#52Ancestors (52) The Big Bad 2014 Challenge Wrap-Up

 

One year ago, I embarked upon the 52 Ancestors Challenge. The challenge was proposed by +Amy Johnson Crow as a way to revisit, re-research and remember your ancestors. I organized my posts mostly by alphabet and did a pretty good job of posting once a week through the year.

The Most Viewed Post was: (33) John Joseph McBride: A Victim of Proofreading followed by (22) Benjamin Joslin: An 1836 Death By Poisoning?.

Clearly, you readers went for the sensationalism!

The Least Viewed Post was: (43) John Patrick Riley

What?! No love for my Irish ancestors?

The Most Commented Upon Post was: (9) Peter Countryman: Dead and In Debt

I was pretty proud of that post :)

I was grateful to complete the challenge. Mostly, it was an opportunity to revisit ancestors and research I completed long ago. It helped me to see many of them in a fresh light and determine my next steps. Most of my brick walls are still brick walls, but to refresh my memory and consider new paths of exploration is immensely helpful moving forward.

Thank you to all who have read my posts. Congratulations to all of you who completed the challenge, in full or in part. Good luck to those of you who journey on to next year's challenge! And Happy New Year!

Here is my list of post subjects and a link to each post.

1	Ackley, Nancy
2	Ackley, Daniel
3	Allen, Catherine
4	Blanchette, Louis
5	Blanchette, Rena
6	Blanchette, Seraphin
7	Calkins, Sarah
8	Countryman, Jacob
9	Countryman, Peter
10	Countryman, May
11	Doerk, Otto
12	Doerk, Louise
13	Donaldson, Sarah
14	Ebinger, Carolina
15	Frederick, Lulu
16	Frederick, Milan
17	Frederick, William
18	Frederick, Richard
19	Hummel, Johann
20	Hummel, Lorenz
21	Hummel, William
22	Joslin, Benjamin
23	Joslin, Sarah
24	Kerr, Robert 1st/Wilson, Mary
25	Kerr, Robert
26	Kerr, Margaret
27	Kopkau, Frederick
28	Kopkau, Wilhelmina
29	Maxon, Elias
30	Maxon, Laura
31	McAleer, Mary Ann
32	McBride, Daniel
33	McBride, Joseph
34	McBride, John
35	McDonald, Anna
36	McDonald, William
37	McWeeney, Mary Ann
38	more McWeeney's
39	Papke, Carolina/Doerk, Carl
40	Spencer, Dallas
41	Richard, Virginia
42	Riley, Thomas
43	Riley, John
44	Riley, Bernice
45	Smith, Johanna
46	Spencer, Edward J.
47	Spencer, Asa W.
48	Spencer, Wright
49	Spencer, Asa
50	Stachel, Wilhelmina
51	Tenney, Amelia
52	Recap 2014

#52Ancestors (51) Amelia Tenney Countryman

As we reach the end of the year, and in my case, the alphabet, my penultimate #52Ancestors entry is a maternal great-great-great-grandmother.

Amelia S. TENNEY (or possibly TENNY) was born about 1839, probably in Monroe County, New York. I have had quite a lot of difficulty locating Amelia with her birth family at any point prior to her marriage. You would think a fairly unique name like Amelia would help, but not so far.

How do we solve a problem like Amelia?

Over the years, I have formed some hypotheses about her beginnings. I worked with distant 'cousins' met on message boards who are certain my Amelia is part of their TENNEY family. Based on her census age and birthplace, I can narrow down suspects. It doesn't help that her purported father, Henry TENNEY died before the 1850 census and her purported mother, Harriet NOBLE, remarried at least two more times. That certainly broadens the playing field.

Her first good record is her marriage to Jacob COUNTRYMAN on 2 November 1855 in Iosco Township, Livingston County, Michigan. Harriet was only 16 and Jacob about 19. Jacob was orphaned at a very young age in next-door Ingham County. Now if Amelia also had a transient upbringing after her own father died, that might help explain why neither Amelia or Jacob, who could be working out as help, appear in census records. They did not have [surviving] children for almost nine years. Perhaps they were waiting to have more stability before having children? ...or had children that didn't survive? ...or just plain moved a lot? I may never know.

