Genealogy

I have to apologize for not blogging as of late.  I have been preoccupied with the research of my ancestors and the ancestors of Kevin.

I have always loved history except my Civil War History class in high school that I failed.  That class was a joke as was Mr. Green who taught it.  I always look back on that class and wish that I had had a different teacher for that subject, I think I would have done so much better.  I love the Civil War years and the stories that abound from them.  I look forward to teaching my kids all about it, and learning right along with them everything that I should have learned back in High School.

So back to my research, I kind of hit a brick wall as far as my side of the family, just because they haven't been in the States that long.  It was my Great Grandparents that arrived here, but Kevin's family has been here over a hundred years longer than mine and there is so much more information out there that I can discover.  The exciting thing is that the paternal side has lived in Michigan, in this area, since they arrived so there are cemeteries with old tombstones, you know the ones that I love to photograph in hopes of learning about a little piece of history, except these tombstones actually have meaning to the family.

I also get to find death certificates, that are really cool to see.  I know that some would think I am weird, but discovering that Kevin's Gr-Gr Grandmother died of Diabetes and that Kevin shares her birthday.  And that Tyler shares his birthday with his Gr-Gr Grandmother (and that she was a twin) is just totally awesome to me.

It is also very evident that life was so much harder and more dangerous.  That something that we take a pill to cure, was a death sentence back then.  Birth was a very dangerous time in a women's life.  I can't tell you how many young women's names I saw that died while giving birth.  How sad for their young husbands and young children.  Such a happy time that ended so tragically.  Now a days, if a women dies in childbirth, it makes the news.  Not so back then.

Oh and having under 4 children was pretty much never seen.  Kev's Gr-Gr Grandmother had (at last count) 13 children, 10 of which were living.  Amazing.  I get more excited the more I delve into it.

I have yet to discover if any of his family fought in the Civil War.  But I am on the hunt for that since I know they were living in Michigan during the war.  I also have found evidence that they were very supportive of Abraham Lincoln and that they (if registered) voted for him.  How cool is that!  Now that is a president that I can be proud my (by marriage) family voted for!!

Here is a copy of the 1900 Census.  The second name is Kevin's Gr-Gr Grandfather and all the names underneath his are those that are in his household at the time.  Sadly the last name for his family is Miles who died 3 months later.  He was 1 year 10 months old, his death cert said he died from a perforation of the bowel.  Kevin's Gr-Gr Grandmother had her second set of twins 3 months after his death.  Nothing like a new set of twins to keep your mind off your grief.

Anyway I now know of the names of Kev's Gr-Gr-Gr-Gr Grandparents (1700s).  I am interested to find out more information, but it gets harder because that is when the family was living in the Netherlands.  A lot of records are in Dutch and although that was my family's native tongue I only know a few words.  Like 'skeet in the brook' (said with a dutch brogue...please ignore the spelling, I only know how to say it).

Blessings!!