No, this is not a reality TV show; we are not the Kardashians.  I have been studying hard the last few days, learning about another culture altogether, our ancestry, our heritage.

On Monday, I searched for more information on Johann Reikowski’s parents, Franz and Josephine (Tesmer) Reikowski.  It led me to the My Heritage site, where I have their free, basic tree set up.   It listed a Franciszek and  Józefina Reikowski (nee Tesmer).  An email was listed, so I emailed.  Not 20 minutes later, I received a reply.  I was in touch with my 4th cousin, 1x removed, Arkadiusz Cyman, or Arek as he is called, from Warsaw, Poland.

Arek’s 2nd great-grandmother, Marianna, is my Johann’s (my 3rd great grandfather’s) sister (that’s where the “1x removed” comes in).  Marianna’s granddaughter married a Ziemann, that changed to Cyman.

Through him, I found that Johann had other siblings unknown to me.  More on that at another time.  Arek knew that “many Kashubians went to the USA but had no idea if any members of my [his] family were among them.”.   It didn’t dawn on me until a few emails later that he spoke of a people, not a surname.  Both the Reikowskis and the Tesmers are Kashubian.

So, does that mean that Reikowski is actually Polish and not German?  Not exactly.  I have spent the last three days and emails with Arek trying to understand.  I will try my best to explain without being insensitive to the region. As Arek told me, “Kashubians and Silesians’ German heritage is still a sensitive topic in Poland.”

Here is how Arek explained it to me.  “Most of Kashubians claim to be Polish. Quote: “There wouldn’t be Kashubia without Poland – and there wouldn’t be Poland without Kashubia.”

However, during the “Germanization” period, many people preferred to be perceived as Germans – and some really dropped their Polish/Kashubian heritage for good. Kashubia was a relatively poor rural region, and in those times, Kashubian people were treated worse than Germans.”

Kashubian (Kaszubian) is a West Slavic language belonging to the Lechitic (a language subgroup consisting of Polish and several other languages and dialects that originally were spoken in the area) group of languages of northern Poland. It is thought to be a variation of the original Pomeranian language. Kashubian enjoys legal protection in Poland as a minority language, is taught in Polish schools, and can be found on many regional street signs.  Source: https://www.inyourpocket.com/kashubia/The-Kashubians_70079f 

And, get this.  One of the most significant emigration settlements in America was Wisconsin!  Yes, the area where our Reikowskis lived! 

Due to the “reorganization” of Poland by Prussia and Russia in the 1800s, attempts to displace Poles with German citizens and weaken ethnic and cultural ties, many people, including the Kashubes, left Poland.   Source: https://onmilwaukee.com/visitors/articles/kaszubespark.html?28473

The Wilno website states that “the Prussians were systematically pushing the Kashubs to leave the area by discouraging the use of their language, the practice of their religion, and expropriating their land. Approximately one-third of the Kashub population emigrated mainly to America and Canada.”

The Kashubes are a Slavic tribe who originally settled on or near the Hel peninsula, which juts into the Baltic Sea between 1,100 and 1,400 years ago.   Here is a beautiful video of the area today.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7nh5sJok2w 

According to the Herder-Institut, “West Prussia is an extremely interesting yet problematic region of East Central Europe: National and political affiliations have changed many times between the Middle Ages and the present day, and its ethnic, national and cultural complexity make this region “between Germans and Poles” a paradigm of complex German-Polish relations.”  Well said!

I have found a lot of our ancestors in the Pomeranian area.  Pommern and Pomerania are Slavic in origin from the Slavic word “pomorze, meaning “by the sea.”  Of course.  What else would it mean?

According to FamilySearch.org, “The Kashubians are those Pomeranians (in eastern Pomerania and in northern and western West Prussia) who resisted Germanization and largely retained their native Slavic language and their Catholic religion. The Pomeranians were those who adopted the German language and the Protestant religion. Yet the ethnic origins of the Kashubians and the Pomeranians are the same.  Kashubian is classified either as a language or a Polish dialect.”

According to the Kashubian History and Culture; Kaszubi / Historia i Kultura Kaszubów, “for over 1,500 years, the Kashubs have lived along the shore of the Baltic Sea. Their traditional occupations were fishing and farming.” That sounds about right.

Kashubians are known for their Catholic family values, embroidery, ceramics, weaving, and folk dancing.  In Cassubia, a proverb held that “what is Catholic is Cassubian, what is Protestant is German.”

Canada has a vast Kashubian settlement.  From the Madawaska Valley Current:

“There is a Polish proverb observing that

“Wherever you go, you can’t get rid of yourself.”

While some things can be lost in translation through decades, it is interesting to see how the values of a simple, hard-working farming life can thrive through generations and prompt others to flourish in a world that needs to be reconciled with God’s simplicity.”

Wilno, Canada, is the first and oldest settlement in Canada.  One of the neatest stories I read was about the “Cross Roads.”  You can read the whole article at http://www.wilno.org/culture/crosses.html, but basically, when they settled in the Wilno area of Canada, there were no Catholic churches nearby.  “To satisfy their strong need to pray to Our Lord the settlers erected large wooden crosses at the intersections of main roads. This was a tradition they borrowed from the motherland. On Sundays and Holy Days the pioneers close to each intersection would gather at the crossroads and celebrate their Faith.”  These were private prayers, not services.

