Family Search Gold!

Inspired by somebody's blog post about the number of records that have been indexed on the Family Search website (unlike most of you, I was not organized enough to remember who posted the article), I went surfing on over the other day.  From the Pilot Family Search home,  I clicked on Search or Browse our record collection.  From there I chose North America to see what databases were available.  One that caught my eye, marked by a red star indicating that it was New or updated, was the New Brunswick, Canada, Death Certificates.

Quite a few members of my father's family were originally immigrants to the US but were loyalists to the British Crown during the Revolutionary War and consequently moved on to Canada when the war ended.  I have found the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick to be quite helpful for searching out these ancestors.  However, in the Family Search collection were actual copies of the death certificates for two time periods, 1920-1934 and 1935-1938.  No index is yet available but I was unable to resist just searching the whole database.

I was lucky in that for the 1920-1934 time frame, for Queens County, there were only 1,086 records to peruse.  In no time at all (well it did take some time, but it flew by!), I had located three ancestors death records. One that I found quite exciting was for my great-grandfather George Byron McKiel.

Byron, as he was known, was born on March 31, 1868 to Eliza Eva McKiel.  He died on November 25, 1925 in Wickham, Queens, New Brunswick, Canada.  The death certificate told me that he had been sick for only 3 days when he died from Lobar Pneumonia.  (Lobar meaning of, or pertaining to, one or more of the lobes of the lungs)

Although at least three of his children were still alive and living in the area, the informant for the death certificate information was a non-relative.  Why does this matter?  Byron was born to Eliza, along with another son, while she was still single.  She later married Jacob Van Wart and went on to have more children.  However, Byron and his brother Melvin, retained the McKiel surname.  One of my aunts who had done lots of genealogy work and visited and talked with many of our canadian ancestors, has not been able to determine who Byron's father was.  Although she believes that some of the older relatives know the answer, no one has been willing to tell.  The death certificate lists the father as John McKiel.  Could this be the one?  Eliza did have a brother John who was 7 or 8 years older than she.  Could he have been the father?

It would be a shame if those who know the answer to this question, however shameful they feel the information to be, were to let the answer stay hidden now when Eliza, Bryon and Melvin have all died.  I hope that by writing about it here, someone, somewhere, who knows the truth will be inspired to tell.

In any case, I found Byron's death certificate.  It was a good day!!

I have indexed records for the Family Search project for quite some time.  Now I am inspired to continue and hope that some of you may be as well.  Just go to the FamilySearch Indexing home page to learn how.

Tombstone Tuesday - Harry & Elsie McKiel

Maple Grove Cemetery

Albion, Kennebec, Maine

Harry Redvers McKiel

b. July 30, 1900 New Brunswick, Canada

d. October 22, 1962 Waterville, Maine

Elsie Marie Robinson McKiel

b. April 4, 1900 New Brunswick, Canada

d. October 11, 1993 Norway, Maine

Elsie and Harry McKiel were my paternal grandparents.

Tombstone Tuesday - Charles & Edna McKiel

McDonald's Point Cemetery

Wickham, Queens, New Brunswick, Canada

Charles Loran McKiel 

b. March 31, 1902 Queens, New Brunswick, Canada

d. 1970 Queens, New Brunswick, Canada

Edna P. Coleman McKiel

b. 1905

d. 1993 Queens, New Brunswick, Canada

Sentimental Sunday - Home to Maine

For most of my childhood years we lived here in Rhode Island.  My parents, however, were both born in Maine.  At least once a month, on Friday night, we headed "home" to Maine for the weekend.  In the early days the drive was about 6 hours long.  We piled into the station wagon, argued over who got the "way back" (with the mattress) and settled in for the drive.  There were no VCR screens, no hand-held games, no electronic entertainment.  We just had each other and maybe a book or two. Back then many of the highways were made from concrete sections, and I can still sleep very nicely to the "thump, thump, thump" our car made as we travelled along. 

We were always ready to go, after all, many of our cousins lived at the end of the ride.  We usually stayed at the McKiel farm in Albion, Maine.  It was the farm my grandparents owned for almost all of their married lives.  Milking cows were the primary business and although my grandfather died when I was quite young, and the barns belonged to others, the smell of cows and their output are still a fond one for me.

The Albion Home of Harry & Elsie McKiel

On our trips "home" we also spent time at my mother's parents house.  They too had a farm and raised milking cows, as well as growing hay.  Their home had no cow smells nearby when I visited and I think my strongest memory is of my grandfathers rocker that had a swivel base and could spin around and around and around ... till some one told us to stop "for the ninth time!" 

Here is my Mom in front the the Hannan Home in Palermo

The following is a picture of my grandfather Harry McKiel's cows the night before they were auctioned off when his health wouldn't allow him to continue farming (in about 1957).  They are holsteins, known for their good dairy production.  

