Who came over on the boat? Rebandt edition

Word Count: 248 Today, 970 Total.

The question of which of my ancestors came to America from another country is the whole reason I got into family history research in the first place. Recently, a cousin asked me the same question. Since I have my notes handy from answering him, I thought I'd share the news with the rest of you as well. The chart pictured below shows the ancestors I'm referring to and how they are related to my more recent ancestors.

According to the 1900 US Census, Joseph Conrad Rebandt (b. 1850 d. 1910) arrived in 1874. In 1900 he was in Detroit, Michigan with his wife, Albertina. The two owned a dry goods store there which they later passed down to their son, Adam Boniface Rebandt (b. 1893 d. 1980). Albertina arrived in 1875 according to the same census. Joseph and Albertina were wed in 1880. Joseph and Albertina's great grand daughter recalls her father (their grandson) telling her the name of the store was "Mrs. A Rebandt's Dry Goods, Ladies & Gents Furnishings" on Junction and Buchanan in Detroit. Google map's panorama shows only one building remaining on this corner when searching the address of the store. Check it out here: https://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF-8&layer=c&z=17&iwloc=A&sll=42.335144,-83.114613&cbp=13,102.8,0,0,0&cbll=42.335144,-83.114614&q=Junction+and+Buchanan,+Detroit,+Michigan&ei=vzFlUpbgIcbl4AP-oYGYAw&ved=0CCoQxB0wAA. 

Per the 1910 census, Joseph or George Girsch (b. 1873 d. 1966) arrived in 1880. In 1910 he was in Detroit, Michigan also. He married Mary Bosman (b. 1877 d. 1931).

Mary Bosman's parents, Rudolph Bosman (b. 1842 d. 1919) and Josefina Albertina Balk (b. 1852 d. 1915) arrived in 1870 according to the 1900 census. They were married in 1870. There is some discrepancy on the actual date that Rudolph arrived however. The 1910 census lists him as arriving in 1865. Obviously I have more research to do.

Truly, there is plenty more research to do on all of these ancestors and their families.

~Morgan

List of ancestors in the chart: Conrad Joseph Rebandt (1926-2003), Margaret Ann Bloink (1929-2009), Bernard J. Rebandt (1882-?), Adam Boniface Rebandt (1893-1980), Helen Cecilia Girsch (1905-1966), Joseph Conrad Rebandt (1850-1910), Albertina Bosman (1855-?), Joseph or George Girsch (1873-1932), Mary Bosman (1877-1931), John Bosman, Dorothyea Bosman, Mary Girsch (1824-?), Rudolph Bosman (1842-1919), Josefina Albertina Balk (1852-1915)

Family History Writing Challenge: Day 1

Word count: 726

Had a good writing session today. I'm rusty for sure with this writting business and creative writing wasn't my strong suit in school so I feel challenged. The hardest part is puting my memories onto paper in words that create the picture as I see it in my minds' eye. My memories are so precious to me that I find it hard to do them justice on the page.

Practice, practice, practice. Practice makes perfect. Practice, and editing! Ha.

Today I wrote about cherrished memories of attending church with the Rebandts at Our Lady of the Woods in Woodhaven, Michigan.

I hesitate to share, but why not, thats what this challenge is about, isn't it? Leave feedback, or share your memories too!

Building Faith through Family  2/1/2013

After my family moved away from the downriver area and stopped attending Our Lady of the Woods in Woodhaven, church was never quite the same and our attendance fell off dramatically. My grandparents, Conrad and Marge (Bloink) Rebandt and their family helped establish the church. In fact, Conrad’s brother, Ralph also started the Baptist church right next door. There is a family story that says the Baptist church still owns part of Guddith road because Ralph was stubborn and refused to sign the land over to the city when they put the road through.

Growing up, most Sunday mornings followed a similar routine. My mother would get us up if we weren’t already and make sure we picked out “church clothes” to wear. That phrase continued to indicate nice clothes throughout my life. Whenever I had an occasion to pick an outfit for, I’d ask, “does it have to be ‘church clothes?’”

Once we got to church, we always sat in the same spot. We’d dip our hand in the holy water by the door and the head down the left side of the church to the pew just behind the longest pew in the church. I remember feeling that it was as if the church members knew that that pew was where the Rebandts sit. It was like they reserved it for us. There was another family that would sit at the end of our pew on the side closer to the middle aisle, but the rest of the pew was always ours. And we usually filled it. One of the benefits of having such a close family was that we got to see each other often, and only two of Conrad and Marge’s nine children moved out of state. So, our family would gather, there in “our” pew and listen to the word of the Lord.

