Twelve weeks of genealogy, my true love gave to me: the theme “Joined Together” for the 52 Ancestors Challenge. Rather than a lot of discussion, I thought this week I’d post photos of some of the couples whose unions ultimately resulted in…me!
While I have photos of other (great) grandparents, I will only post for those of whom I have the pair. First, my maternal great great great grandparents.
William Burgess (1822 – 1904) Charlotte Liggett (1837 – 1909)Henry Lyman Cook (1803 – 1869) Susan Turple (1818 – 1906)Robert Nelson (1818 – 1902) Elizabeth Joseph (1818 – 1902)Preston Thomas (1814 – 1877) Maria Hadlond (1838 – 1907)
Adrianus Joseph “Arie” van der Fluit (1923 – 2002) Christina Komen (1923 – 2000)
“Trouwboekje” means “marriage booklet” in Dutch. In the Netherlands, only a civil marriage is legally valid. A church ceremony can take place afterward, but is not recognized by the state. The registry office would issue one to a couple at they time they were married. They typically include an extract of the marriage registration. While they can vary from one municipality to another, a trouwboekje usually will include space for the birth information of the couple, as well as for the children of the marriage. They can also include information about religious matters, such as information about the church wedding and baptisms of the couple and their children.
My maternal grandparents.
Leo Cleveland Burgess (1920- 1995) Helen Lerner (1921 – 1984) October 1971
Helen and Leo around 1947.
My parents. Married crazy young by current standards and still together, modelling what a great marriage should be.
I’m starting to realize that when I choose a topic for the theme of the week for the 52 Ancestors Challenge, I should look ahead to see what other topics are coming up. That way I can avoid getting to a topic like this week’s, “Landed”, and seeing that I’ve written on the topic before. Then again, a little repetition here and there won’t hurt.
If I had approached this topic a few hours ago, I would probably be sitting here casting about in my mind as to what “landed” means to me. Fortunately, our eldest son inadvertently gave me a focus to write about. During dinner, out of the blue, he asked “besides Opa, did any of our ancestors come to Canada on steamships?”
The Sibajak, which brought my father and his family to Canada.
Pier 21, Halifax
Opa is my father, the Dutch side of my family. I’ve already written about his coming to Canada on the Sibajak. He and his family came in early May 1954, travelling from Rotterdam to Halifax. They landed at Pier 21, which could be described as the Canadian equivalent of Ellis Island. My father’s aunt and uncle came over four months earlier, in January 1954 on the Groote Beer, while another aunt and uncle followed in late May 1954, on board the Castel Felice.
While it was a Holland America ship during his crossing, built and originally operated by Rotterdam Lloyd, along with other ships that they mainly used to go to the East Indies. Built in 1927, the Sibajak served as a troop ship during World War II. After the war, the Sibajak was one of a number of ships operated by Holland America that were used almost entirely for Dutch emigrants, along with the Grote Beer, Waterman, and Zuiderkruis. It was sold and scrapped in Hong Kong in 1959. When I was in Hong Kong in 1996, while travelling around the harbour and between its islands, I wondered how close I might have come to what scraps of it might remain.
This is a fascinating short documentary about a voyage the Sibajak made to Australia carrying Dutch emigrants. The video is in Dutch, but the images convey a lot of meaning.
In the late 1990s, my parents went on an Alaskan cruise on a Holland America ship. During the trip, my father, who loves to talk to people, fell into a conversation with one of the older hands on deck. My father mentioned having come to Canada on the Sibajak. After a few questions from the crew member, my dad learned that the man had been on the Sibajak during my father’s trip, in his first year or two of service.
On my mother’s side, the most recent ancestor to arrive by steamship was my great grandmother, Emelia Anton. She came to Canada at the age of nine, with several of her siblings and her parents, Jacob Anton and Margaretha “Margaret” Heck. They were Germans from Russia. The family sailed out of Hamburg on June 18, 1912 aboard the S.S. Pennsylvania. They arrived at the Port of New York (Ellis Island) on July 1, 1912. Their declared destination was Maple Creek, Saskatchewan, to join Emelia’s older brother, Rochus. The passenger manifest stated that Jacob paid for the entire family’s transport, other than that of one of his daughters-in-law, whose passage had been paid by her father.
The Anton family, circa 1910. Likely taken in Selo Suchoi, Veronesch, Russia.
