What's In A Name?

1794 Petition of Jacob Burkholder

Do you have ancestors whose surnames were mangled in a variety of ways? Most of us do. Spelling wasn't exact prior to 1900 and clerks often recorded names as they heard them.

Often our ancestors could not read or write so they had no way of knowing if their name was misspelled.

In his 1794 petition for land, my ancestor Jacob Burkholder stated he arrived in Upper Canada (present day Ontario) in July 1794, and  applied for land 7 Aug. 1794.

He was recorded as Borghonder in records. That was a new one for me. I had seen the name recorded in other records as Burki, Borcholder, Borcholter, Borckholder, Borgholder, Borkholder, Burckhalter, Burckholdr, Burgholder, Burgholdter, Burkhalter and Burkholder.

Some of my other challenging names to search are: 

My Vollick family not only changed their name from Van Valkenburg to Vollick, it was also found in records as Valk, Follick, Volluch, Folluck, Valick, and more. 

How about my Rabbit family in Kent England? I've found their name as Rabbett, Rabbet, Rabbit, Rabbitt, Rabet, and Rebitt

Sometimes it seems more like Alphabet Soup than any resemblance to the actual name. But that's part of the fun of Genealogy.  What are some of your misspelled ancestor names?

Can You Match or Beat Mine?

Family Trees can be very confusing with intermarriages, step-parents, multiple marriages, etc. 

Davd Annal posed an intriguing question on Twitter asking if anyone could beat his four brothers marrying four sisters. I can. 

Here's mine - in the early 19th century 6 Vollick siblings married 5 Burkholder siblings (you'll figure that out when you look below):

1826 Matthias Vollick m Catherine Burkholder

1827 Isaac Vollick m Sophia Burkholder

1830 Janine Volllick (1) md Jacob Burkholder

1831 Richard Vollick m Elizabeth Burkholder (My ancestors)

1831 Margaret Vollick m David Burkholder

1846 Eliza Vollick (2) m Jacob Burkholder

The Vollick family sometimes used the surname Follick. You can read more about the family at Isaac Van Valkenburg aka Vollick, Loyalist from New York with Butler's Rangers in Niagara

Can you match or beat mine?

 

My Surname Christmas Tree

Here's my yearly surname Christmas Tree. It's the only one I'm doing this year.

Some of my surnames are

Peer, Vollick, King, McGinnis, Downey, Stead, Simpson, Burkholder, Fuller, Greenlees, Johnston, Shuart, Van Slyke, Ryckman, Bradt, Van Valkenburg, Damen, Caiser, Taine, Philpot, Norris, Dawson, Motteram, Wildbore, Higginson, Bell, Caspall, Holford, Smith, Dawson, Marical, Baker, Larroway, De Graw, Gingerich, Jamieson, Hubbard, Laming, Williams, Norman, Whibley, Page, Crunden, Fryer, Van Horn, Snediker, Sutton, Elvery, Anson, Blandell, Jackson, LeRoy, Winne, Hommell, Snider, Bellinger, Warner, Van Alstyne, Muller, Deroche, Wust, Kehl, Earl, Cole, Burd, Vrooman, Van Horn, Snediker, Post, Shuart, Uziele, and more.

Rescued Memorial Cards for Elias & Elizabeth Baker of Bethesda Ontario

Funeral and Memorial Cards are valuable tools for genealogists. Often overlooked as a resource, they can provide invaluable genealogical information.

My husband and I try to rescue these cards whenever we find them at flea markets and antique stores.

For me the joy is researching the individual and giving them a voice. Here is a wonderful find - the Memorial Cards for Elias Baker and his wife Elizabeth. 


Their Memorial cards are folded in two so that you have a front cover (above) then a left and right side when you open the card. Elias' card reads:

In loving memory of Elias Baker who passed away Saturday, November the sixteenth nineteen hundred and twenty-nine aged eighty-four years. Intered in Heise Hill Cemetery, Markham, Ontario.

The left side of the interior of Elias' Memorial card is a traditional verse. His obituary appeared in the Stouffville Tribune in November. The mention of the Burkholder farm was intriguing to me as I am a Burkholder descendant.

