Email from Liechtenstein

Cousin Rainer came through again!


"Ferdinand Marxer (died:  5th January 1726 and his wives Anna Maria Thöni (died 9th October 1678) and Barbara Schächle (died: 1st September 1721). With Barbara Schächle he had 8 children. One oft them is Georg Marxer (born: 4th January 1686). Georg married Katharina Jehli (died: 18th March 1729). They had seven children. One oft them is Ferdinand Marxer (born 8th October 1719). His wife Barbara Batliner (there is no date in the book). They had seven children. One of them is Johann Georg Marxer (born: 8th January 1751   died: 6th April 1829). His wife is Maria Anna Hasler (born:  15th February 1754). The rest you know: Johann Georg Marxer (born: 8th January 1751 …. And so on."


He added another three generations to the Marxer line and we broke the 1600's barrier! When I set out on this journey, I never dreamed we'd go back so far. Huge thanks to Rainer, again. He makes this all seem so easy. Now it's back to the FHC and more microfilmed church records. Must find the documents to accompany all this new information.

Messages from England

Original photos sent by email and copy of message from 2002

Photo after applying a bit of photoshop magic

Great Great Grandpa William Johnstone

I've been in contact with a UK cousin. Philip is a third cousin once removed to be exact. He has been generous to share a family three, photos and some old family details that I didn't have previously. I've been able to share some immigrant information and details about the American cousins. It's been fun and enlightening and thoroughly wonderful. Some of the UK relatives had no idea they even had American cousins. We had no idea what had become of the UK clan. The best part of this whole thing continues to be the sharing and reconnecting with long lost family. I have lots of information to sift through and put into context. There are lots of name and dates to add to the tree. And now I have some faces to put with those names. Who would have thought? 

Crossing the Pond

I bit the bullet and subscribed to the World Delux membership at Ancestry.com for one month. In the first few minutes of active membership I found a host of information and quickly zeroed in on my maternal Great Grandfather, William H. Johnstone. Months ago, I received a scap of paper with the names of William's siblings on it. Using those names and the names of his parents I was able to find William and his family on both the 1891 and the 1901 England Census. The information gathered here is phenomenal.
                                            1891:

Name:                              Willie Johnstone
Age:                                   6
Estimated birth year:       abt 1885
Relation:                           Son
Father's name:                 William Johnstone
Gender:                            Male
Where born:                     Stanley, Westport, Lancashire, England
Civil Parish:                     West Derby
Ecclesiastical parish:       Stanley St. Ann
County/Island:                  Lancashire
Country:                           England
Registration district:       West Derby
Sub-registration district: West Derby (Rural)
1901 Name:  William Johnstone Age: 16 Estimated birth year: abt 1885 Relation: Son Father's name: William Johnstone Mother's name: Elizabeth Johnstone Gender: Male Where born: Liverpool, Lancashire, England Civil Parish: West Derby Ecclesiastical parish: Stanley St Anne County/Island: Lancashire Country: England Registration district: West Derby Sub-registration district: West Derby, Eastern

Of course this same information was available for all members of the family, so I found place of birth and
approx. years of birth for the parents and siblings too. It helps to put everyone in their proper context within the family unit. I did notice a difference in place of birth info on these two censuses. In 1891 William's place of birth is listed as Stanley, Westport, Lancashire, England. In 1901 it is given as Liverpool, Lancashire, England. This tells me that I need to research a gazeteer for that place during those years. Perhaps the place name changed. 


 I can see from the actual census document that they lived at the same address all that time. This tells me that I should look in that place for other records as well. 


This was time and money well spent. Hopefully the remainder of my one month membership will be as fruitful.

Banner Days

Yesterday was a banner day for my research. I received an envelope from O'Connor Funeral Home in Great Falls which contained records for 4 great grandparents and one great great grandparent. Big thanks to Stephanie who helped to look up the information and sent it to me, free of charge. Now this info wasn't really earth shattering. I did learn the married names of the daughters of one set of great grandparents and I learned the locations of their children at the time Great Grandpa died. I also learned that one great grandfather had 3 surviving siblings in the UK, two sisters and a brother, but no names there. I have the list of the siblings' names and maybe I can figure out who was still living. The fact that nothing really vital was learned here isn't really the point. It's another record of an ancestor to help to track the events of their life and death and it'll be filed with everything else for posterity. It was really interesting to see what the going cost of a funeral was in the 1930's, though; $400 and change, roughly.

