52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 12 "Membership"

My great-grandfather Frank J. Kain (pamapa) was a member of the Knights of Columbus in Creighton, NE. I know this thanks to the book "Knights of Columbus - Nebraska State Council Proceedings, 1905-1926." This book has been transcribed and appears on the Nebraska GenWeb Resource Center site under "Religious Information" and "Catholic Church." As far as I can tell, this is the only place in the universe that you can find it. Neither Worldcat nor Family Search has any mention of it. This mystery book contains the proceedings for each annual Nebraska Knights of Columbus state council held in May between 1905 and 1926.

Francis J. Kain (1861-1930)

According to the book, the Creighton Council sent its first delegates in 1907. Frank Kain attended for the first time as a delegate from Creighton in 1913. He went that year with his brother-in-law J.J. (John) Kennedy, who was also attending for the first time. They had known each other since childhood, having grown up together on adjacent farms in Clinton County, Iowa. In the following year of 1914, J.J. went as a Creighton delegate but Frank did not. 

Frank then attended in 1915, 1916, 1918, and every year of 1920 through 1929. J.J. and he attended together as the Creighton delegates in 1915 and again in 1927. Frank was on the Committee on Resolutions in 1915 and was also an alternate to a member of the Supreme Council that year. In 1916, 1918, and 1920 he was on the Credentials Committee. In 1924 and 1925 the other delegate from Creighton was B.J. Huigens, brother of Frank's son-in-law Joe Huigens (my grandfather). 

The book only goes through 1926. However, I did find Creighton newspaper articles from 1927, 1928, and 1929 that show he attended those years. In the 1930 US Census, Frank and his wife are living with their son in Yankton, SD. Frank died in December 1930 so 1929 was his last state council. 

1927

1928

1929

Frank is listed as a Grand Knight (the highest elected leader of his council) in 1921 and 1924 and as a Past Grand Knight in 1925.

But his shining moment appears in the 1921 proceedings:

Among the meritorious activities of Nebraska Knighthood must be included the courageous effort of Grand Knight Frank J. Kain of Creighton, unanimously supported by the entire membership of Count Creighton Council, to enlist the Supreme Officers in [sic] behalf of suffering Ireland. The correspondence on this question has been printed and circulated by the Creighton Council, and it shows upon its face that this council, in the interchange of letters and arguments with the Supreme Advocate, had decidedly the best of the controversy. And it bore fruit, for no sooner had the last letter of Brother Kain been received at headquarters, than telegrams from the Supreme Knight were despatched [sic] all over the country calling upon the state officers to enter vigorously into the campaign for Irish relief, In my opinion, the thanks of this State Council should be expressed and recorded toward Brother Kain and his council for their determined and successful efforts on behalf of the heroic victims of the most heartless and damnable militarism that has ever yet cursed the earth.

Both of Frank's parents were Irish immigrants, so this must have been an issue close to his heart. In May of 1921, when this state council was held, the bloody Irish War of Independence, begun in 1919, was nearly at an end. "Brother Kain" may have even known of cousins back in Ireland who were involved. For him, this "courageous effort" was personal. Good on you, great-grandpa. Good on you.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 11 "Lucky"

 When I think of  "Lucky," I think of my parents' marriage of sixty-two years. You cannot get any luckier than to find someone to love who also loves you for that long.

Joseph A. Huigens, Jr. and Shirley Ann Ogden were married on 7 September 1950 at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Rushville, Nebraska. They met when they were both working at a hardware store in Rushville.

Shirley Ogden and Joe Huigens 
7 September 1950

My dad probably proposed to my mom sometime in the fall of 1949. According to my mom's sister, Marge, my mom's dad was angry and worried because my mom was Protestant and my dad's family were Roman Catholic. At Christmas in 1949 my grandfather packed his family into the car and drove to my grandmother's parents home in Minnesota. He may have thought that separating my parents for a while would give him a chance to talk my mom out of it. According to Aunt Marge, he got even madder when he found out my mom had been making secret long-distance phone calls from Minnesota to Nebraska to talk to my dad. That's what a teen-ager in love will do.