Once church was over, we’d head to the vestibule to chat with family members, greet the priest and see other church members as well. I remember it was in the church vestibule where my cousin Michael, got to announce to the family that he would soon be a big brother. Family news was often passed along this way, in the church vestibule. Many times, my cousins would play while the adults chatted. On sunny days, we’d head outside and then we cousins had lots more fun. Playing in front of the statue of the Mother Mary was a favorite pass time, as was climbing on the surrounding walls in typical childlike fashion until one of the adults noticed what we were doing and hollered at us to get down.

Many Sundays after church, the family would head over to Millie’s restaurant which was around the corner from church, just past Grandma and Grandpa’s house on the north side of West Road. Millie’s had a few names over the years, most of them I can’t remember any more, but the inside never seemed to change; nor did our Sunday morning routine.  Most of the time, there was a large round table up in the back of the restaurant that could accommodate our group of 10 to 15. If that table was already taken, the wait staff would drag tables together for us and we’d sit down to share breakfast. Most of us anyways, Becky never wanted breakfast. She would always order spaghetti. And she’d devour a full plate and sometimes want a more. I’ve never seen a small child consume so much spaghetti!

Once in a while, we’d head back to Grandma and Grandpa’s house after breakfast, or we’d go to their house and cook breakfast instead of going to the restaurant. Playing in the yard at Grandma and Grandpa’s was always the best. There were plenty of cousins to play with and trouble to be made. We loved the old swing set that was so big it had to have come from an old park. It was always scary when you got swinging high enough to make the front legs come up off the ground. Thank goodness we never tipped it over. There were many a time I thought we might.

The glidder on the back porch also holds many special memories. More often we got to spend quiet moments with Grandma and Grandpa here as they watched the rest of the cousins play.

 

~Morgan

Old Iron Butt from Buzzy Jackson's Shaking The Family Tree

In the past three weeks, I've consumed 4 of the 6 library books I checked out on family history. Not bad, if I do say so myself. I've really enjoyed getting back to reading and reading for enjoyment! I'll be off to the library tomorrow to turn in books and renew the other 2 for sure!

As I was reading Buzzy Jackson's Shaking The Family Tree, I couldn't help but identify with her description of Old Iron Butt! And it made me chuckle, so I had to share. 

According to Jackson, the nickname Iron Butt was one given to Richard Nixon in college for his ability to sit in the library and keep studying. Searching for genealogical records, Jackson explains, requires a similar "stick-to-itiveness...[and] being an optimistic idiot helps." (101)  I thoroughly enjoyed both descriptions.

That is all for now.

In the coming weeks, I must begin to tackle the mess I have created by over-zealous linking of records from Ancestry as a newbie. I have to admit, I've been avoiding it for a couple of reasons. One is that my tree already includes over 500 names and organizing that and cleaning it up is a daunting task and one I know I cannot finish to perfection in the amount of time that I have available to dedicate to it right now. That said, I must find a way to break it into more manageable chunks and get at it. My greatest excuse to myself has been that I don't know how to do it. It is true, I do not know every detail of genealogical research. But, between the recent library books, the online reading I've done and the hours I've spent viewing Ancestry's archived videos on Youtube.com, I have more than enough knowledge to begin. If only I would allow myself.

~Morgan

Who Do You Think You Are? The Book

I ended up having a lot of down time at work today so I took the opportunity to finish reading Who Do You Think You Are?  By Megan Smolenyak. I happened to find this book on the shelves at my local library and being a fan of the show, decided I'd check it out. Boy am I glad I did.

This book has many references to websites and books that are considered the standards by many genealogists. The author also includes the basic how-tos for the basic records that many people new to family history will check out first. I was particularly happy to see the summary of the censuses and what they included as well as what makes certain ones unique or particularly good tools for the genealogist. I had seen similar information before but couldn't find it when I needed it recently. Now, I'll have my notes from this book. I also enjoyed the section on military records. I know this is something I will want to delve into more in the future as I research more about my maternal Grandfather. I loved hearing his stories from the time he spent in the military during WWII and look forward to learning more of the specifics about his service to our country.

With all the great website references and information included in this book, I found myself seriously considering adding it to my birthday list to have in my reference arsenal.

