Unforgettable ~ Finding Relatives You Didn't Know Were Missing

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: 2020 Week 35 (UNFORGETTABLE)

This week I was thinking that 'you don't know what you don't know until you do'. This is true when searching far and wide for family that you end up finding practically in your own neighbourhood. 

I wrote about this in a previous blog about my dad's side of the family.
Searching Far & Wide ~ Found Across Town

This week I had an entire branch of my mom's maternal line appear when I didn't even know it was missing. 

It all started with  a DNA match for a person who had no tree. I messaged via Ancestry in June 2019, and promptly forgot about it. This month I received a reply with family information, and an introduction to his mom who lives in the next town over. She is my grandma's first cousin on their Dendy family line. Her father & my grandmother's mother were siblings. 

In talking with her she remembers my grandmother. The age difference left them not close, but they knew about each other. 

I remember hearing stories about this particular uncle. I don't remember ever meeting him. 

It left me wondering. How is it that families lose touch. 

Regardless of how it happened. 

I am so glad to have rediscovered these unforgettable relatives. 

Getting jazzed about researching particular branches leaves no time to write!







This is why I search - 



Cause ... 





You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!
















***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of this blog post***








Links:

Amy Johnson Crow, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge
https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/

If you reference or use my blog posts in any way please

include a link to the specific blog and

credit http://somehowrelated.blogspot.com/

My blogs are ©Deborah Buchner, 2014 forward.

All rights reserved.

Please & Thank you!

___________________________________________________________

As If Born To ~ Grown Under Their Hearts

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: 2020 Week 34 (CHOSEN FAMILY)

By the time I was 8 years old I had 2 dads.
The 1970s were well known for the high divorce rates so we weren't unique.
What was unique is that my brother and I were accepted into our new extended family 'as if born to' without a formal process. We were never adopted. 
A by-product of the high divorce rates of the 70s was that many children grew up without a father to love and care for them. 
We were blessed.
We had two fathers who loved us.

How did we become part of the Boogemans family? 
You can read all about it here 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 19 (Nurture)

This part of the tale all started during our journey across Canada. We moved from British Columbia to Ontario during the spring I was about 8 and a half years old. My brother was soon going to be 6. That trip happened in an orange Volkswagon Camper Van that started on fire somewhere in the prairies. Our new dad was a heavy duty mechanic and welder, and somehow fixed all that was damaged in such a short time our trip wasn't delayed too much. 

On that long journey our new dad taught us to say 'How are you?' in Flemish 

"Oe ’wis’t met jou?". 

We practiced for the entire journey wanting to say it exactly right.
He corrected our pronunciation showing us how to hold our mouths just right.

When we met our new grandparents for the first time I smiled and said 
"Oe ’wis’t met jou?".  My grandma got super excited with the biggest smile and said to my dad " you found a nice Flemish girl". I was so proud that my pronunciation was perfect enough to make her believe we were Flemish. 

I immediately loved my new grandparents. They both had the warmest smiles. 

They always looked like they were ready to get into mischief, and let us join in.

Grandpa used to feed us cookie sandwiches.
They were made with windmill spice cookies served between two slices of buttered white bread sprinkled with brown sugar.
Grandma would complain that we shouldn't be eating such things.
We knew she didn't mind when she continued to smile.
We loved visiting grandma and grandpa on the farm. 

The roots of this chosen family began in Belgium when two people who probably weren't really supposed to get married did. 
One was a Walloon (Grandpa) and one a Flem (Grandma).
You can read more about this in the article 
An Introduction To The Flemish-Walloon Divide in the sources below.

As a small girl I was enamored by the story or how love conquered.
Against these odds my grandparents were:

Frans Boogemans

BIRTH 30 OCT 1910 • Belgium

DEATH 15 MAR 2000 • Exeter, Huron, Ontario, Canada

and

Emma Louisa Florentina Van Loo

BIRTH 18 MAR 1910 • Heist Op Den Berg, Antwerpen, Belgium

DEATH 18 DEC 1988 • Dashwood, Ontario, Canada

They were married on October 23rd 1937 in Heist Op Den Berg, Belgium.

They had 5 sons.
My dad was their youngest, and the prettiest.
The only one with brown hair in a family of redheads.
That's him in his mom's arms. 

They lived in this beautiful house in Heist Op Den Berg, Belgium.

In June 1955 the Boogemans family immigrated to Ontario, Canada
leaving all of their extended family members behind. 
This photo was taken shortly before they departed to Canada.
It includes Frans' parents and siblings.

The family of 7 settled onto farmland in Dashwood, Ontario.
They built their new house (pictured below) to look very much like
the home they left behind in Belgium.

This photo was taken on one of their trips to B.C. to see us.
Grandma, Grandpa, my dad, my brother, and myself.

When Grandpa died I wrote a poem, and asked a cousin to read it at the funeral.
The only line I remember is 'As if born to - we grew under your hearts'.
I wish I had kept a copy of that poem. 
I have written quite a few poems over the years.
I never kept a copy of any of them.

Frans & Emma together at rest. 
___________________________________________________________

The dad who chose me when I was 8 years old is a part of who I am today. 



