25 April 2010

Surname Saturday - 23: Collins

A day late and a week late with this line, but it's one where I have more unknowns than knowns.

1. Kevin Joseph HUIGENS

2. Joseph Anthony HUIGENS
3. Shirley Ann OGDEN

4. Joseph Andrew HUIGENS (b. 9 Mar 1891 near Creighton, Knox Co., NE, m. 18 Feb 1914 at St. Ludgers Catholic Church in Creighton, Knox Co., NE, d. 8 Nov 1957 in Rushville, Sheridan Co., NE)
5. Mary Julia KAIN (b. 19 May 1896 in Knox Co., NE, d. 29 Apr 1979 in Rushville, Sheridan Co., NE)

10. Francis J. "Frank" KAIN (b. 14 Oct 1861 in Clinton Co., IA, m. 14 Feb 1888 at St. Irenaeus Catholic Church in Lyons, Clinton Co., IA, d. 12 Dec 1930 in Yankton, Yankton Co., SD)
11. Margaret H. "Maggie" KENNEDY (b. 9 Sep 1864 in Clinton Co., IA, d. 8 Dec 1831 in Creighton, Knox Co., NE)

22. John KENNEDY (b. 2 Jun 1826? in King's County, Ireland, m. 10 Nov 1854 in ?, d. 6 Nov 1913 in Clinton, Clinton Co., IA)
23. Hanora COLLINS (b. 25 Mar 1830 in Glenbrohane, County Limerick, Ireland, d. 24 Nov 1888 in Clinton, Cinton Co., IA)


What I know of Hanora (Collins) Wallace Kennedy mostly comes from a copy of a couple of pages of handwritten notes from my grandmother's cousin, Eileen Kennedy.  According to her, Hanora Collins was born in March 1830 in County Limerick, Ireland and died 24 Nov 1888 a the age of 58 in Lyons, Clinton Co., IA.  Eileen also notes that Hanora was previously married to Wallace and had two daughters with him: Edna Wallace Ryan and Nora Wallace Collins.

According to her second husband's county history biography, they were married on 10 Nov 1854, but he didn't happen to mention where, so it'll be tough to find their marriage record.

Her grave marker states she was born in the parish of Glenbrohane in County Limerick, but I don't know who was the source of that information.  In census records, I've identified her daughters Ellen "Nellie" who was born in 1851 in Ireland and Hanora "Nora" who was born in 1853 in either Illinois, Iowa or Wisconsin (all three places are given in various censuses, but her children in the census records consistently list Wisconsin). 

I've paid for research in Glenbrohane records, but they were not able to turn up any baptism or marriage records for Hanora or Ellen. 

I conjecture that Hanora married this Wallace character in Ireland before 1851, the family came to America between 1851 and 1853, her first husband died in 1853 or 1854 and she married my great-great-grandfather between then and 1855 when their first son was born.

This line is a brick wall for now.  Further research will involve trying to find vital records in Iowa for Nellie and Nora to see if I can get more info on their parents.  If I can find where Nora was born, I can begin my search there for the death of her father and the second marriage of her mother.

10 April 2010

Surname Saturday - 21: Fox

 This week it's a Fox hunt.

1. Kevin Joseph HUIGENS

2. Joseph Anthony HUIGENS
3. Shirley Ann OGDEN

4. Joseph Andrew HUIGENS (b. 9 Mar 1891 near Creighton, Knox Co., NE, m. 18 Feb 1914 at St. Ludgers Catholic Church in Creighton, Knox Co., NE, d. 8 Nov 1957 in Rushville, Sheridan Co., NE)
5. Mary Julia KAIN (b. 19 May 1896 in Knox Co., NE, d. 29 Apr 1979 in Rushville, Sheridan Co., NE)


10. Francis J. "Frank" KAIN (b. 14 Oct 1861 in Clinton Co., IA, m. 14 Feb 1888 at St. Iraneaus Catholic Church in Lyons, Clinton Co., IA, d. 12 Dec 1930 in Yankton, Yankton Co., SD)
11. Margaret H. "Maggie" KENNEDY (b. 9 Sep 1864 in Clinton Co., IA, d. 8 Dec 1831 in Creighton, Knox Co., NE)

20. John KAIN (b. 11 Jun 1819 in Armagh, County Armagh, Ireland, UK, 2 Jul 1848 at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in St. Louis, St. Louis Co., MO, d. 16 Nov 1893 in Lyons, Clinton Co., IA)
21. Mary FOX (b. 29 Sep 1823 in County Leitrim, Ireland, UK, d. 12 May 1890 in Lyons, Clinton Co., IA)



Add there the trail goes cold.  I need some good fox hounds.  In the 1850 census, Mary and John are living with Mary's brother Patrick FOX.  That's a possible line of investigation.  Also living in St. Louis then and later on a nearby farm in Clinton Co., Iowa is a Thomas FOX, another likely brother.  Hopefully research on one of them will turn up information that will lead back to more on this line back in Ireland.

