What Country are You From?

We often tend to think of countries, their names, and their borders being historically the same as they are today. But this simplistic view ignores all the changes that have taken place over time. So, if you ask someone from the United States, “where are you from?” unless you are a Native American we expect an answer like, “My ancestors came from Germany”, or perhaps to get a list of several countries where the person’s ancestors are from.

If you were to ask that of a recent immigrant, they might have a simple answer, since they just arrived here from “country X”. But if that person came here a few decades ago and the country borders have since changed, what should their answer be? Let me look at a few examples to show some of the complications that might be involved.

Cincush Family

One branch of my wife’s family came to the United States in the early 1860s. The city that they left in Europe was Posen (*1). At the time that the left, this city was in Poland and this was reflected the first time that the family answered to the US Census taker in 1870.

[Cincush 1870]

In 1871, the many various principalities, etc. that had German-speaking individuals had been gathered into a single entity that took the name of one of the largest principality, Prussia. Poland not longer existed as a separate entity and the census taker would not have accepted that as an acceptable answer. Thus, on the 1880 census form, the response to the census taker recorded “Prussia’.

[Cincush 1880]

By 1900, that part of Europe had become known as Germany. So, in that census the Cincush family answered accordingly.

[Cincush 1900]

The town that the family had migrated from had not moved. But the borders of the countries around it had continue to change and so the family could not give the name of the country from which they had come, but instead had to give the name of the country that included that place at the time the census was taken.

Wengryn Family

While the above changes between Poland and Germany were taking place between the German speaking peoples along the Baltic, a notable exception to the German-speaking consolidation was taking place along the southern border of Poland and into Austria. There, the country of Galicia had existed for several hundred years and they found themselves in a similar turmoil of splitting and recombining countries (*2). I won’t try to replicate the complicated history here, but you can read it for yourself if you are interested.

Members of the Wengryn family had migrated out of the area along with thousands of their compatriots due to the high levels of poverty that had spread to that area in the early 1880s. They arrived in New York City in 1904. Their reporting to various government officials had a similar change of notation as the years went by.

In 1922, on a naturalization application, the original place listed on the form was Petrowa [Petrova] Poland, but the Poland was subsequently crossed out by the officials and written was Galicia Ukraina.  

[Wengryn Naturalization]

Eight years later, in the 1930 census, this would be recorded as Poland, but with their spoken language listed as Ukrainian.

[Wengryn 1930]

In 1940, with the changes that had taken place in the region, their country of origin was listed as Austria.

[Wengryn 1940]

But in 1949, on a death certificate, the family noted a place of birth as Poland once again.

[Wengryn death]

So, where did the family come from? It depends not on who you ask, but WHEN you ask.

This is why I find the intersection of genealogy, geography, and history so interesting. You cannot study your ancestors just by listing a bunch of facts, You need to know not only who the people are, but where they were, and when. Only then can you understand what may at first seem to be a bunch of confusing and contradictory facts?

Notes:

*1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province_of_Posen

*2 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Galicia_(Eastern_Europe)

Church Cousins

Over the past few months I have been working at a major genealogical research project to try and document the ways that the members of our church are related to each other. I called this project the “Bethel Web” (*1). Thus far I have identified nearly 80% of the people at church have connections to each other. Most of this is because the roots of the church are in the Germans who settled in eastern PA during the colonial period. So, names like Kauffman, Schultz, and other obviously German names are pretty common in this area.

Most of the family lines of these individuals stay within the confines of southeastern PA. But there are some people who have come to this area from NE PA, Central PA, or Western PA, but the families in those part of the state were also German and going back in history they originally came to the US from SE PA where the connections to other church families are made.

My own family tree is nearly entirely of English ancestry, so I did not expect to find many people in church who had a cousin relationship to me. I had earlier found one in a close friend (*2), but I thought that was an outlier. Thus I was surprised when I was able to find a total of eight people at church who were distant relatives of mine (other than my wife, daughter, and grandchildren)! Let me examine each in turn to show the family lines where we connect.

The first five individuals are connected to me in only one way (that I have discovered) and usually this connection is through an individual who came from England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony during the time of the Great Migration. The last three are people who have ancestors from Connecticut and who connect to me in multiple ways.

Jared Burkholder

Jared’s connection to me is on his mother’s side. His maternal grandmother was Virginia Pettengill. Virginia’s grandfather, William Pettengill, moved to PA from VT. But Williams’s mother, Charlotte Stevens, was born in NH. The Stevens family had been in NH for several generations, but her great-great-grandfather, Ebenezer Stevens, had been born in MA. Ebenezer’s grandfather (and Jared’s great*9 grandfather), John Stevens, came to MA from England in 1650. John is also my step great*9 grandfather through my father’s step-father. So that makes us tenth cousins.