I am sure there were rough patches that only they ever new about and still, despite all that life threw at them, they saw it through together. 

Here they are on their 50th Wedding Anniversary.

Joe and Shirley Huigens
September 2000

Here they are in December 2010 after 60 years of marriage.

My dad died in May of 2013 after spending six years in a nursing home following a stroke. My mother died suddenly and unexpectedly eleven months later in April 2014. 

My brother, Ross, tells the story of the time a nurse at the nursing home told my mom that my dad had a beautiful smile. Ross says that my mom's face took on the look of that teen-age girl in love as she replied "I know."

If you are lucky in love like my parents, be sure to let that person know it.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 10 "Translation"

One of the things that frustrates me the most in working with my ancestors is trying to determine the spelling of names of some of my German immigrant ancestors. There are so many variations that appear in the sources that I find it hard to decide which one to use as the primary and how many of the variations to document.

Take my second-great-grandfather Fitzler (my papamapa). Here are all the variations of his given name in the records here in the US.

• Weimar: the Henry, IL newspaper report of his death and the coroners report
• Weimer: death certificate for his daughter (my papama)
• Wimar: 1854 marriage register entry, 1865 excise tax list
• Wimer: 1868 voter list, 1872 voter list, 1880 voter list, 1880 non-population US Census, wife's obit, 
• Wymer: 1865 IL Census, 1870 US Census, 1870 non-population US Census, 1876 voter list, 1880 US Census

There are probably many more records that could be located (land, children's marriage and death records, etc.) and maybe some of them would have even more variations. 

As far as German records go, I have not been able to locate any. So far. All I have to go on are two descendant lists (one for his father and one for his great-grandfather) that I received several years ago from an unknown researcher in Germany. In those documents his given name is Johann Wimar. That's the name I've decided to go with. But what to do with the five other variations that all leave off Johann? Which is his preferred one? Did he even have a preference?

Or let's look at the ancestors of my second-great-grandmother Julia Ann of Sheboygan Co., WI and Charles Mix Co., SD. Here is a list of all the variations of her maiden name that I have found in Wisconsin, New York, and Württemberg, Germany.

• Addlebush
• Adlebush
• Edelbusch
• Eitelbusch
• Eitelbuss
• Idelbusch
• Idelbush
• Idlebush

Again, I'm sure that when I find more records in the US, I'll find more variations. The Württemberg baptism records that I've found use Eitelbuss. That's the Last Name at Birth (LNAB) that I use for Julia Ann's father and grandfather. For her and her siblings born in the US, I use Adlebush because that's the one that's most common. It's also the name carved in stone on their father's grave marker in Sheboygan CO., WI. But what to do with all the other variations?

John Jacob Adlebush (1817-1901)

Then there are the German immigrants who sometimes anglicized their surnames. We have my  Toemmes to Thomas line (and even more variations in the book "Zwischen Saar Und Leuk" Familienbuch 1675-1900 : Der Pfarreien Freudenburg -- Weiten -- Trassem -- Kastel Sowie Der Orte Hamm) and the Schmitt to Smith line.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 9 "Gone Too Soon"

 First off, am I the only one who did not know that there is a song called "Gone Too Soon" by an artist called Week Nine? Am I the only one who has never even heard of Week Nine? The things you learn using Google.

Anyway, "Gone Too Soon" in terms of my ancestors makes me think of my Dutch immigrant 2nd great-grandfather Everard "Evert" Huigen. He died 27 February 1864 at the age of 36. He left behind a young wife and six children, I only have info on four of the children. They are (with their age when their father died): Julia, age7; Bernard, age 5; Maria, age 3; John, age 1. John is my great-grandfather. The evidence for six children comes from his wife Catherine's obituary in 1899. It states they had six children, three of whom were living when she died. Maria and the two for whom I have no other evidence died before the 1870 US Census. Julia and Bernard are the only two listed in the 1860 US Census. 

