CategoriesGenetic Genealogy

DNA Clustering Using the Collins Leeds Method

The wonderful DNAGedcom software recently added an option to build a chart using the Collins Leeds Method (CLM). Here is a good write-up by Kitty Cooper about the nuts and bolts of the CLM.

Basically, what it does is use your list of Ancestry DNA matches and the ICW file (those matches that share other matches with you) and builds a chart showing all of this in a nice visual format.

Categories2017 ProjectBelgianDutch

Jacobus Van Parijs (1810-1848)

The eighth ancestor in my 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks project for 2017 is my maternal 4th-great-grandfather, Jacobus Bernardus VAN PARIJS. I am related to him through my mother â†’ her mother (Marjorie DeBROUX) â†’ her mother (Mildred VAN PRICE) â†’ her father (Peter VAN PRICE/VAN PARIJS) â†’ his father (Charles VAN PARIJS) â†’ his father (Jacobus VAN PARIJS).

The Van Parijs line was one that was difficult to find until I found it, if that makes sense. I started with my great-grandmother’s maiden name of Van Price and that’s all I had for years. I could never find more information. Then one day I ran across a forum posting somewhere that stated that Price and Parijs are interchangeable since they have the same sound. Once I starting searching for Van Parijs, everything fell into place. Van Parijs roughly translates to “of Paris” which makes me assume the line originates somewhere in France, which makes sense since the the line is found in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Jacobus Bernardus Van Parijs was born circa 1810 in Watervliet, East Flanders, Belgium which is adjacent to the Dutch border. His parents were Phillipus and Anna (JUNIS) VAN PARIJS. On 21 May 1835, he married Janneke DEES in the IJzendijke, Zeeland, Netherlands which is on the southern side of the province. Their son, my 3rd-great-grandfather, Charles, was born in July 1846, the last of their 5 children.

Jacobus died not too longer after Charles’ birth on 1 January 1848 at the age of 38. I have no specifics on his death besides the record of it, so I don’t know what took him that young. In 1848, there were many diseases or accidents that could have happened. His son Charles is my main Dutch connection and my immigrant ancestor who took his family to America in around 1874.

In terms of DNA, I have not found any direct connections that descend from this line specifically, so it is unknown.

Photo: IJzendijke, central square. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 by Michielverbeek.

Categories52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

52 Ancestors #1: Charles Van Price

I was going to choose a commonly researched ancestor for my first post, but I decided to do it on an ancestor I don’t post about as often. My first 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks post is about my 3rd-great-grandfather, Charles Ludovicus VAN PARIJS. The Dutch surname was Americanized to Van Price not long after immigration. This caused a lot of grief in the beginning, as I’ll talk about.

Charles was born in IJzendijke, Zeeland, Netherlands on 6 July 1846 to Jacobus and Janneke (DEES) VAN PARIJS. There isn’t much else known about Charles’ childhood, but he met and married Johanna Marie KREBBEKX on 22 December 1870 in the nearby town of Hoofdplaat. He and his family emigrated to the US around October 1874 and they finally settled in central Wisconsin along with many other families from the Netherlands and Belgium. Johanna and Charles had 8 or 9 children, depending on the source of information. My ancestor, Peter, was born in Zeeland right before they left for America in 1874. Mysteriously, there is no definitive date of death for Charles as I’ll talk about, since he basically vanished.

CategoriesFamily TreeSaturday Genealogy Fun

SNGF: Matrilineal Line

It’s time for another one of Randy Seaver’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun posts.

  1. List your matrilineal line – your mother, her mother, etc. back to the first identifiable mother. Note: this line is how your mitochondrial DNA was passed to you!
  2. Tell us if you have had your mitochondrial DNA tested, and if so, which Haplogroup you are in.
  3. Post your responses on your own blog post, in Comments to this blog post, or in a Status line on Facebook or in your Stream at Google Plus.
  4. If you have done this before, please do your father’s matrilineal line, or your grandfather’s matrilineal line, or your spouse’s matriliuneal line.
  5. Does this list spur you to find distant cousins that might share one of your matrilineal lines?

According to my blog, it seems I did this line for myself already. Though, I will post it again in case something is more up-to-date. I will do my father’s line and also my wife’s line since I haven’t really inspected those before. Here is mine, first.

My matrilineal line:
  1. Brian J ZALEWSKI
  2. Sharon THIELKE married John ZALEWSKI
  3. Marge DeBROUX married LeRoy THIELKE
  4. Mildred Vida VAN PRICE (5 Jul 1903 Mattoon, Shawano Co., Wisconsin – 29 Oct 1994 Port Washington, Ozaukee Co., Wisconsin) married Leon DeBROUX
  5. Minnie May MUHM (12 Jul 1879 Norwood, Langlade Co., Wisconsin – 6 Jul 1959 Port Washington, Ozaukee Co., Wisconsin) married Pieter Fransiscus VAN PARIJS
  6. Ida W SCHAVANDIE (6 Sep 1852 Germany – 12 Nov 1934 Antigo, Langlade Co., Wisconsin) married Peter MUHM
  7. Anna RASCH (? in Germany – ??) married Lawrence SCHAVANDIE

Unfortunately, my matrilineal line is one of the few lines in my tree that is somewhat short, though I have not done a ton of research on it. I have done a DNA test, so I do have my mtDNA information. According to the latest 23AndMe info, my Maternal Haplogroup in H11a. I have made my 23AndMe Maternal Line page public, so you can view more details there. It does match the German ancestry that I find in my research.

