First Father's Day in 1910 ~ Celebrating George Albert Williams Father of 12

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2021: Week 24 (FATHER'S DAY)

While visiting my father today to celebrate Father's Day I read that Father's Day was first introduced in 1910.
It was a question in a trivia about Father's Day. 

It got me to thinking about who in our tree was celebrating the birth of a new child on that FIRST Father's Day, June 19th 1910.

My husband's X2 great grandfather on his father's maternal line was celebrating the birth of his 12th child, Baby Bertha, born on March 31st. 

Celebrating the FIRST Father's Day in 1910 was:

George Albert Williams

BIRTH 1 AUG 1866 • Houghton Tp., Norfolk Co., Ontario, Canada

DEATH 15 JUN 1952 • Houghton Tp., Norfolk Co., Ontario, Canada

His 12 children in birth order were:

Lloyd Alvin Williams

BIRTH 12 AUG 1889 • Houghton Tp., Norfolk Co., Ontario, Canada

DEATH 1962

Zella Williams

BIRTH ABT 1891 • Ontario

DEATH Unknown

Iva Maud Williams

BIRTH 7 APR 1891

DEATH 10 APR 1892

who was not alive for the first Father's Day in 1910

Cyril Williams

BIRTH OCT 1892 • Ontario, Canada

DEATH Unknown

Bruce Sylvester Williams

BIRTH OCT 1892 • Beach Cane, Houghton To., Ontario, Canada

DEATH 1978

Elmer Lee (Lee) Williams

BIRTH 1 MAR 1895 • Houghton Township, Norfolk County, Ontario, Canada

DEATH 9 APR 1967 • Ontario, Canada

Who married into my husband's mother's maternal line

Arthur Williams

BIRTH 25 JAN 1897 • Norfolk, Ontario, Canada

DEATH 7 FEB 1897 • Norfolk, Ontario, Canada

who was not alive for the first Father's Day in 1910

Herman Sears Williams

BIRTH 4 DEC 1899 • Houghton Township, Norfolk County, Ontario, Canada

DEATH 21 DEC 1985 • Detroit, Wayne, Michigan

Vera Catharine Williams

BIRTH 27 SEP 1902 • Norfolk, Ontario, Canada

DEATH 25 MAR 1981 • Tillsonburg, Ontario, Canada

My husband's great grandmother

Ila Irene Williams

BIRTH 6 SEP 1906 • Houghton Township, Norfolk County, Ontario, Canada

DEATH 1975

Cora Mildred (Mildred) Williams

BIRTH 18 SEP 1908 • Norfolk, Ontario, Canada

DEATH Unknown

Bertha Hazel Williams

BIRTH 31 MAR 1910

DEATH 15 OCT 1910 • Norfolk

who sadly passed away 4 months after that first Father's Day.

Celebrating alongside father George was their mother:

Edith Gertrude Brisseau

BIRTH 27 MAR 1867 • Walsingham Tp., Norfolk Co., Canada West

DEATH 28 OCT 1937 • Houghton Tp., Norfolk Co., Ontario, Canada

George, front row left, around 20 years after that first Father's Day!

Fruit From Woods & Sands - Page 59, Sourced below

Celebrating all the fathers who came before us!!!






Cause ... 




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

This is why I search - 

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

Sources:


Fruit from Woods and Sands, The Story of Houghton Missin, Sider, E. Morris and Alonzo Vannatter, Evangel Press, Nappanee, Indiana, Messiah College, Pennsylvania, 1978

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!

________________________________________________________________

Walk a Mile In Those Shoes ~ When Photos Tell the Tale

 

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2021: Week 4 (FAVOURITE PHOTO)

We have so many photos that choosing just one seemed an impossible task. 

Once I decided which branch of the Bramble Bush to write about this week the decision became more obvious. 

I remember the first time I saw this photo:

Great Grandpa Alonzo with my husband

This is my husband with his great grandfather Alonzo Vannatter. 

The book (sourced below) was a present for my husband from his grandmother in 1993. She wrote a personal message to him in the front of the book. She also included notes of who was who.

I read that book cover to cover. I have always loved history, and this one had personal connections to our family.

When I arrived at page 84 I shared the photo with my husband. 
I commented that it appears his belief in his personal value was instilled in him young. 

Even today $145 a mile is a tremendous amount of money. He had never seen the book or heard the story before I showed it to him.

The book is a history of the Brethren in Christ Church in Frogmore, Ontario, Canada.

Intertwined is part of my husband's family story.  

