August 2014 - Zalewski Family Genealogy

The Last Thielke

Posted on 31 August 2014by Brian Zalewski

The twenty-eighth ancestor in my 52-week challenge is my maternal 3rd-great-grandfather, Henry Peter THIELKE. He is the last ancestor that I have information for in my Thielke line. I am hoping to find more information about him back in Germany to expand my Thielke line.

The most documented date of birth for Peter, as he usually went by, is October 1813 in the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern area of Germany. His parents are unknown. He was assumed to have been married sometime before 1840 in this area to Marie D SPECHT. They had 6 documented children, their first was Sophie, born in about 1840. My ancestory, Johann, was born next in 1843. Another one of their children was Minnie, whom I wrote about previously in this challenge.

Their immigration happened sometime between 1854 and 1856 as their son Frederick was born in Germany in 1854 and their next child, Herman, was born in Wisconsin in 1856. Between 1860 and 1880, the family lived in the Grafton/Port Washington area of Ozaukee County, Wisconsin.

There is a closely named individual in the 1817 Schwerin, Mecklenburg census that matches up closely with Peter, but without any more information about his parents or siblings, I can’t verify that it is him. But, I’ve kept that record tagged so I can always go back to it.

Peter was listed as a farmer for all of his life and passed away of 13 February 1899 of bronchitis along with what was then called Bright’s disease. He is buried, I think, next to his wife (stone is very worn) at Union Cemetery in Port Washington, Wisconsin.

This post is 28 of 52 in the “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” Challenge” begun by Amy Johnson Crow.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Boston to the West Indies

Posted on 25 August 2014by Brian Zalewski

The twenty-seventh ancestor in my 52-week challenge is my wife’s maternal 8th-great-grandfather, Nathaniel SHANNON. Nathaniel is one of seven Nathaniel Shannon’s in a row in my wife’s ancestry, starting with this Nathaniel’s father, born in Ireland in circa 1655 all the way through to her 3rd-great-grandfather, born in New Hampshire in 1816. He also had a son named Nathaniel, but my wife did not descend from him.

This Nathaniel was noted to be born on 9 December 1689 in Boston, British America (or today’s Boston, Massachusetts) to Nathaniel and Elizabeth Shannon. It also states that he was baptized at the famous Old South Church in Boston on 22 December 1689, but I don’t seem to have a source for that (Shame on me.)

Sometime in late 1714, he married Abigail VAUGHAN, daughter of Major William VAUGHAN and Margaret CUTTS. Abigail’s line through her father is my wife’s connection to British Royalty. It’s a bit unconfirmed at the moment from this end, but I am slowly working on sourcing all of the connections.

His occupation is listed as Merchant Seaman, so he was probably not home all that much as he traveled the oceans. His death is recorded in Barbados in the West Indies when he was 34 years old. I’d love to confirm this or get more information on it. While it sounds adventurous and fascinating, it was probably due to disease or injury and, sadly, not fighting pirates (or being a pirate.)

This post is 27 of 52 in the “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” Challenge” begun by Amy Johnson Crow.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Ida (Schavandie) Muhm

Posted on 19 August 2014by Brian Zalewski

The twenty-sixth ancestor (and half-way point) in my 52-week challenge is my maternal 3rd-great-grandmother Ida (SCHAVANDIE) MUHM. Her last name has been recorded in so many different ways, I don’t know which one to settle on anymore. It has been recorded as Schavandie, Schwendie, Swinty, Schwinta, Schwandie, Sivinty, and for some reason Kalahan in the marriage record on one of her daughters.

Two census records state that Ida was born in Wisconsin in September 1852, but other census records and vital records state that she was born in Germany. The 1910 Census from when she was living in Oregon states that she immigrated in 1910, which also points to a non-US birth. Her parents, on her marriage record, are listed as Lawrence SCHAVANDIE and Anna RASCH. Ida is also part of my mtDNA (or direct maternal) line. Her mother, Anna, is as far as mine goes. This makes her maternal haplogroup H11a, part of the H haplogroup.