In addition to the funeral home records, I received an email from cousin Rainer in Liechtenstein which contained ancestors' names and vital dates going back three more generations than I had found in my research. Not only direct ancestors but all siblings, spouses and children. Using that information I was able to go back one more generation on familysearch.org. Those films, containing church records of baptisms and marriages, are on order and should be arriving shortly. They will be in German, so hopefully I can scan them and email them to Liechtenstein for translation.

Lastly, I connected with one more  relative, a second cousin who lives just 3 hours away from me. He and his wife had found my tree on Ancestry and had accessed some of the files I've attached there. I saw their activity posted and sent them a message to please contact me. We've emailed a couple of times since and I've shared what I have with them. Hopefully, we can meet up some day soon. We live so close. What a fun and fruitful day it was. Reach out, connect, share and reap the benefits of each other's research.

Wedding Wednesday....Matt and Mary Bell

Marriage certificate of Matt and Mary Bell, 1893

May I just say that the changes to Family Search are awesome?
I was never really a fan of that site and everyone said it was the go to site for genealogy. It was just never user friendly enough for me. But now things are different and I'm in serious like with Family Search. I especially like the scanned documents that are being shared on the site. 


This marriage certificate is one that I found just minutes ago. I'd been to the public library today and happened to find a book in the research room called At the foot of the Beartooth Mountains: A history of the Finnish community of Red Lodge, Montana -  (1998) by Leona Lampi. I remembered that my great great grandpa, Matt Bell, had lived there and my great grandma, Elina Bell was born there. I scanned the index and found Matt's name and a couple of photos of his boys. I know little about this branch of the family tree, so I placed a hold on the book through the interlibrary loan program and jotted a down a few notes from the copy in the research room. I came home and logged onto Family search to see what I could find and lo and behold the marriage certificate popped right up. It's a boon too, with names of both the bride's and groom's parents' and the towns they came from in Finland. All new info to me. Also, the marriage month and date were information I didn't have before. Now I can't wait for the copy of the book to come so I can scour the pages for more information. Another productive day of sleuthing.

Mystery Monday.....I've found you Andrew!

1900 Federal Census

Today just confirms further why it's so important to search the collateral lines. I've been searching for my great great grandfather Andrew Marxer. I knew he came to the US in the 1880's and that he stayed in MN while his son Joseph, my great grandfather came to MT. I knew there were at least two of Andrew's children with him in MN. What I didn't know is who he lived with in his later years. Through family information and a compiled county history I tracked down his son-in-law, Frank Nascher. Frank married Andrew's daughter Maria "Mary" and I found Andrew living with them until at least 1900. But I had to search for Frank Nascher to get any result. Andrew just wasn't showing up on the indexes. Evidence points to a 1909 death date for Andrew, so now I'll be searching St. Paul city directories for even more information. I've also located a MN death entry for an Andreas Marxer in the FHL catalog. I'll be ordering that film to make sure that it's really great great grandpa Andrew and to glean any more information I can find there.

Wedding Wednesday....Edward and Marie Marxer

Edward and Marie were my paternal grandparents. They were married on 24 Feb. 1936 at St. Ann's Cathedral in Great Falls MT. It was a small family wedding. The bride's maid was Louise Marxer, Edward's sister, and the best man was Mike Reddish. The wedding day was cold and the snow deep. The bride's bouquet of roses was frostbitten in the cold. The wedding party headed out to the ranch in the early afternoon. The car made it as far as Eden than needed to be towed by a team of horses the rest of the way. When they arrived at the house the whole community was there to greet the new bride. They played games, told round stories and tall tales and sang songs. Later they rolled the carpet up and pushed the furniture out of the way for an impromptu dance in the living room. They partied until the wee hours of the morning.

This story was told by Edward and Marie in the county history "A Century In The Foothills 1876-1976"

page 319

.

A Christmas Blessing from Liechtenstein

Imagine my delight and surprise when I opened my email today and found this:

Hello Jennie

I see you need a bit of help from your relatives from the Principality (Fürstentum) of Liechtenstein. I have seen your blog and you have difficulties to find the dates of birth und death of your ancesters. My mother's name of birth is Wanger. So I know the family trees of your paternal line (Marxer and Wanger). I'm related to your paternal great great grandpa (Franz Josef Marxer) and to your paternal great grandma ( Maria Katharina Marxer - Wanger)=>Written in German.

Maria Katharina Marxer (Wanger) was a sister of my great grandpa (Dominikus Wanger). She had 12 brothers and sisters but some of them died early.

