52 Ancestors Challenge Week 13: "Sisters" - Jean, Ann, and Clare Henry

My family is female-rich. I have 2 sisters. My father has 2 sisters. My mother has 3 sisters. Grandma Gardner had 3 sisters. Grandma Earle had 2 sisters. Grandpa Gardner had 1 sister. Grandpa Earle only had 1 brother, though, no sisters for him. Plus, I have 4 nieces, no nephews. If I expand my view outward, I also have 9 female first cousins, and only 3 male first cousins. I'm incredibly close to many of my 2nd cousins, many of which are, you guessed it, girls! So, lots of girls running around.

When my mind tries to recall images that depict "sisters" in my family history a few spring to mind but two in particular cry out.

First, this image comes from a newspaper article about my great grandparents, Charles Henry (March 26, 1896 - June 14, 1949) and Anna Sauer-Henry-Stoothoff (July 19, 1899 - May 8, 1986), and their commitment to healthy eating for their kids. (Get it, get it? They are all just kids there. Bwahahaha. Baby goats are called kids. Anyway...) 

It is an article I have reflected on in my blog in the past. "The Hunt for Health Food Started Goat Society," was published in The Eagle on July 30, year unknown. The Eagle must have been a local Long Island newspaper. I have never been able to find the full issue. I just love the image, though, of my grandmother, Clare and her sister Regina, more commonly referred to as Jean. Look at them wrangling in those baby goats. Grandma had to be about 6, Jean about 11. That would place the article in 1935, give or take.

The second image also comes from my shared Henry family photos. When I think about it, that really the only line I have images from. 

This is a photo of my grandmother's two sister, Jean again, the older taller sister on the right, and Ann on the left. 

Ann (age, 9) and Regina "Jean" (13)

This one clearly shows the year it was taken, 1937. Based on other photos obviously taken that same day, they were taken on June 26, 1937. Here are all 6 Henry siblings on the steps including Jean, Ann, my grandmother, and the 3 brothers: Charlie, Bobby, and Richard. The date is in the lower right corner.

These two photos show the other children. The one on the right was taken on that day. The one on the left of Charlie and Bobby looks to be from a different day. They have on different suits, and Charlie looks younger than 15 years old, as he is in the group photo.

Charlie and Bobby

Richie (5) and Clare (8)

All except my grandmother are now deceased.

My grandmother and Aunt Ann were closer in age but all 3 sisters were by all measures close. As married woman, grandma and Aunt Jean lived across the street from one another. All three sisters sent their combine 17 children to the same local Catholic school. There is a funny story about when my grandmother's mother, Anna Marie Sauer-Henry-Stoothoff, married her second husband, Frank Stoothoff (February 21, 1903 - September 17, 1993). They wed in October of 1963 It was long after Ann (the elder) had been widowed and became a grandmother. Her first husband, Charles Henry, died in June of 1949. By 1963 Ann had 35 grandchildren, 10-13 of whom attended Cure of Ars Roman Catholic School at the time. All 3 of Ann's daughters (Clare Earle, Jean Drew, and Ann Cramer) sent letters into school to account for their children's absences. It is not common for someone to take off to go to their grandma's wedding. It is certainly not common for so many kids to take off from the same school on the same day to go to their grandmother's wedding. That got the teacher-sisters (all nuns) talking and that is when they put together that all the Earles, Drews, and Cramers were cousins.

 

52 Ancestors Challenge Week 12: "Joined Together" - Meeting Cousins

I suppose this week's theme of "Joined Together" is supposed to cause me to reflect on marriages in my family history but the cynic in me only makes me think of the many divorces I see in my family history. In effort to be uplifting in my posts, I'd rather write about something that makes me happy; meeting cousins.

I have many known cousins to begin. I am one of 9 first cousins on my mother's side and one of 10 first cousins on my dad's side; subtracting siblings from the mix, I have 12 first cousins in all. However, I have acquired so many distant cousins since doing online genealogy research and especially since doing an AncestryDNA test back in November of 2013. Some of them I communicate with for only a brief time, exchanging information to enhance our respective family trees. Others I have communicated with sporadically for years and years.

