52 Ancestors - Favorite Photo - Gabriel & Selina's 50th Anniversary

 

This photo is of Gabriel and Selina Howells' 50th Anniversary, they were my great great grandparents. The event was held in Vancouver, BC. They're the lovely elder couple in the center of the shot, with their children behind them and their grandchildren around them. The little girl in the front left is my grandmother, Merle, who would have been about eight or so at the time. Her older sisters are the two in the front right, and her little brother is the one on Selina's lap, I believe. Her parents are in the back right. He's the last in the back, and she's the second woman from the right. Most of their family lived in the area, but one branch did drive all the way up from California to attend.

Gabriel and Selina were married in Northern Wales in 1874. He was the eldest of his family, and was meant to be the one to inherit his family farm, but he wanted to go into masonry, and so after a horrible influenza outbreak where they lost their first two children, they chose to leave the area and move south to a mining town where they had six more children. Two boys and four girls. He worked on the mines, creating the masonry that held up the entrances and probably buildings of the mines, until he realized that working on the mine in that way was no more healthy than actually working in the mine. So the family moved again--this time across the sea to Canada. They settled for a time with Gabriel's brother, Louis and his family in Saskatchewan. But Louis had a farm, and Gabriel wasn't interested in being a farmer, so the family soon moved to Winnapeg, where he could do his masonry again. When their children began to move out and marry, each couple traveled west, all but one generally settling in and around Vancouver BC. Gabriel and Selina followed them west to be near their children, and settled there, living there until their deaths. Hers in 1933, and his in 1934, almost ten years after their 50th anniversary.

This photo has given me a wealth of knowledge about this branch of the family. I used to go over it with my grandmother for hours, gaining so many stories about her cousins and aunts and uncles on this side of the family. If you have similar photos, and grandparents they're connected to still around, I highly recommend it. You never know what you might learn.

52 Ancestors - Favorite Find - Jack Seneft

 As soon as I saw this prompt, I immediately thought of one of my favorite ancestors. My grandfather's uncle Jack. He's one of the side-relatives that I'm utterly fascinated by, even though I have few truly solid pieces of info about him. I don't know the order of Jack and his siblings for certain, I don't know when they moved from what is now Poland to England, or how old he was at that time. I don't even know his birth name, as he was Jewish, and Jack is most definitely an anglicization of another name. My presumption is that his name was Jacob, but I've found nothing that proves that for certain. Even his surname's spelling varies depending on time and record. The two I've seen most often are Seneft and Senefft, though at least this I can attribute to immigration and Hebrew spelling.

So if I know so little about him, why is he my favorite ancestor? Because we share a birthday. Jack was born September 13, 1891, 78 years before I was born. And despite how little I know about him, that makes me very happy.

Jack Seneft was born in what is now southeast Poland in a town called Shendeshov (also known as Sedziszow Makopolski). He was the second youngest of five siblings. I believe he and all his siblings were born in that town, which means the family likely emigrated to England sometime between 1892 and 1899, as the first is the birth year of his youngest sister, and the last is the date that my great-grandfather, one of his elder brothers, apparently served in the English military, according to my grandfather's draft registration paperwork. My great-grandfather was eight years older than his younger brother Jack. I have no information on the siblings' relationship to each other. I don't know that my grandfather even met his uncle Jack.

Which leads me to a story that I cannot prove, but have assumed for a little while now. When my grandfather's family came here from France, one of his uncles was supposed to come to Ellis Island to speak up for them so they could enter the country. He never showed up. Luckily, another family they knew from Germany saw them and stood for them so they were allowed to enter. I have no proof aside from the fact that he lived in New York, but I believe that Jack was that uncle. There were others who were in the country, but none of them were blood relations, and I don't think they lived near the harbor, so Jack would have been the closest, and makes the most sense. I do find it sad that the only story I can attribute to Jack is this story, where he may have forgotten to help my grandfather and his family. 

So what do I know about Jack? Well, his birthdate and location, which come from his naturalization record. I know he was one of five children, as one of the few Census records I have for his parents lists her only having five children. I also know that he worked for his eldest brother, Isaac Senefft in England as a tailor, which was a very common trade for Jewish immigrants. I know that he came to America, boarding the Lusitania (yes, that Lusitania) in Liverpool, England in 1911, and arrived in March of that year in New York. I know he wasn't the first in his family to come to America. His elder sister, Anne, had married and moved to America with her husband, settling in Memphis, Tennessee, so she was how he was able to enter the country. I know she came before him as her husband is listed on Jack's entry of his passenger list as his contact. And while I'm not entirely certain, I am fairly sure he lived in greater New York City until his death in 1948.

