Saturday Night Genealogy Fun -- Two Degrees of Separation

SATURDAY, JANUARY 23, 2016

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun -- Two Degrees of Separation

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: 

 It's Saturday Night again - 

time for some more Genealogy Fun!!

Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music):

1)  Using your ancestral lines, how far back in time can you go with two degrees of separation?  That means "you knew an ancestor, who knew another ancestor."  When was that second ancestor born?

2)  Tell us about it in a blog post of your own, in a comment to this blog post, in a status line on Facebook or a stream post on Google+.

For my 2 degrees of separation I will start with my maternal grandparents:
 I (b 1942) knew my maternal grandmother Alice Fleming Connery(b 1872) who, in turn, did not know her grandfather John Hennesy ( b 1784) and her grandmother Mary O'Donnell (b 1790) as they both are recorded as having died in 1833. 

 My maternal grandfather Michael Connery (b 1861) probably also did not know his grandparents Patrick Connery (b 1784)and Ellen Drake (b 1800).  I don't know if Michael knew his maternal grandparents Patrick Leahy (b 1805) and Ellen McCarthy (b1807) since I have no death information for them.  

All of my maternal ancestors were born in County Limerick, Ireland.

On my paternal side, I knew my grandfather Adolph Hansen (b 1880) for only 4 short years before his death in 1946.  Adolph never met his paternal grandfather Martin Hansen (b 1829)since Adolph's father Adolf was illegitimate and never lived with his son.  Martin had been a soldier in Oslo and when his military service ended he returned to his village of birth to marry and raise a family.  Adolph's paternal grandmother Sophie Johannsdatter (b1829) raised her son Adolf in Oslo and was living with Adolph's brother Thorolf in the 1901 census so I believe it is very likely that Adolph knew her.

Adolph probably knew both of his maternal grandparents Daniel Kristensen (b 1817) and Karen Dorthea Christiansen (b 1833) since he lived with their daughter Magna when he first immigrated to Chicago.  He also worked for his uncle Oscar Daniels.

I  knew my Grandmother Henrietta Burbach (b 1888)  and she knew her maternal grandfather Philip Schmitz (b 1834)  but her maternal grandmother Elizabetha Kronenberger died in 1876 before Henrietta's birth.  

Henrietta also knew both her paternal grandparents Georg Burbach (b 1825) and Catharina Caspary (b 1825) since they all lived on the same street in Milwaukee and her father and grandfather worked together.

Motivation Monday - Re-searching Your Research

Last week I received a message from someone who had a question about a member of my husbands family.  His aunt Hazel was something of a mystery and seemed to have disappeared from the face of the earth.  All I knew was that she had married Larry and had a daughter Sherry.  There was something that had been mentioned about her living in Florida and dying at a young age.  I had never really followed up on Hazel, Larry, and Sherry.  Last week's contact added to the mystery since it seems to reveal that Hazel was married in 1936 at the age of 16.  Her marriage license attests that she has her father's consent.  Interesting since her father was dead at the time!

All of this caused me to start looking at Hazel once again to see what else I could find out about her.  In the 1940 census, she is living with her mother and her martial status is listed as "Divorced".  At 20 in 1940.  I remember that my mother-in-law said that Hazel was learning to be a pilot during the 1940's so maybe there is a record of her receiving a private pilot license.

Find-a-Grave shows that Hazel E Drake b 1920 is buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery in De Soto County, Florida.  She died in 1955 which would certainly fit in with having died at a young age.  In the same cemetery there is buried a Lawrence W Drake b 1905 and died in 1977.  This would seem to support the reference to Florida that I had heard mentioned.  In family referenced it seemed that Larry either was a pilot or was a flying instructor during WWII.

Further research on Hazel indicates that Hazel Elizabeth Drake died Nov 1957 in De Soto County, FL.  Lawrence Wilson Drake died 3 June 1977 in Sarasota County, Florida.  This is according to the Florida Death Index 1877 - 1998.  Another mystery since her tombstone says she died in 1955 and the Florida Death Index says 1957.

The mysteries uncovered this past week are causing me to look again at what I have recorded for Hazel and Larry Drake and hopefully I will be able to flesh out their story more completely.  I have learned to look again at what I think I know.