Emelia had not had much schooling before coming to North America, but was very religious. She said that she was frightened and nervous during the journey, as she did not know anything about where she was going and did not fully understand what was going on. However, on reaching New York, she said her fears subsided when she saw “the Madonna”. When she saw that, she knew she would be safe and all would be well. Of course, the “Madonna” was the Statue of Liberty. As she had never heard of it before, she thought it was a statue of the Virgin Mary.
Passenger list for the S.S. Pennsylvania showing the Antons.
Jerome Lerner (1895-1954)
Michael Lerner (1862-1947) and Barbara Schmidt (1865-1936)
Emelia’s husband, Heronimus “Jerome” Lerner, was born to parents who were also Germans from Russia, Michael Lerner and Barbara Schmidt. Michael and Barbara came to the United States in May 1893 aboard the S.S. Lahn, with the five children they had at the time. They landed at Ellis Island and made their way to Clay County, Texas. Jerome was the first child born to Michael and Barbara in the United States. They had seven other children in Texas after Jerome was born. Jerome moved to Saskatchwan in 1917, preceded by an older brother. Jerome’s parents followed a year later. Other siblings came north at other times.
Passenger list for the Lahn showing the Lerners
The ancestors furthest back in time that I can find who came to North America on a steamship were my great x3 grandparents, Robert Nelson and Elizabeth Joseph. They were both born in Muff, Donegal, Ireland in 1818 and married there in 1842.
Joseph Nelson (1818-1902) and Elizabeth Joseph (1818-1902)
Sometime in the early 1840s they had moved to Linwood, Renfrew, Scotland. They were there at least by January 1844, when their first son, Samuel, was born. By 1850, Robert was working at Brown’s Sugar House, on Roxburgh Street in Greenock, Scotland as a sugar baker. Sugar bakers usually refined muscovado sugar, an unrefined brown sugar imported from Barbados.
On September 3, 1850 Robert and Elizabeth, along with their three children, departed Liverpool on board the ship “North Atlantic” bound for New Orleans. For a long time I had been confused by references I had seen to them coming over on “the north Atlantic”, thinking it meant the route they travelled. It wasn’t until I came across the passenger list that I realized that “North Atlantic” was the name of the ship. Having a name like that makes it difficult refine a search to distinguish the ship from where it sailed. However, while I have not found very good sources, it appears that the North Atlantic was a steam powered ship.
Passenger list for the North Atlantic showing the Nelson family
The records show that there was at least one other family headed by a sugar baker from Brown’s on the same voyage. Robert and Elizabeth were part of a company of Latter Day Saints (Mormon) converts travelling from the United Kingdom to Utah. The family spent a short period of time in Missouri, where in 1852 Elizabeth had her first child born in America. By late 1854 they were in Farmington, Utah, where my great great grandfather John Alexander Nelson was born.
Looking at my pedigree for this post, I realized I might have one other ancestor who might have travelled from the United Kingdom to the United States by means of a steam powered ship. That would be my great x3 grandmother, Maria Hadlond, who was born in Cheltenham, Gloucester, England in 1838 and who emigrated sometime in the 1850s. I have not really researched this branch of my family beyond collecting names and basic vital stats. For whatever reason, it has never caught my interest.
Susan Turple (1818-1906)
I also have a great x3 grandmother, Susan Turple, whose family had been in Nova Scotia since the 18th century, who would have travelled by means of a ship with sails. In 1849, Susan joined the Mormon church in 1849. In 1852, she went from Halifax to Boston to join a westward migration of Mormons. It is most likely that the initial part of Susan’s travels was by means of steam powered ship.
Before these people, any ancestors I have who crossed the Atlantic would have done aboard ships with sails.
Speaking of looking ahead, I see that next week’s theme is “Courting”. Since I am writing this on February 14, I wonder if that should have been this week’s theme!
Week six of the 52 Ancestors Challenge has us navigating maps. Like the Favourite Photo challenge, I had a hard time choosing. So this week I’ll be doing two entries.
Beautiful downtown Rastadt, Saskatchewan. If the middle of nowhere has a middle of nowhere, this is it. (Actually, this is suburban Rastadt, but no one really is counting.) Where I am standing once stood the farmhouse where my maternal grandmother, Helen Lerner, was born. (Section 7, Township 17, Range 24, West 3)
My maternal grandmother, Helen Lerner, was born at the family farmhouse near Rastadt, Saskatchewan, which is about 16 kilometers (10 miles) east of Fox Valley. It’s where her her parents and grandparents – Germans from Russia – settled upon moving to Canada. There’s nothing left of Rastadt now other than the old schoolhouse and the cemetery.
