Week 17 - Pets

Week 17. Pets. Did you have any pets as a child? If so, what types and what were their names. Do you have pets now? Describe them as well. If you did not have pets, you can discuss those of neighbors or other family members.

I'd be lying if I said that there was just one odd thing about our childhood but no, there are a few! One being that we were one of the few families that never had a pet. When I say never, I mean NEVER - not even a harmless little fish! Neither of our parents were fans of animals and if we ever tried begging for a pet we were told that when we grew up and moved out we were free to have all the pets that we wanted. That didn't make us give up trying though. I'll never forget the brief moment that Susan and I thought Mom had finally given in. Our friend Teresa across the street had a bunch of hamsters and she had them in their cage out in her front yard one day. I guess she told us that we could have one because I remember us rushing back across the street to our house to plead with Mom to just let us have one tiny little hamster. To our surprise she said "sure" but unfortunately followed with "you can have one but it has to stay at Teresa's house". I think we were excited for about one second until we realized that having a pet that couldn't actually live in your house wasn't really having a pet at all! So for a few weeks I think that we pretended to have a pet hamster. I don't even remember if we named it or not. We had "visitation" with our hamster only on nice days that summer when Teresa could bring the cage out in the yard because for other strange reasons we were not allowed to go inside her house.
Funny thing is that not one of the four of us owns a pet today (although David did have a sweet dog named Daisy for awhile).

Wordless Wednesday

Dutch Genealogy - Happy Birthday Grandma!

A couple nights ago I found a website called genlias which is a combination of birth, marriage and death records from archives in the Netherlands. Since my grandmother is 100% Dutch I was excited to see what family information I might be able to find. My grandmother had heard mention of some of her ancestors being from the Friesland area in the Netherlands, but I had not found any actual Dutch records before. This website was amazing. In just a few days I have traced my grandmother's family back 7 generations (into the 1700's). Given more time I know that there's a lot more information to find - but since it's my grandmother's birthday today I thought I'd publish a quick summary of the names that we now know (by generation).

First - a quick map to show some of the different areas that the various families came from. If you click on any of the blue markers they will tell you what family name came from that place. The one near the very top is Anjum which is in Friesland (just as my grandmother had heard). This is where the Veldkamp's came from. In fact - I found out that Johannes Nicolaas Veldkamp was a watchmaker there before he left and came here with his family in 1881.


View Veldkamps in a larger map

Parents (2/2):
John Veldkamp
Cora van der Aa

Grandparents (4/4):
Yme (Samuel) Veldkamp
Jane de Ruiter
John Michael van der Aa
Agnes Santifort

Great-Grandparents (8/8):
Johannes Nicolaas Veldkamp
Riemke Jacobs Eelkema
Jan de Ruiter
Hendrikjen van de Wetering
Michael (Giel) van der Aa
Johanna van der Aa
Pieter Santifort
Cornelia van der Bok

Great-Great-Grandparents (16/16):
Johan Hendrik Veldkamp
Maria Elisabeth Renegie Stutsman
Jacob Eelkes Eelkema
Aaltje Jans Sjoordema
William Teunis de Ruiter
Aaltje Jansen Broek
Jan van de Wetering
Fennegjen van de Weerd
Arie van der Aa
Magteldje Baardwijk
Leendert van der Aa
Johanna Vogel
Lucas Santifort
Neeltje Korte
Paulus van der Bok
Grietje Witte

Great-Great-Great-Grandparents (25/32):
unknown Veldkamp
unknown
Johan Nicolaas Stutsman
unknown
unknown Eelkema
unknown
unknown Sjoordema
unknown
Teunis Gerrits de Ruiter
Hendrikje Willems
Jans Davids Broek
Marrigje Barteis van der Kolk
Hendrikus Jans van de Wetering
Jennigjen Hendriks
Arend Mertens van de Weerd
Johanna Scheppink
Klaas van der Aa
Lijntje Scheer
Michiel Baardwijk
Gerrigje Huisman
Gerrit van der Aa
Hadewijn den Branker
Jacob Arieszn Vogel
Annigje Gijsbertsdr Heijkoop
Leendert Santifort
Lientje Kloosterman
Aart Korte
Jannetje Braad
Jan van der Bok
Cornelia Mierop
Willem Witte
Aagje van der Meulen

Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandparents (12/64):
Leendert van der Aa (father of Gerrit)
Lena Menkelis (mother of Gerrit)
Jan Braad (father of Jannetje)
Teutje Arensd de Voogel (mother of Jannetje)
Paulus van der Bok (father of Jan)
Geertruijd Fransdr Brinkman (mother of Jan)
Krijn Mierop (father of Cornelia)
Elizabeth Ruijt (mother of Cornelia)
Cornelis Witte (father of Willem)
Grietje de Vogel (mother of Willem)
Fransciscus van der Meulen (father of Aagje)
Christina van der Hoef (mother of Aagje)

Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandparents (8/128):
Jan van der Bok (father of Paulus)
Gooltje Tanis (mother of Paulus)
Gerrit Ruijt (father of Elizabeth)
Baaltje Abramsdr Westhoeve (mother of Elizabeth)
Willem Witte (father of Cornelis)
Johann Ariaanse Cole (mother of Cornelis)
Jan de Vogel (father of Grietje)
Klaartje Tanis (mother of Grietje)

Michael VanDerAa - An Update

Last month I wrote a post about using passenger lists to find my 3rd great-grandfather - Michael VanDerAa and his family. Shortly after I wrote this I realized that I had made a mistake in the assumptions I made in that post. Mainly, that the fourth VanDerAa brother listed in the passenger list was Michael. It was not. The brothers listed were Jacob, Garrett, Wilhelm and Leinhard - not Michael. Given that Jacob, Garrett, Wilhelm and Michael were all living next to each other in the 1870 census, I assumed that the Leinhard that was listed was either mistranslated or was a middle name for Michael. Neither is true.

After searching a bit wider in the 1870 census, I found Leonard (Leinhard) VanDerAa living just a short distance from the other VanDerAa brothers. So - how does Michael fit in to the picture? I could find no passenger listing for Michael VanDerAa coming over from the Netherlands - but I found it hard to believe that he was not related to the other VanDerAa's given that he lived next door to them and they shared many similar names for their children and eventual grandchildren.

Eventually I found the time to do a search on FamilySearch.org and found the death certificate for Michael VanDerAa (pictured below).


His death certificate shows that his parents names were Arie VanDerAa and Maggie (unreadable last name). Excellent. Arie and Maggie VanDerAa are found in the 1860, 1870 and 1880 census' in Cook County - nearby Michael - although not next door like some of the other VanDerAa brothers that I wrote about last month.

I also found Arie and Maggie in the passenger lists on Ancestry.com. They came over from the Netherlands on November 13, 1854 on a ship called "Mississippi Of Demerara". It left from Rotterdam, Netherlands and arrived in Baltimore, Maryland. They are listed traveling with their children: Gerrit - age 2 - who died during the passage over, Grel - age 18, Klaaj - age 20 and Thijs - age 9.

The son listed as "Grel" is the one that I believe is Michael VanDerAa - my 3rd great-grandfather. His name listed in Dutch was often spelled Magiel and I believe he is listed in the passenger list as simply Giel (not Grel).

So - how is his family related to the other VanDerAa's that he lived among in the years following his arrival in the US? Right now - I believe that his wife Johanna actually had the maiden name of VanDerAa (and also the married name of VanDerAa). I believe she may be the sister that is listed in the passenger list with Jacob, Garrett, Wilhelm and Leinhard.

Other than the fact that her age seems to match the Johanna listed in that original passenger list I found, I also found the birth certificate for some of her children (one for daughter Johanna is shown below). In all cases her Full Name and her Maiden Name are both listed as Johanna VanDerAa.



Obviously I have a lot more research to do to understand the VanDerAa's living in Cook County and how they are all related - but for now I do believe that I know the name of my 4th great-grandfather - Arie VanDerAa.

Wordless Wednesday

Week #16 - Restaurants

Week 16 - Restaurants: What was your favorite local restaurant as a child? Where was it located and what was your favorite meal? Did you know the staff personally? What is your favorite restaurant now?

We rarely ate out as a family when we were kids(probably at least in part due to the fact that there were 6 of us so it was pretty expensive). However, when we visited my grandparents we were sometimes able to get carry out from a little pizza/sub shop named Milano's. It was located on Brown Street in Dayton on the edge of the University of Dayton's campus and a short walk from my grandparent's house. I don't remember ever getting anything there besides a grilled ham and provolone sub (no onions please) and an order of potatoes with extra sour cream. If the weather was nice, we would call in our order and then walk over with my grandfather to pick it up. The place was a little hole in the wall that was well loved by the college student population. There were often the same people working there who usually looked less than thrilled to be there, especially on busy weekend nights.

Today I would still count Milano's as one of my favorite places to eat. It's location has changed slightly, as they moved into a bigger and new location nearby a few years ago, but the menu still has my old favorites on it. Writing this post is making me hungry! If they only delivered, I would get my grilled ham and provolone and potatoes for dinner tonight.

