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.

Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun and here is the challenge!

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible! music) is to:

1)  Determine where your ancestral families were on 1 January 1913 - 100 years ago.

2)  List them, their family members, their birth years, and their residence location (as close as possible).  Do you have a photograph of their residence from about that time, and does the residence still exist?

3)  Tell us all about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a Facebook Status or Google+ Stream post.

My maternal grandparents, Michael Connery (b 1861 in Kilfinnan, Limerick, Ireland) and Alice Fleming Connery (b 1872 in Ballylanders, Limerick, Ireland) were living at 4140 W Washington Blvd. in Chicago, Illinois.  Living at home with them at the time were their children Mary Elizabeth (20), Kathleen (18), Alice (14), Pauline (13),  Thomas (10), John (8), and Eleanor (4).  Son Leo had died in 1905 and my mother Elizabeth was not born until 1917.  All of their children were born in Chicago.  This is not their exact home but it is very similar and would be reversed.

4140 W Washington Blvd. Chicago, IL  (photo google maps)

600 N Lockwood Ave Chicago, Illinois  (photo google maps)

In 1913, my paternal grandparents were living at 600 N Lockwood in Chicago, Illinois.  Adolph Hansen (b 1880 in Oslo, Akershus, Norway) and Henrietta Burbach Hansen (b 1888 in Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin) lived with their children Dorothy Eva (b 1908 in Chicago) and Donald George ( b 1910 in Tooele, Utah.  Since they moved often for Adolph's work, I checked the City Directories to verify the address.  

My Great-grandparents Patrick Connery and Mary Hayes along with ThomasFleming and Mary Hennessy were  in Limerick, Ireland.  Eva Schmitz Burbach Meuller (b 1858  Milwaukee, WI), was living in Milwaukee, WI her husband Hermann Burbach (b 1852 in Villmar, Hesse, Germany) having died in Milwaukee in 1896.  Adolph Hansen's father, Adolf b 1852 in Oslo,Oslo, Norway. died in 1911 in Bergen, Norway.  His mother, Dorette Christiansen (b 1857 in Oslo, Oslo, Norway) died in Oslo in 1887.

The photos are representative of the area at the time but I believe both residences are long gone.  Even the house I grew up in existed in 1913 but is also gone now.