He's a fun find. Before I found his death record in New York, I had only a name. Not even a birth date or location. I like to imagine a young man, alone in New York and loving it, away from the structure of family keeping him in a box. From what I have been able to determine, he never married. Single and loving it. He was definitely a New Yorker at heart. And I'm very glad I found him.

If anyone has photos of him, I'd love to finally see his face. And if you have any information on this man, I'd love to know more about him.

52 Ancestors - Foundations - Robert James Park

So I've heard of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge before, but never joined in until this year. In the past, I found out halfway through the year, or already had too much else going on here. This year, I decided that since I was almost entirely silent here the last year or two, that it would be a good way of getting something on this blog. If you're interested, you can join the challenge here.

The first week's prompt is Foundations. I've been pondering this one since I got the prompt, trying to figure out what this would be about, since it is so very general. I did think about the person who made my maternal grandfather's family line so strong, but I've written about him a lot, so I wanted to do something different. I just wasn't sure what that might be. So this morning, I glanced through some of the other entries that have been posted to Twitter, and realized just what I wanted to do. The foundation of why I got into Genealogy in the first place.

I remember tales of my family tree as a background of my life since I was small. I remember my grandmother and her sister digging into their own lineage when I was young. My father even made hand-calligraphed family trees for each of my great grandmothers before their deaths in the early 80s. But it wasn't until 1991 when I lost my grandfather that I felt the need to actively dig into my family tree.

My grandfather's mother, Mary Park was Irish American. She was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania along with all of her brothers and sisters, but their parents came from what is now Northern Ireland. Upon my grandfather's death, I realized I knew almost nothing about that branch, and that there were almost no members of that family left. It set me on a path to learn everything I could about that side of my family tree. Eventually, that became all branches of my ancestry, but that side has always held a deep fascination for me.

At the beginning of my search, all I knew was what I could glean from my mother, her siblings, and their mother. The nice thing was that they'd spent a lot of time with Granny before her death in the early 80s, since Grandpa was her only surviving child. The bad thing was that they knew nothing before Granny's parents. So for a long while, all I had was the name of my great-grandmother, her siblings, and their parents. And nothing before they had arrived in America.

Until I finally got my hands on their death certificates. Which helped with my great-great grandmother,  Elizabeth Park nee Curran, but not my great-great grandfather, Robert James Park. Her parents were listed as Thomas Curran and Jane Blair, which led me to several more records, and a more firm knowledge that that branch, at least, was from Antrim in Northern Ireland. His parents, unfortunately, were far less helpful as listed on his death certificate: John Park and Dunlop. No first name, just Dunlop.

Now, I had often wondered if perhaps my great grandmother might have been named for her grandmother, as that is a very common thing to do, and her middle name was Dunlop, so that part, at least, was confirmed. But I had no way of proving her grandmother's first name, as I could find it listed nowhere else.

Until last year, when a cousin got in touch with me. (Hi Kate! :D) Her grandmother was my great-grandmother's youngest sibling, and so we had a lot in common trying to untangle who Robert Park was, and who his parents were. Some of the records I found confirmed a birthplace for him of Ballymena, Ireland, now in Northern Ireland. But none of the records either of us could find listed anything quite right to prove his parents. So she began to check with her DNA matches and compared them to possible records, and ended up talking to someone at Family Search who helped her confirm Robert's parents. Not John, as was listed on the death certificate I found, but David Park. And the wife listed? Mary Dunlop. So now I know for certain, my great-grandmother was named for her grandmother. The Dunlop middle name was also passed to two of her younger siblings. 

So as of now, my ancestral line on this side of my family goes back solidly another two generations. Starting from Robert, his parents were David Park Esquire and his wife Mary Dunlop. David's father was John Park. We haven't yet been able to determine his mother's name. Mary's parents as my cousin found them were Robert Dunlop and Mary Baird. And that's as far back as I currently have. Not bad, given that I had one and a half people before, and one was wrong.

So my lessons to anyone interested? Even if it takes 30 years, keep looking. New records are uncovered or uploaded to the net every day. You never know what you might find. Talk to family. Because they see things different than you, or may have information you don't have. And get those DNA tests, because that was a lot of what gave my cousin the hints that helped her focus in on names.

