Finding an Ancestor Whose Surname Changed

We've all seen it - the puzzle family tree for an ancestor whose first name is different in different records. In one he is recorded as James, in another as Robert. But we have proof that James and Robert are the same man. How is this possible? Most often further research reveals that our James was baptized as Robert James at birth, and has been using his first and middle names interchangeably. Mystery solved!

Occasionally the name issue out to be a bit more complicated to figure out, such as when an ancestor has a widely used nickname. Such was the case with my husband's grandfather, born Thomas Leon, but called Charlie by his friends and family. Early in life he began using the name Charlie in official records. Researching various records will find him as Charlie, Charles, and Thomas.

Of course it's critically important to verify that you have the correct ancestor. Check spousal names, children's names, etc to be sure Person A is the same individual as Person B. Compare ages, and any other details you find.  It shouldn't be too difficult to prove that the man using the name Thomas in some records is, or is not, the man using the name Charlie in others. But what about an ancestor whose surname changed? That's a much more challenging genealogy puzzle.

In researching my Vollick ancestry over 30 years ago I was able to trace back from my great-grandmother to my 5th great-grandfather Isaac Vollick, a Loyalist who fought in Butler's Rangers. But I could not get back beyond Isaac. My one clue was that he came from Albany New York, but I found no Vollick individuals in New York before the American Revolution. I began tracing forward, researching each of Isaac's children (Matthias, Cornelis, Annetje, Storm, Sophia, Elizabeth, Catharina, Sarah, and John) trying to find the family's origins.

Eventually I discovered that the son John used the surname Van Valkenburg (and variants) as well as Vollick. Storm used Follick as well as Vollick so it became clear that the name Vollick most likely had not been in existence prior to the American Revolution or Isaac and family coming to Niagara as Loyalists. The pieces began falling into place. A clue here, a notation there, but the best was a 1772 baptismal record for his son John recording the surname as Van Falkenburg. The baptisms for his other children in Albany and Schoharie had Isaac recorded as Valk and Falk.

I searched land records, petitions, church records, census, Loyalist records and more, eventually proving that Isaac was the illegitimate son of Isaac Van Valkenburg and Maria Bradt, and that he eventually began using the surname Vollick. Each of those surnames had a dizzying array of variations - Van Valkenburg, Van Falkenburg, Valkenburg, Falkenburg, Van Voltingburg, Vollick, Follick, Valk, Falk, Valich, Vollack,  and more!

Interestingly enough, because I had done so much in-depth research on the entire family, I had massive numbers of documents for Isaac, his wife Mary and each of his children and even his grandchildren. Last year I decided to share my research with other descendants, so I published 3 volumes of books on the family.

I'm really pleased that my challenging genealogy puzzle which took me many years to solve, allowed me to share these fascinating stories of Isaac Van Valkenburg aka Vollick and his sons Storm and Cornelis. 

 From Van Valkenburg to Vollick: V.1 The Loyalist Isaac Van Valkenburg aka Vollick and his Vollick & Follick Children by Lorine McGinnis Schulze

8.5" x 11" (21.59 x 27.94 cm)
68 pages

Available on Amazon.com or Amazon.ca or CreateSpace
The story of Isaac Van Valkenburg aka Vollick, a Loyalist who fought with Butler's Rangers during the American Revolution. He and his wife Anna Maria (Mary) Warner settled in Upper Canada in 1782. Isaac's Land Petitions, Affidavits of witnesses regarding his Loyalty to the British Crown, letters about Mary's ordeal after American Patriots burned her home and sent the family fleeing north to Canada in 1779, and other items are found in this book. Stories of Isaac's ancestors back to the first settlement of New Amsterdam (present day New York City) and Albany in the 1620s and Mary's ancestors back to the 1709 Palatine immigration from Germany to New York are included. 

