My 2nd Blogiversary - The Reason I Do This

"The Royal Charter off Moelfre"
Image used with permission of E. D. Walker
http://www.edwalkermarine.com/

October 26th marks my 2 year Blogiversary.  So much has changed since starting my blog.  Including moving to beautiful Colorado Springs and building a new home, which we hope to occupy in the next couple months!

October 26th also marks another anniversary of sorts.  The anniversary of the shipwreck that took my 3rd great grandfather, Manus Maurice Boyle's life.  A shipwreck that was famous at the time, but one that we don't hear of much today (at least not in America).  Below is the first post I ever made on my blog.  It's where it all started and it's one of the reasons I began blogging.  I've merely updated it to reflect the current year.  Enjoy!

October 26, 2012 is the 153st anniversary of my great-great-great grandfather, Manus Maurice Boyle's, death in the shipwreck of the Royal Charter. He worked in the coal mines of northeastern Pennsylvania. He and his wife, Alice Monaghan, were both Irish immigrants and longed for a better life for their two daughters, Bridget Mary and Anna. He left Pennsylvania in September 1856 to go to Australia to mine for gold in hopes of a better future for his family. He was returning to his family from Australia in the autumn of 1859. The Royal Charter would have taken him back to Britain. No one knows what ship he was to board to return to America. No one knows what fortunes, if any, he was returning from Australia with. During the last leg of his journey to Liverpool a "hurricane" struck. There was no advanced warning. None existed prior to that date.

The winds that raged over 100 mph changed from East to North/Northeast and the bay (Moelfre Bay) which Captain Taylor had hoped would shelter them became the instrument of their demise. The anchors that had been weighed, snaped in the first hours of the morning of October 26th and the ship was repeatedly thrown against the rocks until it split and sank. Of more than 480 passengers and crew only 41 survived. No women or children were saved.

The valiant efforts of one of the crew, Joe Rogers, and the inhabitants of the Moelfre coast were what enabled even those 41 to be saved. The storm had caused damage to one of the Moelfre homes and as residents were repairing the roof in the early hours of the morning they saw the ship in peril. They woke the town and 28 local men made a human chain in the violent waters of the bay to attempt to rescue those aboard. Joe Rogers took a line from the ship and swam to shore, being turned back in the violent waves of the storm at least 3 times before reaching the men on shore. The rope was used in an attempt to bring those from the vessel ashore.

Sadly, many of the passengers on the ship jumped or were thrown overboard. The bulkiness of the clothes of the time coupled with the fact that many had money belts and pockets filled with gold inhibited their efforts to the deadliest of degrees. Had they abandoned their garments and treasure many more may have survived.

There was over 322,000 pounds (British monetary unit) of gold aboard the ship. This was the amount insured back in 1859 and does not include the gold the passengers kept on their persons. I do not know the equivalent in today's currency the gold would be valued at, but it would obviously be substantially higher. The large amount of money combined with the rumors of "good fortune" that surrounded the town after the wreck led to the shipwreck being called the Golden Wreck.

The village church of Saint Gallgo became the collection point for the bodies. The Reverends Stephen Roose Hughes and his brother Reverend Hugh Robert Hughes paid the local inhabitants to bring the bodies to the church, a difficult trek up the rocky shores to the church made monetary remuneration the only way to persuade the locals to take on the grim task. They saw to the burial of those killed and personally answered over 1000 letters they received begging a response regarding loved ones. The stress from this caused the Reverend Stephen Hughes' life to be cut short. He died a few years later.

The church at Saint Gallgo still exists today and each year remembers those lost in this tragedy. Monuments stand to remember those lost. A distant cousin of mine Debbie Fay Buch and her husband, Josh Buch, placed a memorial stone at Saint Gallgo Church in August 2004. It reads:

Manus Maurice Boyle
1833-1859
Never Recovered from the Royal Charter
Placed by the Fay Family
Hazleton, PA USA 2004

I don't sit around depressed over the fact that this is the anniversary of my ancestor's death. What would have happened had he come home with gold from Australia? My 2nd great grandmother, Anna Boyle, may never have met her husband, Martin Blanchfield, and I would never have been born. Sometimes good can come from tragedy. People's fortunes can improve or worsen causing them to make decisions that determine the outcome of their history and sometimes other people's histories. It does sadden me to know that Manus was never to hold his youngest daughter, Anna. She was born 2 months after he left for Australia. It saddens me to know that his last thoughts were most likely of a family that he would not see again in this world. Or perhaps his last thoughts were of a determination to survive and get back to them. A determination that was matched by the ferocity of the circumstances in which he found himself. It saddens me knowing that he did not die the "peaceful" death of drowning for the majority of those lost were broken on the rocks of the bay. The passengers and crew of the Royal Charter died so close to shore that even today the wreck can be seen below the surface of the waters from the bay's shoreline. Still there, resting peacefully below the water.

