A New Meme: Our Immigrant Ancestors

There is a lot of discussion about immigration in America right now. Tempers have flared, and different groups hold various strong opinions. There is also Brexit, where immigration was a large focus of the recent vote which resulted in the U.K. leaving the E.U.

My Immigrant Ancestor Cornelis Van Slyke

I've been following this for several months and it occurs to me that those of us in Canada, America, and Australia have immigrant ancestors. Have you researched yours? Do you know who they were, why they came to your country and when? Do you know how they fared once settled in their new land? Were they welcomed? Were they shunned? Was their discrimination based on their religion or ethnic origin? These are all questions that are important, and interesting to discover. With that in mind, I'm the dedicating Saturdays (as many as needed) as the day to join me in discussing your immigrant ancestors.

You will be able to read any you are interested in by using the keyword Immigrant Ancestors. On Twitter I will be using #ImmigrantAncestors as the hashtag for searching.

1646 Letter

I'm going to share each week what I know of my immigrant ancestors to North America (whether that is USA or Canada). Let me start with my father's side, and the first immigrant I found many years ago when I was fairly new to genealogy research - Cornelis Antonissen Van Slyke from Holland.

It was an exciting day for me when I discovered I was descended from a Dutchman who arrived in New Netherland  (New York) in 1627. Cornelis Van Slyke's story is of a Dutchman who came to the New World as a carpenter at the age of 23, who became an interpreter for the Mohawk nation, was adopted into the tribe, and who met and married a French-Mohawk woman (Ots-Toch)who never left her native village. Their children, all raised at Canajoharie, one of the Mohawk castles or villages, became well-known and respected in the Dutch community. All except one left the village and married Dutch settlers.

One of their children was my 8th great grandfather, Jacques Cornelissen Van Slyke who was known as Akes Gautsch, and whose Mohawk name was It-sy-cho-sa-quash-ka. Jacques was also an interpreter and one of the first settlers of Schenectady.

From the research I have done, it appears that Cornelis, who was known as Broer Cornelis by the Mohawks, was a respected and hard-working man. I was so intrigued by Cornelis venturing into the new world when it was nothing more than a wilderness, and meeting and marrying a native Indian, that I wrote a book called "The Van Slyke Family in America: A Genealogy of Cornelise Antonissen Van Slyke, 1604-1676 and his Mohawk Wife Ots-Toch, including the story of Jacques Hertel, 1603-1651, Father of Ots-Toch and Interpreter to Samuel de Champlain" (REVISED EDITION) which is available online if there are other interested descendants.

Finding Cornelis was actually the start of my author career! Since I wrote the first book on Cornelis in 1996, I have researched and published 21 genealogy-history books, 6 books on researching your ancestors, and 1 genealogy mystery novel. If you are interested, check these out at my author website LorineSchulze.com 

Stay tuned for next Saturday's Immigrant Ancestor story. I hope you will join me! 

Solving a Genealogy Puzzle Part 4: Finding Rachel

Please read Solving a Genealogy Puzzle: Finding Rachel Parts 1, 2 and 3 before continuing with this last article on my quest to find Rachel.

I hope I've put together a compelling case for the parents of Rachel Ann Van Slyke being James H. Van Slyke of Pennsylvania and Sarah Ann McCready.  As well I suggest that James Franklin Van Slyke and William M. Van Slyke were Rachel's brothers.

What evidence have I found to support my theory?

BIRTH PLACE OF PARENTS OF WILLIAM, RACHEL & JAMES

Year	William	Rachel	James
1880 Father	blank	blank	PA
1880 Mother	blank	blank	PA
1900 Father	PA	unknown	PA
1900 Mother	OH	MO	MO
1910 Father	no census	unknown	PA
1910 Mother	no census	unknown	blank
1920 Father	no census	USA	PA
1920 Mother	no census	OH	MO
1930 Father	no census	PA	PA
1930 Mother	no census	MO	USA

Realizing that we do not know who provided information to the census taker, we can still see that these individuals fairly consistently show their father's birth place as Pennsylvania. The mother's varies from Missouri to Ohio.

NAMING PATTERNS OF CHILDREN

William M. Van Slyke	Rachel Ann Bridges	James Franklin Van Slyke
* Mary Ann (his mother's middle name was Ann) * Rachel E. (his sister's name) * Lola A. * James (his father's and brother's name) * David	* Richard * James (her father's and brother's name) * Timothy * Almond Robert * Harley Clyde * Willie D. (her brother's name) * Wesley?	* Sarah M. (his mother's name) * Maud * Bessie * James (his father's name) * John D. * William E. (his brother's name) * Anna * Ruth May * Thomas * Ruby

Realizing that there may be other children born to these individuals, we can still see that the name James is consistently used, possibly in honour of their father, and the names Sarah or Ann used, possibly after their mother. As well, James death certificate provides his mother's name as Ann McCready.


