We’re Related | part 3

~ Lark Dalin Robart ~ Leave a comment

Note: This series on Ancestry’s “We’re Related” app begins here.

Five new “cousins” since my last post.

By category, they are:

ACTORS (1)
Cecil B. DeMille1

AUTHORS & WRITERS (2)
Dr. Seuss
Emily Post

POLITICIANS (2)
John McCain
Samuel Adams

Only one of these – Dr. Seuss – is on my Dad’s side. So that makes a total of two matches thus far on his side – Steve Jobs and Dr. Seuss. The remaining 32 out of 34 matches are on my Mom’s side.

The most promising in this new group appears to be John McCain, although additional research is required to confirm this match.

This series continued here.

NOTES
  1. Although Ancestry put him in the Actors category, he was primarily an American filmmaker, acknowledged as the founding father of the Hollywood film industry. ↩

We’re Related | part 2

~ Lark Dalin Robart ~ Leave a comment

Note: This series on Ancestry’s “We’re Related” app begins here.

Since I first wrote about my matches on Ancestry’s new app (click here), I’ve had a two more pop up, both in the Actors category:

Lucille Ball
John Wayne

The John Wayne match made me laugh because when I was a little girl, I always thought my dad was just like John Wayne – only better, of course. But this match is on my mom’s side, not my dad’s. In fact, both are on my mom’s side.

But I digress.

Of these two, the Lucille Ball connection looks like it might be legitimate. I’ll know more after further research.

I also started a WE’RE RELATED tree in Ancestry and have added these four matches (from the “part 1” list) so that I can study them more carefully:

Billy the Kid
Warren Buffett
Abraham Lincoln
Elizabeth Montgomery

Out of these four, the match that looks the most promising at this point is Abraham Lincoln – although I still have more research to do before calling this one a “good” match.

The matches for Elizabeth Montgomery and Warren Buffett will require quite a bit more research – so it’s too soon to tell whether either one is legitimate.

The “Billy the Kid” match is the most problematic, as it’s based entirely on the assumption that he was the son of William Harrison Bonney – which, as far as I can tell, has never been proven.

This series continued here.

Wordless Wednesday: Thanksgiving Day Greetings

~ Lark Dalin Robart ~ Leave a comment

(Almost, but not quite . . .) Wordless Wednesday

"Thanksgiving Day Greetings"
Vintage postcard circa 1912: “Thanksgiving Day Greetings”

A card addressed to “Mrs. Geo. Schenk”, my great grandmother Mary G. (Rumping) Schenk, postmarked November 1912, from “Gussie”, Mary’s cousin Augusta “Gussie” (Rumping) Engelman.

The note on the back cuts right to the chase –

Greetings from Gussie. Why don’t you write?

Back of vintage postcard, circa 1912
Back of vintage postcard, circa 1912

Amanuensis Monday: Johann (John) Schenck

~ Lark Dalin Robart ~ Leave a comment

Amanuensis Monday is a popular ongoing series created by John Newmark at Transylvanian Dutch.

“Amaneunsis” is defined as “one employed to write from dictation or to copy manuscript”.1

Today I decided to transcribe a short biography of Johann Schenck from page 1 of The Family Histories of Johann Schenck and Katharina Ziegler. Johann and Katharina are my second great grandparents.

Johann Frederick Schenck circa 1880
JOHANN (JOHN) SCHENCK was born in Switzerland on 1 Jan 1845.
As of this writing his exact birthplace and parentage have not been
located. According to one of his granddaughters, Katherine “Kitty”
Eisenbart Hathorn he was married first to a woman by the name of
Wuermuth (sp?). They had a son, John H. Schenck, who was born in
Michigan but never married and after the death of his father he
resided at the home of his uncle Christian Schenck. He was
unmarried and died in Red Jacket, Calumet, Michigan. His half-
brothers and sisters were notified of his death which occurred on
11 April 1917 according to the probate record.
John’s second marriage was to Katharine Ziegler on 4 Sep 1869
in Houghton, Houghton County, Michigan. They were married by a
Minister of the Gospel, T. E. Weber. The two witnesses were
Christian Schenck, John’s brother, and George Ziegler, Katherine’s
brother.
According to tradition (no verification) the two sons with
their father emigrated to America when the boys were in their early
years. The related story is that their father died en route and
was buried at sea. It is believed that the two sons John and
Christian located in the upper peninsula of Michigan referred to as
the Iron Mountain Range) located in the Northwestern part of the
state. It may be assumed the brothers were miners coming from and
locating in a mining area, although John’s death certificate
records his trade as a butcher but cause of death was consumption
which many of the miners were susceptible to.
John and Christian lived in many small communities in
northwestern Michigan including Hancock, Osceola, Houghton,
Franklin Mine, Quinesse, and Iron Mountain.
John was employed by Clark’s butcher Shop at the time of his
death which occurred on April 27, 1884 in Iron Mountain, Dickinson
County, Michigan, leaving a widow with eight children.2

I have done some independent research on Johann and will post a blog post in the future that compares this biography against the research I’ve done.

SOURCES
  1.  Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary : accessed 21 November 2016, “amaneunsis.” ↩
  2. Janetski, Edithann Rowe, and the Living Schenck Descendants, compilers. The Family Histories of Johann Schenck and Katharina Ziegler. Great Falls, Montana: Privately printed, 1996. ↩