52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 12 "12" Who was Karen Dorthea?

52 Ancestors in 52 weeks – prompt is 12

For the prompt “12” I elected to use the 12^th person back in my Paternal line.

Karen Dorthea Cristiansen is today’s topic.

Karen was born 2 Jan1833 and christened on 24 March 1833 in Kristiana, Norway.[i] Her parents were Pedar Christiansen and Anne Margarethe Olsdatter. Two of her sponsors were Karen Dorthea Siversdatter and Ole Gregersen.

Karen married Daniel Danielsen on 8 Feb 1857[ii] in the same parish she was christened in. According to the church register Daniel’s father was Christen Danielsen. Other than on his marriage record Daniel used the last name of Christiansen.

Daniel and Karen began their family while still living in Oslo with the birth of their first child, daughter Dorette on 2 Nov 1856. She was christened on 27 Feb 1857 shortly after their marriage.[iii]

Looking at these dates and places, I believe Karen’s father and her husband were both in the military at the time of her birth and her marriage. This appears to be a common pattern of behavior for the soldiers of the time. After their military service they returned to their place of birth.

After Dorette’s birth, the family left Oslo and moved to the commune of Fet, where they lived and farmed. In the 1865 census they had added sons Olaf and Otto to the little family.

The 1875 census reveals that the family had added four additional children, Magne, Olga, Oscar, and Dagmar. Dorette would be the first to leave home when she married Johannes Adolf Hansen in Dec 1876. 

Karen Dorthea Christiansen died on 19 June 1884 at the age of 51. She was buried on 25 June at Trefold In Oslo Norway.[iv]

Oscar would be the first of Karen’s seven children to immigrate to the United States in 1885 at the age of 17. Several of Karen’s other children would also cross the seas to settle in America and four of Dorette’s oldest children would also travel to America after their mother’s death in 1887.

Unfortunately, Karen died before she would know the success her children would achieve in America.

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 [i] Church of Norway (Oslo, Oslo, Norway), Parish Register No 6, p 165, christening of Karen Dorthea Christiansen; digital image, Digitalarkivet (https://media.digitalarkivet.no/view/5786/29 : online 24 March 2019).

[ii] Garnisonmenigheten Parish Register (Oslo County, Oslo), Parish Register, p203 - Marriages 1842-1859, Marriage of Karen Dorthea and Daniel; FHL microfilm .

[iii] Garnisonmenigheten Parish Register (Oslo County, Oslo), Parish Register, book 9 page 77, Birth and Baptism of Dorette Christensen; FHL microfilm .

[iv] Ancestry.com. Norway, Select Burials, 1666-1927 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. FHL Film Number:1282523 Reference ID:              item 3 b IV p 151

Original data: Norway Burials, 1666-1927. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – Week 11 Large Family

google images

This topic gives me a plethora of choices. There is my Norwegian great-grandfather who had ten surviving children with two wives, or there is my German 3^rd great-grandfather who had 13 children with two wives. More recently I could choose my own family since I am one of nine children or my paternal aunt Dorothy who has eight children. (I always kind of felt sorry for my dad’s parents who only had two children but wound up with seventeen grandchildren.) I could write about my mother and her siblings, numbering ten or either of my maternal grandparents who also came from large families. Did I say I had lots of choices?

Decision made: I will write about my Grandmother Alice Fleming and her siblings. My plan is to start at the top of the list and take them in order.

Mary Anne was the oldest and the first to marry and the first to immigrate. Mary Ann Fleming married Thomas Walsh on 24 Oct 1863 in Ballylanders, Limerick, Ireland. They immigrated to Detroit, Michigan in the 1about 1865, based on the age and birthplace of their oldest daughter, before settling in Port Huron, Michigan where they raised eleven children before Thomas’s death in 1896.

John H Fleming also initially immigrated to Detroit before settling in Eau Claire to establish an Undertaking business. He married Lavinia Flattery in Michigan about 1873 and after her untimely death in 1882, he married Ellen Waters in 1887 and was the father of six children.