There are so many that I can't possibly list them all. I'll highlight a couple of them though. These are ones I have acquired strictly through genealogy research...

The One Who Has Been Around the Longest: Cousin Mary

Cousin Mary is my father's 6th cousins and thus my 6th cousin once removed. We have my 6th great grandparents in common; the elusive Jacob Raynor (unknown - March 1829) & Rebecca Raynor-Raynor (June 10, 1769 - February 14, 1855). That's right. You read that correctly, Rebecca Raynor-Raynor.

We have deep Long Island roots that reach back to the settlement of Freeport, New York which at one time was known as Raynortown. One might think Raynor is not a common surname but at that time, in that place, there were SO many Raynors. I am sure Jacob and Rebecca were cousins of some ilk but both Mary and I struggle to confirm Jacob's parents.

I honestly can't remember how long ago Cousin Mary and I met, maybe since 2005-ish, but we have "joined together" on many occasions. We have done a few research trips, attended a conference, and did a genealogy presentation together. We met back when Ancestry showed you other users who had connected to the same records.

I recall being quite dismayed when we did not match on AncestryDNA though. I thought for sure I had made some research error and that Mary was not my cousin after all. Oh, I was so sad but I was quite relieved when it turned out that, although my father and I do not match Mary, my 2 uncles do. It proved that it is possible to have no genetic match with distant cousins.

It is about 2 years ago now that another researching cousin on our line passed away. Recently, Cousin Mary and I accepted the generous honor of inheriting that cousin's boxes of resources. We also recently planned to attend another conference together in June. Can't wait!

Thus, Cousin Mary and I have "joined together" in many research endeavors. She is one of  my best genealogical finds.

The Non-Genealogist Genealogy Acquired Cousin: Cousin Chris

Cousin Chris is not a genealogist. He and I are 3rd cousins on my mother side. This is the side of the family that I really don't have many strong bonds with so it is nice to have cousins on that side turn up. 

Cousin Chris and I have our great-great grandparents in common; Damas Desjardin, also known as Thomas Gardner (October 9, 1850 - October 2, 1911) and Malvina Ethier-Desjardins (February 2, 1864 - January 6, 1944). I met Chris by way of his brother, Cousin Robert, who is the genealogist. However, I have never met Cousin Robert. He posted a question to a message board a long time ago, around 2009, and then put me in touch with his siblings via FaceBook.

At the time Chris kindly extended an invitation stating, "If you're ever in Minnesota..." Well guess what, my constant road companion Cousin Pete and I were off to Minnesota in the summer of 2015. Cousin Chris (who is no relation to Cousin Pete, by the way) put us up in his home for 4 days, no questions asked. His beautiful wife and fabulous kids were so welcoming. The little cousins, gave up their beds for us. By the end of our stay Cousin Chris inquired, "Um, how are we related?" Needless to say Pete and I have been back to visit Cousin Chris and his family several times. In fact, this past summer we met up with them in Philly and stayed in the worst AirBnB I've ever stayed in in my life. Cousins made it tolerable.

The Not Quite Sure How We Are Related Cousin: Cousin Tim

A little over a year ago I received an Ancestry Message from Cousin Tim stating that he had been looking at his cousin's DNA matches and discovered I managed a few of the test with whom he matched, my father's and one of my uncles. They are distant DNA matches and originally we thought perhaps it was a connection to the Hinch family of Hacketstown, Ireland but then again, it could be through the Hughes family of Liscolman, Ireland. Either way both are in Wicklow Co. and on Grandma Earle's line. We're related somehow. I hope some day we can figure it out. Either way though, we're still cousins.

The Cousin Who Made Me Jealous by Getting to Visit Our Ancestral Homeland: Cousin Carol

Those of you who know me in real-life, you likely know that I am a ferocious road-tripper. I have been to all 50 states and all the provinces of Canada with the exception of Nunavut. Aside from Canada though, I haven't done much travel outside of the U.S. Cousin Carol has been to the most "exotic" of all my ancestral homelands though, the Czech Republic. My ethnicity pie chart reflects 99% European, most of which is from the British Isles and Ireland, thus Central European seems exotic to me.