Rastadt, Saskatchewan Cemetery, April 1, 1997. Located at 50°30’00.9″N 109°15’32.3″W You can find the cemetery listing here.
In early 1997, I had a few months off after having left a job for a new endeavor. I visited my folks, who live in southern Alberta, during that time off. I had not been to Fox Valley since I was a kid, so while visiting my folks I thought it might be a fun family history road trip to do with my mother.
Fox Valley is about midway between Medicine Hat, Alberta and Swift Current, Saskatchewan.
One of the first things I did upon arriving at Fox Valley was visit the village hall. It was a wise decision. Not only were the staff extremely helpful, they had maps of all the farms in the district, labelled with the current owners and occupants of each section of land. It was an amazing thing to see, because many of the surnames on the map were in my family tree database.
Map of the farms and residents surrounding Fox Valley, Saskatchewan as of 1997. Fox Valley is just below and to the right of the large number “5”. While not easy to see, the Fox Valley Cemetery is marked with a small red box labelled “D”. The larger boxes to the east are where my great grand parents and great great grandparents farmed, along with the Rastadt Cemetery.
The same area, as seen on Google Maps. Fox Valley is in the oval on the left. My ancestors’ farms are on the right, along with the Rastadt Cemetery.
A history of Fox Valley was published in 2004, Fox Valley and Liebenthal, Saskatchewan: Remember When… In addition to the family history of the village’s residents, this extremely useful book includes a section in which it records all the residents of these parcels of land throughout most of the 20th Century. In conjunction with this map, the book, and census records, I’ve been able to plot out where my ancestors lived and farmed.
Detail from the map above.
The locations I’ve marked are based upon the 1921 census, except for Jacob Anton, who died a month before that census was taken. For him I used the 1916 census. My grandmother’s parents were Jerome and Emelia Lerner, whose farm is the southernmost one marked on the map.
A: Michael Lerner and Barbara Schmidt (my grandmother’s paternal grandparents)
B: Heronimus “Michael” Lerner and Emelia Anton (m grandmother’s parents, and where my grandmother was born.
C: The Rastadt Cemetery. (D, not seen in the detail, is the Fox Valley Cemetery.)
E: Jacob Anton and Margaretha (“Margaret”) Heck, my grandmother’s maternal grandparents.
Serendipity
My mother and I used this map to visit the schoolhouse, cemetery, and plot of land where my grandmother’s house had once been. After taking the photo of me, we drove a bit down the road where I used a driveway of a farmhouse to turn around. The farmer who lived there saw me and came out, thinking anyone he didn’t know who was out there must be lost.
After explaining that I actually meant to be in his part of the world, we got to talking. It turned out he was a cousin of my grandmother’s. He and his wife invited us in for coffee and they showed us all sorts of interesting family photos and mementos. Talk about serendipity! He even told me the farmhouse my grandmother was born in still existed – a farmer had bought the building and moved it to his land.
Even more fortuitous, he told me that a family history was being put together of the Boechler family, the Boechler Family History. Barbara Schmidt’s mother was a Boechler. The farmer gave me the contact information for the author. My timing was another stroke of luck. I made the call not long afterward and learned that the book was being finalized and would be going to press in a matter of days. It also turned out that Emelia’s branch of the family – from which I am descended – was a huge mystery. I was able to supply most of the information about Emelia and her descendants in time for publication.
Another form of map. This was taken inside St. Mary’s Church in Fox Valley, showing the location of each person interred at the Rastadt Cemetery.
In Part Two, I’ll be looking at another piece of prairie farmland, this time in Alberta on my mother’s paternal side.
The theme for this week’s 52 Ancestors Challenge is “curious” – a term that has been left up to our own interpretation!
There are many things that keep me curious about my family history. They say you are never finished your family tree – because you aren’t. However, if I ever ran out of questions, my family tree would be done, and not in a good way.
For decades I’ve been curious about my maternal grandmother’s first marriage. Last year I was finally able to get their marriage record because it was finally old enough for public disclosure. Despite that, I still have a lot of unanswered questions.
Emelia Anton, about 1931
I’ve previously mentioned my great grandmother, Emelia Anton, who was a German from Russia. She was born on New Year’s Day, but I’ve never been able to confirm whether it was by the Julian or Gregorian calendar. Another mystery: I have a copy of the passenger ship on which Emelia and her family came to Ellis Island. The family came straight to Canada from there; however, despite scouring countless records, I’ve never found where they crossed into Canada.
