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
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