It is not everyone that can say their ancestor's demise was written about in books. I have read two that write of the Royal Charter. One by Alexander McKee, "The Golden Wreck: The Tragedy of the Royal Charter" is out of print, but it tells of the voyage from Australia to it's wreck, the recovery of the remains of the victims and the trial of the crew that survived. I have read the account of the shipwreck written by the great Charles Dickens (yes, I said Charles Dickens wrote about this tragedy!) in his book "The Uncommercial Traveller" (only about the first 20 or so pages of the book are dedicated to this wreck. It's a series of 34 books and this is in volume 24. The entire series tells of Dickens' travels as he IS the Uncommercial Traveller).

I take this time today to remember a man I never knew, but love nevertheless. As a genealogist it can be hard to convey to those that do not research their ancestry that while we may never have met these names that appear in our family trees, we feel a closeness that defies explanation.

Rest in Peace, Grandpa. You will be remembered by your many descendants.

Tombstone Tuesday - Eugene Villers

Close-up of the Eugene Villers tombstone*

Eugene Villers' tombstone*

Eugene Villers was born in Belgium. He and his wife Teresa/Mary Teresa (maiden name not known/confirmed) had five known children: Martin Joseph, Marie Francoise, Maria Louise, Pierre Louis, and Eugene. They all immigrated to America in 1856 and settled in Wisconsin to farm the land. He purchased land in 1870 in Kewaunee County.

Eugene and his wife are my husband's 3rd great-grandparents and are buried in St. Hubert's Cemetery in Euren, Kewaunee County, Wisconsin.

Eugene Villers

Born Mar 13 1811

Died June 10 1883

*Thank you to Mr. Rob Watson for not only taking the pictures, but for kind permission to use them in my blog.  Pictures taken from Saint Hubert's cemetery which is on the border of Door and Kewaunee counties in Wisconsin.

Amanuensis Monday - Strike That...Reverse It...

Harvard University Library website

Ooops....I started my series of posts on immigration history in the United States with the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, and wouldn't you know, I should have started it earlier.  Well, until I can build a time machine or Doctor Who can come and whisk me back a couple months I'll just have to rectify the situation by inserting the missing post here.

(INSERT MISSING POST, a.k.a. - The Naturalization Act of 1790)

This Act is short and sweet (if only it were so today).  Residency in the US for 2 years (and don't be naughty) and you and your children are considered citizens.  Now I was always taught that a wife's citizenship was also tied to the husband, but I see no mention of this in the Act.  Could it be that naturalization wasn't always this way for women?  Could it be that women were considered even less significant than children to not even warrant being mentioned?  Is it automatically an assumption that wives are included due to the era of the legislation?  If anyone knows, please share.

"Congress of the United States:

AT THE SECOND SESSION,

Begun and held at the City of New-York, on Monday the Fourth of January, one thousand seven hundred and ninety.

An ACT to establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization.

BE it enacted by the SENATE and  HOUSE of  REPRESENTATIVES of the United States of America, in Congress assembled,  That any alien, being a free white person, who shall have resided within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States for the term of two years, may be admitted to become a citizen thereof, on application to any Common Law Court of Record, in any one of the States wherein he shall have resided for the term of one year at least, and making proof to the satisfaction of such Court, that he is a person of good character, and taking the oath or affirmation prescribed by law, to support the Constitution of the United States, which oath or affirmation such Court shall administer, and the Clerk of such Court shall record such application, and the proceedings thereon; and thereupon such person shall be considered as a citizen of the United States.  And the children of such person so naturalized, dwelling within the United States, being under the age of twenty-one years at the time of such naturalization, shall also be considered as citizens of the United States.  And the children of citizens of the United States that may be born beyond sea, or out of the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural born citizens:  Provided, That the right of citizenship shall not descend to persons whose fathers have never been resident in the United States:  Provided also,  That no person heretofore proscribed by any State, shall be admitted a citizen as aforesaid, except by an act of the Legislature of the State in which such person was proscribed.

FREDERICK AUGUSTUS MUHLENBERG,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

JOHN ADAMS, Vice-President of the United States,

and President of the Senate

APPROVED, March 26th, 1790.

GEORGE WASHINGTON, President of the United States."

