had to be one of her grandmother's maiden names, though until I found Robert's death certificate, I had no idea which. Unfortunately, the death record only lists his mother's maiden name, and nothing else, so I know nothing more than that. When she was born, when she died (though it could have been any time from 1852 on, I suppose), and who her parents are. Because of my great-grandmother's name, I suspect that her name may have been Mary or possibly May, as that was what my great-grandmother was listed as on the US Census in 1900.

I have no names for any of Robert's siblings, though I assume he must have had some.

Any help with this side of my family tree would be very welcome.