Week #15 - Sports

Sports. Did you have a favorite sports team as a child? If so, which one and why. Did your parents follow the same teams? Do you still support the same teams?

I should mention that it is Heather writing this post, and not Jeanne. She and Susan decided the sports post should be written by me.

I don't think that any of us could say that we really had one favorite sports team growing up, but we did watch sports fairly often. Mostly one of the following teams:

The Chicago Cubs - All summer our grandmother would watch the Cubs. I seem to remember Grandma telling a story about riding the train to Wrigley Field to see games because they had a "Ladies Day" when women could get into the games for free (or $0.25.)

The Chicago Bears - Especially the '85 Bears when they won the Superbowl. We had a VHS tape of The Superbowl Shuffle and I watched it a million times. I was probably the only one who watched it repeatedly, but everyone knew the song!

The Cleveland Browns - Our Dad was a Cleveland Browns fan and we would watch the games sometimes. Susan said that they always made Dad mad though, and I have to say the same thing happens now at my house every Sunday with my husband also having the curse of being a Cleveland Browns fan. I just wish they could have a winning season!

The University of Dayton Flyers Basketball - We probably watched more basketball on TV then anything else. Our Mom is a college basketball lover, especially UD basketball. This past season my 2 year old learned half of the team from some basketball cards he got. I think you could safely call him a UD fan!

Wordless Wednesday

Tombstone Tuesday - Delano P. Randall

Delano P. Randall is our 3rd great-grandfather. He was the father of Harriet E. Randall who married Henry A. Grubb. In fact, Delano's brother - David Austin Randall - was the minister who married Harriet and Henry in Ohio in 1864. Below is the note that was entered into the marriage record in Ohio to document their marriage.

The Mystery of Lucy - Solved! (Part I)

Last year I wrote a post about my husband’s great-great-grandmother – Lucy. At the time I had just received her death certificate, along with the death certificate of her daughter – Sadie. Both had left me with a lot of questions.

A few weeks ago I took some time to revisit the information I had on Lucy and to see what new information I might find on FamilySearch.org. (If you've never been to FamilySearch.org I'd recommend a quick visit - after all it's free and there's a lot of interesting family information just waiting to be found.)

Turns out that FamilySearch.org has a database of Virginia marriages from 1785 – 1940 that gave me the missing information I needed to put together a more complete picture of Lucy’s life. I’m sure there’s more to be learned (there always is!) but I'm going to post as much as I know here over the next few weeks.

Lucy Bagley was born April 16, 1885 in Blackstone, Virginia. Blackstone is 35 miles southwest of Petersburg, Virginia and is a rural tobacco farming area. Lucy was born just twenty years after the end of the civil war and her parents may very well have been born in slavery.

According to her marriage information, Lucy was the daughter of William Bagley and Mary Williams. Once I knew the names of her parents and the place where she was born, I found her parents listed in the 1880 census, five years before her birth.


Assuming this is the correct William and Mary Bagley, it appears that Lucy had an older sister named Lizzie. Since there are other documents that show that Lucy named one of her daughters Mary Lizzie, I believe I've found the correct family.

Up next: the family moves to Petersburg, Virginia

Wordless Wednesday

Week 13: Sweets

Week 13: Sweets. What was your favorite childhood candy or dessert? Have your tastes changed since then? What satisfies your sweet tooth today?
Well, I missed a week in this series and didn't even realize it! I wouldn't want to miss this topic though! Of the 3 of us I may not have the biggest sweet tooth but I have strong opinions about what I like and dislike when it comes to sweets.

Let's make it simple and do a list:

Dark chocolate - my favorite! The best are Godiva dark chocolate truffles.
Milk chocolate - not worth it unless it's in a pretzel m&m (wish they would come out with a dark chocolate version)
Jelly beans - not that exciting to me except for the Starburst ones that they have now - yum!
Licorice - Twizzlers red licorice reminds me of fun times at the Brogan lake house. I can't stand black licorice though!
Ice cream - Ok, maybe I was wrong about dark chocolate being my favorite. It has to be ice cream. I love it in all forms- sundaes, shakes, sandwiches, or just plain. Please just don't add any kind of nuts because that TOTALLY ruins it!
Reeces pieces - I love these! I know that it doesn't make any sense given my dislike of nuts but the smooth peanut butter in them is sooo good.

I don't think that my tastes have changed much since I was a kid. I've always loved ice cream. I don't think I had much dark chocolate as a kid, just milk chocolate. I do remember loving Butterfinger candy bars and now I don't really like them.

What are your favorites?