Sunday's Obituary - Frank Thelen

Appleton Post Crescent 23APR1960, B1

After my first reading of this obituary, all I could think of was, "Boy, wouldn't it have been nice to put his parents names!?!?! Thanks a lot!"  There's also no mention of his wife in the obituary.  Not cool dude.  Not cool...

But there is some good information in here.  I don't know if Frank Thelen belongs in my family tree, but the Thelen name is in there.

I looked on Ancestry and found Frank in the 1940 census with his wife, Anna, and three children:  Marie, Paul and Robert.  We can see Paul and Robert in the obituary, but we don't know which of the women is Marie.  No biggie at this moment, but I can be fairly certain that I've got the right person since this census was from Menasha, Wisconsin and at least 2 of the kiddos are in there.

His son, Anthony, is in the 1930 census along with the 3 children already mentioned.  In the 1920 census, we've got Anthony and Marie joined by another sibling, Leona, but Frank's wife's name is now Gertrude.  Mistake?  Perhaps Anna was her middle name and that's what she preferred?

In the Wisconsin State Census for 1905 Anna is Anna again and their oldest daughter is Gertrude.  Leona is there too as a munchkin.  So obviously just a mistake was made in the one census.  It happens.  No biggie.  I'm still trailing the right family.

So their children are: Gertrude, Leona, Anthony, Marie, Paul and Robert (in that order).  Perhaps the daughters were listed by age in the obituary as well.  Not significant to my current search but could be something to follow up with down the road.

So Frank and Anna are married and we've got them in several census records.  Let's see if I can find those parents.  I've got a sister, Margaret, that can help me narrow down some parents.

I couldn't find Frank Thelen in the 1880 census...at least not one that matched up properly.  I was almost ready to give up and say this can wait until I get back to Wisconsin for more research when I cheated....I looked at a family tree on Ancestry.

I didn't take the information as true, I just looked to see what someone else thought the parents were for Frank and Margaret.  There were several trees that said their parents were Anton and Gertrude (nee Escher).  I didn't assume this information to be true, but what I did do was use it to search in the 1880 census.  I'm glad I did because this was what I found:

1880 US Federal Census - Anton Thilen household

Hard to read, huh?  Well, Anton and Gertrud's surname is transcribed "Thilen" in the census.  Very close and you'll get the hit if you aren't searching for the exact "Thelen" spelling.  And Frank wasn't Frank yet.  He was Franz.  Margaret was Margretha.  I don't know if Gertrud's maiden name really was Escher or not, but look at the "Escher" living right next door.  I'll be checking into Anton and Gertrude in the future and hope to see if I can discover her maiden name.  I haven't confirmed anything from the online tree, but I have used it to get me a little farther back and to point me in a direction where I can now go home and see about pulling Franz's birth record as well as his marriage record when I head to the Wisconsin Historical Society.

So is Frank Thelen in my family tree?  No proof yet.  The only Thelen I have is Margaretha and to the best of my information she was born in Wisconsin in 1856.  I don't know her parents, but it doesn't look like he'd fit in there.  He may not be related at all.  So I'll head back to Wisconsin (hopefully over Christmas) and pull some records.  See what I can find.  If nothing else, I hope the information helps someone.

"Frank Thelen, 84, Retired Wooden Ware Employe (sic), Succumbs

Menasha - Frank Thelen, 84, of 723 First street, died at 7:30 a.m. today.  He was born Feb. 22, 1878, at Marytown, Wis., and had worked at the Menasha Wooden Ware for more than 50 years before he retired 10 years ago.  He was a charter member of the Germania society and also a member of the Menasha Eagles, Catholic Order of Foresters and Holy Name society.

Funeral services will be held at 9 a.m. Tuesday at St. Mary's Catholic church with burial in the parish cemetery.  Friends may call at the Laemmrich Funeral home after 3 p.m. Monday and the rosary will be recited there at 8 p.m.

Survivors are three daughters, Mrs. James Hale of Chicago and Mrs. Walter Peterman and Mrs. Edward Becker of Appleton; three sons, Anthony and Robert of Menasha and Paul of Mundelein, Ill.; a sister, Miss Margaret Thelen of Sherwood; 15 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren."

Wednesday's Child - Goldrine DeGrave

It's always sad when a young person dies.  I don't know the relationship between Goldrine and the driver of the car, Orville Hermans, but I suspect that it was a close one.  He spent Christmas at her house and they were on the way to his house to spend the day after Christmas when the accident happened.  To lose a loved one and during the holidays.

I don't believe there are any DeGraves in my family tree's direct line, but we've got plenty of Hermans to go around.  Perhaps the article was clipped because it had to do with Orville and a dear friend (or girlfriend).

