CategoriesGenealogy of the States

Genealogy of the States: Hawaii

Hawaii (or Hawai’i) is the next state on my Genealogy of the States series. I have no direct ancestors that were born in the state, but my connection to it is that my grandfather, Richard Zalewski, was stationed there for many years during World War II.

Richard Zalewski, Waikiki Beach, October 1944
Richard Zalewski, Waikiki Beach, October 1944

He spent most of his time in Hilo, on the island of Hawai’i stationed there with the US Navy. From the looks of it, he did a lot of mechanical stuff with the Navy’s airplanes. He also did a bit of work with the US Coast Guard and he was at Hilo during the 1946 Hilo Tsunami caused by an earthquake in the Aleutian Islands. I have a copy of an article from April 2, 1946 talking about the US Navy rescuing some men who were lost out at sea due to the Tsunami.

Along with the stories, I have a collection of dozens of photos he took during his time in Hilo. Most of them are even labeled with the names of the men in the photos. I have put them up on Flickr, among other places, hoping to possibly get copies of the photos to the families of the men in the photos. Not a lot of luck, yet.

CategoriesGenealogy of the States

Genealogy of the States: Connecticut

Welcome to ConnecticutConnecticut is another state that is mainly from my wife’s line, specifically her maternal line which dabbles a bit in Colonial America.

The most recent ancestor to appear in Connecticut is her 4th-great-grandmother, Susan (SKINNER) WARNER, who is noted to have been born in the state in about 1813. There isn’t much more info about Susan that I have on file. This is also where her documented mtDNA line stops as Susan is a direct maternal (mother’s mother’s mother, etc) ancestor of my wife.

Many of the other Connecticut ancestors are actually ancestors of Susan’s husband, Seth WARNER. Seth’s grandfather, and my wife’s 6th-great-grandfather, Phineas RIPLEY, was born in Windham, Connecticut on 20 March 1746. This information was taken both from a Sons of the American Revolution Membership Application and a Find-a-Grave entry, so there is more solid research to be done. Phineas Ripley was also involved in the Revolutionary War with Herrick’s Regiment Vermont Militia according to his service record from Fold3.

The RIPLEY line stays in Connecticut as it goes back a few generations. Phineas’ parents, Nathan & Ann RIPLEY, were both born in Windham. Nathan’s parents, Joshua & Mary (BACKUS) also lived their lives in Windham. The RIPLEYs stop there, but Mary’s parents John & Mary (BINGHAM) BACKUS were born in Norwich, Connecticut before moving to Windham. Mary BINGHAM’s father, Thomas BINGHAM, died in Connecticut but is said to be the first BINGHAM ancestor to settle in the North American colonies. He was born in Sheffield, England. There is a nice write-up on Thomas on the Bingham Association’s Official Website:

All research to the present time indicates that Thomas Bingham of Connecticut and his mother, Anne Fenton Bingham, were the earliest Binghams to settle in the North American colonies. They migrated to Saybrook, Connecticut Colony from Sheffield, Yorkshire, England between 1652 and 1659 when Thomas, who was born in 1642, was ten to seventeen years old.

Another surname that makes some stops in Connecticut on my wife’s line is her WHIPPLE line. The most recent one being Thomas WHIPPLE, Sr. who was born in Somers, Toland, Connecticut on 23 October 1760 and is listed in the Connecticut Town Birth Records from the Barbour Collection. It continues on to Thomas’ father, Nathan WHIPPLE who was born and married in Somers. Nathan’s parents, Thomas & Mary (GARY) WHIPPLE both married and died in Connecticut and his mother was born in Woodstock, Windham, Connecticut in 1699. Our currently documented line stops there for us on the Whipples.

So far, those are the only connections to Connecticut.

Public domain photo from Wikimedia.

CategoriesGenealogy of the States

Genealogy of the States: Colorado

The next state in my Genealogy of the States list is Colorado. There are also not very many connections to Colorado, but it does show up.

The only main connection is that my wife’s great-great grandfather, George W SHANNON, passed away in Limon, Lincoln Co., Colorado in about 1930, though there isn’t a lot of evidence for it. After his wife died in 1904, we kind of lose him.

I’ve searched through records and can’t seem to track him, though I did find a 1905 Wisconsin Census record that is more than likely him, but he is still in Wisconsin and it is only one year after his wife’s death. The Colorado connection may just be a red herring.

 

CategoriesGenealogy of the States

Genealogy of the States: California

The first state I plan to do in my Genealogy of the States theme is California. There are not a lot of California connections, but they do make an appearance a few times.

Palm Springs
Who can resist a view like this in California?

My wife’s great-grandparents, Henry & Luella (CLEVELAND) GYRION passed away in Sacramento, California in 1952 and 1969, respectively. One of her aunts and one of her uncles were also born in Sacramento around the same time period. Her mother’s family spent some time in that area before moving back to Wisconsin.

My great-granduncle, Henry “Hank” CORRIGAN and his wife Mercedes moved to California from Wisconsin. They both passed away in Sonoma County in 1954 and 1986, respectively.

My great-great-grandaunt, Leocadia “Lily” SZULTA and her husband, Ignatz URMANSKI, moved from Milwaukee to Los Angeles County, California and lived out their lives there. Lily died in 1969 and Ignatz in 1965.

There are no other major connections to California. View the full list of states here.

Here is a handy list of California records located to view for free on FamilySearch.

 

CategoriesGenealogy of the States

Genealogy of the States: Across the United States

us_mapI’m planning to do a collection of posts I’ve seen other people do recently involving all 50 states. You do each post about a specific state and the family connections you may have to that state. I’ll give credit to Julie over at Julie’s Genealogy & History Hub since I read her’s first. Obviously, I probably won’t have posts for every single state as my family doesn’t have connections to every state.

Here are the states I do have connections to that I will be posting about. Hopefully, these posts also dig up some new info or research paths as these things sometimes do. I will update this post with links to all of the state posts, so bookmark it.

  • California
  • Colorado
  • Connecticut
  • Hawaii
  • Idaho
  • Illinois
  • Indiana
  • Iowa
  • Kentucky
  • Maine
  • Maryland
  • Massachusetts
  • Michigan
  • Minnesota
  • Missouri
  • New Hampshire
  • New York
  • Ohio
  • Oregon
  • Pennsylvania
  • Rhode Island
  • Utah
  • Vermont
  • Virginia
  • West Virginia
  • Wisconsin

That’s not a bad list. It’s more than I originally thought. Stay tuned for the first state!