Cousin Carol and I are 3rd cousins once removed, meaning she and my mother have my 3rd great grandparents in common; Jan Prinz (May 14, 1826 - May 22, 1888) and Franzisca Preuss-Prinz (November 17, 1830 - November 29, 1902) who were from Mladá Vožice, in Southern Bohemia, which is now the Czech Republic.

After years of researching our shared ancestral line, in the summer of 2013 she had the opportunity to visit the Czech Republic with her husband to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. They hired personal, professional tour guides who arranged ancestral tour and provided genealogical research which included meetings with village and church historians. Not only did they get to travel the roads our ancestors would have traveled, they got to visit the church where my great-great grandfather was baptized and had the privilege to ring the church bell which had been cast in 1491.

Even though we did not "join together" for that trip [JEALOUS], I did live vicariously through her and asked her to guest blog about her travels for me.

The Fancy Meeting You Here Cousin: Cousin Sylvain

In June of 2018, I had a second opportunity to visit Twillingate, Newfoundland, my Earle family's ancestral homeland. I had a truly astonishing genealogical discover then. I have written about the experience before but it still overwhelms me when I think about it. 

In brief, Twillingate is where my great grandfather, Abram Thomas Earle, was born in January 1891 on Farmers Arm which is on the Durrell side of Twillingate. On my second visit I went with my Uncle Tom. We stayed in a magnificent AirBnB called The Pumpkin House located right on Farmers Arm Road. One of the homeowners, Charlie, had recently purchased another house just a few doors down from Pumpkin House on the same road. 

One day he invited us down to his new house to show us his deed. It clearly shows a survey conducted by Thomas Peyton who was once the local magistrate and was the father of Edgar Peyton; the brother-in-law of my great grandfather and thus my uncle's great uncle. 

It turns out that Charlie's property was once owned by John Earle. Yup an Earle! The deed also indicated the land was once owned by the Late William Earle who, one would assume is the father of John, the aforementioned land owner. William Earle was my great grandfather's uncle. My gut tells me that my great grandfather was born on Charlie's land.

But it gets crazier. While Uncle Tom and Charlie poked around in one of the old structures on the property, I chatted with Charlie's friend, Sylvain. Our conversation went a little like this.

April: "So do you live here year round?"

Sylvain: "No, I live in Montreal."

April: "Oh, that's where my mom's side is from. My father's side is from here in Twillingate but my mom's side has deep roots in Montreal."

Sylvain: "I have ancestors who were early settlers in Montreal. What's the family name?"

April: "It would have been Desjardins." 

And Sylvain froze. This very blank expression came across his face and he slowly said, "My mother's maiden name is Desjardins."

Turns out Sylvain is Cousin Sylvain. He and I have my 9th great grandfather in common; Claude Jourdain Desjardins Charbonnier (1636 - about 1704-1711).

Crazy stuff; to not only find my father's family homeland but to meet a maternal cousin on that land - kind of crazy! By the way, my mother and father grew up next door to each other.

Since meeting, Cousin Sylvian has helped me with finding some information about our Montreal roots. Lovely man.

The Most Recently Acquired: Cousin Kristen

Just before Christmas 2021, I got in touch with a new DNA match, Cousin Kristen. She too is a cousin on my mother's side. Again, I have so few strong connection of that side that I am always excited by the potential for new relationships there.

Just recently we met in-person for the first time. We talked as though we were old friends catching up. I hope that such visits will become common place for us.

At this first visit, Cousin Kristen gave me a ring her and her mother chose for me a limited number of family heirlooms. She joked about proposing to me with it. I haven't taken it off.

52 Ancestors Challenge Week 11: "Flowers" - 3 generations of my Earle grandmothers' heirlooms

This is an adaptation from an earlier post published in March 2013; but when you say "flowers" in relation to my family history, I think of these objects among my family's heirlooms.

