Family Heirlooms ~ A Wooden Walking Stick

 
Recently we traveled across Canada to spend time with our children & extended family members. 

On this trip my husband's grandfather gave him this family heirloom:

Close-ups -  bottom to top

The photos do not do it justice. This is an incredible piece of woodwork. It's carved from a solid piece of wood...
It's a BROKEN BRANCH fitting this week's theme. 

Starting from the bottom the carvings tell the story of the Old Testament: Adam & Eve, Noah & the Ark, the 3 wise men following the Star of David to the manger, ending with the the Crucifixion of Jesus.
Or at least that is what we thought it was telling.  

Between Noah & the animals disembarking and the arrival of the 3 wise men is a beaver & a turtle. We wondered if it was to represent the Indigenous Creation Story alongside the bible's. Alternatively they could represent Turtle Island (North America) & Canada. 

Family lore suggests it might have been a talking stick used by missionaries.

On closer examination we aren't sure that it is telling the story of Old Testament from the bottom. 

The first four symbols have people carrying objects that appear to be an axe, a sled, a rosary, and one unidentifiable. Then livestock, a small boat, and a person carrying nothing followed by the beaver & the turtle. Then a man holding 3 fish & a key. Then a square with 2 wedges on either side with a platform above. Then the 3 wise men following a star to a place with livestock with a baby in a manger. Then a family - 2 adults with 1 child. Then another animal that might be a squirrel or a salamander. Then 2 more people who may be fighting. Then the symbol of Jesus on the cross. Around the cross is tools: an axe, a square, a hammer, a saw, a pair of plyers, and a spear. Above all of the that is a rooster. Then a man and a woman holding hands. Then a leaf (or a tree or a plant) with a bird sitting at the top. From bottom to top encompassing the entire story is a snake. 

Online searching resulted in our discovering it's a Folk Art Cane/Walking Stick. 

***If you have any knowledge of this walking stick we would love to hear from you***

His grandfather remembers the walking stick being at his grandparents house when he was a child. 

Mark Rearely & Anna Barbara (nee Walser) Buchner

Mark Rearely Buchner

BIRTH 24 FEB 1838 • Woodhouse Twp., Norfolk Co., ON, Canada

DEATH 12 JUN 1931 • Norfolk, Ontario, Canada
&

Anna Barbara (Barbara) Walser

BIRTH 13 APR 1860 • Teufen, Appensell, Switzerland

DEATH 1950 • Norfolk County, Ontario, Canada

Until the provenance can be established the origins before my husband's X3 great grandparents can't be known.

His grandfather told us that the family believed it originated 2 generations higher with 

Jacob Buchner Sargeant, UEL

BIRTH 31 MAY 1763 • Hardwick Township, Sussex County, New Jersey , USA

DEATH 11 AUG 1841 • Woodhouse, Norfolk County, Ontario, Canada
&

Catherine Shular (Sheelar)

BIRTH 20 SEP 1767 • Sussex County, New Jersey, USA

DEATH 8 FEB 1855 • Woodhouse, Norfolk County, Ontario

Folk Art Canes were typically from the Civil War to WW1 which put the X5 Great Grandpa Jacob tale a bit out of reach, but could fit for a generation below (X4 Great grandparents)

Jacob Clasnor Buchner

BIRTH 20 APR 1803 • Woodhouse Twp, Norfolk County , Ontario, Canada

DEATH 29 JUN 1886 • Houghton Twp, Norfolk County , Ontario, Canada
&

Amy Catherine Matthews

BIRTH ABT 1801 • Woodhouse, Ontario, Canada

DEATH 10 MAR 1880 • Cultus, Norfolk County, Ontario, Canada

We do know the walking stick has been passed down to the oldest male of each generation starting with the children of Mark's second marriage. 

This left us wondering if it was possible the walking stick originated with X3 great grandmother Anna Barbara Walser's family. Alternatively it may have been that she gave it to her oldest son vs. Mark's oldest son (from his 1st marriage). We aren't sure where it came from before X3 great grandparents Mark & Barbara (nee Walser) Buchner obtained it. 