There was no date on the article apart from a handwritten "1949" at the bottom. Christmas in 1949 was on Sunday and the accident occurred on a Sunday.  Perhaps "Christmas night" actually meant Christmas Eve.

Either way, today we remember Goldrine DeGrave.  A beautiful young woman that was taken away from her loved ones at far too young and age.

"Goldrine DeGrave, above, 16-year-old Fairland girl, was killed in an automobile accident near Luxemburg Sunday morning.  She was a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William DeGrave.

Tire Blowout Fatal

A tire blowout at 6 o'clock Sunday morning apparently caused the death of Goldrine DeGrave, 16-year-old Fairland girl.  The driver of the car, Orville Hermans, 17, of Tonet, is in a serious condition in St. Vincent hospital in Green Bay.

Skid marks showed how the car left the road and crashed into a machine shed on County Trunk A about 2 1/2 miles north of Luxemburg in Kewaunee county.  Fred Cravillion is owner of the shed.

There were no witnesses to the accident.  The Cravillions were just getting out of bed and heard the crash, as did Mr. and Mrs. Henry Frisque across the road.  Mrs. Cravillion said that the girl was still conscious when she got there a few minutes later, but died by the time a doctor arrived.

The Hermans youth had spent Christmas night at the DeGrave home.  He and the girl left early so that he could take the girl to his own home in Tonet, where she planned to spend Sunday, before reporting for work at the Badger creamery in Luxemburg.

The body was taken to the McMahon Funeral home in Luxemburg, and was removed to the DeGrave residence today.  The rosary will be recited at 8 o'clock tonight and Tuesday night.  Funeral services will be held at 10 o'clock Wednesday morning in St. Louis Catholic church, Dyckesville, with the Rev. Ludolph Jacobs officiating.  Burial will be in the church cemetery.

Goldrine DeGrave was born in the town of Red River, Kewaunee county, June 13, 1932.  Besides her parents, Mr. and Mrs. William DeGrave, she is survived by four brothers, Myron, Marvin, Melvin, and Milton, all at home; her paternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Frank DeGrave, town of Red River, and maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Eli DuBoise, Fairland."

Tuesday's Tip - A Little Find A Grave Class...and a Pet Peeve...

OK, I'm not the Find A Grave police.  Wouldn't want to be either, but is it really that difficult to use it?  Seriously, if you've got the skills to submit a spreadsheet with almost 500 names on it, you would think that you could have figured out to check against the database so you aren't submitting 300 duplicates.  I'm not joking either.

Each week I would drive 18 miles round trip to the local veterans cemetery in Killeen.  My goal (at least it was before we found out we were moving away) was to eventually have a photo with every grave that's in there.  I would go to Find A Grave and click on the name of the cemetery, in this case "Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery", I click on "view all interments" and the sort by those without a tombstone.  So I make a list of those that need a picture taken and I head out to the cemetery.  They've got a great computer system there that tells you the location of each person buried there.  It's such a pleasure doing this.

Well, as I went to upload my most recent batch of 40+ photos and create my next list, I saw names that I recognized.  I often question my sanity, but this was just too much dejavu.  I went to the file I have of photos I submitted and wouldn't you know I had already uploaded a photo for this person.  So my intuition kicked in and I sorted the cemetery by those memorials that had been added in the last 24 hours.  Someone apparently submitted an enormous spreadsheet (almost 500 names) and didn't check to see if they were already in the database.

Why stress Cherie?  I really didn't want to, but I also really didn't want to spend a rather large chunk of time, effort and gas money (not to mention the heat in Texas) to be going out and taking pictures of stones...again.  So I very patiently went through and sent an edit link to the person that submitted the duplicates, informing him/her of the error.  My purpose wasn't to spam his email, but it would give him the link to each memorial and could therefore be removed.  I also wanted to send the links before people started posting flowers and remembrances, because it's then really too late to correct the mistake.  Will he ever remove the duplicates?  I don't know.  I hope so, but apparently a class needs to be given on using Find A Grave.

I say that with sarcasm because the people that care actually look into what they are doing.  Doing a spreadsheet with almost 500 names shows some dedication on that person's part, but doing such a large job and doing it in a half-assed manner shows another side of that person.  So a brief class...

Aside from what I already mentioned above such as sorting a cemetery if you are looking to add photos/memorials, there are a couple of other points I'd like to make.  First, what do you do if you notice that there is a memorial for someone, but they are missing some information?  Well, it's actually not that difficult and you certainly don't have to create a duplicate.  There is an "Edit" tab on the top right of each memorial created.  Just click on the "Edit" tab and click "Suggest a correction or provide additional information".  Type in your correction/addition, click send and BAM!...you're done!  Easy!