Shannon Gross

Shannon’s parents were from CT. Her paternal grandmother’s maiden name was Bates. Going back, but all in CT, the line I followed included the last names of Bates, Dyke and Gaines. The Gaines family had been in CT for nearly 200 years, but Samuel Gaines (1638-1700) had moved to CT from MA. His grandfather (and Shannon’s great*11 grandfather was Captain John Partridge who lived in England. John is also my great*10 grandfather, making Shannon my eleventh cousin, once removed.

Ed Harrison

Ed’s connection to me involves a great number of female connections, so there are many name changes going back that family line. His mother’s grandfather was Frederick Stebbins, but Frederick’s mother was Hannah Rogers who had been born in New London County, CT. Going back strictly through maternal connections, the last names are Burch, Birch, Tubbs, Perkins, Hazen, and Lathrop – all in New London County, CT. Abigail Lathrop’s grandfather was John Lathrop. John’s father, Samuel had been born in England and he came to MA as a young boy with his family in 1634. John is Edward’s great*10 grandfather as well as my great*8 grandfather, making Edward my ninth cousin, twice removed.

Rick Howells

Like many of these individuals, the line back to a common ancestor with myself is non-trivial. In Rick’s case the last several generations were in PA (Rick <- Richard Howells (1933-1981) <- Arthur Howells (1909-1967) <- Mary Bellis (1880-1961) <- Mary Staples (1852-1934). Mary’s father, David Staples, came to PA from Ulster, NY. The next few generations were also in Ulster County (Rebecca Wygant <- Eunice Wyatt). Eunice’s father, Nathaniel Wyatt IV moved to NY from Fairfield County, CT. That family was in CT going back through Rick’s great*10 grandfather, John Waterbury, who came from England to Watertown, MA, in 1630 and then moved to CT in 1646. John is also my great*11 grandfather, making Rick my eleventh cousin, once removed.

Holly Nonnemacher

Holly’s maiden name is Newell. Simply tracing that family line back on the male side, her great-grandfather, John Newell, moved to PA from Worchester, MA, in the early 1800s. Continuing back, her great*10 grandfather, Abraham Newell, came to the Massachusetts Bay Colony from England in 1634. Abraham is my great*9 grandfather, thus Holly is my tenth cousin, once removed.

Bob Davies (repeated from *2)

In tracing back Bob’s maternal grandfather, I found that the Ackley family moved to Bradford County PA from Connecticut. Since genealogy records from Connecticut are pretty robust, I was able to trace it back several more generations quite easily. In the process I began to notice family names that occur in my own family tree – which has been in Connecticut for over 300 years. So, I took some of those family names and began checking to see if Bob’s ancestral lines intersected with my own. I have found three such connections.

Bob’s great*4 grandmother was Abigail Doane. Her ancestral line goes back to John Doane (b. 1575 in England), but John is also my ancestor on my father’s side. Through this connection Bob is my tenth cousin, once removed.

Another of Bob’s ancestors is Sarah Andrews who was born in Waterbury, CT – the same town that I was born in. Her father, Abraham Andrews is also an ancestor of mine on my mother’s side, making Bob my eighth cousin, once removed.

Finally, another family in Bob’s ancestral line is the Terrill family where Daniel Terrill is Bob’s great*6 grandfather and my great*7 grandfather, making Bob my seventh cousin, once removed, again on my father’s side.

Ruth Gavin

Ruth’s paternal grandmother, Elenora Ketchum, was born in NY. Her maternal grandfather was James Russell Chauncy. His middle name came from his mother, Phebe Russell. Her paternal Russell line goes back to MA and then to England where it connects with some of my ancestors (interestingly, on my mother’s side, not my father’s). Through this connection Ruth is my eleventh cousin.

But there is another whole collection of connections through James’s great-great-grandmother, Rachel Tuttle, who was born in New Haven, CT – where all of my maternal ancestors came from. Of Rachel’s eight sets of great-great-grandparents (and Ruth’s great*10 grandparents), five of them (Jonathan Tuttle, John Cooper, John Thomas, Stephen Goodyear, and William Wooding) are also my great*8 grandparents. This makes Ruth my ninth cousin, twice removed, five different ways!