“Our enjoyment of this great land we live upon today is possible only because of the hard work and the strong faith of our pioneer ancestors. It was their faith in God that kept them going through difficult terrain and even-more difficult economic times. We must do what we can to keep that faith alive.” ~The Wilno Heritage Society  AMEN!

My ancestors never cease to amaze me; the more I learn, the more amazed I am.  Their faith and perseverance through everything just continue to astound me.  We would not have what we have today without them.

You can read more about Kashub culture and heritage here   http://www.wilno.org/culture.html

Arek tells me that my “Scandinavian genes could have been transferred to you by your Kashubian ancestors – we had Vikings there and a war against Sweden in the XVII century. “

In addition to personality traits, Kashubians are known for having blonde hair and blue eyes, which Father Paul Breza, founder of Winona’s Polish Museum, said can be traced back to the Swedes who lived on the other side of the Baltic Sea. “The Swedes came over and stole our women,” he said.   He also said, “Kashubians are known for being polite and reserved. They are also known for their persistent natures and determination.”

Above and Below is the traditional Kashubian dress.

There is also an annual Kashubian fishermen’s sea pilgrimage in Puck, Poland

You can read about Kashubian cuisine at http://www.kashub.com/canada/food.html

I have learned a lot since Monday; I am sure this is just the tip of the iceberg.  I look forward to hearing more from Arek and learning more about my Kashubian Reikowskis and the allusive Tesmers.

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My 4th Great Grandmother.

The link for a closer look is https://imgur.com/a/s9bLN

Translation of Death Certificate, thanks to Carolina Meyer of FB:

No. 152

Oliva, 6 September 1904

Before the undersigning registrar appeared today, the personally known laborer’s wife Catharina Klawa née Reikowski, residing in Oliva, Seekathe [Seekate] No. 3, and declared that

her mother Josephine Reikowski née Tessmer, widowed, 93 years old, Catholic religion, residing in Oliva with her,

born at Banin, county [Kreis] Carthaus [Karthaus], was married to the at Bissau deceased laborer Franz Reikowski,

first and family name, occupation and last residence of the deceased parents unknown,

died in Oliva at her residence on 6 September 1904 at 3 a.m.

Above one printed word crossed out.

Read out, approved and due to the declarant’s inability to write signed with her mark

X X X Catharina Klawa

The registrar.

Per pro Schumann

The accordance with the main register is certified.

Oliva, 6 September 1904

The registrar.

Per pro Schumann [signature]

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You can view a more closeup view here, https://imgur.com/WMlW6yv

Translation (Thanks to Carolina of my Prussian Genealogy FB Page)

No. 21

Residence of the bride
Bissau, Danziger Höhe (County) Pomorskie, Westpreussen

First and last name and age of the spouses:
Johann Reikowski, servant/farm hand [Knecht], 22 years old
with
Anna Sierotzki, virgin, 24 years old

Day of the marriage:
November 26, 1865

Name of the pastor:
same as above [Herlth]

First and last name of the witnesses:
Joseph Meyer, August Derda

[Last lines at the bottom of the page next to the church’s stamp:]

The accuracy of the above register is hereby certified.
Matern, 2 January 1866
Herlth [signature]
Pastor

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Are the Schwittkowski’s German or Polish?  That has been a conundrum since I started this journey with the Schwittkowski’s and Johann, as written in my blog Schwittkowski Name Change to Hennig.  We know with the Naturalization Papers and the name change to the Hennig name was because they insisted that they were German (as we were told growing up) but that Schwittkowski sounded too Polish.

Today I found records on my 3rd great-aunt, Anna Elisabeth Schwittkowski. Johann Leopold’s sister.  She was born in Rosenberg, Danziger Höhe, Danzig, Westpreussen. If I understand the history correctly, it was German then. Danziger Höhe is now within Poland.  Below is the map for the time period when Johann and his siblings were born.

The map below is the same area today. (Gdansk/Danzig)

Clara wrote notes under John, Anton, and Paul’s name on a piece of paper that says “Enlisted in the Army (German) at 14 or 15- deserted at 21 to the US”.  Dates show that this matches Paul.  Paul emigrated in 1892, declared in 1900, and his petition, name change, and naturalization was in 1911.  He died in 1938 after having nine children from two wives in Milwaukee.

There is no central archive for German military records. German states each had their own system of keeping military records before 1867. These records are now stored in several German state archives.  In 1945 the Prussian military records were almost completely destroyed by the U.S. bombing of Potsdam, where the records were archived. ~https://www.genealoger.com/german/ger_military.htm

Anton Adalbert was the brother who came to America with John.  Anton and John departed Antwerp, Belgium, on the ship “Belgenland.”  They arrived in Philadelphia on  May 25, 1891. Ship manifest notes, “Both are German cits, are farmers, sitting in J Forward, are carrying 2 pieces of luggage, and plan to settle in Milwaukee”.

Can you imagine making this trip?  First of all, they had to get to Antwerp.  Belgium is 644 miles from Prussia.  I can only assume they traveled by train.  Trains back then only ran about 62 mph; that is a long ride.

After arriving on the ship in May, they were on solid ground again in June.  The steamship took about 12-14 days.

Then they still had to travel from Philadelphia to their final destination, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.   Train?

He married in 1893 and had seven children.  He died in 1919 at the age of 52.

The only other brother’s name I have is Johann Valentin.  The only record I can find on Valentin is his baptismal record.  Maria Elisabeth was born on March 14, 1872, baptized, and then died on June 30, 1872.  Anna Elisabeth was born in April 1874.  She married in 1903 and died in Danzig-Bürgerwiesen, Freie Stadt Danzig, Preußen on May 23, 1912.