GEOGRAPHIC LOCATIONS OF WILLIAM, RACHEL & JAMES

Year	William	Rachel	James
1850	possibly Bates Co	unknown, possibly not born yet	not born
1860	Prairie, Chariton	Jackson, Jasper	not found
1870	possibly Benton Co	Grand River, Henry	Grand River,Henry
1880	Windsor, Henry	Windsor, Henry	Tebo, Henry
1900	Oklahoma but in 1890 was in Bates Co MO	Windsor, Henry	Jefferson, Johnson
1910	dead	Windsor, Henry	Green Ridge, Pettis
1920	dead	Windsor, Henry	Windsor, Henry
1930	dead	Windsor, Henry	El Dorado, Cedar but 1937 died in Bates Co

FAMILY LEGENDS

 I  found the following family story about James Frank Van Slyke born Missouri:

This story comes from my dad, Louis Van Slyke.  He said his grandfather, James Frank Van Slyke, was about 8 years old one winter during the War of Northern Aggression.  He lived with his mother, his father had run off.  Some union soldiers were camped near their farm, it was cold.  James' mother was a Union sympathizer and baked biscuits for the union officers.  She sent Frank to the Union camp with the biscuits.  James didn't have an overcoat, so he was in his shirtsleeves in the cold.  One of the officers asked him, "Where's your coat, boy?"  James said he didn't have a coat.  The union officer took off his greatcoat and gave it to the boy.  James thought it was the best coat in the world.  He could walk through the snow-covered woods and didn't feel the cold at all.  He kept that coat until it just wore out. Later, James lived with anyone that would let him go to school.  He would do chores as required and go to school.

Solving a Challenging Genealogy Puzzle: Finding Rachel Part 3

For anyone just joining me, you will want to read  Solving a Challenging Genealogy Puzzle: Finding Rachel Part 1 and Part 2 before you read Part 3.

Here is what I have accomplished so far in my search for Rachel.

I put together a decent timeline of Rachel Van Slyke during her lifetime. I discovered a couple I believe to be her parents. Just to remind everyone, my theory is that James H. Van Slyke, possibly born Pennsylvania and Sarah Ann McCready, probably born Missouri were Rachel's parents.

Here is a summary of what I found on James and Sarah Ann:

* April 1841 James Van Slyke of Van Buren Co. Missouri marries Sarah Ann McCready in Henry Co. Missouri
* April/May 1843 James H. Van Slyke of Van Buren Co. receives land in Bates Co. Missouri
* March 1856 James Van Slyke receives land in Jasper Co. Missouri
* July 1859 Sarah Ann Van Slyke marries James Wilkerson in Jasper Co.
* 1860 Rachel Vansback [sic], 9 years old is living with James Wilkerson's mother in Jasper Co.

Since James Van Slyke and Sarah Ann McCready were married in 1841 and Rachel was not born until 1850, I suggest there may have been other children born to this couple between 1841 and Sarah Ann's second marriage in 1859.

So my next research decision was to search census records for any Van Slyke individuals born in Missouri 1841-1860. (I chose 1860 as the end year assuming Sarah might have been pregnant with a Van Slyke baby at the time of her marriage)

So as not to prolong the suspense, I found two Van Slyke males born at the right time in the right place to be siblings of Rachel. Here's the summary for William M. Van Slyke born February 1842 Bates Co. Missouri and James Franklin Van Slyke born January 1853 Missouri. My census research was done on Ancestry.com  Note that "nf" means "not found"

William M. Van Slyke aka Slack aka Vanslack 1842-1909	James Franklin Van Slyke aka Van Slack 1853-1937	Rachel Ann Van Slyke aka Bridges 1850-1931
1850 n.f.	1850 n.f.  - not born yet	1850 n.f.  - not born yet
1860 Census Prairie, Chariton,Missouri William Slack [sic] age 17	1860 n.f.	1860 Census Jackson, Jasper County Missouri. Rachel Vansback [sic], 9 living with Wilkerson family
18 May 1864. Warrensburg Larceny charges re stealing a horse from “Mrs. Pitts”. Residence given as Henry Co. Charges dismissed (as Van Slack)	1870 Grand River Township, Henry County Missouri. James Vanslike [sic] age 16 with Lewis family	1868 Benton County Missouri. Rachel Van Slyke of Benton Co. marries Alfred E. Bridges of Henry Co.
3 Sept 1864 Enlisted at Warrensburg MO 45th Inf. MO age 22 (as Wm M Van Slyke)	married 1870-1880	1870 Census Grand River, Henry Co. Missouri. Edmund Bridges a farmer age 27 born Ohio, wife Ann 20 born Missouri
5 July 1865 St Louis MO 1 Oct 1865 re-enlisted 50th Inf MO	1880  Tebo, Henry, Missouri. James Van Slack [sic] 26 with wife Elzina. parents b PA	1880 Census Windsor, Henry County, Missouri. Rachel 24 (recorded as Reichiel) born Missouri married to Edmon [sic] 37 born Ohio
1 Oct. 1865 marriage record for William Van Slyke marrying in Benton Co. to Louisa Teter. Bride and groom living in Pettis County	1890 n.f.	1900 Census Windsor, Henry County Missouri. Rachel A. Bridges, 50, born January 1850.Married to Alfred E. Bridges
1870 n.f.	1900 Census Jefferson, Johnson, Missouri. James F. Van Slyck 47, pa b. PA, ma MO	1910 Census Franklin Street, Windsor, Henry County, Missouri. R. A. Bridges, 60 years old. Married to A. E. Bridges age 67
1880 Windsor, Henry Co. Missouri	1910 Census Green Ridge, Pettis, Missouri. James. D [sic] Van Slyke 57. pa b. PA	1920 Census Franklin Street, Windsor, Henry County, Missouri. Rachel A. Bridges, 69 widow
1890 Special Census for  Surviving Soldiers, Widows of Civil War: Rich Hill, 2nd Ward, Bates Co. MO	1920 Felt St. Windsor, Henry, Missouri. James F. Van Slyke 67. pa b. PA. ma MO	1930 Census for Windsor, Henry County, Missouri. Rachel Bridges, 80 year old widow in Windsor, Henry County. Pa born in Pennsylvania, ma Missouri
1900 Keokuk, Lincoln Co. Oklahoma misindexed as Vandyke on Ancestry. Pa b PA, ma OH	1930 Census El Dorado Springs, Cedar, Missouri. James F. Van Slyke 77. pa b. PA	Feb 25 1931 Windsor, Henry Co, MO - bur: Feb 26 1931 Laurel Oak Cemetery
16 Aug. 1909 Widow Filed for Civil War Pension	Death 21 Dec. 1937. Registered Bates Co. MO, burial Windsor, Henry Co. MO.  shows dob Jan. 11, 1853. Mother Ann McCready	---

Naturally there are more clues and information to be found on each of the images for these records above.  We can see at a glance that the father is most often listed as born in Pennsylvania so that is certainly a clue I would follow further. 

The circumstantial evidence is strong (notice the geographic locations) and supports my theory that James H. Van Slyke and Sarah Ann McCready had at least three children: Willliam M. born February 1842, Rachel Ann born January 1850 and James Franklin born January 1853. 

It seems quite plausible that James the father died or deserted the family and that Sarah the mother remarried. I have found no trace of Sarah or her second husband James Wilkerson after their marriage in 1859. The fact that the children seem to have gone to live with other families makes me suspect they may have died soon after their marriage. 

In part 4 I will list all the circumstantial evidence that leads me to my conclusion that James H. Van Slyke and Sarah Ann McCready were the parents of Rachel Ann Van Slyke who married Alfred Edmund Bridges, and that Rachel had two siblings - William M. Van Slyke and James Franklin Van Slyke.

Solving a Challenging Genealogy Puzzle: Finding Rachel Part 2

As a reminder, here is the challenge I have been working on - Jess intrigued me with this email she sent to Olive Tree Genealogy

my great great grandmother was a Rachel Ann Van Slyke born 1/23/1850 Joplin Missouri. d. 2//1931. she married Alfred E bridges 11/1/1868. I've hit a dead end as to who her parents might be and am trying to establish a direct link to either Cornelius or Peter.

any ideas of any descendants of peter or cornelius who may have had a daughter named Rachel Ann Van Slyke and who lived in Missouri in 1850?

The start of this genealogy research journey can be found at Solving a Challenging Genealogy Puzzle: Finding Rachel Part 1

After putting together a fairly good timeline of Rachel during her lifetime, and analyzing the census records I found for further clues, I decided to look for any Van Slyke individuals in or near her locations. This was not such a stab in the dark as it might seem. There were very few Van Slyke names of any variation found in any of the census records for Missouri! That was very helpful because we can theorize that it is very possible they are all related. Remember - this is a theory only so I had to prove or disprove it.

Marriage 12 April 1841

I had no results in the 1850 and 1860 census on Ancestry.com but found one very intriguing marriage record dated 12 April 1841 in Henry Missouri for James Vanslyke and Sarah Ann Mccready. The record stated that both James and Sarah resided in Van Buren County at the time of their marriage.

These looked like good candidates to be Rachel's parents so I then focused my research on this couple.  In a nutshell here is what I found (please note that this was not quick and easy, my findings are the result of many hours of diligent and creative research techniques)

Bates Co. Missouri Almost 150 land patents were issued in April and May, 1843. Below are the names of the original patentees, and the land they received.

VANSLYKE, JAMES M     17867     Twp. 41N - Range 29W, the NE¼SW¼ of Section 26 - 40 acres
VANSLYKE, JAMES M     17868     Twp. 41N - Range 29W, the NW¼NW¼ of Section 25 - 40 acres
VANSLYKE, JAMES M     17869     Twp. 41N - Range 29W, the SW¼NE¼ of Section 26

The image on Ancestry.com for each of these patents states that James M. Van Slyke was living in Van Buren Co. at the time. But when the image is enlarged that middle initial "M" could be an "H". Keep this in mind as it relates to my next find.

Image from Ancestry.com

The next item I found was dated 10 March 1856 when James "H" Vanslack (sic) of Jasper Co. Missouri purchases 40 acres of land

It seems very clear in this 1856 image that the middle initial is "H". In the 1843 image, it could be H which has been mistranscribed as an "M"


I feel confident that this is land being purchased by James Van Slyke who married Sarah Ann McCready. I did not find any other records for James Van Slyke but I did find a second marriage record for Sarah Ann McCready. I suggest we can theorize her husband was deceased or had deserted the family because in Joplin, Jasper Missouri on 28 July 1859 we find Sarah Ann Vanslyke marrying James Wilkerson.

Before I leave this article to move on to Part 3 of Finding Rachel, let's take a look at that surname Wilkerson. Remember 9 year old Rachel "Vansback" living with Levina Wilkerson in 1860? The 1850 census for Jasper finds Levina/Lavina Wilkerson (misindexed as Wilkenson) with her husband Morgan and family including son James Wilkerson age 18.

I suggest that Sarah Ann McCready married first James H. Van Slyke in 1843. She had at least one daughter, Rachel Ann McCready. Then her husband died or deserted the family some time between purchasing land in Jasper in 1856 and Sarah Ann's second married in 1859 to James Wilkerson. For an unknown reason, little 9 year old Rachel went to live with her step-father James' mother Levina Wilkerson by 1860. Did Sarah Ann and James die? Did they move away? Were they simply on an extended honyemoon?

My next research investigates those questions and more (for example does Rachel have siblings?) and will be found in Part 3 of this series.

Solving a Challenging Genealogy Puzzle: Finding Rachel Part 1

Jess captured my interest with an email she sent to Olive Tree Genealogy

my great great grandmother was a Rachel Ann Van Slyke born 1/23/1850 Joplin Missouri. d. 2//1931. she married Alfred E bridges 11/1/1868. I've hit a dead end as to who her parents might be and am trying to establish a direct link to either Cornelius or Peter.

any ideas of any descendants of peter or cornelius who may have had a daughter named Rachel Ann Van Slyke and who lived in Missouri in 1850?

As many of you no doubt know, I have written several books on the Van Slyke family. My first book was published in 1996 and my most recent is the 3rd Edition of my Cornelis Van Slyke book. "New Netherland Settlers Van Slyke Family: Cornelis Antonissen Van Slyke 1604-1676 & his French-Mohawk Wife Ots-Toch" 366 pages, over 1200 footnotes available for Americans on Amazon and for Canadians on Amazon.ca


My other book on the family is 
New Netherland Settlers: Willem Pieterse Van Slyke aka Willem Neef: A genealogy to 5 generations of the descendants of Willem Pieterse Van Slyke (Volume 10)

on Amazon.com or Amazon.ca

Even though I have an extensive database of Van Slyke material from my years of research, Jess' Rachel Ann Van Slyke was not in it. So I began my research and I'd like to take you with me on this challenging and complex journey.