Linda [Booth] Reinhart

Linda’s father comes from a family with multiple generations of steam boat captains who worked on the Ohio River. Her great-grandfather, John Kent Booth, was born in OH, but his parents had been born in CT. Being in CT for 150 years, that gave lots of opportunity for connections to myself. I have documented the following ancestors we have in common:

·       Richard Booth (1607-1687) (two ways)

·       Samuel Sanford (1643-1691)

·       Samuel Blakeslee (1599-1672)

·       Thomas Fairchild (1610-1670)

·       Richard Ogden (1610-1687)

·       Humphrey Hyde (1614-1684)

·       Elnathan Botsford (1671-1691)

·       James Bennett (1645-1736)

Through these multiple connections, Linda is eighth/ninth/tenth cousin.

Notes:

*1 - https://ramblinrussells.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-bethel-web.html

*2 - https://ramblinrussells.blogspot.com/2017/07/genealogy-story-research-for-friend.html

Genealogy Story – Charles Somers Miller

Most people pass through life and leave little written record of what they have done. Only if they are “famous” and someone has written a book about them do we know many of the details. But occasionally this is not the case.

Such was the situation with Charles Somers Miller (known as “Uncle Charley” by many). He was born on September 27, 1858 and died at the age of 94 on March 14, 1943 and is my great-great-uncle. But the reason that we know so much about what he did is that he kept a journal (*1). The first entry is dated Saturday, 1/1/1876 when he was only 17 and the last entry was on Saturday, March 13, 1943 – written the evening before his death. Sometimes there are gaps of several weeks and the entries are only a few words, but other times there is a several paragraphs for one day. The journals for some of the early years are missing. With over six decades of material, I could probably write a full-length novel about his life, but in the limited space of this blog, I’ll only touch on a few of the highlights.

Travels

In the days before the availability of automobiles, most people stayed within a few miles of home. But Charley got around more than most. Sometimes it was a short ride to another town and one of his first recorded trips was to Litchfield, CT, a distance of about 20 miles. But even this short trip meant leaving on one day (generally Saturday), and not returning until the following day. Since 1876 was the first centennial of the US, the first centennial exposition was held in Philadelphia from May through November (*2). That was of great interest to Charley. He noted in his journal that on the first day that there were 130,000 people in attendance. In September he went himself, leaving on Monday, September 18, and returning that weekend on Saturday, September 23. What a great experience for someone just approaching his 18^th birthday!

In the fall of 1890, Charley took several weeks for a “pleasure” trip that took him north through Massachusetts, into Vermont and New Hampshire, and back home. He left on Saturday, September 20, going nearly 50 miles the first day, but generally traveling 30-40 miles each day. He did not get back home until Wednesday, October 18. Quite a trip for being on horseback!

Family

Charley was very family oriented and he often recorded things about them. In 1877 both of his grandmothers passed away – his grandmother Miller in April and his grandmother Somers in October. He took the opportunity to document his siblings and their ages – Frank (21), himself (almost 19), Mary (15), Carrie (14), Fred (13), and Ivan (3). In 1890 when his uncle Levinus Warner passed away he recorded the names of the pallbearers as Austin B. Pierpont, Chas [Charles] J. Pierpont, Elmer E. Pierpont, Wilson L. Pierpont, Chas Branuis (?) and himself. (Levinus was the brother of Mary Ann [Warner] Pierpont. Austin, Charles, Elmer and Wilson were her children and Charley was her son-in-law).

Sometimes these entries are a mix of what you think would be very important together with the mundane. For example, the entry for February 13, 1891 reads, “An appointment at the dentist. My wife had a baby girl this morning at 6:30 o’clock had Barber for doctor and Miss Maddy (Ruth Brundage) for nurse. I got my emery grinder shaft from the Waterbury Machine Co. this morning. Gave Porter S. Woods some bills to collect.” The birth of a daughter was not allowed to interrupt his activities of the day.

My grandfather’s birth was recorded on March 4, 1898 in the following manner: “When my wife got home from the Grange, she was greatly excited because her brother Wilson L. Pierpont (who is Master of the Grange) and his wife Annie (who is Secretary of the Grange) were in their respective places when she go there, after a time recess was declared and she did not see Wilson or Annie again, but just before the Grange closed a note was received by the acting Secretary which stated that the Master and Secretary had a new ten pound son.” (My grandfather was given the middle name Granger because of the circumstances of his birth.) But it was in a more somber tone that he recorded Annie’s death just 13 days later, noting that “She was 39 years old, the same age of myself. She leaves an infant child and six children.” There were over 400 people at her funeral the following Sunday.

In 1898 on September 22 he recorded, “Today is Mary’s birthday, she is 38 years old. To me she seems as young as she did when I married her when she was 23 although we have now a family if six children.”

