Dear Jessica, Enjoyed reading your family introduction to this list. Wow, have you bitten off a large project and you have a good start. May I suggest that you start with census information in the US and Canada--the entries can provide lots of details about ages, family composition and even dates and places of immigration. I know you are fishing in the old country, but you may find a location here that would be a lead rather than a guess. Were the families connected with a religious community? There may be ceremonies that are recorded and helpful--you get relationship there. Happy hunting, you have a long road ahead with great rewards. Best to you, Virginia On Tue, Mar 9, 2010 at 12:49 AM, Jessica Cangiano <[email protected]>wrote: > My sincere apologies, everyone, I didn't know that it's not a good idea to > write messages in Word and then post them in mailing lists (as doing so can > cause some of the characters, like apostrophes, that you used when > composing > your message to appear as question marks.) I'm going to re-post my initial > message and hopefully this time it will be free of this issue. > > > (*Original message*) > > Hi everyone, > > I’m new to this mailing list and am taking Wolf up on his friendly > invitation to introduce myself to the group. > > My name is Jessica, I’m 25 years old, and I’ve recently begun to delve into > my family’s genealogy. I’ve been a history buff with an interest in > genealogy quite literally my whole life, but it’s only been during the past > couple of months that I’ve actually started to put my shoulder to the wheel > and dive into exploring my family’s past. > > At present I know very little regarding my family history beyond the names > of my great-grandparents (in the case of one g-grandfather, I don’t even > know his name yet), save for my maternal great-grandfather’s family (the > Burkhards), who I’ve very recently been able to discover quite a lot about. > > On my maternal side, my German ancestry springs from the Burkhard > (Burkhart) > line. It appears that when the Burkhards in my tree came to the new world, > many of them (or their descendants) settled in (or later moved to) New > York, > Nebraska, Iowa, and Ohio (though I’ve found them in other states as well). > > My maternal great-grandfather was Charles Burkhard (b. 1874 in Omaha, > Nebraska, d. In 1945 in Dawson City, Yukon) he married (my g-grandmother) > Marie Lefebvre (b. 1886 in St. Honore De Shenley, Quebec, d. 1958 in Long > Beach, California). My great-grandparents had nine children, the youngest > of > their kids, Bernice Schill (née Burkhard), is my grandmother (b. 1930 in > Dawson City, Yukon). All of the Burkhard children, save for my grandmother > have, sadly, passed away at this point. > > Bernice married my grandfather Arnold Schill (b. 1923, d. 1990) in 1953 and > they had three children, including my mother (Lynn Marie Schill) who was > born in 1958 in Maple Ridge, British Columbia. (Their other kids are Donald > Wayne [d. 1977] and Lori Gail.) > > I do not having very much to go on regarding Arnold Schill’ family at this > point. His parents’ names were Johannes and Maria Schill (I do not know > Maria’s maiden name), who used the names “John and Marie” starting at some > point after they arrived in Canada in 1930. Sadly my grandfather (Arnold) > passed away in 1990, and so my (very limited) knowledge of his family comes > from what my grandmother (Bernice) can remember, as well as from a > passenger > list I found (from a ship called the Montclare, which was part of the > Canada > Pacific fleet). > > Bernice believes that my grandfather and his parents (and siblings) were > Romanian, and the ship’s log backs this up (as the Schill’s country of > origin is listed as Romania). On this voyage the ship departed from > Hamburg, > Germany and landed in Montreal, Quebec on June 21, 1930. > > However – and this is purely hypothetical on my part at this point – I > cannot help but wonder if at some point the Schill family has roots in > Germany, where the surname Schill sometimes appears. This is definitely > something that I’m actively trying to find information about. > > At this time, aside from the names of some of Arnold’s siblings, and his > parent’s place of death (both passed away in Pitt Meadows, British > Columbia), I do not have any information about this branch of my family. > > I am very actively investigating the Schill family and hope that I will be > able to take that part of my family tree beyond 1923 (the year when my > grandfather was born). Some initial things I’ve love to learn are what part > of Romania the Schill family was from, what Johannes and Maria’s parents > were named (and from there keep building the Schill line further back), > when/where John, Maria and their other kids were born, and if in fact, they > were of German origin. > > > On my paternal side, I know very little about my Germany relations, but > I’ll > share what I have discovered so far. > My paternal great-grandfather was named Alfred Grams and he was born in > Germany (I don’t know whereabouts), but immigrated to Canada as a child. He > may have been born in 1920 (I am not certain yet of this) and possibly died > in the 1970s (according to my mother, who does not recall meeting Alfred, > he > died before I was born in ’84). He may have died in Vancouver, British > Columbia. (He may have fought, I’m assuming for Canada, in WW2.) > > I do not know the names of Alfred’s parents (that said, his mother may have > been called Lydia, though I’m not sure of this yet), where they were born > or > anything at all about them. Alfred had siblings, but I do not know their > name (save for that one brother may have been called Gustav/Gus). > > Alfred married my paternal great-grandmother, Mary Walker (about whom I > know > literally nothing save for her name and approximate year of death, 1995), > and together they had three children: Elaine (deceased in the 1990s, was > married to Robert [Bob] McCannon, with whom she had two children: Kelly and > Jason), Ronald (married a woman named Jeanette [maiden name unknown], had > at > least two children), and my grandmother, Jean Margaret (b. circa 1942, > possibly in Nelson, British Columbia). At some point after their children > were born, Alfred and Mary (Walker) divorced. Mary did not remarry, I do > not > know if Alfred did. > > Jean (my grandmother) married Loren (sometimes spelled “Lorn”) --- (I know > this person’s surname, but for reasons of privacy do not wish to use it > online, if you believe you know anything about Jean Grams, please contact > me > privately and I’d be happy to share Loren’s surname with you). They had > four > children: Gregory (my father), Debbie (Deborah), Cheryl, and Laurie. At the > time my father was born (in 1957) the family was living in Nelson, British > Columbia, but shortly thereafter Loren and Jean relocated to the Lower > Mainland area of British Columbia. (Note: Loren’s family are of Russian > decent and I know exceptionally little about this branch of my family tree; > Loren’s mother’s first name was Helen [maiden name unknown], but I do not > know his father’s name.) > > I would greatly love to learn more about the family line of Alfred Grams. > At > this point in time, the only (and I really do mean “only”) thing I know > about his ancestors is that at some point in the 19th century he had a > relative named Gottlieb Grams. > > > Regarding the Burkhard family, I’ve been able to discover relatives (via > some fantastic genealogy work one of my relatives has carried out) stemming > further back than my g-grandfather (Charles Burkhard). I know that his > parents were Frank Simon Burkhard and Genevieve Agnes Pischke (her parents > were Albert and Victoria [maiden name unknown], and they are as far back as > I have information on the Pischke family line). > > Census records indicate that the Pischke family was of West Prussian > ancestry (origin) and lists their mother tongue as being Polish. I would > love to find more out about this family, including what their ties to > Germany were. > Frank Simon Burkhard’s parents (my g-g-g-grandparents) were John (I do not > know if this was an anglicised version of Johannes/Johann) Burkhard and > Catherine Riedel (parents names unknown). > > John and Catherine had at least two children: (my g-g-grandfather) Frank > Simon (b. 1850 in New York, d. 1910 in Grand Island, Nebraska), and John > Burkhard (Jr.) (b. 1844, d. between 1881 – 1900). John married a woman > named > Cecelia Burkley (b. 1845, d. circa 1920). Cecelia was the daughter of > Vincent Burkley and Theresa Stelzer (I do not know more about the > Burkley/Stelzer history beyond this, I know the names of John and Cecelia’s > kids and many of those peoples’ descendants, though). > > John and Frank’s parents are thought to be the generation that brought this > branch of the Burkhard family tree to America from Germany (possibly circa > 1830, after which they settled in Erie Co. New York). I hope very much to > one day discover the name of the ship they came over on! > John’s father (my g-g-g-g-grandfather) was Simon Burkhard/t (b. circa 1790 > in Germany) and his wife was Catherine Zwick. > Simon’s father (my g-g-g-g-g-grandfather) was Johann Theobald Burkhard/t > (b. > circa 1760 in Germany), who was married to Anna Maria Screiner. > > This past weekend I discovered a RootsWeb document which includes someone > named Johann Theobald Burkard/t (who is listed as having a son named Simon) > and carries that man’s family line even further back. I am in the process > of > trying to conclusively (as best as possible) determine if the “Johan > Theobald Burkhart” in that document is in fact, the same one in my tree. > (Very exciting!) > > > Now before this posts turns into a small book, I will wrap up here. This is > my first time ever posting anything online publically about any of my > family > members (be it in mailing list or elsewhere), and I really am delighted to > have found, and be a part of, this group. > > I look forward to reading your posts and getting to you some of you and > your > families better! (If anyone reading this can provide further information > about any of the people listed above, please do not hesitate to contact > me.) > > Happy genealogical sleuthing to all! > Jessica > > For all the latest News, please visit our Homepage: > http://www.germanyroots.com > > Please visit and participate in our new forum > http://www.germanyroots.com/phpBB3/ > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >