E is for Explorer - Do You Have One?

Olive Tree Genealogy is continuing a new Alphabet Genealogy series of blog posts. I'm not following the usual way of going A-Z surnames. Instead I will create a one word "tag". Then I will share an ancestor (mine, my husband's, an inlaw's or one of my children's) who fits the tag

Today's letter is E and the tag word is Explorer. I don't have any explorers like Columbus or Henry Stanley but I do have Eileen Vollick, Canada's first licenced female pilot. Perhaps I can call her an Explorer.

My third cousin twice removed, Eileen Vollick (1908-1968)  became the first Canadian woman to obtain a pilot's licence in March 1928. Eileen was related to me in two ways, and was also my 7th cousin twice removed. 

"Canada’s first licenced woman pilot was born in Wiarton, Ontario. By the age of 19, she was a textile analyst at the Hamilton Cotton Company and had also won a local beauty contest. She was a spirited girl who had parachuted into Burlington Bay before taking flying lessons. It was 1927. Charles Lindbergh had just flown the Atlantic and Amelia Earhart was beginning to capture the public’s imagination. The diminutive Beach Boulevard resident had already set her sights much higher than anyone could have imagined!

She enrolled in the Flying School owned by Jack V. Elliot at Ghents Crossing on Burlington Bay. The only reservation that her instructor, Len Trip had, was that she was only 5' 1"s and had to use pillows to see out of the cockpit of the ski-equipped Curtiss JN-4 Bi-plane (affectionately known as a "Jenny")

The Comptroller of Civil Aviation issued Eileen a private pilot’s licence #77 on March 13, 1928, the first woman in Canada to qualify as a pilot.

After passing her flight test, she flew in the U.S. and Canada, often demonstrating aerobatic flying which she enjoyed immensely. Shortly afterwards she became Mrs James Hopkin, moved to New York State and raised a family, where she lived until her death in 1968."

Read more about this pioneer woman.

B is for Blacksheep Ancestor, Do You Have One?

Kingston Penitentiary

Olive Tree Genealogy is continuing a new Alphabet Genealogy series of blog posts. I'm not following the usual way of going A-Z surnames. Instead I will create a one word "tag". Then I will share an ancestor (mine, my husband's, an inlaw's or one of my children's) who fits the tag.

Today's tag for the letter B is Blacksheep. We all want a Blacksheep ancestor! Let me share the story of  two of my great-grand uncles qualify for this title.

They didn't do anything too horrific by today's standards, but they did end up spending 18 months in jail so I think that qualifies them as blacksheep! Here's the story directly from the newspaper of the day:

The Elmvale Lance, Dec. 5, 1901

CRIMINAL SESSION AT BARRIE

Albert and Herman Vollick and Gabriel French who were accused of stealing a heifer from James Johnston of Flos were found guilty and sentenced to 18 months in Central Prison.

Judge Ardagh characterized the offence as a very grave and serious one, and punishable by 14 years in the penetentiary: though the Vollicks may have been led into it by French, he did not consider they were entitled to any leniency

Albert and Herman Vollick were the brothers of my great grandmother Mary Elizabeth Vollick who I have written about before on this blog in Putting Flesh on the Genealogy Bones.

52 Ancestors: It's All in the Name

1837 document from Storm starting he is known as
both Vollick and Follick in his neighbourhood

My 5th great-grandfather Isaac Vollick, born 1732 in Schoharie, New York, was a United Empire Loyalist who came to Upper Canada from the United States during the American Revolution. He was the illegitimate son and only child of Isaac VanValkenburg and Maria Bradt.

It is through Isaac the Loyalist that Follick and Vollick descendants claim their Mohawk heritage. Isaac's great-great-grandmother was Ots-Toch a half French, half Mohawk woman who married Cornelis Van Slyke a Dutchman who settled in Albany New York in 1627

Although no record of a marriage has been found for Isaac and Maria, their son Isaac used his father's surname until 1782. During his years as a private in Butler's Rangers, Isaac's surname changed from Van Valkenburg, meaning in Dutch, 'from the castle of the falcons' (van=from; valken=falcons; burgh=castle), to Valk or Valck which means 'falcon'. It appears that Valk was his nickname and on being recorded by English clerks, a vowel was inserted between the final 'l' and 'k' making the surname Valic or Volick. Over the years, the surname was written as Vollick, Volic, Valic, Valck, Valk, Volk and Follick (the German/Dutch accent making a 'v' sound like 'f' to English ears).

My line, descended from his son Cornelius, took the Vollick surname. His son Storm used the Follick surname. In the next generation some Follick descendants used Vollick while some Vollick descendants used Follick.  It makes it interesting trying to research all branches of this family!

An 1864 Death Announcement Leads to More Questions Than Answers

A cousin recently sent me a death announcement from 1864 for one of our Vollick family branches. I'd actually already seen it but had forgotten so it was a nice reminder and a push to motivate to figure out which Isaac Vollick had died. There are several candidates in my genealogy database but I was able to easily determine which Isaac fit since I had one living in Nelson Township on Conc. 5, Lot 1 and dying on April 30, 1864.

Here is the announcement:

Hamilton Evening Times article on Isaac Vollick on p 3 on Saturday, May 7, 1864 copied by the paper from the "Champion": SUDDEN DEATH. We learn that a man by the name of Isaac Vallick, residing on the 5th line Nelson, died suddenly in a fit on Saturday last. Mr. Vallick it appears, has been slightly subject to fits for a length of time, and more especially if he was in trouble. This fit, which proved fatal, was supposed to be induced in consequence of his having but the day previous been deprived of a daughter by that stern and relentless messenger - Death. He leaves a family to mourn his demise. Milton Champion

The man who died of a "fit" (no doubt epileptic seizure) was the brother of my 3rd great-grandfather Richard Vollick. Several of Isaac's daughters suffered from epilepsy which would not have been well-controlled in that time period.

I've not yet been able to determine which daughter died the day before Isaac died. Since Ontario Death Registrations did not begin until 1869 my task will be challenging! I know of four daughters and have deaths for three of them. It would be easy to assign that fourth daughter as the one dying in 1864 but there may be other daughters who I have not found. So this is a good example of not beging too quick to jump to conclusions.

This announcement also got me thinking about the illnesses and disorders that affected our ancestors. Genetic health is an interesting offshoot of being a genealogy researcher. For instance I've found many occurrences in official records of epilepsy in my Vollick family branches, and it affects some of my living relatives.

My husband's male ancestors mostly suffer heart-related problems and deaths. So a project I want to begin is one where I will list our ancestors (direct and collateral) and their causes of death. By putting them on a spreadsheet I can sort by disorders/diseases and see what is most prevalent. Of course this will not be 100% scientifically accurate as many health issues were not recognized or were labelled incorrectly. But I think it will prove interesting.