We enjoyed our frequent trips to Maine for a long time.  Till those dreaded teen years when all the other activities of our lives became so very important.  I don't know what age it happened, but I distinctly remember feeling that my parents saying we were "going home" to Maine was incorrect.  Home was Rhode Island and I didn't really like it that they thought otherwise.  Thankfully, we all do grow up and I certainly understand how they felt about "home" now that I am an adult.  My parents have told me some stories about their growing up adventures on a farm in Maine.  I think I need to get more and document them better!!

Thanks for listening.  

Sentimental Sunday - School Bells Are Ringing

The first day of school is always a good time for grabbing the camera and getting pictures of the kids heading off to school.  My mother did a pretty good job with this task!

This first one is from 1962 when my brother was off to kindergarten.  He doesn't look nervous at all!

Later in 1964 all three of us were school ready.  That was the year that a brand new school opened and the three of us were off to South Road Elementary School. I think my brother was the sheriff  :-)  I am managing to be at least as tall as my younger sister.  It didn't last.

I have to show this next one because I remember the Mary Poppins dress and how disappointed I was when it no longer fit.  The year was 1965.

Skipping ahead, my younger brother was ready to join us girls in 1969.  My older brother was off to Junior High and had already left by the time the rest of us were ready to go.  My mother made the dresses!  Notice the rickrack?  Remember rickrack?!!

The next year was 1970.  I was in Junior High and we could finally wear pants!  But oh my, look at them pants.  What can I say?  I think I made them myself.

After that I doubt that we teenagers cooperated much.  But what a great record of us growing and changing.  The fashions of the day also become apparent.  We can remember the front of our houses or what curtains hung in the living room!  It's a great way to mark time.  I have pictures of my kids all the way through high school, along with their father, a school teacher.  So, if your kids have not finished school yet, or maybe haven't even started, make sure when the school bell rings that you are ready!  Your kids will never forgive forget you for it!

Tombstone Tuesday - George Byron & Sarah (Craft) McKiel

Belyea's Cove Cemetery

New Brunswick, Canada

G. Byron McKiel

born 31 March 1868 New Brunswick, Canada

died 23 November 1925 New Brunswick, Canada

and his wife

Sarah Jemima Craft McKiel

born 4 November 1868 New Brunswick, Canada

died 24 October 1946 New Brunswick, Canada

Rest in Peace my great-grandparents,

You are not forgotten.

Surname Saturday - McKiel

My maiden name is McKiel.  It's history is a little more complicated than most of the surnames in my family.

The line can be traced back to Sebastian Van Kortrijk whose family was from the Flemish town of Kortrijk on the Lys.  He and his family were refuges of the religious upheavals in Europe and in the early 1600s, he left that area and moved to Holland.  He took up residence in Leerdam.

There were seventeen provinces in the Netherlands and these contained the present countries of Holland and Belgium.  That whole country had been made part of France during the rule of Charlemagne (767-814), but in the fifteenth century it came under Spanish  rule.  Charles V. became king of Spain in 1516, and finding many adherents to Martin Luther's reformed faith, he became determined to crush out Protestantism.  Thus became a time of great religious persecution in the Netherlands.  Under Philip, who succeeded his father, Charles in 1555,  things became even worse.  By the early 1600s,  Holland had became an asylum for the persecuted of many lands.

Two sons were born to Sebastian during his time in Leerdam, Jan and Michiel. Family names were the exception among the early Dutch ancestors.  Most often the father's first was affixed with sen  (meaning son) and used as a surname.  So the two became known as Jan and Michiel Bastiensen Van Kortryk.

Michiel, my ancester married and settled at Schoonrewoed, a village about two miles north of Leerdam, in South Holland.  There he had four children, Reyer, born in 1653, Metje in 1655, Annetje in 1658 and Bastien in 1662.  Another daughter, Alfjie, was born shortly after the family arrived in the New Amsterdam.  Meanwhile, Jan had also married had had four children.

With the development of the West India Company, whose main purpose was the expand trade and colonization of America, the Dutch people began to emigrate. The new world promised so much in material gain and religious freedom.

On 16 April 16 1663, Michiel and his brother Jan departed for New Amsterdam, in present day New York, on the "Spotted Cow".  Each brought their wife and four children.  The Bastiensens came as free men not indebted to the Dutch West India Company for their passage.

Reyer Michielsen/Michelsen was born in 1653 in Leerdam, Holland.  He married Jacomia Tiebout on 15 April 1686 in the Dutch Reformed Church of New York. Reyer and Jacomia had eight children, Michiel, Hendrick, Sarah, Tunis, Ryer, Hannah, Mary and Jane.  Some of these children followed the Dutch custom and took their father's name with sen attached and became known as Reyersen or Ryerson.  Two continued their father's surname and became Michielsen or Michiels. Reyer died in 1733 in Fordham, in what is now New York.

Hendrick Michelsen, my ancestor, was born about 1705 at Fordham Manor in New York.  He married Jane and had three sons, John, Hendrick  and Michael. He probably lived his entire life there.