Jacob and Amelia, c 1880

They did have five daughters:

• May Genevieve
• Coralyn Ella
• Frances E. 
• Margaret M.
• Jennie

The children were all born in Tompkins Township, Jackson County, Michigan between 1864 and 1876. The family eventually moved just north into Ingham County where they remained. Amelia died 9 June 1891 according to her gravestone. They are buried in Graham Cemetery in Woodhull Township, Shiawassee County, Michigan. 

For future researching, I will continue on the leads I presently have. Interestingly, Harriet NOBLE, Amelia's purported mother, descends from some very old Massachusetts colonial lines through her NOBLE/CALLENDER and DEWEY/HAWES families. My own DNA results have connected me with several people who also descend from these families. 

Maybe my leads are better than I think!

Amelia's page in my database

© 2014 Sally Knudsen

#52Ancestors (50) Wilhelmina Stachel of Kreis Rosenberg

This week's ancestor is a maternal great-great-great-grandmother, Wilhelmina STACHEL.

You might tell by her name that she is part of my German ancestry. More precisely, she was born on the far eastern edge of West Prussia, near Gdansk in present-day Poland. I was fortunate enough (after a couple of false starts) to locate records of her parish on microfilm and gather numerous family records.

Wilhelmina was born on 29 January 1842 in the village of Peterkau (now Piotrkowo, Poland) in Kreis Rosenberg, West Prussia. Her parents were Christoph STACHEL and Gottliebe SCHMIDTKE. Christoph and Gottliebe married in Sommerau, a nearby village, and had at least eight children. Christoph died in 1872 and then most of the family immigrated to the United States.

Wilhelmina married Friedrich KOPKAU of Peterkau in 1864. They had four children in West Prussia and five more in northern Michigan where they first settled.

Wilhelmina STACHEL and Friedrich KOPKAU, c 1895

The STACHEL's and KOPKAU's were part of a group of West Prussians who settled in Lansing, Ingham, Michigan. They practiced the Evangelical Lutheran faith and began their own church - Trinity Evangelical Lutheran - in Lansing. This was the same church my family worshipped in until they left Michigan in the 1950's.

While these Prussians may not have been a true endogamous population (endogamy: the custom of marrying within a particular social or cultural group in accordance with custom or law), they certainly married among their own, first in West Prussia then in Lansing for the first few decades after arriving in Michigan. There were several small villages they came from originally, and then they lived within walking distance of one another in southeast Lansing. The census pages prove it!

My family ancestry is filled with the STACHEL and KOPKAU names from many different branches of the old Prussian trees. Some of the other contemporary names are:

• Laskofski
• Rominski
• Fetzke
• Papke
• Erbe
• Massuch
• Murawski/Morofsky

There are many instances of sibling pairs marrying sibling pairs and neighbors marrying next-door neighbors. There were also relatively few given names used. I have so many couples with the names Friedrich, Wilhelm, Christoph, Carl and August and wives Wilhelmina, Augusta, Carolina, Louisa, and Gottliebe. They are, I'm certain, the reason family tree software was invented!

As I dig deeper into my DNA, I have made a couple of connections where we cannot determine a matching surname, but we all descend from families of Kreis Rosenberg. Untangling THAT web may prove a real challenge! 

Wilhelmina lived the rest of her life in Lansing. She died on 12 Feb 1914 and is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery with Friedrich and most of her family.

Wilhelmina's page in my database

© 2014 Sally Knudsen

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Thank you FreeDictionary

#52Ancestors (49) Brick Wall Alert! Asa Spencer of Vermont

Asa SPENCER is a the father of Wright SPENCER of my last post. He is also my most distant SPENCER to date, and by definition, my brick wall.

He's probably more of a brick wall that I created, due to lack of time, travel budget, and familiarity with possible New England records in which to search.

