This is just a digital painting of an ancestral tree for Doris Boulay 1909 combining two of my favorite hobbies, art & genealogy.
Friday, August 12, 2016
Tuesday, August 9, 2016
Olcha Lydia Lowe/Aaltje Louw: Sometimes The Right Question Pans Out
I've been working on my tree for well over a decade but I am still learning new tricks. I love it when something by chance opens a whole family branch for me.
My father asked me the other day when I'd finally be done with the family tree. Short answer, never, but it made me think of setting some goals. I love to meander off the path and link to some distant cousins, but what about the direct bloodlines I haven't found?
Well, I started by making a spreadsheet and bringing it out 10 generations. This would be 2048 people in my direct line on one sheet. I worked it out and found I only had about 10% of those ancestors (237 of them as of August 9, 2016) . I decided I'll do a bit of work every time I jump on just researching for these particular people and making sure I have enough proof to back it all up.
One mystery got checked off my books in just 24 short hours of doing this. I never could figure out what was with my 5th Great Grandmother, Olcha Lydia Lowe (married to Joshua Northrup 1755- 1841 as noted on Bob Juch's Tree). She always just sat out there, the lonely Lowe on my tree. A broken little nub of a branch. That changed today. With a bit of digging, I hit pay dirt.
Olcha is actually Aatlje (or Alcha) in Dutch and Lowe becomes Louw. This makes my grandmother the daughter of Johannes Louw and Aaltje Hogeland of Poughkeepsie, New York born the 27 of March 1767. Which ties nicely into the Mullen story since this was yet another branch of Loyalists that were chased up into Canada after the Revolutionary War.
Speaking of tying in, in finding Aaltje, I also was able to bring the Turk family closer into the fold. (They were just distant cousins before). The daughter of Jacobus Turk 1661-1710 and Catrina Van Benthuysen 1662-1704, Sara Turk 1695-1756 (aka Zara Zurk in a few genealogical books and references) is Aaltje (Olcha) Louw's paternal grandmother married to Jacob Louw born in 1688.
Oh, and in case your counting, that makes:
Jacobus & Catrina my 8x Great Grandparents
Sara & Jacob my 7x Great Grandparents
Johannes & Aaltje my 6x Great Grandparents
My father asked me the other day when I'd finally be done with the family tree. Short answer, never, but it made me think of setting some goals. I love to meander off the path and link to some distant cousins, but what about the direct bloodlines I haven't found?
Well, I started by making a spreadsheet and bringing it out 10 generations. This would be 2048 people in my direct line on one sheet. I worked it out and found I only had about 10% of those ancestors (237 of them as of August 9, 2016) . I decided I'll do a bit of work every time I jump on just researching for these particular people and making sure I have enough proof to back it all up.
One mystery got checked off my books in just 24 short hours of doing this. I never could figure out what was with my 5th Great Grandmother, Olcha Lydia Lowe (married to Joshua Northrup 1755- 1841 as noted on Bob Juch's Tree). She always just sat out there, the lonely Lowe on my tree. A broken little nub of a branch. That changed today. With a bit of digging, I hit pay dirt.
Olcha is actually Aatlje (or Alcha) in Dutch and Lowe becomes Louw. This makes my grandmother the daughter of Johannes Louw and Aaltje Hogeland of Poughkeepsie, New York born the 27 of March 1767. Which ties nicely into the Mullen story since this was yet another branch of Loyalists that were chased up into Canada after the Revolutionary War.
Speaking of tying in, in finding Aaltje, I also was able to bring the Turk family closer into the fold. (They were just distant cousins before). The daughter of Jacobus Turk 1661-1710 and Catrina Van Benthuysen 1662-1704, Sara Turk 1695-1756 (aka Zara Zurk in a few genealogical books and references) is Aaltje (Olcha) Louw's paternal grandmother married to Jacob Louw born in 1688.
Oh, and in case your counting, that makes:
Jacobus & Catrina my 8x Great Grandparents
Sara & Jacob my 7x Great Grandparents
Johannes & Aaltje my 6x Great Grandparents
Thursday, August 4, 2016
DNA Test Results
When Ancestry.Com came out with the DNA testing, I was all over it. I got one within the first year of them offering the test. It was really easy to do but the waiting for the results was tough.