 The first item that Jess needed to realize is that the surname Van Slyke can be found in many variations - Van Slyck, Van Slike, Van Slack and more. When searching online some search engines require precision meaning that a search of Van Slyke will not result in any hits if the surname is indexed as Vanslyke (with no spaces). Those are just the variant spellings and of course we have to talk about misindexing and errors by transcribers. So an open mind is very important.

Looking back at Jess' email we can see that if Rachel was born in 1850 we might find her in the 1850 census. We should find her in 1860 still under Van Slyke. Then we should find her under Bridges from 1870 on.

Even after extensive and open-minded searching using wildcards and other techniques I found no sign of Rachel in 1850. However I found a possible  candidate for Rachel in the 1860 census for  Jackson, Jasper County Missouri. Rachel Vansback [sic], 9 living with the Wilkerson family consisting of Levin, 43 and William 22, . I made a note to search for the Wilkerson family members with this Rachel to see if they somehow connected to our Rachel later. I should note that I used Ancestry.com and Family Search for my census searches.

1860 Census Rachel Vansback [sic]

1868 Marriage Record Rachel Van Slyke

But first I obtained that 1868 marriage record to see if there were more clues I could follow up on:

1868 Benton County Missouri. Rachel Van Slyke of Benton Co. marries Alfred E. Bridges of Henry Co.

Meantime I continued gathering all records for Rachel so I could get an overview of her movements during her lifetime. Families often stayed close to one another and there was a good chance that Rachel had siblings or her parents or aunts and uncles nearby. Only by methodically researching for her throughout her life could I put together a complete picture. To shorten this lengthy explanation, here is the summary of the census records where Rachel was found :

1870 Census Grand River, Henry Co. Missouri has Edmund Bridges a farmer age 27 born Ohio, wife Ann 20 born Missouri and son Richard 2 months, born April. This is Alfred Edmund Bridges and his wife Rachel Ann Van Slyke, both recorded with their middle names.

1880 Census Windsor, Henry County, Missouri. Rachel 24 (recorded as Reichiel) born Missouri married to Edmon [sic] 37 born Ohio, with sons Dick [no doubt the Richard in the 1870 census] 10 and James 8.

1900 Census Windsor, Henry County Missouri. Rachel A. Bridges, 50, born January 1850. Married to Alfred E. Bridges. Year of marriage given as 1869. Rachel has had 9 children with 5 still living. With them are Timothy Bridges 19, Almon B. Bridges 17 and Harley C. Bridges 12.

1910 Census Franklin Street, Windsor, Henry County, Missouri. R. A. Bridges, 60 years old. Married to A. E. Bridges age 67. Rachel has had 9 children and 4 are still living. With them are their son Tim (mistranscribed as Lim) age 29 and his second wife Helen

1920 Census Franklin Street, Windsor, Henry County, Missouri. Rachel A. Bridges, 69 widow living with Ruth V. Bridges, 11 year old granddaughter and the Allen family listed as “roomers”

1930 Census for Windsor, Henry County, Missouri. Rachel Bridges, 80 year old widow in Windsor, Henry County. She states her father was born in Pennsylvania, her mother in Missouri.

The last record I found for Rachel was her death registration: BRIDGES, Rachel Ann VANSLYKE - b: Jan 23 1850 Joplin, Jasper Co, MO - d: Feb 25 1931 Windsor, Henry Co, MO - bur: Feb 26 1931 L0224 GA - 81Y - sp: Alfred E. BRIDGES. Laurel Oak Cemetery. Clyde Bridges was the informant. 

There are many clues to follow up on, and a great deal of information we can learn when we analyze the various records I found. For example, we can research Alfred Bridges. We can follow the trail of Rachel's children to see if there is any mention of their maternal grandparents. Who are the Allen family in 1920 census? We can look for Van Slyke males born in Pennsylvania (as per that 1930 census) and list them for future research re Rachel's father. That gap in the 1850 census is hanging over our heads and we could start searching it in Jasper County page by page to see if Rachel appears anywhere.

Next: I find possible parents for Rachel in Part 2

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!

What Would You Do With a Genealogy Time Machine?

Wouldn't you love it if Time Machines were available? I think all genealogists, archaeologists and historians would. So let's pretend we are being given the opportunity to use one.