That's all for now. Good luck in your searches!

Goodbye Mom

Mom & me at Hood Canal ca 1970

My mom passed away Thursday. She was 71. She'd been struggling with failing health for a long time, and had been steadily declining since the 90s, so we actually had a long time to prepare for her passing. But that doesn't mean I was ready. Even fifty years wasn't long enough. I miss her.

My mom, Ruth Anne Bordewick, was born in 1949 at the height of the baby boom. She was the third of four children, with an older brother and sister, and a younger brother born almost seven years after she was. They lived in Canada until 1960, when a recession hit, and her father was forced to find new, better-paying work. He applied to a few places, intending on heading down the coast and into California, but he always said that when he got to his motel room while he was here in the Seattle area, he turned on the TV, and Stan Boreson was on. Grandpa, being half Norwegian, felt it was a sign. So the family moved to Bellevue, where my mom attended middle and high school.

After school, she began to attend the University of Washington, where she met a young man in class who soon became her husband. In March of 1969, they married, and I was born soon after. We had a good life. Both of them attended the U to finish their degrees, and we moved a few times. First from Magnolia to West Seattle, then to a little house in the UW area, where we lived until 1976, moving again, this time to a house near the Woodland Park Zoo. 

We did have one bad event, though. When we were still living in West Seattle, when I was about three or four, my mother and I were hit by a kid in a truck who failed to stop at a stop sign. Her neck was broken. And yet, she survived. It took a long time for her to recover, though. Even in my early teen years, I remember her sometimes pulling out her neck brace on bad days. I don't have a ton of memories of those times, but the fact that I have memories of the accident and her time in the hospital tells you just how much an affect that had on our life.

Still, mom recovered, and she and dad finished their degrees. When we moved to the Woodland Park house, we became a family of four. My sister was born in May of 1976. She and I have many fond memories of that house. Mom and dad were constantly remodeling and upgrading it. They even discovered that stained glass windows on either side of the fireplace had been boarded over rather than removed when someone had remodeled the house before them. My sister and I still consider that house "home." 

Mom & I with my new baby sister, 1976

By the time we moved to our next house, mom was a bookkeeper for a travel agency, and had been for many years. When we were still quite young, she and dad decided to take us on a trip to England and Germany using some of the perks from her job. We got to meet some of our more distant cousins, and see the city our father was born in: Frankfurt, Germany. My memories of the time are foggy, but I'll always be grateful that mom's job made a trip like that possible for us. Nor was it the only trip we took. Shortly after I graduated High School, we got to take a trip to Australia, where we drove down the east coast, starting in Sydney and ending in Melbourne. It was a glorious trip. Of course, she and dad went on lots of trips together all over the place. Some within the US boarders, some to Canada, and at least one other trip to Europe that I recall. Because of her and dad, my sister and I love travelling to this day.

But that wasn't the only thing she gave us. We grew up in a group called the SCA, which stands for the Society of Creative Anachronism. It is a group of people who pretend to be in the middle ages, and dress and act appropriate to that time. I'm not even sure how we got involved, but my best friend and her family were also involved, so we spent a lot of time with them when I was young. Mom and dad were very active in the community, and in 1976, dad won what is called a Coronet Tournament, where the winner becomes Prince for a short time, and his lady becomes Princess. So while my sister was a baby, my parents were the Prince and Princess of An Tir. When they stepped down, they were made Baron and Baroness of our area, remaining so for much of my childhood and teen years. So much of my childhood was spent going down to California or up to Canada for tournaments and gatherings. It was a lot of fun. 

My Parents as Prince and Princess of An Tir (sitting far left in the red and brown), 1976

We were even at one of these events in Washington state on May 18, 1980. The event was held at Snoqualmie Falls Forest Theatre in Fall City. When the Seneschal announced to the gathering that Mount Saint Helens had finally erupted, everyone thought it was a joke because people had been making that joke for so long, and because the location was located in such a way that we could not see the plume from the mountain when it erupted. We made it home fine, but I know many people heading south and east from that event had to find alternate routes or places to stay until they could.

During their time as Baron and Baroness, mom became a founding member of the Culinary Guild, which is still active today. Every gathering, she and her friends would discuss recipes, trying to determine what the ancient terms meant, and came up with new recipes to try out on each other. And then they would help host Baronial and other SCA Banquets with the feasts they planned using these dishes. I have fond memories of the very raucous gatherings, which continued on until recent years, though far more sedately as they grew older, just old friends gathering together at a restaurant to catch up on each other's lives.

