A CHILD! A CHILD!

 

YOUR ANCESTORS LIVED THROUGH HISTORY AND WE ARE TOO! I CANNOT MATCH THE STRENGTH and COURAGE OF MY ANCESTOR, ROSE

It's always a pleasure to research and write this genealogy blog which includes American History with it's main focus being genealogy in the United States and for Americans. 

I was reminded recently that we too are living through history.

The other day I was showing a new friend some photos I had found, my immigrant ancestors on their 50th wedding anniversary, which took place in the 1950's. My new friend comes from one of the oldest American immigrant heritages there is - Dutch into New Amsterdam. His heritage has been part of is family story as long as he can remember, including the name of the wooden sail ship his ancestors were on that came across the Atlantic in the 1600's. I, on the other hand, had almost nothing to go on but the names of my grandparents.

I told him the story of my ancestors in particular the woman named Rose, whose strength and courage I cannot match.

All I had known as a girl of ten, who was beginning to understand that I was actually related to some of the people I met when we visited, was that Rose had been an orphan. I didn't know until years later that in Europe an orphan was a fatherless child, but Rose had been "Double Orphaned." It was assumed she had been alone as a child, without siblings or relatives. 

Rose passed before I had any idea that I should be asking questions and what those questions should be. So, on a trip to visit relatives years later, I asked her youngest daughter, "How was Rose orphaned."

The story came forward sans any details.  One parent "burned up in a fire" and the other was "killed on the road."

When Rose was in her 80's she stayed with this relative for a couple weeks summer vacation. One morning she was up especially early. She explained that she had just had the most wonderful dream. She explained that in her dream a man had come to her and said, "At last I have found you!"  Then, in the dream, they danced and danced and danced.

Rose was a humble women who always wore a long house dress and an apron and it was not easy to imagine her dancing. One wondered if she'd had a boyfriend before marrying at nineteen and coming to American with a baby onboard the steamship.

The man she had dreamt about turned out to be a brother!

All these years later, scraps of stories that I overheard, or that were all that was left of memories that may have been considered too horrible to relay to children, have been rooted in genealogy research and embellished with historical and cultural research.

Rose, it turns out, was the result of a marriage of a woman who had been widowed and a man who had been widowed twice. Her mother had three children, so she had three half siblings. Rose's father (who most think was the one "killed on the road" was thus the step-father to three.  She also had two brothers, who had come to America but decided to go back to Europe after they realized the conditions they would have to live in if they worked in factories here rather than farms there.

But, Rose said, "When we were orphaned, my brother, the one who had come to her in a dream, said, "Don't worry, you will always have me."

What happened to him?

"He went down with the ship."

For years now I have from time to time worked on finding out what ship and when it went down.  It was not the Titanic (everyone asks). Though I don't have the name of the ship, or know if he was on crew or a passenger, through genealogy I've been able to narrow the years this could have happened between a visit or immigration of his wife and her remarriage in Europe a few years later.

As a woman who lost both of her parents as a child, likely before the age of thirteen (the death records are nowhere to be found), and who went to work that young, who married a man their friends arranged, and immigrated to America, Rose was likely traumatized, yet she and her children prevailed, She not only come to America with a baby in her arms but also have birth to many more children.

I sometimes weep a bit for Rose but I more often think that compared to her I'm weak and cowardly!

I take inspiration from her...

I'm proud to have met her!

How do ancestor's figure in your story?

Happy Holidays!

Christine

C 2024 Ancestry Worship - Genealogy BlogSpot

SENTIMENTAL FAMILY REGISTER

 

HEAVY SNOW

 

CASTLE GARDEN UPDATE : NATIONAL ARCHIVES CASTLE GARDEN COLLECTION BEING DIGITALIZED

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE : CASTLE GARDEN   This Castle Garden information page tells us what the new immigrant saw and went through as they arrived in New York Harbor before the Ellis Island facility was set up. Castle Garden opened in 1855 and was used until 1890 - or so.

In the past I had a link to a Castle Garden search page, which I've personally used for my own research. (Ancestors who came on first and second class tickets did not go through Ellis Island.) However, that page no longer exists and has been taken down from my sidebar.

The NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF THE UNITED STATES is planning digitalization of those records: NATIONAL ARCHIVES CASTLE GARDEN COLLECTION

public domain image

Publisher Charles Magnus

In the meantime, you can find records for all classes of passengers on ships coming into New York harbor on genealogy databases under topics such as New York Passenger Lists.