There were eight other brothers.  I have been unable to find anything on them.  All I know is from notes from Clara Elizabeth Hennig stating that her grandfather, John (1865-1933), had 11 brothers and one sister. She also notes that if they would have had 12 boys, the mother would have received a gold medal from Kaiser.

I have no idea who their parents were.  I only hope to get the marriage and baptismal records; I have indexes now.  If I can get copies of the certificates, I can obtain more names, such as their parents and brothers.

This solves the German vs. Polish saga, at least for these particular Schwittkowski’s.  Obviously, this line identified themselves as German.  Until I know his parents, we will not know where this name originated from.

Updated 3/31/18:  Here is a possibility; in different things I am reading regarding the -ski ending surnames is that they are

“Slavic in origin. You will also see it in a lot of German names. Those names very common in Eastern Germany, but can also be found in the West due to migrations.  Much of former Prussian territory (and a lot of present day Austria) were occupied by Slavs and in the Baltic (Balts) but were conquered by Germanic tribes who not only Christianized them, but culturally absorbed them. So there are a lot of people in Eastern Germany that have Slavic roots, and it reflects in the surnames. Today they consider themselves completely German.”  https://www.quora.com/Is-the-%E2%80%98-ski%E2%80%99-last-name-Polish-Russian-or-German

By the way, my Ashkenazi Jew DNA results are only 3.45%… scant, very distant.

Stay tuned.

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My 4th Great Grandparents were from Slovenia.  They are Peter Koče (b. 1810) and Catharina Fugina (b. 1805).  I wrote about our Slovenia ancestry in Who Were Mat’s Parents and Gottschee.  They had three children together before Catharina died in 1848.  Peter remarried and had five more children.  One of these children with his second wife is Lucija Koče (pronounced Kotze).

Research has been arduous not only due to the name changes but also due to the bilingual state of the area.  Locations and surnames are bilingual (German/Slovenian).

For instance, place names include Altenmarkt = Stari Trg, Tscheplach = Čeplje, Vornschloss = Predgrad, Weisskrain = Bela Krajina.  Surnames include: Bukowetz = Bukovac, Kotze = Koče, Mejatsch = Mejač, Michelitsch = Mihelič, Schutte = Šutej, Roschitsch = Rožič, Maurin = Movrin, and Vidosch = Vidoš.  It is really hard to remember some of these when searching.

Anyway, Lucija was born in 1858 in Stari Trg ob Kolpi.  Not much is known about Lucija at this time except that she married Peter Meteš and died in Slovenia at 77 in 1936.  They had six sons and two daughters.  Their first son, Peter, died at 2 mos. old in 1884.  Jozef Zachary Meteš was born next in 1887, Pavel next in 1890, Marija in 1891, Peter in 1894, Lucija in 1897, Alojzij in 1899, and Rudolf in 1901.

The children in bold print above have been tracked to “Amerika.”  Marija and Jozef are found in Calumet, Michigan, where they marry, and then Peter is found later in Montana, although he came over first.  My trail on Marija ends with her marriage to Anton Hasan in Calumet.  I know Pavel (now Paul) immigrated to Michigan, and Rudolf arrived in 1927  and died in 1983 in Queens, New York.

Jozef marries another Gotschee named Marija Maurin.  Now going by Mary, she was born in Vimolj.  After his brother Rudolf was born, Jozef headed to America, and he and Mary married in 1907 in Calumet, Michigan.

In 1911, Jozef, now known as Joseph Metesh, moved his family to Walkerville, Silver Bow, Montana, and purchased a dairy farm. The National Dairy is a little north of Walkerville, a small incorporated town directly north of Butte.

They must have all talked once and agreed to change the Meteš to Metesh because they all go by this name now.

Jozef and Mary have four boys and two girls.  The first Joseph died in 1912 at age two from an accident with scalding hot water.

Marie Loretta “Mayme” married and moved to California.  Emma married and stayed in Montana.

Rudolph ended up going to war and not returning to ranch life. He married in Nevada and lived out his life in Utah.

John James ended up staying with his younger brother, Edward, since it was “essential service,” meaning the dairy farm was an occupation considered important enough to the US that those serving in such occupations are exempt—in fact forbidden—from military service. He married and operated the J & M Bar when he was older.

Joe Edward served in WWII in Africa and the Middle East.  He went to Flint Creek afterward, purchased Hanna Ranch south of Philipsburg, and operated the dairy farm there for many years.  He also engaged in mining and prospecting.  William also ended up in Philipsburg, but little is known about him.

John James remained on the dairy farm the rest of his life, herding cattle and raising his family.  Ed, his son, still lives in Butte and has given me many of these pictures and oral history.  We found each other through a genealogy Facebook page and DNA.

Jozef died on Dec. 18, 1918, during the Spanish Flu Epidemic. He was only 32.

Jozef left behind five children. One son predeceased him in 1912.

Mary continued to manage the dairy, married Jozef’s brother, Peter, in December of 1922, and gave birth to a son five days later.

They would have three more sons.

Michael (who was called Peter when he was younger and then Mickey as he got older) and Edward stayed on the ranch, working and doing rodeos.

Working in various mines, from mucker to lab, Peter eventually entered the dairy business. His ranch was on the southeast side of Butte, where the airport is now. Ed’s cousin Bill Johnson, Emma’s son, told him he remembers being on that ranch. He remembers seeing Mary there when she was sick in bed.