The basics:

• Asa SPENCER
• born about 1783 in Rhode Island
• married Sarah CALKINS about 1807 in Vermont
• died 4 Mar 1859 in New York

Once I located his son Wright and analyzed the families and records regarding the Town of Sheldon and Varysburg, Wyoming, New York, I found Asa SPENCER - pretty much in the graveyard. He is buried with his wife Sarah CALKINS in Varysburg Cemetery:

He died in 1859. On the 1850 census he was listed as being born in Rhode Island. His children were pretty consistent in naming Rhode Island as their father's birthplace on later censuses, but sometimes they said Vermont. Still a good clue!

Asa appeared on the 1830 and 1840 censuses in Town of Sheldon. Tracing him backwards and knowing that my ancestor Wright was born in Shaftsbury, Bennington, Vermont, I found Asa there in 1810 and 1820.

After that, it gets foggy. Asa and Sarah's first known child was born in 1808. So their marriage was likely around 1805-1807. And Sarah's family came from up the road in Arlington, Bennington, Vermont. There are several SPENCER's in both Arlington and Shaftsbury, but from my (mostly) online wandering, I cannot locate an appropriate family.

In 1800, Asa would have only been about 17 or 18, not married and very unlikely a head of household.

Some of the other resources I have checked are Arnold's Vital Records of Rhode Island, 1636-1850 and writing to the Bennington Museum. Nuttin'.

I do have this though:

I can console myself knowing what my ancestor born in 1783 looks like even if I don't know his family!

Any ideas on searching in 1800ish Vermont? Or migration patterns from Rhode Island to Vermont? Or are you my SPENCER cousin? Let me know!

Asa's page in my database

© 2014 Sally Knudsen

#52Ancestors (48) Wright Spencer - My Ancestral Star!

This #52Ancestors post is all about Wright SPENCER, my great-great-great-grandfather on my maternal side. He is the ancestor that started me on this crazy all-consuming pastime called genealogy.

Wright! Wright! My genealogical light!

Too hokey? Probably.

Wright SPENCER is the first ancestor I discovered that my family didn't know. My grandfather remembered hearing about his own grandfather, Asa SPENCER. But Wright was an intriguing new mystery SPENCER. We had a little leather pouch handed down with some old receipts and slips of paper. One had dates, which turned out be be Wright's life dates, presumably for his gravestone.

leather farm wallet

So...how do I begin researching and finding out who was Wright SPENCER? The likely place to begin was Michigan, since that's where my mother, grandfather and great-grandfather were all born. I learned how to order and use microfilms. Waiting for that spool to arrive just to find a census record was excruciating! But I succeeding in finding Wright with all the correct family names we knew. That's it - I was hooked!

Wright was born in Shaftsbury, Bennington, Vermont on 22 Jan 1811. He was the second child born to Asa SPENCER and Sarah CALKINS. About 1822, the SPENCER family moved west to Town of Sheldon in what was first Genesee County, New York (and later became Wyoming County). They owned farmland just west of the village of Varysburg. Eventually, Wright, his older brother Waterman and their father Asa all owned adjacent farms.

Wright married a local woman, Sarah 'Sally' JOSLIN in 1841. Land records show they purchased acreage in Ingham County, Michigan early in their marriage, but they never moved onto it. They had eight children, all in Sheldon, of which seven reached adulthood. Byron, the son who died, is buried in Varysburg Cemetery with his grandparents.

Wright and Sally and their children (Elizabeth, Benjamin, Asa, Edward, Cordelia, Washington and Addie) permanently moved to Locke Township, Ingham County, Michigan about 1868. How he traveled, I am not certain, but I know he used this trunk:

Wright Spencer's steamer trunk, c 1860, in my living room :)

They prospered in Locke, owning up to 100 acres of mostly farmland. When Wright became too old, Asa managed the farm. Their other children married and moved to various parts of Michigan. Sally died in 1895 and Wright followed in 1899. His death certificate states his cause of death was "softening of the brain" which was likely dementia or other effects of old age. He was a pioneer farmer who lived in three states and made it to 88 years of age.

When I lived in Michigan, I had the chance to meet with a cousin of my grandfather who I discovered was a keeper of photographs. I shared all my excitement over the ancestors I found, and she helped fill in stories and added some family photos. Then finally she had the big winner: a photograph of Wright. 

I shed tears. Like a baby. 