Now the details: 

Andreas Marxer *12.10.1825 +01.01.1909  was married to Anna Schächle *25.07.1829 +09.01.1881. When Anrdeas (Andrew's) wife died, the whole family decided to emmigrate to the USA. 
In 1882 his son Franz Josef Marxer *15.09.1860 +03.09.1932 emmigrated first (St.Pauls Minesotta). Two years later (1884) his father and the other brothers an sisters followed.

Here the whole family:

Andreas Marxer *12.10.1825 +01.01.1909 and his wife Anna Schächle *25.07.1829 +09.01.1881 
Their children:=>They all went to St. Pauls
Franz Josef Marxer *15.09.1860 +03.09.1932 and his wife Maria Katharina Wanger *30.12.1862 +5.01.1935 
Martina Marxer *29.03.1862 (Her date of death is unknown)
Maria Ursula Marxer *03.05.1863 +24.10.1950 and her husband Franz Näscher *18.02.1859 (date of death unknown) =>he is from Liechtenstein too.
Wilhelm Marxer *03.07.1869 +02.08.1962 and his wife Frieda Brinekof (USA)


On the picture in the attachement you can see Katherine's brother Dominikus. 
On the coloured picture you can see Edward's cousin Julius Wanger (The old man on the left).
When you are interested, I can send you the family tree of both families (Marxer and Wanger). 
I also attach you the coat of arms of the Marxer family.


One thing that interests me. Does the house, that was built by Frank Joseph Marxer still exist? I would like to know, if he has built the house in the typical style that was common in those times in Liechtenstein. 

A short information to Liechtenstein:
Liechtenstein is a tiny independant state between Switzerland and Austria and is member of the United Nations. The offspring of those who went to America think that they came from Germany because their language is German, but they are not. Liechtenstein was attached to Germany until 1866. Then we were fully independant. Nowadays we work very close together with Switzerland. Our currency is Swiss Francs. 

The village they came from:
Andrew or Frank and Katherine lived in the village of "Eschen" . It is a very nice place in the Rhine valley. It rains a lot, but when the weather is nice, all is green, even in summer. When Andrew, Frank and Katherine left the house in Eschen they could see the mountains just in front of the house (picture attached). 

Greetings from Liechtenstein and with the best wishes for a happy new year

Rainer

Attached to this were some family photos the family coat of arms and a lovely shot of the village my ancestors came from. 

Marxer family coat of arms

To my newfound cousin in Liechtenstein, Danke. From the bottom of my heart.

City Directories

Oh the wonderful things you can find in the city directory.

You can find out your ancestor's address in a given year, other adults who lived in the home with them, their occupation and the address of their workplace. You can also find out if they've recently moved out of the area and the directory will sometimes list the date of death for the husband, if the wife is still living. The directories came out annually; much better for tracking ancestors than the once a decade census. They are also fun for looking up the neighbors of your ancestors. This is another good way to find long lost relatives, as many times our ancestors lived near family. 

Check Cyndi's List to find directories of the area your ancestors lived in.

images from google

Compiled Histories

What are they? They are stories or oral histories created by someone else and put into book or manuscript form. I have a couple that mention my ancestors that were published at the bicentennial and one that was published at the city's centennial celebration. All mention my ancestors to some degree or other. I've listed them on the side bar under "Bookshelf". They are usually available for check out from a local library. In fact, all the books listed in my bookshelf have been checked out at the library. I haven't yet decided which book I want to buy, but I certainly don't need to buy them all.

Compiled histories are another good SECONDARY source. They should not be taken at face value. These are usually stories and remembrances and we all know how we like to embellish our stories and how our memories become skewed or sometimes fail altogether. Like the census, use the clues found in the stories to help you map your way to more research in the future. For example, in "A Century In the Foothills" there were stories from my grandfather, my great grandfather and my great grandfather's brother that all said, essentially the same thing. My great great grandfather came to the US after my great grandfather (his son) and settled in St. Paul MN. Since three people told the same story, I know that I should look for my great great grandfather in St. Paul and approximately the time frame that he was there. It also gave a clue to his death date, though I'll have some digging to do to verify exactly when that was. So, while not a primary source, the compiled record is certainly a wonderful secondary source full of information and clues and so much fun to pick through.

You can't just read and be done. You need to read and re-read and fill in your Family Group Sheet as you go along. Then create an abstract from the manuscript. An abstract is all the very pertinent information in the story, the who, what, when, where and why. What I've done is photocopy the title page, all the pages that mention my ancestors, any pages with photos of my ancestors and all the stoies written by my ancestors. Then I highlight all the bits I'll want for my abstract. I type up the abstract, fill in my family group sheets and cite my source. Now I know what the information is, where I got it and I can find it again or tell someone else how to find it, in the future.