Morgan

Family History Writing Challenge...I'm In!

I've long had an interest in my family history. I was the only teenager I knew that owned (a now ancient copy) of Family Tree Maker. (So old that when I recently got back into doing family history research and asked my Husband if I could update my old copy he actually laughed out loud at me. In the most loving of ways, of course.) 

What really got me on the hunt for my ancestors again is the desire to get down on paper all of the wonderful stories that I heard growing up. They are my families legends in my mind. And I believe they should be shared. They're still entertaining to me after all these years and I believe others will find them entertaining as well. (The fact that in the past 5 years, I have lost two of my three living grandparents has also been a huge kick in the pants.)

My inspiration for what I imagine my family history book might look like is a thin paperback that was shared with my parents by my great uncle. He picked it up from a man known as "The Lilly King." His book is a collection of short stories in which he tells stories he heard as a boy and what he learned from them, stories of his boyhood adventures, and how he became known as The Lilly King and developed his day lilly business.

That said, I'm in...I'm committing to 250 words a day for 28 days. One month of writing about my family history and what I know. Putting down the stories I heard. Making sense of the notes I've written when I was so excited about a family history discovery that I couldn't sleep. (Sorry for the light and the scratching of the pen at all hours of the night, honey.) I've got to start that book I've been envisioning some time. Might as well be now.

Find out more  about the Family History Writing Challenge at The Armchair Genealogist.

What will you write?

~Morgan

Ste. Anne de Detroit

I spent this afternoon adding some details to my work in Family Tree Maker.

Most of my time was spent hunting down information related to my Paternal Grandmother's baptism record. I sure learned a lot about Ste. Anne's Parish in Detroit, Michigan where she was baptized. It is a beautiful Church. One day I hope to visit it and the surrounding buildings which have been placed on the National Registry of Historic Places. I have probably driven past that church a few dozen times having grown up in Michigan, but now that I know my Grandmother was baptized there, I feel like I'm seeing it again for the first time. It has a new layer of meaning for me. (Besides the fact that another one of my loves is historic buildings. In fact, what draws me to them are the stories I know they would tell if the walls could talk.)

My "you learn something new every day" moment for today was discovering what I assumed was French in the baptism record was instead Latin. It was also an "ah-ha" moments of sort. I figured the record was in French because I knew the church and Detroit was founded by the French as a fur trade post on the river. What I should have remembered however is that before Vatican II in the 1960's, the main language of the Catholic church was Latin. I knew masses were conducted in Latin, but somehow it never occurred to me that the records would also be in Latin until a friend recognized the phrases when I posted them on Facebook looking for help translating.

Most of the phrases were easy to guess, but based on the names, I wasn't sure if Nomina Patrionrum was Names of the Godparents or Names of the Grandparents. In the case of my Grandmother, it could have been either. With the help of my Facebook friends, I was able to determine it indeed means "Names of the Godparents" (or Sponsors).

Family History Search: Rebandt, Weeg, Therrien and Phillips

I'm baaaack.....It's been a long, long time, but I have a new passion I'd like to use this blog to share. With a 2 year old running around the house, I'm sure I won't have a ton of time to blog, but check in for new posts every once in a while.

I've been researching my family history recently and having a lot of fun with it. I have learned a lot from www.Ancestry.com. And particularly love the video archives at www.livestream.com/ancestry.

I am researching all branches of my family tree which includes the surnames: Rebandt, Weeg, Therrien, and Phillips.

Most recently, I've been working on transcribing the documents I found at Ancestry.com with my free trial. Here's what I learned from the marriage record for Adam B. Rebandt and Helen Cecilia Girsch.

 20 Oct 1925 in Detroit, MI. Michigan Department of Health lists Adam B. Rebandt, age 31 married to Helen C. Girsh, age 20, on record number 300304. Date of License: 12 Oct 1925. Both living in Detroit, Michigan. Both born in Michigan. Adam works as a Clerk. Helen works as an operator. Adam's father is Joseph, mother is Albertina BOSSMAN. Helen's father is Gorge. Mother is Mary BOSSMAN. Neither have been previously married. They were wed on 20 Oct. 1925 by Catholic Priest Patrick T. DUNNE. Witnesses to the marriage were Nicholas DAVIS of Detroit, MI and Eleanor URBANISK (sp could be URBANICK).

What have you learned about your ancestors?