Blood is only one part of the family equation!







This is why I search - 



Cause ... 





You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!
















***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of this blog post***






Sources:

An Introduction To The Flemish-Walloon Divide. Van De Poel, Nana. Culture Trip. Published November 24th 2016. Retrieved August 23rd 2020 from

https://theculturetrip.com/europe/belgium/articles/an-introduction-to-the-flemish-walloon-divide/

Links:

Amy Johnson Crow, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge
https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/

If you reference or use my blog posts in any way please

include a link to the specific blog and

credit http://somehowrelated.blogspot.com/

My blogs are ©Deborah Buchner, 2014 forward.

All rights reserved.

Please & Thank you!

___________________________________________________________

Plot Twist ~ Elizabeth Black Is Not A Black Sheep

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: 2020 Week 33 (TROUBLEMAKER)


This morning I woke up thinking about a dream I had 5 years ago. Remembering I had posted about it on Facebook I searched my timeline for the original description so I didnt' have to paraphrase. 

 

This was what I dreamt.

I have never been to Scotland.
I have no idea what a Scottish Brogue actually sounds like.
That's the best part about dreams.
However they present it's the way it is. 


This week's theme TROUBLEMAKER has been troubling me all week. I feel like I have spent a lot of time writing about black sheep relatives in our Bramble Bush over the past few years. 

At the beginning of this year's challenge I had laid out which family line would be used for each week before the prompts were even provided. This way I could ensure all sides of the family had their turn to tell their tale.

This week I was supposed to write about my husband's paternal branches.
In looking at the choices all week I realized I would have to dig pretty deep to find any dirt.

I then pondered who I had the most trouble searching. I have written about my husband's side of the tree being easy to research so that didn't feel right.

Should I expose family secrets?  Not that didn't seem right.

As the week progressed I continued to be troubled by this week's theme.

Falling asleep last night I had been thinking about who to write about. 

My last thought as I fell asleep was 'I will sleep on it. Tomorrow is a new day.'

In the morning I woke up remembering this very old dream. It's not very often I remember my dreams, and this morning I was pondering how it was possible I was remembering a very short dream from 5 years ago.

Indeed -- it's time for a PLOT TWIST.  


This week's prompt is a TROUBLEMAKER for me so I shall choose a new one.

I went to the list of all people in our Bramble Bush on Ancestry, and in alphabetical order chose the first direct ancestor I found that had been born in Scotland.
I have no idea if she spoke with a brogue or if she spoke English. 

My 4th great grandmother on my father's maternal side is:

Elizabeth Black

BIRTH 3 SEP 1792  • North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland

DEATH 05 JUL 1861 • North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland

BAPTIZED 16 Jul 1755  • North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland

She was the daughter of

George Black

BIRTH 6 DEC 1754 • North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland

DEATH 7 OCT 1828 • North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland

and

Alison  Kilgour
sometimes spelled Allison Kilgower

BIRTH 7 JUL 1755 • North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland

DEATH 14 SEP 1834 • North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland

My Elizabeth was the 5th born of 6 children I have found records for.
Her siblings are:

Robert Black

BIRTH 23 SEP 1778 • North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland

DEATH Unknown

William Black

BIRTH 16 OCT 1781 • North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland

DEATH 1865 • North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland

George Black

BIRTH 26 DEC 1784 • North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland

DEATH 19 DEC 1859 • Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland

Janet Black

BIRTH 17 FEB 1788 • North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland

DEATH Unknown

Peter Black

BIRTH 16 OCT 1794 • North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland

DEATH Unknown

Elizabeth Black married 

James Slicer on
11 Nov 1831 at Canongate, Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland

The Canongate Kirk, Edinburgh, Scotland [1]

Their son (my 3rd great grandfather) was born about a year and a half after their marriage on April 23rd 1833. 

Peter Slicer

BIRTH 23 APR 1833 • North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland

DEATH 01 DEC 1885 • North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland

At this time I have no other children for James & Elizabeth (nee Black) Slicer. 


Plot twist - Elizabeth Black is not a BLACK sheep!

I started out not planning to use the prompt this week, but it seems I have successfully met the challenge for another week.

Finding the ancestor who has a tale to tell!







This is why I search - 



Cause ... 





You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!
















***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of this blog post***





Footnotes:

1 Photo, Canongate Parish,  Retrieved August 16th 2020 from

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Canongate_Kirk,_Edinburgh.JPG

 


Links:

Amy Johnson Crow, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge
https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/

If you reference or use my blog posts in any way please

include a link to the specific blog and

credit http://somehowrelated.blogspot.com/

My blogs are ©Deborah Buchner, 2014 forward.

All rights reserved.

Please & Thank you!

___________________________________________________________

Small DNA Matches ~ Breaking Through Brick Walls

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: 2020 Week 32 (SMALL)

Recently Ancestry announced that matches who share less than 8cMs will be removed from the results. This have resulted in quite a bit of discussion about the pros and cons. It seems many have strong feelings for or against.