Grandfather to grandson happened this time because my father-in-law died last year. Our son is the oldest male of the next generation allowing the walking stick to continue 6 generations through the oldest male. 

In today's world the practice of passing down father to son ignoring daughters seems old fashioned & unfair. Since we have 2 boys and no daughters we can follow the tradition without discrimination. 

Treasures passed down the direct male line!!!

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/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks/

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!

______________________________________________________________

Oe ’wis’t met jou? ~ How Are You?

The #1 boys name is Liam, and the #1 girls name is Olivia according to the CBS News articles, The 50 Most Poplular Baby Boy Names & The 50 Most Poplular Baby Girl Names.

Interesting that our Bramble Bush has only 5 Liams & 4 Olivias. Our Liams are all currently living. Our Olivias are all from the mid to late 1800s. 

Does this mean that our Bramble Bush is full of folks who don't follow popular culture?  Does it mean we aren't a family of trendy folk?  

I would like to believe we are a family that likes to give our children unique names. We have two boys who can never buy anything pre-populated with their name. Their names are unique, and then we made them more unique with the spelling we chose. 

When I go to the second most popular boys name, Noah, we have 15 in our Bramble Bush. The majority born in the 1600s and 1700s, but 2 died in 1976. The second most popular girls name, Emma, we have almost 600 in our Bramble Bush ranging from as far back as our roots go. 

Emma was one of the names we chose for our oldest if he would have been a girl. Interesting that we chose very unique boys names, but for girls we had chosen more traditional names. When looking at the names we had considered only Emma appears on these lists. 

One of the Emmas in our tree is my step-grandmother, Emma (nee Van Loo) Boogemans. She became my grandma, by choice, when I was 8 years old. I remember the first time I met her. 

We traveled from British Columbia to Ontario. 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'm not sure if she was disappointed that we weren't Flemish, but she never led us to believe we disappointed her. 

I wrote about this before, and you can read it & see photos at this link 
As If Born To ~ Grown Under Their Hearts

My Boogemans grandparents, and my favourite EMMA!

Emma Louisa Florentina Van Loo
BIRTH 18 MAR 1910 • Heist-op-den-Berg, Antwerpen, Belgium
DEATH 18 DEC 1988 • Dashwood, Ontario, Canada
and
Frans Boogemans
BIRTH 30 OCT 1910 • Belgium
DEATH 15 MAR 2000 • Exeter, Huron, Ontario, Canada

Oe ’wis’t met jou? 
How Are You?

Finding your memories in the list of the most popular names!!!

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:

Cartelli, Lance. The 50 Most Poplular Baby Boy Names. CBS News. Originally published October 29th 2019, updated February 25th 2022/  Retrieved May 26th 2022 from 
https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/the-50-most-popular-baby-boy-names/19/

Ryan, Joel. The 50 Most Poplular Baby Girls Names. CBS News. Originally published October 9th 2019, updated February 9th 2022. Retrieved May 26th 2022 from 
https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/baby-girl-names-50-most-popular/50/

Links:

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

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!

______________________________________________________________

Mistakes Happen ~ When the Small Stuff Becomes the Big Stuff

Mistakes happen. 

In 2017 I deleted our old Bramble Bush and started a new one because of how many errors I believed were there. 

In hindsight it might have been better to go through and fix the errors since I deleted about 5 years of research that has now shown to be mostly correct. 

It wasn't a waste though because I now know what is in our Bramble Bush resulted from a reasonably exhaustive search. 

In 2013 I had conversation via Ancestry messenger with a person who has many published genealogy works. We shared back & forth then evolved to email communication. I have a few books and other resources written by this person, and have followed online sources of theirs as well. 

During these communications they shared their username/alias they used for genealogy along with their actual name. 

I thought we had developed a long distant cousin relationship.

In 2015 I recoiled at my desk when I opened my Ancestry messaging to this message from their alias.