John MeKeel was born about 1730.  He married Martha Haight about 1749.  He was a member of the Westchester County Militia. Joseph and Martha had four children -  Joseph, Mary, Nathaniel and John McKeel.

Joseph MeKeel/McKeel was born about 1750.  He was a Loyalist during the Revolutionary War, fighting on the side of the English.  When the war was over he and his family fled to New Brunswick, Canada.  On November 1, 1785 he was granted 200 acres at Long Reach, King's County, New Brunswick, for service to England during the war.  He married Anna Burtis and had 6 children, Joseph, John, Isaac, Sarah, James and Mary McKeel.

Joseph McKeel was born about 1800 in New Brunswick, Canada.  He married Ann Margaret Lounder on 15 October 1823 in Greenwich, New Brunswick, Canada.  They had 7 children, James, Eleanor, Mary, John, Joseph, Sarah and Eliza McKeel.

Eliza Eva McKeel was born on 3 October 1839 and, according to the records of the Greenwich and Westfield Anglican Church, was baptized on 16 March 1840.  Eliza had two children born out of wedlock, Melvin  and George Byron McKiel, before marrying Jacob VanWart and having  5 more children.  Eliza and Jacob's children were Miles, Mahala, Rosie May, Joseph and Frederick VanWart. Eliza died on 6 August 1916 in New Brunswick, Canada.

 

George Bryon and his brother Melvin

George Byron McKiel was born 31 March 1868 in New Brunswick, Canada.   He went by the name of Byron.  He married Sarah Jemima Craft on 3 November 1892 in Belyea's Cove, Queens, New Brunswick, Canada.  The wedding was noted in the St. John's "Messenger and Visitor".  Sarah was known as Sadie.  They had 6 children, Alice Maude, Robert Craft, Olive May, Gracie Irene, Harry Redvers and Charles Loran McKiel. Bryon died on 23 November 1925.

Harry Redvers McKiel was born 30 July 1900 in New Brunswick, Canada.  He married Elise Marie Robinson on 29 October 1924 in St. John's Parish, St. John's, New Brunswick, Canada.

Harry and Elsie moved from Canada to Albion, Maine.  They bought a farm there from Fred Hussey who had married Harry's sister Olive May.  There they had a dairy and potato farm.  They had five children, four girls and my father.

 

My dad and his father Harry McKiel

Love forever to all my McKiel ancestors!

  

Wordless Wednesday - McKiel Family

Thanksgiving  1968

Descendants of Harry & Elsie McKiel of Albion, Maine
who married
29 October 1924
St. John's, New Brunswick, Canada

Genealogy Musings

Today I begin my first blog posting. I hope use this to organize my thoughts, share ideas, and further my genealogical research and sharing.

I have been seriously researching my family history for about 20 years. I have been interested in this topic for far longer. I remember an assignment in junior high (or maybe early high school) where I need to research at least some part of my ancestral history. I borrowed a book about the Hall family from my aunt and made a poster of my Hall line back quite a few generations. I think I still have the thing - I wish I knew where. I don't think I understood how to read that book and it would be fun to compare what I know now with what I thought I found then.

My father and I had a discussion just the other day about what year my grandmother, his mother, had died. He had received Christmas cards from some of his Canadian relatives (his parents both having been born in Canada). I looked at the cards and recognized the names but couldn't remember how they were connected to my dad. I went home and printed out a couple of generations of both his father's and his mother's lines and took them to him and told him to please indicate who the writers of the cards were. He did so and also changed the death year for his mother, from 1993 to 1996. When I looked at it I thought "Wow! have I had that wrong all this time?" I went home and looked at my family tree program, not the date he thought, checked an online social security death index, not his date, and then looked at my gravestone picture for her at www.findagrave.com. They all agreed with my date, not what my father remembered. I called him up and he said he was sure she died in 1996 at the age of 96. How could she have died in 1993 and been 96 if she was born, as we both knew, in 1900? I'm not sure he quite believed me and told me he had a copy of her death certificate and he would check it out (reminds me I need to get a copy of that!). He did call back and confirm that it was 1993. Guess she was only 93, he had thought her 96 when she died and had planted that firmly in his mind. Glad we have some good sources for checking these things out. This reinforces the truth that "facts" are easily forgotten and misremembered!

The whole discussion made me think about my grandmother. When I was in high school and college she lived with us on and off. I wish I had taken some time to listen more. She loved to tell tales about her past and was particularly proud of the fact that her relatives were Loyalists during the American Revolution. That is how she ended up being born in Canada, her relations having been forced out of the new America at the end of the Revolutionary War. I didn't even understand what a loyalist was when she was telling me and I didn't really have enough desire to find out. Miss you grammie.

So, I'll end this my first post. What did I get out of it?
Write it all down, and document it as best you can.
Listen to your elders ... while you can ... get all the stories (and write them down!!)