On 18 April 1870, Ida married Peter MUHM in Germantown, Washington, Wisconsin, not far from where I live now. Somewhere in the early 1900s, I lose the Peter & Ida family. On a lucky break, I ran across an article about the Muhm family in the Antigo (Wisconsin) Daily Journal mentioning that the family had moved to Portland, Oregon in about 1902. Peter died there in 1905 after falling from some scaffolding. Ida lived in Portland for sixteen more years before coming back to Wisconsin.

Three years after moving to Portland, Mr. Muhm died as the result of a fall he suffered when a scaffold collapsed. Mrs. Muhm continued to live there for sixteen years, then returned here to make her home with her daughters, Mrs. Joe Narlow, and Mrs. Fred Van Atter. Another daughter, Mrs. Peter Van Price lives in Port Washington; a son Edward in San Francisco, and an older son, George, in Portland, Oregon.

Ida passed away on 12 November 1934 in Antigo and is buried there at Elmwood Cemetery, though Peter is buried in Portland.

This post is 26 of 52 in the “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” Challenge” begun by Amy Johnson Crow.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Pennsylvania Dutch

Posted on 11 August 2014by Brian Zalewski

The twenty-fifth ancestor in my 52-week challenge is my wife’s 4th-great-grandfather, Henry LINT. This time I just seemingly picked an ancestor at random. I know very little about Mr. Lint and what I do have in the database may not be 100% correct, but that’s what these posts are for, right?

We have the birth of Henry Lint on 11 April 1810 in York, York County, Pennsylvania. According to Wikipedia, this area of Pennsylvania was a big area for the Pennsylvania Dutch immigrants from many areas of Germany, including the Palatinate of the German Rhine. From the little research I did do on Henry Lint, I do remember seeing some Pennsylvania Dutch information.

In 1833, Henry married Eleanor “Ellen” Murphey in Holmes County, Ohio. On a related note, Holmes County is home to the largest Amish community in the country and a lot of the Amish descend from Pennsylvania Dutch, which ties Holmes County back to York County.

In Ohio in 1842, Henry and Ellen gave birth to my wife’s ancestor, Mary Jane LINT. At some point, the family must have settled in southwestern Wisconsin, as Henry is buried there.

Henry died on 7 January 1893 and, just found his entry now, is buried at Bowen Cemetery in Richland Center, Richland County, Wisconsin.

This post is 25 of 52 in the “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” Challenge” begun by Amy Johnson Crow.

Photo: Sunset over Amish Farm by Alvin Trusty on Flickr

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

The French-Canadian Connection

Posted on 4 August 2014by Brian Zalewski

The twenty-fourth ancestor in my 52 week challenge is my maternal 4th-great-grandmother, Marie DesAnges (MANSEAU) ST. LOUIS.

Marie was born sometime in 1806 in Yamaska, Quebec, Canada to Antoine MANSEAU and Catharine CLOUTIER. Her mother Catherine is my connection to the so-called French-Canadian “super ancestor” Zacharie Cloutier. Through him, I share a connection to a bunch of celebrities and other famous people like Celine Dion, Robert Goulet, and BeyoncÃ©.

Sometime around 1831, Marie married Ephraim ST. LOUIS in Quebec. In 1834, my ancestor, Olivine Marie ST. LOUIS was born in Quebec. The family left Canada and settled in central Wisconsin around 1837 or 1838.

To the right is the only photo I have seen of Marie. She looks like a hard, tough woman, which is to be expected while living in rural Wisconsin the 19th century.

I have written down that Marie passed away on 16 October 1895 in Florence County, Wisconsin and is buried there, but I have no documented source for this entry. This is something I probably added early in my research when I wasn’t the smartest genealogist. My guess is that it’s probably close to the real date, but can’t confirm.

This post is 24 of 52 in the “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” Challenge” begun by Amy Johnson Crow.