I wondered if they even realized we had connected 2 years before they sent this message. Was I that mistaken when I thought we had a collaborator relationship?

Back in 2015 I went into our Bramble Bush & deleted each person in that entire line with a plan to never look at it again. It was 2 years later that I deleted the whole tree. 

Initially I had considered blocking the person, but realized I admired their research even if I didn't appreciate their delivery. 

Mistakes happen all the time.  I understand it's frustrating. 

In the past 10 years of researching with online sources I have found myself muttering WTF frequently. I have NEVER typed a message like the one I received. 

Sometimes I will message the person asking for their sources, but ultimately I am not the Genealogy Police. I can only look out for my research. 

There is also the possibility they are right & I am wrong so I would like to keep the line of communication open. 

Genealogy really is a shared collaborative activity.

In the 5 years since I deleted that tree I have slowly built it back up. This week I added back the line that related to that message. I immediately felt anxious about not making a mistake. 

In the end I made a mistake. 

I ended up duplicating the line when I added a new person via a census record. After adding several generations above them I discovered the mistake.  I know - Rookie Mistake, but mistakes happen.

I was left anxious worrying about the response of a person I have not spoken to in 7 years finding my error before I had a chance to fix it.

This left me dismissing everything I had to do to fix the problem. Sadly I didn't have enough time due to other commitments that day so I deleted the entire line. 

Wonder how long until I repeat this whole process again - hopefully without the mistake.

Mistakes happen!!!

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/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks/

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!

______________________________________________________________

Conflict In the Ring ~ Conflict In the Tree

This week's prompt CONFLICT had me thinking about fighting. 

When I attended the Roots Tech Conference I noted a connection with Muhammad Ali in the cousin connecting area of the conference. I decided then that I would write about this fighter's connection to our family when the prompt fit.

This week - the prompt fit, and I set out to find the connection to Muhammed Ali only to discover some CONFLICTING information.

WikiTree, a collaborative family tree, outlines the 21 degree connection with my husband's family line. 

The chart above is pretty straight forward for connecting the two lines.

 Too bad the father of Hannah (nee Corman) Lee is not accurate.

When I first looked at the connection I was confused so I went back to my tree to see who Hannah's parents were & what sort of sources I had. 

I discovered that Hannah's parent were clearly documented as

Hans Johannes Jerrick (John George) Kornmann (Korman) (Corman)
BIRTH 2 MAR 1732 • Republic of the Seven United Netherlands
DEATH 1804 • Stoney Creek, Hamilton Municipality, Ontario, Canada
and 
Sarah Harrison
BIRTH 1738
DEATH Ontario, Canada

Conflicting things further - on WikiTree Hannah's father is noted as  John "George" George Corman in the Biography of Hannah Corman Lee. Yet her parents are listed as Daniel Mosby and Sarah Harris with no supporting documentation in the clickables at the top. 

How exactly the wrong parents ended up attached to Hannah is a mystery that is seen too frequently on the shared Trees online. 

Back to Roots Tech & their notation of the relationship I decided to check Family Search which added another layer to the conflict.

Family Search, a shared one world tree, notes the cousin connection is via Hannah (nee Corman) Lee's maternal line. Her mother Sarah Harrison (not Sarah Harris) was the daughter of Benjamin Harrison IV & Anne Carter without supporting documentation for her being their child. If she was their daughter there should be evidence to support it since both families have been well researched.

I did find it interesting that both Family Search and WikiTree note the cousin connection between my husband and Muhammed Ali as through Hannah (nee Corman) Lee. 

At this time I have found no evidence for this connection in our Bramble Bush. 

Remembering that not everything you find on the internet is true!!!

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:

Biography, Hannah (Corman) Lee, Retrieved May 25th 2022 from
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Corman-210

Roots Tech 2022, Retrieved May 25th 2022 from 
https://www.familysearch.org/rootstech/home

Muhammad Ali is 21 Degrees from  me, WikiTree. Retrieved May 25th 2022 from https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Clay-1582

Links:

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

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!

______________________________________________________________