No. 2 of My Top Ten Genealogy Mysteries

A Facebook friend recently posted her top 10 Genealogy Mysteries.  They aren't brick walls because there is probably an answer somewhere, just waiting to be found. 

 I thought this was a great idea and I am following suit with my Top 10 Genealogy Mysteries. Of course any help or suggestions for further research are welcome. 

Here is my Number 2 of 10 Genealogy Mysteries:

Maria Bradt 1713 - ?  

Maria Bradt is my 6th great grandmother. I know very little about her. She was baptised on 24 May 1713 in Albany New York to parents Storm Bradt and Sophia Uziele. 

In 1732 Maria bore an illegitimate child.  A son Isaac was baptised on 17 December 1732 in Schoharie New York. He was recorded in the Dutch Reformed Church records as Falkenburg [sic], after his father Isaac Van Valkenburg. Little Isaac's paternal grandparents were the sponsors at his baptism. 

The record reads:

Dec. 17 1732. Mother Maria Bradden [sic] daughter of Storm. Child Isaac Falkenburg. Sponsors: Isaac Falkenburg and his wife Lydia [this is Lydia Van Slyke]

The mystery: What happened to Isaac's mother Maria Bradt? I have found nothing further on her after this baptism in 1732. 

Her son Isaac Van Valkenburg fled to Canada as a Loyalist during the American Revolution and his surname, as well as those of his children, changed to Vollick (aka Follick) 

Finding Aid for Heir & Devisee Commission Online Films

From H 1144 V58
Burford Christian BRADT

Canadiana.Org has digitized 21 films of the Heir & Devisee Commission Papers (Heir & Devisee Commission papers 1797-1854, found in their Heritage Collection), and that's a good thing for genealogists. But as mentioned in a previous blog post I wrote called Heir & Devisee Commission 1797-1854 on Canadiana.org - Listing Errors and a Workaround, their index and description of what is in each film is incorrect.

After realizing their description didn't match what was in the film I was viewing, I spent several weeks going through each online film and noting what volumes and dates each contained. In September 2013 wrote to Canadiana.org through their website and to their Twitter account to provide them with the corrections but had no response. That's right - no response to my offer to provide them with a detailed and correct description of the contents of each film. I call that a huge fail! 

What is the Heir & Devisee Commission?

"This microfilm consists of records documenting the review and determination of claims for land brought forward by the heirs, devisees, and assignees of individuals originally located by the Crown on land, in cases where no letters patent had been issued. The First Heir and Devisee Commission was in existence between 1797 and 1805." [Source: Ontario Archives] 
  
10 of 21 Films Are Wrong on Canadiana.org

H 1133 and H 1134  are correctly identified and described on Canadiana.org so let's move on to the incorrectly described films. 10 of the online 21 films are incorrect.  H 1135, H 1136, H 1137, H 1138, H 1139, H 1140, H 1141, H 1142, H 1150 and H 1151 are all incorrectly described and the wrong contents listed on the Canadiana.org website. 

Finding Aid for H 1135

Example of an index found in Heir & Devisee Commission Reels

H 1135 (Volumes16-20 Johnston District Location Certificates) does not contain what Canadiana.org has listed. H 1135 is described on Canadiana.org as containing Volumes 9-15. In reality this digitized film contains volumes 16-20. Here is Olive Tree Genealogy's list of contents which I obtained by viewing the entire film online. 

I have added image numbers to help genealogists find the start of each section. This will work as a Finding Aid for genealogists.

• Image 14  V16 Johnston District  
• Image 148 V 17 Johnston District Location Certificates, alphabetical  A-B
• Image 149 “A” names Land Certificates
• Image 186 “B” names Land Certificates
• Image 319 V 18  Location Certificates C-F
• Image 319 “C” names Land Certificates
• Image 402 “D” names Land Certificates
• Image 434 “E” names Land Certificates 1787-1795
• Image 448 “F” names Land Certificates 1784-1803
• Image 485 V 19 Location Certificates G & H
• Image 486 “G” names Land Certificates 1785-1806
• Image 547 “H” names Land Certificates 1784-1803
• Image 619 “J” names Land Certificates 1784-1802
• Image 665 V 20 Location Certificates K-M
• Image  666 “K” names Land Certificates 1784-1810
• Image  701 “L” names Land Certificates 1784-1801
• Image 757 “M” names Land Certificates  1783-1803

My first set of detailed listings of the contents of film H1133 can be viewed at No Response from Canadiana.org so here are the Heir & Devisee Commission Film Details 

I have published the full set of corrections for the digitize records on Olive Tree Genealogy website at Heir & Devisee Commission This is a work in progress.

Black Sheep, Good Sheep

On June 19, 2007 the Globe and Mail "Family and Relationship" section featured the genealogy website of Tyler Schulze. Tyler is a communications specialist for the Department of Defence and has served in Afghanistan. You can find his website Blacksheep Ancestors here.

Tyler is the son of Lorine McGinnis Schulze of Olive Tree Genealogy so it seems that love of genealogy is a genetic trait

BLACK SHEEP, GOOD SHEEP
by Patrick White in Tuesday's Globe and Mail June 19, 2007 at 9:20 AM EDT

He may have killed two wives, but your great-great-great-grandfather is no longer a pariah. Amateur genealogists are tapping into online databases to shine a light on the less desirable ancestors from our pasts. Finding an outlaw in the family is much cooler than discovering your great-uncle was a farmer

Even by criminal standards, Albert Bradt, a 17th-century outlaw who lived in present-day New York, was a genuine scoundrel. Marking his lengthy rap sheet are charges for knifing a neighbour and burning down a house with his two sons inside.

Read the rest of this article Black Sheep, Good Sheep