Here are my results:
Both my mother's parents are from Ireland and not much outside influence in her lines going back about 200 years so I can assume that almost 50% of my Irish is from her. That leaves the question on the other amounts. One really confusing one is the 5% Italy/Greece Region which wasn't the only shock. I was also surprised that there is such a large Scandinavian percentage and really low amounts of French.
Though the border and nomadic movement of people throughout Europe probably explains a lot, but it is very interesting that a girl who would have said her origins were French and Irish, learns that her French half is much more mixed than it is one thing.
Just a week ago, my father submitted his test (so didn't my husband but that's another story). I am hoping that with his results I can figure out just where to look for more clues.
Here are my results:
Both my mother's parents are from Ireland and not much outside influence in her lines going back about 200 years so I can assume that almost 50% of my Irish is from her. That leaves the question on the other amounts. One really confusing one is the 5% Italy/Greece Region which wasn't the only shock. I was also surprised that there is such a large Scandinavian percentage and really low amounts of French.
Though the border and nomadic movement of people throughout Europe probably explains a lot, but it is very interesting that a girl who would have said her origins were French and Irish, learns that her French half is much more mixed than it is one thing.
Just a week ago, my father submitted his test (so didn't my husband but that's another story). I am hoping that with his results I can figure out just where to look for more clues.
Saturday, July 9, 2016
Paternal Surnames - Mullen & Boulay
Before I started doing my family genealogy, I never really thought of how each generation back you gain double the amount of surnames that you had with the previous one.
Building out your tree to include cousins also helps you learn more things about your own family. In that regards, I have been working on the entire Van Kleek (Van Kleeck, Van Cleef, Van Cleave) tree to try to figure out where Peter Mullen's family came from originally. Not much luck so far but in doing so I have found some pretty fascinating stories of which I'll share throughout this blog.
These are just the surnames I have verified though my paternal lines as of 7/8/2016. I will continue to update list as I get more verification.
MULLEN: McQuarrie, Foster, Marr, Sabean, Northrup, Grant, Charlton, Jinking, Lowe, Van Kleek, Lavalee, Crane, Gray, Beardsley, Van de Bogart, ter Bosch, Buys
BOULAY: Bouchard, Doucet, O'Hare, Levesque, Lizotte, Guitard, Haggarty, Boissoneault, Proulx, Gagnon, Mirelle, Pitre, Hache, Abbott, Pritchard
Building out your tree to include cousins also helps you learn more things about your own family. In that regards, I have been working on the entire Van Kleek (Van Kleeck, Van Cleef, Van Cleave) tree to try to figure out where Peter Mullen's family came from originally. Not much luck so far but in doing so I have found some pretty fascinating stories of which I'll share throughout this blog.
These are just the surnames I have verified though my paternal lines as of 7/8/2016. I will continue to update list as I get more verification.
MULLEN: McQuarrie, Foster, Marr, Sabean, Northrup, Grant, Charlton, Jinking, Lowe, Van Kleek, Lavalee, Crane, Gray, Beardsley, Van de Bogart, ter Bosch, Buys
BOULAY: Bouchard, Doucet, O'Hare, Levesque, Lizotte, Guitard, Haggarty, Boissoneault, Proulx, Gagnon, Mirelle, Pitre, Hache, Abbott, Pritchard
Friday, July 8, 2016
The Beginning (Just 14 Years Later)
I have always been fascinated by history. So after attending a Doucet Family Reunion in New Brunswick, Canada almost 14 years ago and being inspired by a family tree that took up an entire wall, I started looking into my family history from all sides. I have found some really cool things and I am still on search for many more but wanted to start a blog to share with family, whether you are family I know, one of the "new" cousins I've met since starting this project that are also interested in genealogy or a cousin I have yet to meet, I hope you find this blog both interesting and useful.
A little bit about me:
I am currently disabled suffering from a rare disorder called Dercum's disease which is normally considered familial. Part of my research is prompted by this but most of my inspiration comes from my fascination of history and how we all connect.
I have done a lot of research and analytical work in both my private and professional life. I like to write and love to read. I am not big on traveling since I got sick but I dream of seeing all the places I have family from...maybe someday.
A little bit about me:
I am currently disabled suffering from a rare disorder called Dercum's disease which is normally considered familial. Part of my research is prompted by this but most of my inspiration comes from my fascination of history and how we all connect.
I have done a lot of research and analytical work in both my private and professional life. I like to write and love to read. I am not big on traveling since I got sick but I dream of seeing all the places I have family from...maybe someday.
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