Eliza Fleming was born in Limerick in 1850 and married John Hogan in Ireland. John died in Ireland and Eliza then immigrated to Chicago in 1884 with her four children.

Michael Joseph Fleming was born in 1852 and immigrated to the United States before 1880. In the 1880 census, Michael is living in the Port Huron home of his sister Mary Ann Walsh. Michael became a priest in the Archdiocese of Detroit. At one time he was the chaplain of St Joseph Academy in Adrian, Michigan. This is the school that several of his nieces and great-nieces attended. After originally being buried in Detroit, Fr Michael Fleming is now buried on the grounds of the Dominican Motherhouse in Adrian, MI.

Thomas, called “Poor Tom” because of a severe knee injury, came to the United States and worked as a bartender in Detroit. It is not known that he ever married and he died in Detroit, MI in 1891.

Hannah Fleming, born in 1856, was also living in the Port Huron home of Mary Ann Walsh and in 1882 became a Sister of Providence. She joined the order in Terre Haute, Indiana and became Sister Mary Regina, She died in 1933 and is buried in St Mary of the Woods, Vigo County, Indiana.

James Fleming was born in 1858 and immigrated in 1879 at twenty years of age. In the 1900 census, he is living in Biwabik, St Louis, Minnesota with his wife Mary Brennan and three daughters. His occupation was a tailor. During his lifetime, James held several occupations and was said to be something of an artist and a poet. He and his wife had nine children and left the Midwest for Texas before his death in 1958.

Patt S Fleming was born 12 Jan 1860 and is the only family member to immigrate but decide to return to Ireland. It is said that he believed you had to work too hard in America. I don’t have dates for his immigration and return but by 1893 he had opened a “Fine Groceries, Wine and Spirits” shop at One Sandymount in Dublin. He married Kathleen English and they had four children. Patt died in Dublin in 1933.

Ed Fleming was born 12 Jan 1862 and died in Sept 1865.

William Fleming was born 8 Jan 1864 and died 8 Sep 1865.

Edward Edmund (or EE) was born 7 Mar 1866 in Ballylanders, Limerick, Ireland and arrived in the United States about 1885. He may have gone to stay with his brother John since all records indicate that was his only place of residence. He did journey to Chicago in 1890 where he married Hannah G Griffin. EE was in the jewelry business although records show he was also an undertaker with John and had some kind of store selling pianos with John and James. EE had three children and died in Eau Claire, Eau Claire, Wisconsin. He and my Grandmother Alice were the closest of her siblings and there were many visits between them.

Alice was born on 1 Jan 1872 in Ballylanders and owing to the advanced ages of her parents was allowed to do pretty much as she willed. Perhaps that is why word was sent to Michigan that she was “running wild” and should be taken to America to be married. Fr Michael Fleming was delegated to return to Ireland to bring his sister to the Michigan home of Mary Walsh. Alice had already set her heart on marrying Michael Connery to whom she was introduced by her friend Ellen Connery. Michael was home to visit and impress his family with how well he had done for himself in America. After Alice moved to Michigan she made several trips to Wisconsin to visit her brothers and may have been able to meet Michael while traveling between Michigan and Wisconsin. In any event, she and Michael were married by Fr Michael Fleming at the Port Huron home of her sister Mary Ann Walsh on 28 June 1893 and moved to Chicago. There they raised their family of ten children. Alice died in 1962 in Chicago.

I said it was a large family and I can’t begin to count the descendants but I’m trying to keep the record straight!

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Week 9 at the Courthouse

In September 2003, my husband and I took a trip to Illinois. Part of our itinerary was a planned visit to the small town in Southern Illinois where his mother’s family had lived since the 1850s. Both of his maternal grandparents had grown up in the same area along with their siblings.  We planned to spend two days in the area.

Our first stop was the cemetery that had been used by both families. The Mound Cemetery is located in a very rural area of Jasper County, Illinois. The only thing other than corn fields in the area is a old wooden church building adjacent to the cemetery. As you drive into the cemetery there is a large gate proclaiming “The Mound Cemetery” in iron letters arching across the driveway.

Jassper County, Illinois
google images

As we walked the cemetery we saw the graves of my husband’s grandparents and great-grandparents. His mother’s only sister is also buried there. Many of the families represented on the tombstones have been associated with the families since the Civil War. We took pictures of the tombstones after cleaning them with some water and a soft cloth. Eventually the heat and mosquitoes prompted us to end our visit.

The second day of our stay in Jasper County we went to Newton, the county seat. The courthouse in Newton is in the middle of the town and sits on an entire city block. The town latterly surrounds the courthouse with businesses on all four sides of the massive old building.

Jasper County Courthouse
Newton, Jasper, Illinois

When I entered the building I was ushered into a back room filled with large old ledgers. These ledgers held the vital records of the people of Jasper County. They held wills and probate records in addition to the land records of the county. There I found some wonderful records. I found a will from 1860 naming my husband’s 2^nd great-grandfather as an executor. It was later amended several times removing him and re-adding him. I wonder what caused the changes.

 It was almost by accident that I found the death record for my husband’s 2^nd great-grandfather Frederick Albert Sempsrott. As I was looking at the index cards I spotted one for “Fredia” and I remember thinking how unusual the name was. Then I looked again. It was actually the death record of Frederick A Sempsrott but the record listed “Fredia Simperott” just one of the many spellings I have encountered for this surname. He is recorded as a white male , age 79, born in Germany, a farmer who had lived in Illinois for about 45 years. He was a widower who died on 28 Nov 1907 of senile pneumonia in Willow Hill Township, Jasper County, Illinois and was buried on 30 November 1907 in the Mound Cemetery. I was truly lucky to have found this record since the name was so far from what is should have been.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 8 Family Photo

This is one of the few photos of my entire family in existence. It was taken on Easter 1958 at the home of my Grandmother. It is a special treasure since less than two years later my father would die of a heart attack. After his death mom would return to school and become a teacher. These children all grew up successfully and over the years have provided 21 grandchildren to extend the family tree. We keep growing and adding new twigs to our branches. I am in the back row in the plaid dress.

(my sister with the black eye in the front row had a backyard collision with a swinging object)

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – Week 7 “Love”

All my Grandparents have a love story to remember and although there are differences in their stories, many things are the same: faith, loyalty and a commitment to each other. Their stories serve us well as examples of love.

Michael and Alice
photos probably taken at their respective commencements in Ireland.

In 1890, Alice was a young woman who had finished her education and was adrift to travel the meadows and glens of County Limerick with her cousin Molly. Her parents were aged since Alice was the youngest child and almost all her siblings had immigrated to the United States. Soon word was sent to the siblings in the States that something needed to be done about Alice, so her brother Michael returned to Ireland with the intent to take Alice back to Michigan with him where she would live with their married sister Mary Ann Walsh. Mary Ann was 26 years Alice’s senior and had children Alice’s age and older. There was friction in the family as Alice suffered the taunts and insults of her sister’s children for her old country clothes and manners. 

Alice frequently traveled between Michigan and Wisconsin to stay with her brothers Edmund or John as a way of escaping the teasing of her nieces and nephews. On one such trip she ran into Michael Connery, a young man she knew from her home in Ballylanders. Michael had immigrated to the United States several years before and when Alice first saw him and “set her cap for him”’, he was home visiting his parents and repaying them for the cost of the farm animal he had sold to pay for his ticket to the America. Michael had settled in Chicago, Illinois and done well for himself, so he was happy to show off his fine clothes and gold headed cane to the neighbors.