My sister and I were also treated to some of the best theatre there is growing up. Seattle has an amazing arts community, so we were raised on, among other things, the Nutcracker ballet, Gilbert and Sullivan, and of course, Shakespeare. I'm not quite sure how old I was the first time my parents attended the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, but I do remember my sister was too young to be without a sitter. We stayed at the hotel while they attended their first performance. A few years later, I recall we went back back along with a friend and her mother who played the recorder in a group with dad who were also part of the SCA. I remember that trip very fondly, and watched several plays that year, including Romeo and Juliet with a young local actor by the name of Kyle MacLachlan as Romeo, and fell madly in love with him. Imagine my delight when he became a minor rising star just a couple of years later. First Dune, then Blue Velvet, and then Twin Peaks. 

The family at Martinos, the long-standing Italian Restaurant right next to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, 2017

The last time I went down was in 2017. For my birthday that year, my parents treated me to a trip there with them and my aunt and her husband. He has since passed away, so now I have two reasons to be so very grateful I got to go that year. My sister and niebling joined us as well. It was a fabulous trip. We tried to go down again the following year, but mom had an accident, and after that, she was no longer able to travel far.

We received a great love of reading from both of our parents, and frequent trips down to Powells in Portland were common. but mom especially passed on a love of fantastical things. Books, Movies, TV, we were often talking about the latest shows and movies available, and I remember going to many movies with her and my sister when we were young: Star Wars, Star Trek, Dune, among so many others.

In the early 90s, mom was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. It was a scary diagnosis. She was only in her 40s, and we knew it could get quite bad. But she managed, only finally retiring from her job in 2011, though by that time, she was using a walker to move around easily. Soon after, she was using a wheelchair more and more, until finally she was using an electric chair full time. I won't go into big details, but she was mostly unable to use her right hand and her right leg almost completely by the time she got sick at the beginning of this year. A few years before, her doctor had stated the MS had run itself out, but the damage was done. Then, at the beginning of this year, she was diagnosed with Cancer. After the diagnosis, mom was content to just let what happened happen.

She struggled with things a lot, but was always so happy to see us all. She was always adapting to whatever troubles came her way, and always did everything she could to make things smooth for my sister and I. I'm so glad we got to have her for so long, and that both of my sister's kids know her so well. I hope they will remember her fondly.

I love you, mom.

Family photo in 2014

Brick Wall People Redux – Part 21 – Francis Curran

No Known Photo

Name: Francis Curran
Birth: About 1814
Death: About 1877, Antrim, Ireland
Marriage: unknown
Location(s): Antrim, Ireland
Relation to me: Francis Curran was my mother's father's mother's mother's father's father. Which makes him 7th generation before me.
Alias(es): none known
Parents: unknown
Spouse(s): unknown
Children: 1 known – Thomas Curran
Other Family: none known

Details:
Francis is still a mystery to me. When I started working on my family tree, it was the Curran family I so desperately hoped to find, but all I had was my great-great grandmother, Elizabeth Curran. I was finally able to find her parents' names a few years back, and with them, I was also able to find a wedding record that listed their fathers' names, so I got even one more generation back on one side of each branch. However, I've still made little progress, despite my Ancestry account.

As things stand now, Francis and Thomas are the only two people I have for this family. I have no idea who Francis married, or how many children they had. I also don't know where Francis was born. I would love to know all of that, and to firm up whether this branch is actually the pure Irish strain I speculate they are, unlike my other three Irish branches.

Proof:
1) I first found Francis on his son's marriage record to Jennie Blair, which nothing but his name.
2) The second was a death record in the Irish Civil registry, that lists his birth and death dates, and that he died in Antrim, Ireland, though I'm not entirely certain this is him. Francis Curran isn't an uncommon name, so it is possible the record is not his.

Needed:
I have no new information on Frances at all. In particular, I have no BMD info, so I would love to firm up the dates I have for him. As stated above, I'd love to know the names of any other family members aside from his son, Thomas, particularly his parents, wife, and children. And I'd love to know if these were Protestant the way the rest of my family were, and if they were always living in this area.