From Van Valkenburg to Vollick: V. 2 Cornelius Vollick and his Follick and Vollick Descendants to 3 Generations by Lorine McGinnis Schulze

8.5" x 11" (21.59 x 27.94 cm)
110 pages
Available on Amazon.com or Amazon.ca or Createspace CreateSpace
Cornelius Vollick, son of Isaac Van Valkenburg aka Vollick, left New York during the American Revolution. Eventually the family arrived in the wilderness of Upper Canada in 1782 as impoverished Loyalists. They settled in the Niagara area with other disbanded soldiers from Butler's Rangers. There Cornelius met and married Eve Larroway the daughter of another Loyalist who fought with Butler's Rangers. With their 9 children Cornelius and Eve carved a life in this new land. Descendants will find documents, photographs, newspaper clippings and information about Cornelius and Eve and their children and grandchildren in this 110 page Family history book.

From Van Valkenburg to Vollick: V. 3 Storm Follick and his Follick and Vollick Descendants to 3 Generations by Lorine McGinnis Schulze

Available on CreateSpace and Amazon.com or or Amazon.ca

Storm Follick aka Vollick, son of Isaac Van Valkenburg aka Vollick, left New York during the American Revolution. Eventually the family arrived in the wilderness of Upper Canada in 1782 as impoverished Loyalists. They settled in the Niagara area with other disbanded soldiers from Butler's Rangers. There Storm met and married Ester. With their children Storm and Ester carved a life in this new land. Descendants will find documents, photographs, newspaper clippings and information about Storm, his wife Ester, and their children and grandchildren in this 108 page Family history book.  

WW2 Soldier's Letters Found - Need Help Returning Them to Family

Jared M. wrote to Olive Tree Genealogy after Lisa Haas put him in touch with me. It seems Jared found a box of old letters lying in an alley in Hamilton Ontario. 

The letters were written by soldier Sammi Gentile in England during WWW2. They were sent  to Mr. & Mrs. S. Gentile in Orillia Ontario. Jared hopes to find a descendant and send the letters home. 

Here is what we know from the letters: 

Mr. & Mrs. S. Gentile lived at 160 Main Street in Orillia in 1945. Sammi was a gunner in B Wing and stationed at a Repatriation Depot. He mentions the name Dan Rolland in one of the letters.

From my brief research last night I think I may have found the right family. 

VOTERS LISTS

The only Gentile family listed in the 1940s Voter's Lists on Ancestry.com consists of Sam Gentile, a merchant, his wife Mary as well as Sam Jr., Peter and Josephine all of age to vote. I suggest that Sam Jr. is our soldier and he is writing to his parents Sam and Mary. In the 1949 Voters' List only Sam and Mary remain left at home. 

CEMETERY

FindAGrave shows burials for some of the Gentile family in Orillia Ontario.  Samuel J. Gentile Jr. born 1913 died 1983 is there. I suggest this is Sammie the soldier. Also foundis Sam Sr (1881-1965) and wife Mary (1893-1958). 

CENSUS

The 1921 Census on Ancestry.com for Orillia which is in Simcoe County Ontario, show the Gentile family at 160 Mississauga Street. The family consists of

• Sam Sr. age 40, born Italy, immigrated 1893
• wife Mary 27, immigrated 1910
• daughters Winnifred (9) and Josephine (4)
• sons Sam Jr (7) and Peter (2)

There should be more census records and voters' lists for the family. No doubt birth, marriage and death records can be found as well. There are many other sources we can look for. 

I hope my readers will put on their genealogy sleuthing hats to help find a descendant of this family. Let's help Jared send these letters home to a family member who will treasure them.

You may post findings here as comments or send to me via email (olivetreegenealogyATgmailDOTcom) Please don't put information about living people in the comments section of this blog post. Such information should be sent to me privately. I will forward all findings to Jared. 

52 Ancestors: I Think I am My Own Cousin

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!

This week I am going to tell you about my ancestor Cornelius Vollick and his wife Eve Larroway. Cornelius, my 4th great grandfather, was born in 1761 in New York. He fought for the British during the American Revolution in Butler's Rangers. After the War he came to Ontario Canada as a Loyalist and settled in the Niagara area. There he married Eve Larroway who was the daughter of another Loyalist.

Interestingly enough, Cornelius Vollick's great grandmother Sophia Uziele, was the sister of Eve Larroway's great grandmother Maria Uziele. Since Cornelia and his wife Eve shared the same set of great-great grandparents, that makes them 3rd cousins. 