From Ed: My mom, till this very day, will say that the older kids didn’t like Peter at all. He probably never lived at the North Walkerville ranch. Mary probably had to commute between the places. (probably 15 miles round trip) I remember being around Peter a bit. I remember being with my Dad, working on his back porch. This would have been well after he was out of the ranch business. Funny, but his house is currently owned by my wife’s aunt and uncle who recently moved back to Butte.

The National Dairy ran until about 1948 when Mary died.

The Metesh family is very prevalent in Butte, Montana.  Geologists, Ranchers, Environmentalists, and the like.  Until this research, I had no idea Slovenians were such a big part of Montana.

In 1912, Mr. A. J. Terbovec wrote about the town itself: “Butte is the largest city of Montana (39,165 inhabitants) and the largest Slovene settlement in this state. The town is alive and beautiful. It lies at the foot of mountains of medium height. Copper ore is brought up by hoists from the depths of these mountains. The majority of the Slovenes are employed in these mines, as are also the Serbs and Croats. The Slovenes already have stores and a few taverns.

A large number of Slovenes have been here for many years already. Some have a fair amount of wealth. Others, at least, have their own houses. Even though three is no Slovene school here and the children have to attend English schools, the young people have high esteem for their mother tongue and are never ashamed of it, as is the case, unfortunately, in many other regions. The Slovene girls stand out especially, which speak in their favor just as does their honesty. It honors both the older people and the youth”.

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This one is for my nephew, Dan Logan-Fasy, Attorney at Law.   I’ve followed Dan most of his career and think his ancestors would be very proud of his determination, fight for those who suffer in silence, and grit to find justice, as did his 4th cousin, Walter Seth Logan, Sr.

Source: 

A National Register of the Society, Sons of the American Revolution, Volume 1

Walter Seth Logan was prepared for college in the Suffield Institute and the Fort Edward Collegiate Institute. He was graduated from Yale in 1870, from Harvard Law School in 1871, and Columbia Law School in 1872, in which year he was admitted to the New York Bar. Entering the law office of James C. Carter, he became the assistant of Mr. Carter and Charles O’Conor in the famous Jumel will case, thus beginning under the most favorable auspices a career as a lawyer that has been full of successes and honors.

He has been prominent in Mexican as well as in State and National legal disputations, and is readily recognized as one of the fore most men in his profession. In addition to his professional labors he has found time to devote to literary work on economic, historical and other popular subjects. Among his essays and addresses are “The Siege of Cuautla, the Bunker Hill of Mexico,” “An Argument for an Eight-Hour Law,” “Nationalism,” “Peonage in Mexico,” “A Mexican Law Suit,” “Saxon and Latin Courts,” “A Permanent International Tribunal,” “Needed Modifications of the Patent Laws,” “The Limitation of Inheritances,” and “A More Socialistic State.”

Mr. Logan has been a leading spirit in the several reform movements of New York City, and was Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Ballot Reform. Association of New York State in 1887-1889, whose work has resulted in the present improved condition of our ballot system, greatly reducing the frauds so prevalent under the old system.

An ex-president of the New York State Bar Association, he is a prominent member of the American Bar Association, chairman of one of the most important committees, and at present a vice-president of the association. A member of the Manhattan, Democratic, New York Yacht and many other clubs and’ organizations, legal, social and literary, and a liberal patron, of the arts and sciences, he has also been active in the various patriotic societies of the land, participating in many of their celebrations as an orator. A member of the Society of the Colonial Wars, of the Founders and Patriots, and President of the Empire State Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, he counts as one of the greatest honors he has received his recent election as President General of the National Society. He was married in 1875 to Eliza Preston Kenyon of Brooklyn, New York. They have three children, Hollister (Yale. 1000; Columbia Law School, 1902); Janette– ( Smith, 1905); and Walter Seth Logan, Jr. (Yale, Harvard Law)

He had many articles written about him.  One in “The American Lawyer” – Walter S. Logan and his obituary from the New York State Bar Association is quite something to read.  Obituary

Here is a website of some of his books that are now online.  Online Books Page

Walter was born April 15, 1847, in Washington, Connecticut, to Seth Savage Logan and Abigail Serene Hollister.  He was President General Logan of the Sons of the American Revolution.  The article quoting his speech in The National Yearbook mentions that Walter Penn’s Secretary, James Logan, is related to us.  I just haven’t found what the connection is.  His father, Seth, is mentioned in several places as well.

Written in The Connecticut Magazine, Volumes 3-4, 1897:

Even the Political party strength in Connecticut Kids Encyclopedia mentions Seth Logan (D) from 1870.

Until writing this blog, I had no idea they were in politics too!  Some of these articles about the family above are the first I’ve seen.  It has been a while since I’ve worked on this Logan line, and it is amazing how far the online records and digitized articles have come.  I have a lot of work to do, but I wanted to share what I have so far.

Seth’s parents were Mathew Logan and Laura Sanford, farmers.  Mathew’s father was Mathew Logan, Sr., married to Sarah Savage.  Mathew, Sr. (DAR# A071144) was our Revolutionary War veteran, as was his brother, James (DAR# A071130), whose name is also on this memorial.  The Gideon below is Walter’s great-grandfather.

Stay tuned; I know there is more to come.  Keep fighting the good fight, Dan.  Your ancestors are smiling down on you.