If you have a Find A Grave profile (and if you don't WHY don't you?) and you'd like to add a cemetery to your profile so you can easily find it again, just go to the cemetery's main page and at the top right, click on the "Add this to My Cemeteries" and it's done! Then if you want to quickly get to that cemetery again to do some work just go to "Contributor Tools".  Under "Customize" on the left-hand column you'll see several subcategories such as "friends", but for our purposes, just click on the "Edit" button by "My Cemeteries" and it will take you to a page with all of your saved cemeteries and you can go from there.

Find A Grave is a great resource and we all put so much time into genealogy research as well as helping others.  If we're going to be helpful to others we also must be considerate.  Wouldn't we want that directed at us as well?

Pet peeve over.  Tip(s) conveyed, now let's go do some good work!

Amanuensis Monday - The Alien & Sedition Acts, Part III

It's time for part III of the 1798 Alien and Sedition Acts.

This one isn't too long and the name pretty much sums it up.  This act deals with the possibility of expelling any aliens that are not naturalized who belong to a nation that is hostile to the United States.  It doesn't say that they will definitely be deported, but that it is up to the discretion of the United States.

"CHAP. LXVI. - An Act respecting Alien Enemies (a)

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That whenever there shall be a declared war between the United States and any foreign nation or government, or any invasion or predatory incursion shall be perpetrated, attempted, or threatened against the territory of the United States, by any foreign nation or government, and the President of the United States shall make public proclamation of the event, all natives, citizens, denizens, or subjects of the hostile nation or government, being males of the age of fourteen years and upwards, who shall be within the United States, and not actually naturalized, shall be liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured and removed, as alien enemies.  And the President of the United States shall be, and he is hereby authorized, in any event, as aforesaid, by his proclamation thereof, or other public act, to direct the conduct to be observed, on the part of the United States, towards the aliens who shall become liable, as aforesaid; the manner and degree of the restraint to which they shall be subject, and in what cases, and upon what security their residence shall be permitted, and to provide for the removal of those, who, not being permitted to reside within the United States, shall refuse or neglect to depart therefrom; and to establish any other regulations which shall be found necessary in the premises and for the public safety: Provided, that aliens resident within the United States, who shall become liable as enemies, in the manner aforesaid, and who shall not be chargeable with actual hostility, or other crime against the public safety, shall be allowed, for the recovery, disposal, and removal of their goods and effects, and for their departure, the full time which is, or shall be stipulated by any treaty, where any shall have been between the United States, and the hostile nation or government, of which they shall be natives, citizens, denizens or subjects: and where no such treaty shall have existed, the President of the United States may ascertain and declare such reasonable time as may be consistent with the public safety, and according to the dictates of humanity and national hospitality.

SEC. 2.  And be it further enacted,  That after any proclamation shall be made as aforesaid, it shall be the duty of the several courts of the United States, and of each state, having criminal jurisdiction, and of the several judges and justices of the courts of the United States, and they shall be, and are hereby respectively, authorized upon complaint, against any alien or alien enemies, as aforesaid, who shall be resident and at large within such jurisdiction or district, to the danger of the public peace or safety, and contrary to the tenor or intent of such proclamation, or other regulations which the President of the United States shall and may establish in the premises, to cause such alien or aliens to be duly apprehended and convened before such court, judge or justice; and after a full examination and hearing on such complaint, and sufficient cause therefor appearing, shall and may order such alien or aliens to be removed out of the territory of the United States, or to give sureties of their good behaviour, or to be otherwise restrained, conformably (sic) to the proclamation or regulations which shall and may be established as aforesaid, and may imprison, or otherwise secure such alien or aliens, until the order which shall and may be made, as aforesaid, shall be performed.

SEC. 3.  And be it further enacted,  That it shall be the duty of the marshal of the district in which any alien enemy shall be apprehended, who by the President of the United States, or by order of any court, judge or justice, as aforesaid, shall be required to depart, and to be removed, as aforesaid, shall be required to depart, and to be removed, as aforesaid, to provide therefor, and to execute such order, by himself or his deputy, or other discreet person or persons to be employed by him by causing a removal of such alien out of the territory of the United States; and for such removal the marshal shall have the warrant of the President of the United States, or of the court, judge or justice ordering the same, as the case may be.

APPROVED, July 6, 1798."

You can read the other posts on the Alien and Sedition acts by clicking here.