Here are the rules of the Time Machine:

1. You can travel to any year you wish

2. You can travel to any geographic location you wish

3. You only have the time machine for 24 hours

4. You will be invisible to those you encounter so it will be challenging or impossible to interact with them

5. Be cautious about bringing back mementos. Any action you take may affect the present timeline. As an example you decide to grab that precious family bible and bring it back to the future. But the loss of the bible creates a huge fight in the family and one of the sons (your direct ancestor) storms out and never returns home. He does not marry the girl next door (your ancestor) and thus his future changes. So when you return to your present time, nothing is as you left it. 

So - what are you going to do with your Time Machine?

I had so much trouble deciding what to do and where to go. There are three ancestors I desperately want to visit but doubt I have time to see them all in 24 hours. 

McGinnis Family Guelph 1849

My first thought was to hop out Guelph way to 1847 which is when my Irish ancestor Joseph McGinnis arrived from Ireland. But then I realized that without knowing his exact date of arrival the chances were good that I'd get there before he did! And even if he were there with his wife Fanny and toddler Delia, what are the odds he'd be sitting around reminiscing about the good ole days in Ireland?? Because what I want to find out from him is the name of his parents, or siblings and maybe even the town in Ireland he came from. 

Then I had another thought - he and Fanny baptised my great-grandfather Alex in the Church of Our Lady in Guelph in 1849. There must have been a party, a celebration of some kind. I wouldn't be surprised if family members went to the church to witness such an occasion. Decision made, my first stop is going to be that christening in the church. Maybe I'll even follow the family back to their log cabin in Puslinch after the ceremony. I bet there's a gathering at their home and hopefully he'll greet someone with "Good to see ya Uncle xxx!" 

Even if attending the party as an invisible guest doesn't yield any further information, I'm going to try to take some photos with my digital camera. Wow wouldn't that be cool? At the very least I'll get to see what my 2nd great grandparents look like. 

Once I decided on that course of action my mind began whirling, and I started second guessing myself. Maybe I should make my first stop a wedding of an ancestor. After all, weddings bring dozens of family members together! I could run around taking pictures but I might not figure out who everyone is. 

So my first stop is definitely my great-grandpa's christening in 1849. 

My Mohawk Ancestor 1640s or Jacob Peer 1790s?

Then I have to choose between trying to find out  more about Ots-Toch, my Mohawk ancestor born ca 1620 in what is now New York state, or Jacob Peer, who cannot be found before 1793 in New Jersey. I'd sure love to know who his parents were! Or his wife Anna's maiden name. 

Decision made - I doubt I'll learn anything more genealogically about Ots-Toch although it would be fascinating to see how she lived before and after her marriage to the Dutchman Cornelis Van Slyke. So I'm going to hop down to New Jersey to September 1793, specifically to NewTown, Sussex County where I know Jacob Peer and his older sons were being taxed. My goal for this part of my time machine travel is to look for a family bible. It's a long shot but Jacob and most of his sons left wills and that makes me think they might be the kind of ancestors who also kept a family bible with births, marriages and deaths in it.

At least I'd get to see their faces and hang around for a few hours to see how they lived. But once again I'm torn in my decision-making! I do know the exact date and location one of Jacob's sons was married. Would it be wiser for me to attend that wedding to see if any of the guests are family members? I think that's a bit of a gamble because maybe there were no relatives living nearby (other than siblings I already know about) or maybe the couple ran off and married quietly that day with no family in attendance. 

Photos

And then just as I was about to end this blog post, I had another thought - what if I took my digital camera and simply hopped from place to place, from year to year - popping in and taking photos like crazy of each of my ancestors. I'd build quite a collection in 24 hours! And it would be so amazing to be able to see so many of those lost faces. I could run around New Amsterdam (now New York City) snapping photos of all my Dutch ancestors who settled there in the 17th Century. I could go on to various parts of Ontario Canada where many of my father's ancestors settled. It would be kind of like speed dating which I've never participated in but I've read about it) except I'd be speed ancestor hunting. 

Having a Time Machine at my disposal might not be quite so much fun as I originally thought! I'd have to do a lot of planning - figure out where ancestors were (exact locations) on precise days and years. And that takes me back to choosing weddings, funerals and baptisms as my best bet for finding certain ancestors and family members. So that's my choice. I'm going to time travel to as many celebrations where my ancestors were involved, and take as many photos as possible while eavesdropping to try to hear names of other family - parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents and so on.

It was fun writing this and letting my imagination go wild, but I'm curious to hear what you would do with a Time Machine!


Credits: 
Log Cabin drawing by Brian Massey of AncestorsAtRest 
Time Machine image by Salvatore Vuono, on FreeDigitalNet