Wisteria

I wrote my original post about my mtDNA in October of 2011. The next month, I started another blog post as a follow-up but never followed it through to completion. Originally, I had gone back online to Allefriezen.nl to check on some of the earlier female lines that I was unsure of from that original post, but even more has happened since then. For the “danglers” that I was unsure about, I discovered the following: One I was uncertain about was Gertje Jurgens Dijkstra who married Jacob Hempenius. I found records of three male children born to this couple and then a record indicating that Jacob remarried in 1857. It would be assumed that Gertje died before then and no female children are listed in the years between his first marriage date to Gertje and this second marriage date. Therefore it is quite likely that no female lines descended from her. Gertje’s younger sister Anne Jurgens Dijkstra born in 1831 was also a dangler. It turns out she died at the age of 18 months so...

According to the 1900 census, John was born in Germany in December of 1873, had emigrated to the U.S. in 1889 and was a naturalized citizen. His wife Mabel was a New York native, born in February of 1875. The Ellicottville Post newspaper reported several mentions of John and Miss Mabel Rickards visiting neighboring towns together in 1897 and then a notice was posted on December 1, 1897 stating that the two were united in marriage “Wednesday evening” by the Rev. C.W. Remington (he was the Presbyterian minister in Ellicottville.) John K. Lorch was a blacksmith living on Monroe Street in Ellicottville during the 1900 federal census. A Post article from September 23, 1931 provided a timeline of this blacksmith shop on Monroe Street. The article highlighted the Gilbert J. Marsh Wagon Making and General Blacksmithing Shop in Monroe Street, stating that Mr. Marsh had purchased the local shop a year ago and also operated a blacksmith in Steamburg. The article also noted that before Mr. ...