Saturday, August 29, 2020
Old Church Road, Hanover County
I have wanted to do this for a long time, but my Ancestry connections urged it along! I made a slideshow of the road to the family's farm in Old Church. It includes a photo of the entrance to Chemokins (or Shimokin) Farm where my Lewis ancestors owned land in the 1700's. Enjoy this little trip down Old Church Road:
Saturday, August 15, 2020
Teresa Allen question answered
There are many burning questions that have arisen from my genealogy research. It is such a thrill to find the answers after years of searching! One question was partially answered by a recent finding in my mom’s papers. I came across a deed for a cemetery plot purchased by Teresa Allen in North Chicago in 1921.
Teresa is listed on the 1920 U.S. Census in Oklahoma City. I knew she married my grandfather in Chicago in 1926. My first question was, why did she move to Chicago? Her friends and career were in Oklahoma. The second question was, what year did she move?
Now I know she was in Chicago by 1921. She lived and worked in Waukegan for five years before she married my grandfather. Genealogy nerds rejoice!
Monday, July 20, 2020
Surprising Connections
I recently acquired all of my mother's files on her genealogy research, including reams of printouts of email exchanges from the 1990's with fellow Wandell researchers from various genealogy message boards. One of these researchers (cousins), contacted her last week and discovered her memory decline. I connected with him by phone and explained about her issues, and also shared my DescendDance blog with him. It inspired me to spend a couple of afternoons sorting through all of Mom's files and purging duplicate or useless papers. It is now reduced to a manageable pile. Some of the cousins with whom she corresponded sent her some invaluable copies of original documents that I did not have. I am looking forward to incorporating them into my research.
On another note, my sister and her husband (Holly and Clayton Bernick) were going through the last of his mother's storage boxes of memorabilia. They found a piano recital program that listed his mother's name (Jane Ramsey), and surprise! It also listed the names of our beloved Aunt Teeny (Miriam Lukhard) and cousin Peggy (then Page, now Baldacci)! Jane was about 14, and Teeny and Peggy were around 10 years old in 1946. When I told Teeny about it today, she told me that Gramp used to take her and Peggy to piano lessons in his truck every week and they hated it. But they loved the piano teacher, a little old Dutch man named A. J. Pennartz. He was the organist at the church where the recitals were held. Teeny and Peggy quit lessons as soon as they were allowed, but Jane continued with the same teacher until college and corresponded with him long after her lessons were through.
On another note, my sister and her husband (Holly and Clayton Bernick) were going through the last of his mother's storage boxes of memorabilia. They found a piano recital program that listed his mother's name (Jane Ramsey), and surprise! It also listed the names of our beloved Aunt Teeny (Miriam Lukhard) and cousin Peggy (then Page, now Baldacci)! Jane was about 14, and Teeny and Peggy were around 10 years old in 1946. When I told Teeny about it today, she told me that Gramp used to take her and Peggy to piano lessons in his truck every week and they hated it. But they loved the piano teacher, a little old Dutch man named A. J. Pennartz. He was the organist at the church where the recitals were held. Teeny and Peggy quit lessons as soon as they were allowed, but Jane continued with the same teacher until college and corresponded with him long after her lessons were through.
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The times dispatch. September 15, 1912, Page 10 |
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Monday, May 25, 2020
Richmond: Ground Zero
My father's family has deep roots in the Richmond area of Virginia.
The Powells were living in Henrico County since before the Civil War. George James Powell and Mary Ellen Stevens married and lived in the Brookland area of Richmond, east of "Brook Turnpike." In February 1870, their property was listed for sale by auction in the Richmond Dispatch. After George passed away around 1870, Mary Ellen continued to live in Brookland (per 1870 and 1880 U.S. Census) with her young sons, including Jefferson Monroe Powell.
Marie Louise Judd married Jefferson Monroe Powell after moving to Richmond from New York City. They lived and raised their family in the Dumbarton area of Richmond. Marie Louise was active in the Bethlehem Baptist Church on Penick Road; there is a monument to her near the front of the church.
John Adam Zaun Sr. married Elizabeth Wellner and settled in the Dumbarton area of Richmond soon after arriving from Germany via Philadelphia. They had a daughter, Louise, and three sons, John Adam, Charlie Wellner, and Henry Phillip.
John Adam Zaun Jr. married Georgia Powell and lived for many years on Penick Road in Dumbarton. Their home was on the SE corner of Fernwood and Penick (left side of map below). Bethlehem Baptist Church is in the top right corner of the map; most of the family is buried in this church cemetery or in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Richmond. Three of their children Pauline, Jimmy, and Agnes raised their families in Richmond. (William moved to NJ, and Ernest to Norfolk).
George Abbott and Ida Rene Bryant, from New Jersey and Southhampton County, Virginia respectively, joining their lives in Richmond. Their daughter Jacqueline Delmar Abbott grew up in Dumbarton near Ernest Earl Zaun. They lived near their families in Dumbarton after they married until the Depression forced them to move to Norfolk to find work. Their daughter Miriam Edith Abbott married Herman Lukhard and lived in or near Richmond all her life, as did their youngest daughter, Audrey.
The next two generations of my family made regular pilgrimages from Norfolk/Va. Beach to Richmond to visit family, and some of us still do!
Note: my mother's maternal family also originated in Virginia. Research is ongoing, but the Allen family also owned property near Richmond as far back as the early 1700's, ironically intertwining in later years with my father's family. One of my mother's paternal ancestors owned a plantation near Yorktown at the time of Jamestown, around 1634.
The Powells were living in Henrico County since before the Civil War. George James Powell and Mary Ellen Stevens married and lived in the Brookland area of Richmond, east of "Brook Turnpike." In February 1870, their property was listed for sale by auction in the Richmond Dispatch. After George passed away around 1870, Mary Ellen continued to live in Brookland (per 1870 and 1880 U.S. Census) with her young sons, including Jefferson Monroe Powell.
Marie Louise Judd married Jefferson Monroe Powell after moving to Richmond from New York City. They lived and raised their family in the Dumbarton area of Richmond. Marie Louise was active in the Bethlehem Baptist Church on Penick Road; there is a monument to her near the front of the church.
John Adam Zaun Sr. married Elizabeth Wellner and settled in the Dumbarton area of Richmond soon after arriving from Germany via Philadelphia. They had a daughter, Louise, and three sons, John Adam, Charlie Wellner, and Henry Phillip.
John Adam Zaun Jr. married Georgia Powell and lived for many years on Penick Road in Dumbarton. Their home was on the SE corner of Fernwood and Penick (left side of map below). Bethlehem Baptist Church is in the top right corner of the map; most of the family is buried in this church cemetery or in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Richmond. Three of their children Pauline, Jimmy, and Agnes raised their families in Richmond. (William moved to NJ, and Ernest to Norfolk).
George Abbott and Ida Rene Bryant, from New Jersey and Southhampton County, Virginia respectively, joining their lives in Richmond. Their daughter Jacqueline Delmar Abbott grew up in Dumbarton near Ernest Earl Zaun. They lived near their families in Dumbarton after they married until the Depression forced them to move to Norfolk to find work. Their daughter Miriam Edith Abbott married Herman Lukhard and lived in or near Richmond all her life, as did their youngest daughter, Audrey.
The next two generations of my family made regular pilgrimages from Norfolk/Va. Beach to Richmond to visit family, and some of us still do!
Note: my mother's maternal family also originated in Virginia. Research is ongoing, but the Allen family also owned property near Richmond as far back as the early 1700's, ironically intertwining in later years with my father's family. One of my mother's paternal ancestors owned a plantation near Yorktown at the time of Jamestown, around 1634.
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