Elias' wife Elizabeth's Memorial Card indicates that she died in 1913. Her card reads "Died at Betheseda, on Saturday Nov. 29th 1913, Elizabeth Baker wife of Elias Baker"




 Information on Elizabeth's funeral is given on the right side of her Memorial Card:

The outside of Elizabeth Baker's Memorial Card:

We are happy to pass these cards on to family members. Please leave a comment here on this blog post with your email address, or write me directly at olivetreegenealogy AT gmail.com   Be sure to visit AncestorsAtRest.com for more Funeral Cards and Memorial Cards.

My Christmas Tree 2016

Merry Christmas everyone! I put up my Christmas Tree today!

Some of my surnames are

Peer, Vollick, King, McGinnis, Downey, Stead, Simpson, Burkholder, Fuller, Greenlees, Johnston, Shuart, Van Slyke, Ryckman, Bradt, Van Valkenburg, Damen, Caiser, Taine, Philpot, Norris, Higginson, Bell, Caspall, Holford, Smith, Dawson, Marical, Baker, Larroway, De Graw, Gingerich, Jamieson, Hubbard, Laming, Williams, Norman, Whibley, Page, Crunden, Fryer, Van Horn, Snediker, Sutton, Elvery, Anson, Blandell, Jackson, LeRoy, Winne, Hommell, Snider, Bellinger, Warner, Van Alstyne, Muller, Deroche, Wust, Kehl, Earl, Cole, Burd, Vrooman  Post, Shuart, Uziele and more.

52 Ancestors: Jacob Burkholder and the Haunted Family Cemetery

Amy Johnson Crow has a new challenge for geneabloggers called Challenge: 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. Amy challenges genealogists to write about one ancestor once a week. I'm having fun with this and I hope you are too!

Jacob Burkholder, my 5th great-grandfather, was born in Switzerland in 1747, but his father moved the family north to Mannheim, Germany on the lower Rhine River to escape persecution. Here, they joined other Palatines and Jacob learned weaving. 

Jacob and his two brothers John and Christian sailed for America in 1765 on the ship Myrtilla. They landed at Philadelphia, 21 September 1765.

Several French Huguenot refugees were among the Myrtilla's 81 passengers, including Abraham and Sophia De Roche. Sophia was a French girl, supposedly of Huguenot descent. Jacob married Sophia De Roche in 1765 in Lancaster Co., Pennsylvania. Their signatures may be seen in Pennsylvania, where they took the oath of allegiance to the British Crown in 1765. 

Following the American Revolution, Jacob Burkholder wished to remain under British rule. After his eldest sons made an exploratory trip to the head of Lake Ontario, Jacob, Sophia and family left Pennsylvania for Upper Canada (now the province of Ontario). With their son Christian as their guide, they came by Conestoga wagon drawn by oxen, crossing at Buffalo and arriving at Niagara in present day Ontario province, in October 1794. They obtained 800 acres on the Hamilton mountain and were the first family to settle east of the Caledonia highway. 

A family cemetery was established by 1800, the earliest interment being Jacob Burkholder's son Joseph, who died of a broken back after falling from a shed roof. This cemetery is said to be haunted with a spectral light that appears every time someone nearby dies. No one has ever figured out what the light is or why it appears every so often on top of the church.

The family gave its name to a small community, the Burkholder settlement, which developed at the intersection of what is now Mohawk Road and Sherman Avenue in Hamilton, Ontario. 

 In 1839, a small log building was erected to serve as both church and school. It was replaced by the Mountain Chapel in 1850. This was renamed Burkholder Methodist Church in 1886 and after 1925, became known as Burkholder United Church.  In 1947 a monument was erected to honour Jacob and his wife Sophia.

I have found Jacob recorded under many spellings, including Borghonder. My Burkholder name daughters out with Jacob's granddaughter Elizabeth (born ca 1816 in Hamilton to David Burkholder and Elizabeth Gingrich) who married Richard Vollick. It is kind of interesting to note that Elizabeth was one of 16 children and that 4 of the Burkholder siblings married Vollick siblings.