Read more about our Logan ancestry at

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No, I have not forgotten or stopped on my quest of writing my ancestor’s stories.  Actually, I have spread myself a little thin with all the branches of my tree that need attention.  I have many irons in the fire as you will see below.

Let’s start with John Loggan of 1699.  Many a researcher, those who have been doing this a lot longer than me are still stymied by this line.  DNA is proving to help some, but no one has been able to prove his father.  However, my theory and many others who have the same thought believe that Restalrig is the key.  My sister Cathy has told me that Dad and his dad named their ranch in Kettle Falls, Washington the “Restalrig Ranch”.  So there must be something that kept that place-name in our family.  The latest I received from a DNA cousin is this,

“It seems John had enough wealth to purchase a farm. I think the funds came from his inheritance or possibly sale of a land grant in the Ulster Plantation. DNA indicates that we are related to some Logan’s from Ayrshire, Scotland. I found a Walter Logan who left Ayrshire about 1610 for the Ulster Plantation and obtained a land grant in 1617. I think Walter may be John’s great-grandfather.

So, yes indeed, we are related to the Scottish Logan’s — and most probably to the Logan’s of Restalrig, as some of this family moved to Ayrshire after the last Baron of Restalrig (the 7th Baron) was deprived of his title and land holdings by a huge miscarriage of justice. But that’s another long story.”  I think I’ve told this story on a blog, about the the Gowrie Conspiracy.

Azubah Royce’s family comes from England.

Nicholas Carew (1496 – 1539)

an English courtier and diplomat during the reign of King Henry VIII
14th great-grandfather
Thomas Carew ( – 1431)
son of Nicholas Carew
Joane Carew (1420 – 1470)
daughter of Thomas Carew
Thomas Saunders ( – 1609)
son of Joane Carew
Elizabeth Saunders (1584 – 1675)
daughter of Thomas Saunders
Anna Wolcott (1621 – 1704)
daughter of Elizabeth Saunders
Elizabeth Griswold (1653 – 1737)
daughter of Anna Wolcott
Ruth Beckwith (1680 – 1747)
daughter of Elizabeth Griswold
John Royce (1712 – 1760)
son of Ruth Beckwith
Azubah Royce (1737 – 1796)
daughter of John Royce
Daniel Logan (1762 – 1810)
son of Azubah Royce
Lemuel H. Logan (1797 – 1869)
son of Daniel Logan
Silas H. Logan (1833 – 1917)
son of Lemuel H. Logan
James Lemuel Logan (1860 – 1952)
son of Silas H. Logan
Glenn Henry Logan (1899 – 1982)
son of James Lemuel Logan
My Dad Logan
son of Glenn Henry Logan
Me

Nicholas Carew’s daughter was Anne Carew.  Their daughter was Lady Elizabeth Throckmorton, “Bess”.  Sir Walter Raleigh’s wife, and a Lady of the Privy Chamber to Queen Elizabeth I of England.  She dressed the Queen!  Ring any bells?

Dad’s mother’s family leads to Germany.  They are the Kunkle/Gunkel’s and the Kepple/Schaeffer’s.  I can only get so far on my own, but another cousin I “met” long ago researching the same line was kind enough to share his research with me.  However, I have to re-do mine as I got off track years ago when entering the information.  I just haven’t been back to it as it’s painstakingly slow to enter.  I can tell you that the Gunkel’s were glass makers in Germany in the 15th and 16th centuries.

I have been able to trace Dad’s great-grandmother’s people (Rowan, Porterfield, McMahan and Hargrove) on his father’s side to Ireland, but try getting records from there!  His great-grandmother’s mother’s side is not much better.  Their names are Galbraith, Appleby, Alters, Case, Lane, Devlin, and Stitt, most from Pennsylvania.

Then we have the Cofer and Davis families, Ruby Chapman Wescott’s (my MeMa) mother’s family.  They were big and evidently are still prolific in the Norfolk and Isle of Wight, VA area.  I recently wrote the City of Norfolk Bureau of Cemeteries and found a little goldmine.  The woman there was very helpful, I received more than I imagined I would.  See below:

“…regarding Charles William Davis’ burial, we have on file his interment card and a plot map card which indicates his burial site. …the east two-thirds of the lot is owned by W. Davis.”  

On this card were other family members buried in this lot.  They each showed year of birth and year of death.  He evidently owned the east part of lot 11 which has 10 plots, 5 of which are still empty.  I have written her to see what happens with those other five.

The Cofer’s were plantation owners, and according to Ruby and cousins (from letters and notes Aunt Sharon sent me), Martha Cofer went to a finishing girls private school for music and had her own carriage and two horses.

Martha Ann Davis told her granddaughter, Elizabeth Cofer Reed, that she had not dressed herself until she was grown. She also told her that the slaves did not want to leave when they were freed.

I am still researching trying to find information on the plantation and the family.

Mathias J. Chapman was Ruby’s grandfather.  I recently wrote to the John Wesley United Methodist Church in Hagerstown, MD as the church used to be St. Paul’s Methodist Episcopal Church from 1825-1910 and where Mathias and Isadore Burns were married.  She was able to locate the register.  “I don’t have too much information for you, but I am attaching a copy of a page out of our records book that was compiled in 1971. It confirms that your ancestors were married here by Rev. George W. Heyde on 11/14/1864.” 

She also gave me two other places that I might want to research.  She was very helpful.  When I asked if I could pay her for her research and time, she said “You don’t owe us a thing. Glad to help! Genealogy is one of my hobbies, so I understand how exciting it is to find documentation. Have fun with the search!!”