04 April 2010

SNGL - Degrees of separation

Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun for yesterday was:

Find an ancestral line that stretches back to the time of the US Revolutionary War (1775-1783), about 230 years. Define your person-to-person connection (the person actually met the next person on the list) back to a historical figure from that time.

I knew my grandfather, Emery Ogden.  He knew his grandfather, James Robert "JR" Ogden.  JR most likely knew his grandfather, Jonathan Ogden, who died in New Brunswick when JR was 9.  The record of Jonathan's claim to the Crown for compensation for the property he lost when he left New York for Canada after the war included the following "Produces Certificate of his taking the Oath of Allegiance. Mathews , Mayor of New York , 27th March, 1777".  So he swore an oath of allegiance to the Crown in front of Mayor David Mathews.

As I wrote here, Mathews was accused of plotting to assassinate General George Washington.  I can speculate that Mathews at least knew somebody who knew George Washington, or I can just claim Mayor Mathews as an historical figure who my great-great-great-great-grandfather met.

Surname Saturday - 19: Schmitt

This is the first of my Schmitt lines.  This one is from the area around Neunkirchen-Seelscheid in the south of North Rhein-Westphalia, Germany.  The other line comes from near Trier in Rhineland-Palitinate.

1. Kevin Joseph HUIGENS

2. Joseph Anthony HUIGENS
3. Shirley Ann OGDEN

4. Joseph Andrew HUIGENS (b. 9 Mar 1891 near Creighton, Knox Co., NE, m. 18 Feb 1914 at St. Ludgers Catholic Church in Creighton, Knox Co., NE, d. 8 Nov 1957 in Rushville, Sheridan Co., NE)
5. Mary Julia KAIN (b. 19 May 1896 in Knox Co., NE, d. 29 Apr 1979 in Rushville, Sheridan Co., NE)

8. John Edward HUIGENS (b. 15 Jun 1862 near Henry, Marshall Co., m. 28 Jan 1884 at St. Mary's Catholic Church, Henry, Marshall Co., IL, d. 12 Apr 1949 in Creighton, Knox Co., NE)
9. Mary FITZLER (b. 22 Feb 1866 in Marshall Co., IL, d. 6 Feb 1949 in Creighton, Knox Co., NE)


18. Johan Wimer "Wymer" FITZLER (b. 23 Jul 1832 in Wolperath, Rhein Province, Prussia, m. at St. Patrick Catholic Church, LaSalle, LaSalle Co., IL, d. abt 1888 in Marshall Co., IL)
19. Anna Helene SCHMITT (b. 17 Aug 1833 in Eischeid, Rhein Province, Prussia, d. 20 May 1904 in Creighton, Knox Co., NE)

38. Johannes SCHMITT (b. 28 Feb 1790 in Eischeid, Palatinate, HRE, m. 24 Feb 1821 in Neunkirchen, Siegkreis, Prussia, d. ? in ?)
39. Anna Helene PETERS (b. 20 Jan 1799 in Niederwennersheid, Palatinate, HRE, d. ? in ?)

76. Johann Theodor SCHMITT (b. 7 Oct 1760 in Wende, Germany, m. 21 Feb 1789 in  Neunkirchen, Siegkreis, Prussia, d. 30 Apr 1833 in Eischeid, Siegkreis, Prussia)
77. Maria Helene SCHORATH (b. 25 Mar 1763 in Eischeid, Palatinate, HRE, d. 21 May 1810 in Eischeid, Siegkreis, Prussia)

152. Heinrich Wilhelm SCHMITT (b. ? in ?, m. ? in ?, d. ? in ?)
153. Anna Margaretha OVERROEDDER (b. ? in ?, d. ? in ?)

Like the FITZLER line, most of this information comes from Josef Schnieder's research in the records of the Catholic church in Neukirchen, Germany. I am indebted to James Mattern for sharing this with me several years ago.

I have put some of the location information in italics to indicate uncertainty.  It's easy to figure out the current government bodies overseeing a location in Germany. It's much more difficult to figure out who was in charge of a given locale at a given time in the past.  When did the Holy Roman Empire end?  When did the Palatinate dissolve?  When did Seigkreis become part of the Rhein Province? I determined some of this several years ago, but don't have time right now to go searching for the documentation.