Shortly after my Grandpa Earle passed away in June of 2000, my grandmother (otherwise known as Nanny) gave me an Earle family heirloom as a birthday gift; a hand-painted plate. Nanny told me she was given the plate by my grandpa's Aunt Susie Earle-Gilvey (12 June 1877 - 28 June1965). It is a plate that Aunt Susie brought with her on her immigration from Newfoundland to New York in about 1900. The plate, we believe, was hand-painted by my great-great grandmother, Sarah Samms-Earle-Bromley (13 October 1857 - 20 March 1899). 

As a painter myself with a deep interest in family history I think it was a very appropriate gift.  I am not sure if Great-great Grandma Earle considered herself an artist but hand-painting plates was a popular hobby for women of her time.

This is not the only hand-painted Earle family heirloom that Nanny has given to me. Several birthdays later, Nanny gave me this canister which was painted by my great grandmother, Ethel Mae Losee-Earle (14 February 1896 - 27 May 1960).

There is something profoundly impacting about touching an object that was once held by someone you only know through stories and documentation. The next woman in this chain of Earle grandmothers, though, is my Nanny. She just turned 93 on February 27.

She doesn't paint but she does handcraft afghans and shawls of which I own a few. For a time she did ribbon embroidery of flowers but I do not have a piece of her flower work. Instead, here is a photo a blanket she crocheted for me. As a child it covered my bed. There was also an accompanying blanket she made for my doll. It had a similar pattern and was made in the same colors; my favorite, pink and green. I wish I still had that doll blanket. I don't know where it went.

God willing, I will be able to care for and maintain these artifacts long enough to hand them down to the next "Earle" grandmother or keeper of the family heirlooms.

 

52 Ancestors Challenge Week 10: "Worship" - Mothers, Keepers of the Faith

I don't have much to say about "worship" or practicing of faith in my family history except that I think most of us are so rigid in our faith that we tend to assume that if we were raised in a particular faith that our ancestors were also raised in that faith. I see it with patrons I have worked with on their genealogy research a lot. I sometimes find a religious record for their ancestor to which the client will balk, "Oh no, they were NOT *insert whatever faith they assume here*." However, very often my own ancestors practiced whatever form of Christianity was celebrated in the nearest house of worship. Not big walkers for Jesus, I guess.

Although I am not a practicing Catholic, I do identify as Catholic. I was baptized Catholic, attended Sunday School, and received all the appropriate sacraments, including confirmation in the Church. My confirmation name is Rose, by the way, after Saint Rose of Lima, Peru, who was the first person born in the Americas to be canonized but I chose it because she bears the name of my birth flower. I was not born in April; thank you very much.

Aside from my paternal grandmother who is VERY Catholic, religion has, again, been relatively fluid in my family history. Most of them really did just attend the church closest to the house.

Both my grandmothers were raised in Catholic households. Neither of them, though, married Catholics. That is correct. My very Catholic grandmother, who would not attend a wedding if someone Catholic was not marrying someone who was also Catholic, did not, herself, marry a Catholic. My grandfathers were both Protestants. Grandpa Gardner was raised Episcopalian and Grandpa Earle was raise a Methodist. Grandpa Earle did convert to Catholicism but not until July 1956; eight years and three children after he married my grandmother.

Like those I help research, I too tend to think of my grandfathers' lines as Protestants. Those steadfast in their faith can probably understand my reaction then when I discovered my Grandpa Gardner's father buried in Calvary Cemetery; a very large CATHOLIC Cemetery in Brooklyn and Queens, New York. Yes. Brooklyn AND Queens. Two counties of the City of New York. That is how large the cemetery is.

What was my Protestant grandfather's father doing in a Catholic Cemetery?

Um, well, he had to be a Catholic! Sure enough, he was. Albert Gardner, born Almond Desjardins (21 September 1891 - 11 February 1946), was from a large French-Canadian, CATHOLIC family. Would ya look that that? He was raised in his mother's faith (Catholic), he married an Episcopalian woman and his children were raised in their mother's faith. His grandson, my grandpa, married a Catholic and his children were raised in their mother's faith.

Thus, I have surmised two things about my family's worship. 1.That mothers are the keepers of the faith and 2. they are still not big walkers for Jesus.