Ten days ago, I received an email from a DNA Match I reached out to.  It was Mary Rogers, aka Mary Virginia Martin, Albert Wescott, Jr.’s First Cousin!  She is Mabel Agassiz Wescott’s 76-year-old daughter.  She’s been a wonderful source of oral history and lives “part of her time” right here in Florida.  The other part she stays in Kentucky.  She still has the 50th wedding anniversary ring that John Thomas gave Martha!

A few days later another DNA match reached out to me.  We are 3rd cousins.  She is adopted.  We think we have narrowed to the Logan side of the family, more specifically, Art’s mother’s side since it is X-Match DNA.  She knows the names of her biological parents, but now thinks her dad was also adopted.  Until she can find out, we’re stumped.  None of her names are in my tree, but they are German names which makes sense for that side of the tree.

As I was reading some Facebook genealogical posts in one of my Outer Banks pages, a name popped out at me in the conversation that I recognized from newspaper articles that MeMa (Ruby) had saved.  He responded to my picture I posted about John Thomas being the keeper on the land that the Currituck Shooting Club owned.  He wrote:

“Mary and her son, Skip, had it colorized at a Photoshop in Los Angeles. Thank you for including it in this thread. Mary and the Poyner family were close to and very fond of the Wescott family, and Mary stayed in contact with them as long as they lived. My grandmother, Gladys Forbes Sawyer (dau of John W. Poyner’s sister) told a story about the Wescott son (who was a paraplegic), being in the party with the John W. Poyner family and my grandmother and her sister on a steamboat trip to Elizabeth City. They went via THE GUIDE, which on the return trip floundered in a squall off from Camden Point on its way to the North River ports of Powells Point, Jarvisburg, and Barnett’s Creek at Grandy. The passengers waded to shore and spent the night in a fishing camp on Camden Point before being rescued the next day. My grandmother said that John W. Poyner held the Wescott boy in his arms and got him safely to shore. They were all terrified. I remember Mary telling me that he later lived in Florida and that one of the girls was a dietician at the University of Georgia. I believe the Wescotts lived in Durham after Capt. Wescott died.”

I don’t recall ever hearing this story.  Mr. Sawyer also helped me put names to some pictures Ruby had.

In another Facebook forum, I ran into another DNA cousin.  We’re 5th cousin 2x removed or something like that.  She’s from the Midgett/Pugh side.  Her dad was what she calls an “outside child”.  He was born out-of-wedlock and didn’t know the family.  I helped her figure out her relations and how to read her DNA.  I am by no means an expert, but was able to help her maneuver around her DNA results as well as the Facebook pages to find her cousins.  She had to tell one cousin, gently, tell how they were connected.  Now these cousins are sharing stories and pictures with her of a grandfather she never knew.  She also has “traces” of American Indian in her DNA.

Married to Matthew Midyett is Judith White.  I’ve written about them.  Supposedly, her family is from the Jamestown Colony of White’s.  Another line I have yet to investigate.

I am still waiting on John Thomas Wescott’s official military personnel file from his Life Saving Service.  Another “patiently waiting” moment.  I applied month’s ago!

Now to the Stephanz/Stefanc side.  I have one DNA cousin who is big on DNA and triangulation, chromosomes, etc.  So much, she makes my head spin.  I told her I needed a “DNA For Dummies” version, but she cannot seem to explain it in layman’s terms.  I am by no means a stupid person, but wow, it gets deep.

I have not gotten any farther than 1818 with Matijas Stefanc in Slovenia, but there is another Matijas Stefanc out there born 1777 that I am sure I am related to, I just cannot get the connection.  I am related, DNA says, to people descended from this Matijas, but alas the connection eludes me.  Maybe the DNA whiz kid above can help unravel the mystery.  The same can be said for the Swegel/Sveglj’s of the same are.

I am also at a standstill with the Schwittkowski’s and Hennig’s as to further my exploration with them, I need to get records and to get records that are online, I need to get my butt to the local Family History Center.  There is one here on Blanding, I just haven’t gone to check them out.  They do have odd hours, I just have to decide on a time and date and just go!

Then we have the Reikowski’s.  I have paid the research fee and sent away for documentation from the State Archives of Gdansk, Poland (Archiwum Państwowe w Gdańsku) and am hoping that opens a few more doors of exploration for me.  I located an online database with christenings, marriages, and deaths with some of our ancestor’s names and have requested the documents of these events.  It takes a long while, but is usually well worth the wait.  Talk about patience! My original request was early December.

I also received the Naturalization papers of our Augusta Reikowski’s brother, Johann Michael, who went by John.  It didn’t really give me much more that I knew, other than he left Germany under Wilhem II’s rule. Wilhelm II was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia, ruling the German Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia from 15 June 1888 to 9 November 1918.  His petition was approved in June 1906.  He had applied in Wisconsin in March of 1900.

So, as you can see, I have not been twiddling my thumbs.  If anything, I am buried in ancestors. I even dream about them.  I need a system.  A month on one branch and alternate or something like that.

As Gram always said, “It’s in the genes!”.   It certainly is.  We have a lot in our genes, and I am proud of every single cell I have researched.

As always, let me know if you see any errors in my writing or my research.

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AKA Johann Reikowski, John Reikowski, John Reik

Clara, GiGi’s grandfather. (my great grandmother’s grandfather)

My 3rd great grandfather.  He was born in June of 1844.

