Memory Tree Genealogy Journal

Schöllkrippen, Germany (Image Source HERE ) This month, I have been spending the majority of my research time working through one particular family unit from my mother's side of the family - John (Johann) ETZEL (1826-1904) and wife Maria (Schumacher) ETZEL (1837-1894).  Here are quick links to previous installments - part I (from 2013) , part II , part III , and part IV . Research Goal: To locate information about John ETZEL (1826-1904) and wife Maria SCHUMACHER (1837-1894) prior to their listing in the 1860 US Federal Census in Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania. Context: John Etzel  is my 3rd great-grandfather on my mother's maternal side of the family. A week or so ago, I last wrote about my search for more information about my 3rd great-grandfather, John Etzel.  I presented a great find - his name (and the names of his future in-laws and wife, Maria Schumacher) on a passenger list from the port of New York .  One question remained: where wa...

Ever since I received my AncestryDNA results and discovered my Turkish/Persian/Caucasus ethnicity and – even more surprising – my LACK of Central European ethnicity,   I’ve made a concerted effort to look further into the lives of my immigrant ancestors and their lives across the ocean.   Most of my time until recently has been tracing family roots on American soil; diving into international genealogy is a completely new ball game.   My first experience with international research was working through my husband’s Norwegian family history…and involved learning new terms in a new language (words like church, parish, baptism, marriage, death, etc.).   It also involved in-depth geography lessons, advancing my understanding of migration, patronymic naming systems, and even digging into common routes of immigration from Norway to the United States.   Thanks to Google Translator, I have been able to use the wonderfully-detailed Norwegian Archives website to lo...

Instead of jumping right into the multi-generational tradition of service in the US Navy among my husband's relatives (would have been too obvious?  No?)...I'll kick off the first of my "Maritime Monday" posts with a nod at one of my several German immigrant ancestors.  Ship travel?  Check!   On 18 Septemer 1868, my 3rd great-grandfather Anselmus Ostholthoff arrived in New York aboard the German steam ship "Smidt" after a trans-Atlantic journey from Andervenne, Germany.  His traveling companions - wife Maria Anna (Toepke) Ostholthoff, their eldest son Johan Gerhard (2 years), and daughter Anna Maria (9 months). The following snippet from their arrival documentation [1] indicates that Anselmus ("Selmus") was a farmer from Andervenne.  His stated destination after New York: Virgina.  This is curious to me, because I have record of Anselmus living in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1870 [2] .  At this point, Mr. Ostholthoff is no longer working as a ...