Alice was happy to meet Michael again and endeavored to find out about his traveling plans since he lived in Chicago and her brothers were based in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Evidently Michael traveled to Wisconsin often, and Alice arranged her visits to coincide with his. And so their romance bloomed.

Michael and Alice 28 June 1893
Port Huron, Michigan

On 28 June 1893,  Alice Fleming married Michael Connery at the Port Huron, Michigan home of her sister Mary Ann Walsh. Fr Michael Fleming, brother of the bride was the officiant, while the witnesses were members of both the bride and groom’s families. The newlywed couple journeyed to Chicago where they would make their home.

Michael’s profession changed over the years from barkeeper to Saloon owner, then as he branched out into real estate, he also invested in property ownership himself. At Alice’s request he eventually gave up the liquor business and concentrated on the real estate.

Life was good for the young couple and they prospered as their children were born and the family grew as the west side of Chicago grew and prospered.  They eventually had eight children, six daughters and two sons, who survived to adulthood. Unfortunately suffering the loss of their first son, Leo, who died at the age of seven in 1905. As time passed Michael and Alice often returned to Ireland for family visits, often taking one of their children with them. This may have spawned the love of travel so many of the children exhibited later in life.

Strong supporters of education, all their children attended boarding school at some point. The girls going to St Joseph’s Academy in Adrian, Michigan and the boys to a Jesuit High School, Champion, in Prairie du Chine, Wisconsin.  It probably began when Alice’s brother Michael, then a Catholic priest, was assigned to serve at St Joseph’s Academy in Adrian. There the girls would grow close to their Uncle Michael.

As time passed Michael Connery’s business grew and expanded to include the travel and insurance industries in addition to real estate. He provided employment for his children when they finished school and two of his children would remain with the business until they retired, and the business closed in the 1960s.

Michael worked at his office into the 1950s when illness forced his retirement. He died in 1953 having raised his family to be outstanding citizens who worked hard, attended church and were raising the same strong families that their parents did.

Michael died in 1953 ending a sixty-year marriage that saw their love demonstrated to their family friends in their respect for each other and sharing of their faith. Faith got them through the loss of their son Leo and a stillborn infant, it helped them survive the depression years when Michael sold half of his real estate to pay off mortgages on other properties.

On the occasion of Michael’s funeral, the parish grade school was given the day off to attend the funeral. A sure sign of the respect Michael and Alice commanded in the parish they had belonged to for over fifty years.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – Week 6 “Surprise”

This week’s theme is “surprise” so I will tell you about the surprise I got when I ordered a compiled Service Record for one of my husband’s mysterious Swedish ancestors.

Oloff Hanson is my husband’s great-great-grandfather and he first appears in the 1860 [i]census with his wife Mary living in Michigan City, La Porte, Indiana. As recorded in the census he is a Swedish born fisherman. Oloff’s wife Mary was reported to have been born in Hanover, Germany in 1842.

Oloff and Mary had eight children between 1860 and 1879. They remained in Michigan City until they appear in the 1880 census living in Chicago, Cook, Illinois.

All of the children are reported as having been born in Michigan (It appears that the census taker heard Michigan but not City as the actual records are for Michigan City which is in Indiana.) in the 1880[ii] census taken in Chicago.

Oloff died before the 1900 census was taken and I could find no trace of a widow in the census and no obituary record.

I was at a standstill with the family.  Even two trips to Salt Lake City with finding something out about Oloff as a priority were unsuccessful except for finding out that he had served in the Indiana Calvary during the Civil War. He was honored by La Porte County, Indiana in 1867 for his service in the war.

What did I know about Oloff? I knew he was born in 1824 or 1831, that he appeared in the census in 1860, and 1870 in Indiana and the 1880 census in Illinois. He served In the Civil War and fathered eight children.  Those are the only documented facts I had for Oloff.

I had no record of Oloff coming into the United States and found no marriage for Oloff and Mary. I had no place of birth or names of parents for Oloff.