John was baptized in Prussia (updated 3/31/18)  Żukowo, Poland, actually it is a town in Kartuzy County, in the Pomeranian Voivodeship of northern Poland in the cultural region of Kashubia.  Żukowo is about 20 minutes Southwest of Gdańsk.

His parents were Franz Rajkowski and Josephine Tesmer.  They were married in the parish of Matarnia, Gdańsk, Prussia.  (updated 3/31/18)

John had three sisters and two brothers.   He married Johanna Sierotzka in the parish of Pomerania, Poland in 1865 when he was 20 years old and she was 24 years old. They had seven children together.  After 20 years of marriage and at the age of 43, Johanna died.  Their youngest was 3 years old, it was 1885.  (Updated 4/3/18 to show accurate ages from newly found dates) 

In January of 1886, John married Augusta Borowska.  That same month they had their first child together, a girl.  Her name was Marianne, a year later Ida Margarethe was born and then died.  A year after that Anna and a year after that, Conrad Theodore Alois.   All were born in Gdańsk, Prussia.  (updated 3/31/18)

John’s father Franz died in 1890, the year Conrad was born.  In 1892, Bertha was born and when she was 6 months old, they headed to America.  Two adults and six children, the oldest 10 years old, departed Antwerp, Belgium on May 13, 1893 and boarded the ship Switzerland for Philadelphia, PA heading to Milwaukee, WI.  They had 2 bags of luggage.  Two bags for eight people!  Amazing.  Can you imagine?

It took a month after arriving in Philadelphia to end up in Michigan.  More than likely they traveled by train.  “In this age of instant digital communications and fast travel, we tend to forget that not so long ago traveling distances were subjectively very different. In the 1800s, for example, traveling a few hundred miles across the U.S. meant taking a steam-powered train, and the trip could take days. Going from coast to coast, which now takes less than a day, could take weeks.” ~MICHAEL GRAHAM RICHARD

Franz is the only one who stayed in Poland and in 1941 died from complications of asystolia (failure of the ventricles of the heart to contract (usually caused by ventricular fibrillation) and stomach cancer .  I know he was married in 1895 so maybe he didn’t want to leave his fiance.  He had a son four months after his marriage.

Clara Rosalie died in Poland, Prussia at age one in 1876.

All his other children ended up in Wisconsin.

Paul Max (probably Maximilian) was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, John was 50 years old.  At age 52, Joseph Frank was born, at age 55 Albert, and at age 58, Maximilian Anthony.  Somewhere in between they had and lost two other children.  By the time that Max was born, they had shortened their last name to Reik.

Have you been counting?  John was a very busy man.  He had 20 children!

In the 1900 and 1910 census’ John’s occupation is listed as “Laborer (Round House)”.  A “round house laborer” cleans off accumulated grease and dirt from the running gears of locomotives.  They were also neighbors of their daughters Augusta (the Schwitkowski’s) and Marianne (Mary Placzek on the census).

By 1911, John is still shown as an “AL” (alien), meaning he was not yet Naturalized (the process by which an alien becomes an American citizen).   “It is a voluntary act; naturalization is not required. Of the foreign-born persons listed on the 1890 through 1930 censuses, 25 percent had not become naturalized or filed their “first papers.” (source: archives.gov).

Both John and his son Conrad were working for the railroad at this time.  Paul was a sausage maker in a packing house.

In 1904 his mother died.  She was 93.  I don’t have any record that John ever went back to Poland, even to see his mother or his son.  In 1909, his second wife died.  Their youngest, Max was only four years old.  In 1930 his son Paul Max died at the age of 34, John was 86 and had become naturalized somewhere between 1920 and 1930.  I am working on getting those papers.  John was living with his daughter, Julia (Mankowski).

Two years later John died.

He is buried at Saint Adalberts Cemetery in Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin.

I’ve paid the Archiwum Państwowe w Gdańsku (Archives of Gdansk, Poland) for paperwork on the Reikowski’s.  If I learn anything new from these papers, I will post.

UPDATE 3/31/18:

On 3/23/18, I received an email stating they had found me through this blog.  It was Paul Max’s great granddaughter, Mary Reik and her husband John.  My 2nd cousin!  How awesome is that?!  They helped me with her branch of the tree and I sent them some information.  They live in Naples, Florida most of the year.   Oh, and regarding Paul Max dying at such a young age, according to Mary, he died when the ambulance that was taking him to the hospital for an emergency appendectomy ran out of gas.

 

Thank you for reading.

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For as long as I can remember there has been a rumor in the family about us having American Indian blood.  As I’ve worked on my tree, I even found hints in the Logan tree. Is there truth in this or just romantic fantasy?  Do we turn to DNA to find out?  Do we trace our ancestral limbs and find documentation?

Well,  when doing your DNA, “if the Native percentage is back beyond 6 generations and drops below the 1% threshold, it’s extremely difficult to discern today.” It also depends on the type of test you had done. This is a good website explaining https://dna-explained.com/…/proving-native-american…/

So, I entered my DNA results into GEDMATCH and ran the MDLP World-22 Admixture; it came up as .26; on the World9 Admixture, it came up as .62, and the puntDNAL K13 came up as 1.07.  So, do I have American Indian in me?  Yes.  Traces, but yes!  But from which side of the family, Logan or Wescott?  For me, it can be on either side.

Source:
Frank G. Speck, “Remnants of the Machapunga Indians of North Carolina,” American Anthropologist 18 (1916): pp. 271-276.