MISSING NATURALIZATION FOR IMMIGRANT INTO EARLY 1800's PENNSYLVANIA ?

Q : I'm from early pioneers into Pennsylvania and I can't find a naturalization for my ancestor. What am I doing wrong?

Walter

A: If you found the head of household on a census and/or know the location, such as the county or city, do historical research to learn what the custom was at the time and place for naturalizations. Did your ancestor have to wait a while to declare, simply go into a local courthouse or other location and swear, what were the changes that occurred as the colony became a state?

Here is the link to THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE ARCHIVES:

https://www.pa.gov/en/agencies/phmc/pa-state-archives/research-online/research-guides/naturalization-and-immigration.html

Key Points Excerpted :  Lists dating before the Revolution do not cover British subjects since their status remained unchanged by their removal from one part of the King's dominion to another.

In addition, naturalization records of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1794-1868(opens in a new tab) (Record Group-33) are available for the Eastern District (Philadelphia), Southern District (Chambersburg), and Western District (Pittsburgh). The records cover the period 1794-1868 and usually contain only the following information: person's name, country of former allegiance, date of petition, and affidavit of acquaintance. An index of the records of the Eastern District in Philadelphia covering the years 1794-1868 has been published in Philadelphia Naturalization Records: An Index to Records of Aliens' Declarations of Intention and/or Oaths of Allegiance, 1789-1880, in the United States Circuit Court, United States District Court, Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, Quarter Sessions Court, Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia (Detroit, MI: Gale Research Company, 1982).

The Archives maintains naturalization lists of the Supreme Court and Courts of Nisi Prius(opens in a new tab) (Record Group-21) for the years 1740-1773. These lists consist of names of those people who swore an oath of allegiance to the British Sovereign. Arranged chronologically, these lists were published in Pennsylvania Archives, Second Series, Volume 2 and have been reprinted as Persons Naturalized in the Province of Pennsylvania, 1740-1773 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1967), with an index. 

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Be aware that the far Western portion of present day Pennsylvania, south of the Monongahela River near Pittsburgh remained Virginia for some time.  In which case you'll seek your records in Virginia.

This site will help with that exploration: VIRGINIA PLACES : BORDER OF PA AND VIRGINIA

An exciting site with plenty of colorful maps and the story of establishing the borders, different from the original William Penn land grant.

Christine

Ancestry Worship - Genealogy BlogSpot

NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF THE UNITED KINGDOM : AN IMPORTANT AND EXPANSIVE ARCHIVE BUT A BIT DIFFICULT TO NAVIGATE

NATIONAL ARCHIVES UNITED KINGDOM start page

OK I find this particular on-line catalog a bit difficult. The United States National Archives also was and in recent times was reworked to make it a tad bit easier.

So the first search I used was the word GENEALOGY.  Here's where we go: 

NATIONAL ARCHIVES UNITED KINGDOM WORD SEARCH GENEALOGY RESULTS

image from Wikipedia

Though some of the listings that come up still are not quite what we are looking for, we're getting there.  I'm going to excerpt from the listings involving Catholics and why this is important to genealogy research:

Excerpt:  1 WHY USE THIS GUIDE?

Until 1534, England was a Catholic country. Then, after years of upheaval, the 1559 Act of Supremacy made the Protestant Church of England the established church. Following this act there was a significant increase in the number of state records created documenting Catholics’ status and activities, subject as they were to new laws, taxes and a wave of persecution. The primary focus of this guide is on those records, especially from the 16th and 17th centuries, and how to find them at The National Archives. They include:

• records of penalties and punishments
• details of arrests
• letters from private citizens and spies sent to the authorities
• reports on Catholics sent by ecclesiastical and civil authorities
• baptism, marriage and burial registers

By the 18th century Catholics were no longer persecuted, but were still effectively barred from entering the professions, holding civil or military office, or inheriting land. Formal emancipation finally came in 1829 and state records relating to Catholics exists in smaller numbers from this date onwards.

Like all churches, Catholic churches kept their own records, though very few of these, in common with most local or parish church records, have found their way into The National Archives.

*** That's my italics, emphasizing that records for Catholics will still be found by finding the dioceses ...

I ENCOURAGE YOU TO GET INTO THIS CATALOG IF YOU ARE RESEARCHING ROOTS OF YOUR AMERICAN, CANADIAN, AUSTRALIAN, IRISH, WELSH, or SCOTTISH ANCESTORS!

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