Having no success with finding other records for Oloff, I sent for his Compiled Service Record from the National Archives hoping it would hold his Letter of Intent, which I hoped would tell me where in Sweden he came from.

It came faster than I thought it would and held several surprises! His biographical record told me that he left Sweden and traveled first to Germany before coming to the United States. While in Germany he met Marie(Mary) Hepke and they were married in the American Consulate in Hamburg. I further learned the names of all of his children and that Mary had died in 1881 in Chicago.

OK, I still don’t know where Oloff was born but I know where he was married and about when. I know when and where Mary died and since I found her death record, I know she died as a result of childbirth. I also know that I need to look for Oloff, a Swedish man leaving Hamburg with a wife born in Hanover.

I haven’t quit looking for Oloff! I'm just taking a different path,

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[i] Year: 1860; Census Place: Michigan City, La Porte, Indiana; Roll: M653_275; Page: 389; Family History Library Film: 803275;  ancestry.com, online images, accessed 10 Fem 2019

[ii] Year: 1880; Census Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois; Roll: 195; Page: 163B; Enumeration District: 141; Ancestry.com ,images inline, accessed 10 Feb 2019; Tenth Census of the United States, 1880. (NARA microfilm publication T9, 1,454 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – Week 5 “At the Library”

The Library I grew up with.
Elmhurst, Illinois

My love affair with libraries began in first grade, when we moved to Elmhurst, Illinois, just west of the city of Chicago. The location of our new home made it easy for a six-year old to enjoy the independence of a magical journey at any time. We were only a block from the stately mansion that had been turned into the city library. Inside the library Mrs Zimmerman was in charge of the children’s desk where we would present her with the books we wanted to borrow and our library card. 

If you couldn’t write/print your name you had to use a parent’s card. I think I decided at a very young age that I would love to work in a library surrounded by all those wonderful books that could transport you to anywhere in the world you wanted to go.

Summer story hours were obligatory for this girl. As I grew older, I began to .explore the different types of books at the library and about third grade I discovered the chapter books in the form of the “Bobbsey Twins”, a series of books about a family with two sets of twins and their adventures. Later I graduated to the Nancy Drew mysteries. After that came the Judy Bolton series and the Hardy Boys. I was hooked on mysteries and I still am!

As years passed my use of the library grew and expanded to more than just borrowing mysteries. I learned to use the card catalog to find the books that held the information I was seeking.

My children were introduced to the library at a very young age since it was one of the places we could walk to. We lived in a small farming community and the library was in a community building which also housed the Village Board meetings and a resale shop for the VFW. For a couple of Summers, I did the story hour for the library and later served on the library board. Even though it was a small library only open part time, there were regulations to be followed and funds to be accounted for. When we moved to an even smaller are,  there was still a public library. This time it was inside the grade school building. It was also part time and shared the position  of Librarian with the previous library. Once again, I served as a member of the Library Board and learned about the importance of circulation numbers and how they affect the funding of the library.

Moving to Florida exposed us to a library system that hosted many branches and more hours open than ever before. This is about when I began to work on genealogy. Being part of a larger library system, I now had access to even more reference materials. It was in a library that I found the books “Germans to America” a series of volumes detailing German immigration in the 1830 to the 1870s. In them I found that my German ancestors came to the United States from the village of Villmar in the Hessen province of the Dutchy of Nassau. That led me to looking at the church records for Villmar where I found a marriage record for Georg Burbach and Catharina Caspari. The record indicated that Georg was from Oberselters. Church records from Oberselters showed that the family had lived there for over 100 years.

Recently, I have been spending Sunday afternoons in the Genealogy room at our library here in Texas and I found a book in the library about the early colonists of Virginia which mentioned my husband’s Ferguson line which prompted me to look for them in the Soldiers of the American Revolution books there two shelves below. Now I am gathering evidence so my son and daughter can become members of the SAR and DAR.

Libraries expand my world and I don’t expect that to stop anytime soon!