My feelings are conflicted regarding the change. When searching on brick wall lines those small matches have occasionally been the breakthrough I needed to get back a generation or two. The small matches have also caused confusion due to Pedigree Collapse. Many areas of my husband's side of the tree have intertwined lines. He has brothers marrying sisters and distant cousins marrying. With the crossovers between his maternal and paternal lines the small matches often offer confusion over clarity.


For this week's blog I decided to go back a bit further on my husband's Vannatter line. Ancestry's ThruLines offered a grouping of small matches that provided clarity for not just one generation back, but I was able to go back 3 generations on a line that I hadn't spent much time on. 

These small matches brought about exciting news. 


My husband is related to Santa Claus!!!

His 4th great grandmother

Mary Claus

BIRTH 1806 • Bayham, Elgin, Ontario, Canada

DEATH 19 MAY 1879 • Bayham, Elgin County, Ontario, Canada

married to

Isaac Williams

BIRTH 19 MAY 1802 • New York, United States

DEATH 19 MAR 1868 • Bayham, Elgin Co, Ontario, Canada

My husband descends through their son (his 3rd great grandfather)

Robert Henry Williams

BIRTH 31 MAR 1831 • Ontario

DEATH 12 FEB 1896 • Bayham, Elgin Co, Ontario, Canada

I also discovered there is a Claus Cemetery in Ontario where these three (and many more relatives) are buried.

I will have to spend more time researching this Claus line. It seems they may have been one of the first Loyalists to settle in what would become Ontario, Canada.

Returning to the subject of Ancestry's upcoming change I was left wondering if I would have found the family connection to dear old Santa had I not spent time searching before the change went into effect. 

Separating fact from fiction!







This is why I search - 



Cause ... 





You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!
















***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of this blog post***











Sources:

Claus Cemetery, Find A Grave, Retrieved August 8th 2020 from

https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2486237/claus-cemetery

Family Photos, Ancestry.ca, Retrieved August 8th 2020


Cemetery Photo, Find A Grave, Retrieved August 8th 2020


Historical Niagara Family Cemeteries. Paterson, Catherine. McMaster University, April 2013, Retrieved August 8th 2020 from 

file:///C:/Users/Debs/Downloads/fulltext.pdf

THE LOYALIST REFUGEE EXPERIENCE IN CANADA. Cain, Alexander. JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. January 26,  2015, Retrieved August 8th 2020

https://allthingsliberty.com/2015/01/the-loyalist-refugee-experience-in-canada/

Links:

Amy Johnson Crow, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge
https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/

If you reference or use my blog posts in any way please

include a link to the specific blog and

credit http://somehowrelated.blogspot.com/

My blogs are ©Deborah Buchner, 2014 forward.

All rights reserved.

Please & Thank you!

___________________________________________________________

Elizabeth (nee Kniffen) Murphy ~ Larger Than Life

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: 2020 Week 31 (LARGE)


This week's blog features the larger than life relative presented below.


My husbands' X3 great grandmother was 
Elizabeth Kniffen
BIRTH 26 MAY 1833 • Charlotteville Tp., Norfolk Co., Upper Canada
DEATH 2 MAY 1923 • Norfolk, Ontario, Canada

Elizabeth (nee Kniffen) Murphy

3rd great grandmother Elizabeth was a relative that we had no knowledge of. She was simply a name in our tree. That all changed when we found a tree on Ancestry that had stories as told to the tree author. 


The story included by this relative was that Elizabeth (nee Kniffen) Murphy was known as Aunt Beck. She was a midwife who was afraid of no one. That trait would have been a great asset in her work where she would be out and about on her own at any hour of the day or night engaged with people from all walks of life while she was delivering babies. Apparently she smoked a pipe, and used colourful language. 


One of her X2 great granddaughter told me "Some of her home remedies were scary".


Another X2 great granddaughter shared that Grandma Murphy said "I'd just beat that thing with a thistle." in reference to a neighbour, who was pregnant every year.


I imagine she was a very interesting character in a time when women were not to behave in such a way. I would have loved to meet her. She sounds like she was very comfortable marching to her own drum. There is no doubt she passed those traits down to my husband and our sons.


Ancestry trees are such a great way to find real life stories about relatives who are just waiting for their story to be told. 


She was married to 
John Murphy
BIRTH 11 FEB 1833 • Charlotteville Tp., Norfolk Co., Upper Canada
DEATH 23 AUG 1909 • Walsh, Norfolk Co., Ontario, Canada

John and Elizabeth (nee Kniffen) Murphy

Finding the stories that breathe life into your ancestors!







This is why I search - 



Cause ... 





You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!
















***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of this blog post***






Sources:


Ancestry Public tree, The Whole Kit and Caboodle by Marcia and family, Marcia Brockway, Retrieved August 3rd 2020 from:
https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/47177315/family/familyview?dtid=100




Links:

Amy Johnson Crow, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge
https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/

If you reference or use my blog posts in any way please

include a link to the specific blog and

credit http://somehowrelated.blogspot.com/

My blogs are ©Deborah Buchner, 2014 forward.

All rights reserved.

Please & Thank you!

___________________________________________________________