I wrote about finally finding Evert in Wie Was Wie here. I wrote about his broken headstone here. I don't have any information about his death except the date that is on his headstone. I don't even have any direct evidence that he died in Marshall County. He was living there in the 1860 US Census and that is where his grave is. There were no death vital records in Marshall County, Illinois in 1864. The county courthouse has no probate records for him. The newspaper archives at the Henry Public Library do not cover 1864. He died during the Civil War but there is no record of his having participated, let alone having died in the war. He had two brothers who were living in Clinton County, Illinois. Perhaps there is some mention of  their brother's death in a local newspaper there. That is a topic for further research. For now the circumstances of Evert's death remain a memory.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 8 "I Can Identify"

I have had my Ogden relations on my mind recently. First I wrote about Jonathan Ogden for Week 7. Next the Relative at Roots Tech site showed me 6099 people attending Roots Tech this week who were purportedly related to me. As I checked them out, I discovered that on the FamilySearch tree someone had made my colonial American ancestor John Ogden of Rye the son of John Ogden the Pilgrim. Now I know that in the past there had been speculation that they were cousins, but no one had ever suggested that they were father and son. <big eye roll>. I did not look closely, but I'm betting that the family tree extending far into the past for John the Pilgrim included the false information from the Wheeler book. (I wrote about that in Week 5.)

I give up on the FamilySearch Tree. It is too hard to fight off the false genealogies that show up there.

On the other hand, I decided to go look and see what was on WikiTree for my John Ogden. The global tree there is far more reliable. I knew that there had been further research on him published in The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. It's been on my To Do List to get down to the Newberry Library and read the articles for quite a while. I was hoping that the WikiTree entry for John Ogden of Rye had been updated with the new information. AND IT HAD!!

John Ogden of Rye is now listed as the nephew of John Ogden the Pilgrim. My John Ogden's WikiTree biography now includes a great discussion and overview of all the research on him. He is the brother of NY colonial Richard Ogden. They are the sons of Richard Ogden, brother of The Pilgrim, and Ellen Lupton. Ellen is a brand new person on my tree and Lupton is a brand new surname. Welcome!

It is still an open question as to whether the elder Richard Ogden came to the colonies with his sons or stayed in England. There seems to be evidence of two Richard Ogden's, father and son, in the colonial NY records. You can read more about it in their WikiTree biographies.

Richard, Ellen, and their sons are from...wait for it...Yorkshire! West Yorkshire to be current and specific. Ellen is from Keighley and Richard from Bingley, as are John and Richard. Now I have a location in England for my Ogden line. Last summer my wife and I spent a week with my stepson and his children in York. I was only 32 miles from the places where my Ogden ancestors came from! Damn! If only I had known!

And it doesn't end there. The Ogden tree on WikiTree goes all the way back to my 11th great-grandfather John Ogden who was born about 1524 in Haworth, Yorkshire and died there in 1576. He is buried in the churchyard of St. Michael and All Angels. 

I can identify my Ogden ancestors back 500 years to an 11th great-grandfather. As far as I can tell that is now the farthest back I can trace any line on my tree.

A trivial aside: Haworth is where the Bronte sisters lived three hundred years after my ancestor. The church where he is buried is where their father was the parson. Possibly one of the sisters wandered through the churchyard and saw my ancestor's headstone. You never know.

I spent some time this week adding my 2nd great-grandfather, James Robert Ogden, to WikiTree and linking him to the existing profile for his father Robert Ogden. That takes my Ogden line on WikiTree across thirteen generations from my late mother to my 11th great-grandfather. I added my only living Ogden uncle to WikiTree in the hopes that I could add the Y-DNA test I had him take several years ago. However, WikiTree only lets you add DNA tests to your own profile. Still it is amazing that his Y-DNA and his son's and their sons and their sons (and the son of my mom's older brother who died many years ago) goes back 500 years to a man who lived in Yorkshire at the time of Shakespeare.

Bonus trivia: now that my tree is connected back to all the Ogden related lines, I can verify that I am a 9th cousin of Humphrey Bogart. The Budd sisters Jane and Judith of Sussex and colonial NY are our 7th great-grandmothers.