As always, 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 Francis Curran:

• CURRAN (Ireland {Belfast/Antrim?})
• Brick Wall Update
• Surname Saturday 2.0: The Currans

Brick Wall People Redux – Part 21 – Susanne Pedersdatter

No Known Photo

Name: Susanne Pedersdatter
Birth: 1787
Death: unknown
Marriage: September 21, 1819, Trondheim, Norway
Location(s): Trondheim, Norway
Relation to me: Susanne Pedersdatter was my mother's father's father's mother's mother's mother. Which makes her 7th generation before me.
Alias(es): none known
Parents: unknown
Spouse(s): Henrich Hansen
Children: 3 known - Gunnild Marie, Karen, Pauline Henrikke
Other Family: none known

Details:
Susanne's information echoes her husband, as most of their information comes from records of their children. Like him, I have no records before her, so she is the beginning of this line for me at the moment. I assume her father's name was either Peder or Peter, but beyond that, I have no clue where to start looking for her family. All I can assume is that she is of Norwegian ancestry, at least until I learn differently. I'd love to know where and when she was born, how many children she had, if perhaps she was married before Henrich (which I have noticed in cases where there are no parents for the wife on a marriage record).

Proof:
1) The first proof I have for her is Pauline's birth record. This gives very little information, but it was the first time I had found her name on any records regarding Pauline.
2) She is also listed on her own marriage record, though that gave me little more information, and no information on her parents' names, unfortunately. As I said above, that leads me to speculate that this may not have been her first marriage, but that's pure speculation at this time, given how old the record is.

New Proof of Susanne:
3) As I said, I do now have their marriage record, though no parents are listed on it.
4) I also have her listed with her husband on all three of their listed daughters' birth records.
5) And also on their baptism records.

Needed:
And that's it. Again, aside from the info on their marriage record, I have no BMD info for her, so I would love to learn more about her and her family in general. I would love to know for certain how many children she and Henrich had. And did she have children with other men? Who were her parents? Did she have any siblings? All questions I'd love to have answered.


As always, 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

And I have no other posts about Susanne at this time.

Brick Wall People Redux – Part 20 – Henrick Hansen

No Known Photo

Name: Henrich Hansen
Birth: 1793
Death: March 11, 1838, Hadsel, Nordland, Norway
Marriage: September 21, 1819, Trondheim, Norway
Location(s): Trondheim, Norway
Relation to me: Henrich Hansen was my mother's father's father's mother's mother's father. Which makes him 7th generation before me.
Alias(es): none known
Parents: unknown
Spouse(s): Susanne Pedersdatter
Children: Gunnild Marie, Karen, and Pauline Henrikke
Other Family: none known

Details:
Henrich Hanson is one where the names start to get blurred in my family tree. Given his daughter's name, I assume the Roness was a location appellation, and that he likely had it too at one point, just not on the records I have found. But because I have not found it in the records I have that show him, I am still a bit unsure if he is the father I am trying to find in this instance, as he is not listed in the family record that was compiled by one of the Bordewich family in Minnesota. He is listed on his daughter's marriage record, but the name is such a common name, it's hard to be certain I have the correct one.

I know nothing of his life, though I assume he was born in Norway, and will until I am proven otherwise wrong. Beyond that, I have almost nothing. I don't know what he did for a living, or where he lived, though it is likely he was located in Trodheim for a time, as that is where his daughter was born. I'd love to know more about him and his family, both with his wife, and what siblings he may have had.

Proof:
1) My first proof for Henrick is his daughter's marriage record. Without that, I would have had no clue even who to start looking for. It gives only his name, however, which got me little further.
2) The second proof I have for him was Pauline's birth record. This gives only a bit more information, but it also lists his wife, which made it possible to find the third bit of proof.
3) With his wife's name, I was also able to find a marriage record for the couple, though that gave me only a little more information, and got me no further back in Henrich's line.

New Proof of Henrich Hansen:
4) I have birth records for his daughters Henrikke, Gunnild, and Karen.
5) I also have baptism records for all three as well.
6) His current death date from a record which I believe is his, though I am not entirely certain of, as it does not list his wife or children.

Needed:
As with most of my other brick walls, I have little BMD info, and one of the dates I do have is uncertain at this time. I would love to find more proof of his death date, preferably something that connects him to his children or wife. As I said above, I'd also love to know more about his life with his wife, and if they only had three children or if there were more. I would also still love who his parents were, and if he had any siblings. I'd also like to understand the Roness name better, as I'm sure there's something there that I am missing.


As always, 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
And I have no other posts about Henrick, as he's so far back in my family tree.