Come to think of it, my Germans from Russia are the most mysterious branch of my family tree, given how little I know about it compared to other lines!
Another mystery that intrigued me for years was an occupation my great great grandfather, Nicolaas “Klaas” Komen held in the 1920s, “brandstoffelhandelaar”. It literally translates as “fuel dealer”, although it took me a long time to figure that out. Here’s a helpful tip. I’ve found that when trying to translate a difficult foreign word, type it into Google Image Search. Sometimes a photo really is worth a thousand words. However, what kind of fuel was Klaas selling? How and where was he selling it, and to whom? As far as I’ve been able to figure out, it likely involved hauling peat or coal on a wagon or truck.
Marriage registration for Adrianus Komen and Elizabeth Bakker, which identifies the occupation of Adrianus’s father, Klaas, as “brandstoffelhandelaar”
My most recent discovery was learning the sailing on which my father’s aunt came to Canada. I’ve pretty much always known the date on which my father and his family left the Netherlands and the ship he came on, the Sibajak. His aunt, Anny van der Fluit and her husband Jac Beers came on the Groote Beer a few months earlier, but I never knew when. Less than a fortnight ago, the Rotterdam Archives posted Holland America Lines passenger lists up to 1969 on its website. I finally learned that my great aunt and uncle left Rotterdam for Halifax on January 20, 1954. I then realized that I was missing information about one of my father’s uncles, Johannes “Joop” van der Fluit, who came to Canada a couple of weeks after my father. I knew the date on which he sailed, but it crossed my mind that I didn’t know the name of the ship. Ta da, there he is, in the archive, sailing to Canada with his family on the Castel Felice.
However, the greatest curiosity to me revolves around my 4x Great Grandfather, Petrus Pieterszoon “Pieter” van der Fluit, who was born in Voorhout, which is just outside of Leiden. His direct ancestors had been in what is now Zuid Holland (South Holland) for several generations, mostly around Leiden, although the surname traces to a village outside of The Hague.
Visiting Fluitpolderplein in Leidschendam, Zuid Holland in 2017. It may well be that this is the polder after which my surname originates.
Pieter was the oldest of 11 children, four boys and seven girls. He was still in Voorhout in May 1800, when he married Maria Woutersdr (“Maartje” or “Marijtje”) de Vlieger, who was born in nearby Lisse. Pieter and Maartje have their first child, Elisabeth, in Voorhout in 1801. The next time I see Pieter and Maartje, it’s in November 1804, in Nieuwe Niedorp, in what is now Noord Holland (North Holland), where they have their second child, Pieter.
What has always had me curious is why Pieter and Maartje moved almost 70 kilometers to start a new life away from their family. Based on the time I’ve spent in the Netherlands, a trip of seven kilometers seems overwhelming for the locals. For most of my Dutch family lines, the generations never strayed far, so this strikes me as an astonishing move. After Pieter and Maartje moved to Nieuwe Niedorp, the next five or six generations were all located within a very short distance. My father was born less than four kilometers from Nieuwe Niedorp.
Marriage registration for Pieter van der Fluit and Maartje de Vlieger
Almost all of Pieter’s siblings stayed in Voorhout. One adventurous sister moved all the way to Leiden, less than seven kilometers away. Pieter’s youngest sister ended up in Antwerp after moving to what is now Belgium with her husband. There are many descendants of the original van der Fluits still in the Zuid Holland area.
It is not only the distance of the move that has me curious. Usually it was the younger siblings who move away from home, with the eldest staying behind. I have nothing more than speculation as to what drew Pieter and Maartje north.
My working theory was based upon the fact that by 1800, what is now the Netherlands was essentially a French puppet state known as the Batavian Republic. In the time leading up to its creation and during its existence, the Dutch economy was in dire straits. Between it being wartime in Europe and a poor economy, perhaps Pieter went north looking for work. Many years ago, someone suggested that during the time Pieter moved north there was a great deal of work going on with the construction of new polders and waterworks. However, my investigations indicate that most of the polders of the area were constructed well before and well after Pieter arrived on the scene.
This concludes the January 52 Ancestors theme of “Foundations”. February’s theme is “Branching Out”. In the meantime, don’t worry about the cat, it’ll be okay, stay curious!
A Deck of Ancestors 