Great Grandpa Alzonzo & Great Grandma Vera  when they were younger

In this photo are:
two of my husband's X2 great grandfathers: George Williams & Ben Vannatter, one X2 great grandmother: Fidella (nee Foreman) Vannatter
and one X2 great aunt: Florence (nee Aspden) Williams
  (who is related by marriage paternally, and blood maternally)

Back far left is my husband's grandmother, Nina
on her left, her sister Reta

Finding family photos & stories in published works!

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:

Sider, Morris E., & Vannatter, Alonzo. (1978), Fruit From Woods And Sands: The Story of Houghton Mission. Nappanee, Indiana: Evangel Press..

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!

________________________________________________________________

 

The Long Line ~ Van Etten becomes Vannatter

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: 2020 Week 3 (LONG LINE)

When I first met my husband he explained that his love of red wine & pasta was genetic since he was Italian through his dad's maternal line.  His great grandfather was Alonzo Vannatter.  I think my husband decided that the Vannatter family was Italian because he thought the name Alonzo was Italian. 

"The name Alonzo is a boy's name of Spanish, Italian origin meaning "noble, ready". You may be surprised to know that Alonzo has been on the Most Popular list since 1880, when such records began to be kept,..." 1

Born Asa Alonzo, but known as Alonzo. On page 88 of the book FRUIT FROM WOODS AND SANDS it's suggested that he was named after Asa Bearss who was one of the original evangelists who shaped the church community that Alonzo would one day lead.  When Alonzo was born in 1901 his parents may have simply chosen the name because they liked it. Alonzo was known as Lonnie to his family.


When I first began researching the Vannatter side of his family tree there was nothing to suggest  they weren't Italian. Using my brand new Ancestry access I tracked back generation by generation using the documents I found. When I arrived to my husband's 5th great grandfather I discovered the name he had been born with was Van Etten, but his children were Vannatter. As I chased this line further up with the newly found name I arrived in Kingdom of the Netherlands (Holland).


You should have seen my husband's face when I told him he needed to let go of the red wine, and embrace licorice. Although funny, I do regret telling him since now I have to share my dutch licorice treats. Several years later when he received his DNA results it was confirmed. There was no Italian in his family tree. He still likes red wine & pasta, but now doesn't claim it's due to his heritage.


The Vannatter line was the first family line I was able to research back to the 1600s.  The only reason I haven't gone further back is that I have put this branch of the tree aside to focus on other lines.


 Further down the tree in this long line of Vannatters is my husband's great grandparents: Alonzo & Vera Vannatter.

source: FRUIT FROM WOODS AND SANDS

Asa Alonzo (Lonnie) Vannatter
BIRTH 23 NOV 1901 • Frogmore, Houghton Tp., Norfolk, Ontario, Canada
DEATH 8 APR 1976 • London, Ontario, Canada

Vera Catharine Williams
BIRTH 27 SEP 1902 • Norfolk, Ontario, Canada
DEATH 25 MAR 1981 • Tillsonburg, Ontario, Canada

Alonzo's church:

The Brethren in Christ Church in Frogmore, Ontario

When my husband was small he spent quite a bit of time with his great grandparents.

My husband and his great grandfather, 1969
source: FRUIT FROM WOODS AND SANDS

38 years between the two photos.

With his great grandfather's photo, in the lobby of
The Brethren in Christ Church in Frogmore, Ontario, 2007

Alonzo & Vera's X3 great grandsons in the photo below

X3 great grandsons in front of Alonzo's curch
The Brethren in Christ Church in Frogmore, Ontario, 2007

Tracking the long family lines through a name or spelling change!







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***





Related Previous Blogs:

Somehow Related Blog Spot,
Reverend Alonzo Vannatter ~ Brethren In Christ Church, Frogmore, Ontario
52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: 2019 Week 17 (At Worship)
https://somehowrelated.blogspot.com/2019/04/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks-week-17-at.html




Footnotes:

1 Alonzo, Nameberry,  Retrieved January 15th 2020 from
https://nameberry.com/babyname/Alonzo




Sources:

Brethren In Christ Beginnings, Mennogesprach, Mennonite Historical Society of Ontario, September 1989, Vol. 7, No. 2, Retrieved January 15th 2020 from
https://mhso.org/sites/default/files/publications/Mennogesprach7-2.pdf

Fruit from Woods and Sands, The Story of Houghton Missin, Sider, E. Morris and Alonzo Vannatter, Evangel Press, Nappanee, Indiana, Messiah College, Pennsylvania, 1978




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!

___________________________________________________________