I never expected to see a photo of him. As we discussed Wright and Sally, I think she was measuring my enthusiasm. When our day was over, she hauled a large box from her car and said that I could have it if I liked. It was a 2' x 3' wooden framed charcoal sketch of the same photo made over 100 years ago. It hangs over my genealogy workspace to this day. Thank you, Charlene!

Wright Spencer with grandson, c 1896

Wright was my first real genealogy discovery and I am so happy he watches over me still.

Wright's page in my database

© 2014 Sally Knudsen

#52Ancestors (47) Asa Spencer - A Census Baby!

This #52Ancestors entry is a maternal great-great-grandfather, Asa Wyman SPENCER.

Asa was named for his paternal grandfather Asa SPENCER and his maternal grandmother Betsey WYMAN. He also has a genealogically interesting fact: he was born on 1 Jun 1850 - census day! Fortunately for my recordkeeping, the census in his town was taken on 16 July and Asa was listed as age one. Good enough for me!

Asa was born in the Town of Sheldon, Wyoming County, New York, which is about 40 miles east of Buffalo. His parents were Wright SPENCER and Sarah 'Sally' JOSLYN or JOSLIN. He was the third of eight children.

The SPENCER's lived in Sheldon until about 1868 when they moved west to Ingham County, Michigan. Many families from Wyoming County settled near each other in Ingham County. Asa was working as a farm hand in 1870 at a neighboring farm. By 1880, he was in charge of most of the daily farming of the family farm, to the point where his aging father deeded most of his 90 acres to Asa.

Asa married May Genevieve COUNTRYMAN in 1883. Asa and May were 14 years apart in age, perhaps a lot by today's standards, but not so odd then when a thriving bachelor farmer needed to take a wife. They had six children, five of whom reached adulthood: Beulah (died in infancy), Roy, Edward, Bessie, Burr, and Florence.

Asa, May and son Roy, c 1887

In addition to farming, Asa served his community as the Locke Township clerk in the early 1880's. He appeared to be a well-respected local man, so it came as a great shock to his family and his community when, in 1911, he had surgery for a ruptured appendix and died of complications shortly after. He was only 60 years old.

SeekingMichigan.org: link to original

Asa is buried with May in the large SPENCER family plot in Rowley Cemetery in Locke Township.

Asa's page in my database

© 2014 Sally Knudsen

#52Ancestors (46) Edward J. Spencer of Michigan

After a real-life absence (kids, holidays, kids, etc), I am back on the #52Ancestors blogging beat! And just in time - I have reached my SPENCER family, which were my first real searches and my most hopeful break-down-a-brick-wall family.

In October, I introduced my grandfather Dallas Frederick SPENCER. Today it is his father's turn for an introduction.

My great-grandfather was Edward J. SPENCER. Like his son Dallas, he was also born on the SPENCER family farm in Locke Township, Ingham County, Michigan. Ed, as he was commonly known, was born on 10 Jun 1888 to Asa SPENCER and May Genevieve COUNTRYMAN.

Ed and his siblings, and later his own family, lived a typical farm life in Michigan. The SPENCER family ran the farm until just after Ed's father died suddenly in 1911. His mother May, Ed, his wife and children and some siblings moved in to Lansing so the family could find better work in the booming automotive industry in Lansing. Not only were Detroit, Flint and Lansing filled with southerners coming north for work, they were also the destination for rural families like mine.

Ed married a local Locke girl who was his down-the-road neighbor, Lulu Gertrude FREDERICK. They married in 1913 and had two sons right away, and two more children after the move to Lansing.

Gertrude and Ed wedding photo, 1913

And then the unthinkable happened: Gertrude died of pneumonia in 1925. At least by now, Ed and his children were already under the multigenerational roof of his mother for I'm sure both financial and emotional support.

1930 US Federal census: Lansing, Ward 5, Ingham, Michigan

Ed continued working in automotive industries. The SPENCER family was always pretty close, until my branch moved away to Illinois. Ed would visit occasionally and we would go to Michigan, especially for my summer birthday. 

My great-grandfather passed away at age 88 on 9 May 1976. He is buried with Gertrude and many of his SPENCER relations in Rowley Cemetery in Locke Township.

Edward's page in my database

© 2014 Sally Knudsen