Here's the surprise:

Cornelius and Eve shared TWO sets of common 2nd great grandparents, not just one!  Cornelius' great great grandparents were Jochem & Eva (Vrooman) Van Valkenburg. So were Eve's. Cornelius' other set of great great grandparents were Pierre & Cornelia (Damen) Uzielle. So were Eve's.

Two of Jochem & Eva's grandchildren (through their son Isaac and daughter Jannetje) married two grandchildren of Pierre Uziele and Cornelia Damen.

The Van Valkenburg grandchildren were Isaac Van Valkenburg (who married Maria Bradt the daughter of Storm Bradt and Sophia Uziele) and Marytje Van Alstyne who married Petrus LeRoy the son of Maria Uziele (who was Sophia's sister!) and Leonard Le Roy.

Here's a chart which might show the relationships in a less confusing way

When I used an old version of FamilyTreeMaker some years ago my father was listed as my father AND as

my 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th cousin once removed

Phew! What cousin relationship that does that give me to Cornelius, Eve and my own children? I confess it confuses me and I've not yet figured it out. And I don't have that older version of FTM anymore. All I know is that genealogy is always full of surprises!

A Genealogy Mystery: The Gun & the Watch Fob

This is the story of a long-standing family mystery in my husband's Massey family.

Bill Jr. back 2nd from left

The characters

William Massey born 1916 and died 1984. He was a bachelor who lived in the sleepy town of St. Mary's Ontario his entire life. I'll call him Bill Jr.

His uncle Bill Massey was born 1894 and died in 1967. He too was a bachelor who to our knowledge never left St. Mary's. Let's call him Bill Sr.

Bill Massey Sr.

When Bill Jr. died in 1984 his brother Mike cleared out Bill's house and found two objects which he gave to my husband (Bill's brother's grandson). Mike did not know where one of the items came from or why his brother had it but he knew that the second item belonged to their uncle Bill who was born in 1894. Mike did not know why his Uncle Bill (Sr.) had this particular item.

The objects

1. A Nagant Gas Seal Revolver made in Belgium, model 1895, manufactured in 1898, known to belong to Bill Sr.

2. A watch fob with a two annas coin from India dated 1897. On the reverse of the coin is a shamrock with a green stone. The shamrock has been soldered on. Not known if it was ever owned by Bill Sr.

The gun would have been an unusual gun to find in North America years ago. As far as we can find out they were never sold commercially in this country. This gun was basically only used by the Polish Army, the Russian Army and some European Police Forces so it is curious how it ended up in the sleepy little town of St. Mary's Ontario.

Neither of the uncles (Bill Sr. or Bill Jr.) ever traveled overseas as far as we can determine.  Bill Sr. born in 1894 would have been too young to be the original owner of the gun. Did it belong to his father Thomas Massey?

There is indeed a sentence in Thomas Massey's obituary of 1912 which has puzzled my husband for many years "...the deceased was born in St. Mary's and spent all but a few years in the Stone Town." The Stone Town refers to St. Mary's where Thomas was born and died. To the family's knowledge he never left but this tiny reference in his obituary does indicate that indeed he did live elsewhere at some point in his life.

Also noteworthy perhaps is the fact that Uncle Bill Sr, the man who we know the gun once belonged to, was 18 when his father Thomas died. It might make sense that a gun belonging to his dad would be given to him as a memento. But the puzzle remains - how was the gun obtained and by who?  And... do the watch fob and India coin go with the gun? In other words were they owned by the same man?

I should also mention that neither of the Bills collected antiques or were sentimental. They had no other family treasures in their homes. So why keep this gun and watch fob?

The Massey family were not wealthy. They were not sophisticated. They didn't travel. They were hard-working labourers who lived and died in St. Mary's.  The Massey family history was passed down, any heirlooms were also passed down and treasured and family stories known and told about each member of the family. But nothing was ever heard of any of the family going off on an adventure or joining the army and leaving Canada.

Did one of the Massey men win these items in a poker game? Bill Sr. was a barber and perhaps one of his customers paid for their haircut and shave with the gun. We have no clues and no idea as to what the story is. But we think there just might be an adventure related to these items and waiting to be found.