Fife and Drum Corps

Charley was very involved in the Mattatuck Fife and Drum Corps (*3, *4) for many, many years and is credited with keeping it going when it went through a period of low enrollment. He joined the band in 1877 (*5), but his first record of involvement in his journals was in 1878 when he purchased some fife and drum equipment. The following year he recorded several instances when he drummed at various fairs – Wolcottville (Torrington) Soldiers Monument Dedication (*6), Hartford, Harwinton, and Wolcott. In 1881, Charley was elected the leader of this group, a position he held for the next 50 years (*5). Without his leadership, the band would likely not have survived, as there were as few as 5 men still active in the years following the Civil War.

Significant Events

Charley didn’t document just the trivia of day-to-day living. He also noted other significant events that happened that impacted him. In 1888 the railroad line from Waterbury to Meriden, CT was completed. He noted that the stock holder’s special train made the trip in just 45 minutes. The following year he noted that the freight train was 25 cars long, “the longest train I ever saw on the road and the longest I think that ever passed over it drawn by one engine.”

In 1898, Charley recorded the blowing up of the Battleship Maine in the harbor in Havana, Cuba, as well as some of the discussions and actions of President McKinley in the following months. Later that year he recorded all the details of the surrender of the Spanish and the particulars of the treaty.

Honoring Rochambeau

I had written previously about General Rochambeau and his travel through CT on his way to meet Gen. George Washington and assist him in what turned out to be the ending battle of the Revolutionary War (*7). Charley was on the committee that organized a monument to be placed where two of Rochambeau’s men were buried when they fell ill on that trip across CT (*8), but interestingly he does not mention that fact at all in his journal. But that he was selected for the erection committee was not a surprise as he had been involved in placing flags on the graves in that cemetery as early as 1891. He had taken an interest in Rochambeau as evidenced by an entry in 1898: “This evening went to see the Rev. Dr. Davenport at Major Tucker’s to give him information about the French army which passed through here under Count Rachambeau[sp] in 1781. Dr. Davenport is to write a paper to be read before the Order of Patriots and Founders in Milford a week from next Saturday.”

Honesty

Charley was unfailingly honest in his journals. One entry in 1891 reads, “Mr. C. S. Fairclough is 63 years old today, he is an ugly man.” He also recorded a lot of seemingly trivial information, such as an entry in 1898 which read, “lay down for a nap but could not sleep as one fly would fly into my ear then into my nose and pestered me other wise so that I was obliged to get up and fight him…”.  In another entry he was at the waterfront in New Haven and recorded, “There were many girls in bathing which I took much pleasure in watching.”

Summary

Recounting even a small portion of all the Charley wrote would take me several days just to read through all of his journals. I’m sure that there are many more interesting incidents that I have yet to discover. But even the short amount of time that I have spent gives me a wonderful insight into the thoughts and activities of this fascinating individual.

I have attached to this blog just two pictures which were sent to me by my cousin Bob Kraft (a great-grandson of Charley). One is a picture of him from 1942, just a year before his passing, in his uniform from the Mattatuck Drum Corp. Bob is standing next to his great-grandfather. The second is a bust of Charles Somers Miller that was presented in 1942. In (*5) it is recorded as follows:

“On October 16, 1941, the Mattatuck Drum Band played at the dedication of the Noah Webster Statue in West Hartford where the Band became fast friends of the sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski (Kor-chok Jewel-CUFF-ski) and his wife. The Band asked Mr. Ziolkowski to make a portrait bust of Charles S. Miller, who had been their leader for 50 years and a member of the Band for 65 years. On February 15, 1942, this portrait bust was unveiled.

“Mr. Miller said during the presentation of the bust, "This business from the beginning has been a series of surprises. But the greatest surprise of all is that at this age, I have so many friends. I have come down from a former generation. And I rejoice and I thank God that I have lived to see this day. But my feeble tongue can find no words that can express the joy, the gratitude, and appreciation that I feel within. I know not whether my future coming days are to be many or few. It will be as directed. But the memory of these faces all radiant with hope, with good wishes and beauty, will remain with me to the final end."

“On March 16, 1943, twenty-three members of the Band assembled in special meeting at the call of the President at the Alderson Funeral Home to pay their respects to the late Leader and member, Charles S. Miller, who died suddenly on March 14, 1943, at the age of 84 years and 6 months. His memory and his spirit live on in the Band even to this day.”

Notes:

*1 - http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rak//gen/miller/CSM-ALL

*2 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centennial_Exposition

*3 - https://ramblinrussells.blogspot.com/2015/06/wolcott-history-mattatuck-drum-band.html

*4 - https://mattatuck.org/

*5 - https://mattatuck.org/history.html

*6 - http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMGCEM_Wolcottville_Soldiers_Monument_Torrrington_CT

*7 - https://ramblinrussells.blogspot.com/2019/08/rochambeau-and-revolutionary-war.html

*8 - https://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=36024