“On Roanoke island and some of the adjacent sand islands and on the mainland of Dare and Hyde counties on the coast of North Carolina are a few families of mixed-blood, descendants of the local Indian tribes.”  Mr. Speck visited Hyde and Dare Counties on behalf of the Bureau of American Ethnology in 1915.

“According to the accounts furnished by Raleigh’s Expedition, being the earliest notice that we have of these tribes, the region between Albemarle and Pamlico sound was the home of the Secotan Indians…among them the Hatteras band occupying the sandbanks off the coast, and the Machapunga on the mainland, near Mattamuskeet Lake.

A visit to their old home, however, and persistent inquiry among the settlers of Albemarle and Pamlico sound brought to knowledge a few individuals who are descended from Indians who came originally from Pungo River near Mattamuskeet Lake, Hyde County. These are evidently remnants of the Machapunga tribe, who have left their name to the Pungo River. Those whom I met traced their descent from one Israel Pierce, who was known as a Pungo River Indian.

I traced Pierce’s descendants through Mrs. M. H. Pugh, Pierce’s granddaughter, now a very old woman, estimating her age to be about eighty years, who was born and raised in the Pungo River district. Later in her life, she moved to Hatteras Island. She has four sons, daughters, and numerous grandchildren. At present, the dark-skinned people living on Roanoke, Hatteras, and other neighboring islands of the Pugh, Daniels, and Berry families, largely of negro blood, and some of those named Westcott, of a lighter strain, are of this blood.”

Annie Pugh was the “Mrs. M.H.Pugh” mentioned in the 1916 article by Frank G. Speck entitled “Remnants of the Machapunga Indians.” Only Annie considered herself Pungo Indian. Most of the people are descendants of the Hatteras and Roanoke Indians. Smith Pugh’s mother was a Hatteras Indian woman, and his father was white.  I have not found a connection to this particular Pugh, but we have many Pugh names in our tree.  They have been hard to trace.

There is even a brochure about “The First Americans” listing Wescott as one of the names.  Algonquian Indians of North Carolina, Inc.

The Wescott’s could also be “Melungeon’s,” “a term traditionally applied to one of numerous “tri-racial isolate” groups.  Blacks, Native American, and White…Their ancestors can usually be traced back to colonial Virginia and the Carolinas. They were largely endogamous, marrying primarily within their community until about 1900.  One of the theories about the Melungeons is that they are descendants of the Lost Colonists.

Martha Ann Chadwick, John T. Wescott’s wife, looks like she has Indian blood.  She has the Pugh lineage.  Her stepdaughter, Dora, also has the look.

Interestingly, the Isle of Wight, VA, where the Wescott’s came from, was originally called Warrosquyoake Shire, named after the Native Americans, Warrosquyoackes.  The name was changed in 1637 to the Isle of Wight due to the difficulty in pronouncing their name.

My 6th great-grandmother on the Logan side is Lydia Russell Bean.  If you Google her name, you will see many stories of her capture by the Cherokee and her freedom by Nanyehi (Cherokee: “One who goes about”), known in English as Nancy Ward.

The below is not original research on my part – I thank Google.

Lydia was tending to her cows near her cabin when…..quoting John P. Brown’s “Old Frontiers,”

“She was captured by the Indians as she rode horseback toward Fort Lee at Watauga and was taken to the Cherokee Camp on Nolichucky River.

She was told that she would be killed. She was questioned . . . [and] taken to a little town along the Little Tennessee River. Mrs. Bean was taken to Toquo and tied to a stake at the top of a large mound. The fire had been lighted around her when the Beloved woman, Nancy Ward, arrived on the scene.

Revolted at the thought that a Cherokee should torture a squaw she hastened to the rescue, scattered the burning brands, and cut the bonds which fastened the prisoner.

She took Mrs. Bean to her own house, where she was treated kindly.

In her gratitude, Lydia Bean instructed Nancy Ward and the other Cherokee women in making butter and cheese.

Due to Mrs. Bean’s training, Nancy Ward became the first owner of a herd of cattle.”

Lydia is credited with bravery at the time of her capture by the Indians, for she led her captors to believe the garrison at the Watauga settlement was well-defended, thus preventing an attack.

Although she was saved from certain death in July of 1776, her brother George was killed by Indians in May of 1797, and Lydia’s daughter Jane was killed by Indians in 1798.

However, it is rumored that Lydia’s nephew, Lewis (Louis) Russell, son of George, married (or had relations with) a Cherokee, which produced descendants.

The Henderson Rolls ( surnames with ancestors known to inhabit the Cherokee domain) lists some 1,959 persons of the Cherokee Nation in North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia…Full-Blood “Indians, Half-Breeds, Quadroons, Whites and Slaves,” as well as “mixed Catawba’s; mixed Spaniard; mixed Negroes” and “descendants of reserves.” Also listed are intermarried wives of Cherokees.

And the Dawes Rolls (“Final Rolls of the Citizens and Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes in Indian Territory”) have lists of surnames in Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole Tribes.

Both of these rolls list Russell (I have Russells on both sides) and Bean (as well as Burns, Chase, Daniels, Davis, Harrison, Hawkins, Hill, & Logan- names from my tree).  Now, whether or not these are MY ancestors.  Who knows, but it is interesting.

So, where do my traces of Native Americans come from?    I keep digging to find out.

If you need research assistance, do not hesitate to contact me.

Your Family Tree Research Specialist

Research Specialist

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