Next is my father’s matrilineal line, though there is no mtDNA haplogroup info since my DNA does not have that information. Only his DNA (or his sibling’s) would show that.

CategoriesBelgianDutchSurname Saturday

Surname Saturday: VAN PRICE

Photo from Charles' Passport. Note his name listed as just "Price."

By the time the VAN PRICE surname ended in my ancestry, it had already been changed at least once. My great-grandmother, Mildred Vida (DEBROUX) VAN PRICE, was the last to have the surname before she married my great-grandfather. Her father, as he is listed on later documents and his headstone, was Peter VAN PRICE. Though, he wasn’t born with that name. His name when he was born was Pieter Franciscus VAN PARIJS.

For years, I didn’t have much more info on the VAN PRICE surname in my tree besides the two people listed above, and I didn’t have anything on Peter except for his name. That all changed on day when searching for information using Google. I was looking for information on the Van Price line, but I always hit a brick wall. I had happened to find something that mentioned that “Parijs” was sometimes written as “Price” in America. So, I searched for Van Parijs and ran across a Dutch Genealogy website, Zeeuwen Gezocht [Zeeland Archives]. It turns out that the VAN PARIJS family is from the Zeeland area of the Netherlands and this website was a treasure trove of information. From there I found information going back many generations. I know that “Van Parijs” roughly translates into “of Paris” in French, so I’m wondering if this family came from France, since I have traced them back into Belgium.

From the archive website  I found Peter’s parents, Charles Ludovicus VAN PARIJS and Johanna Maria KREBBEKX. Then Charles’ father was found as Jacobus Bernardus VAN PARIJS, then Phillipus Jacobus Bernardus VAN PARIJS, and finally Joannis VAN PARIJS. This is as far back as I’ve been able to find, though I haven’t dug in and done much research in a few years. By this time, the VAN PARIJS family was located in the East Flanders, Belgium area.

CategoriesWeekly History

Weekly History: May 9th – 15th

Happy Mother’s day to all of the moms out there (and moms-to-be.) As always, you can get this info at anytime on the Dates & Anniversaries page.

May 9th

1860 – Died – Mary (CRONIN) MCCANN – Mary is my 4th-great-grandmother of my father’s side. She was born about 1797 in Ireland. She married Thomas McCann and they had 4 children, including my ancestor Mary McCann. It’s assuming she passed away in Uptergrove, Ontario, Canada as did her husband before her in January.

1908 – Died – Margaret (SCHUMACHER) STEARNS – Margaret is my 3rd-great-grandmother on my father’s side. She was born 14 Sep 1838 in Württemberg, Germany. Her name has been written as Katherine Rosina Margaretha in her husband’s German passport. She married Georg Heinrich Stearns in about 1862 and had 4 children. They immigrated to Wisconsin in the late 1800s. Margaret is buried at Oakwood Cemetery in Weyauwga, Waupaca Co., Wisconsin.

May 10th

1675 – Died – Richard CUTTS – Richard is my wife’s 10th-great-grandfather on her mother’s side. He was born 23 Jun 1615 in Portsmouth, Rockingham Co., New Hampshire. His parents were both born in Somerset, England. He married Eleanor ALDERSEY in about 1649. He passed away at Portsmouth.

May 11th

1809 – Married – Phillipus VAN PARIJS & Anna JUNIS – Phillipus and Anna are my 5th-great-grandmother on my mother’s side. They were married in Hoofdplaat, Zeeland, Netherlands and had three children. Anna passed away in 1818 and Phillipus in 1832, both in the Netherlands.

May 12th

1725 – Born – Maria (TRUIJEN) VAN CRAYBECK – Maria is my 7th-great-grandmother of my mother’s side. She was born in Genk, Limburg, Belgium. She married Paulus van Craybeck in about 1748. She passed away on 24 Jan 1789 in Genk.

1824 – Married – Maximilien PIETTE & Victoria BOUCHER – Maximilien and Victoria are my wife’s 4th-great-grandparents on her mother’s side. They were married in Thorembais-les-Beguines, Brabant Wallon, Belgium. Together they had 9 children, including her ancestor Fulvie Adelaide PIETTE. They both passed away in Door Co., Wisconsin.

1871 – Died – William TONEY – William is my wife’s 4th-great-grandfather on her father’s side. He was born 2 May 1794 in Franklin Co., Virginia. He married Sarah KEENE in about 1809 and had 7 children. He passed away at Crawford Co., Wisconsin.

May 14th

1898 – Born – Madora (LAST) THIELKEMadora is my great-grandmother on my mother’s side. She was born in Grafton, Ozaukee Co., Wisconsin, one of 16 children. She married Arthur THIELKE on 26 Jul 1919 in Port Washington, Ozaukee Co., Wisconsin and had 4 children. She passed away 10 Sep 1979 in Grafton and is buried there at St. Paul’s Lutheran Cemetery.

May 15th

1929 – Died – Charles Christopher MORANCharles is my wife’s great-great-grandfather on her father’s side. He was born about 23 Nov 1864 in Montfort, Grant Co., Wisconsin. He married Emma DIETER in about 1889. They had 6 children. Charles passed away at Tarver, Wisconsin and is buried at Tavera Cemetery in Richwood, Richland Co., Wisconsin.

CategoriesGenetic GenealogySaturday Genealogy Fun

SNGF: Matrilineal Line

For Randy Seaver’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun post, he asks:

  1. List your matrilineal line – your mother, her mother, etc. back to the first identifiable mother. Note: this line is how your mitochondrial DNA was passed to you!
  2. Tell us if you have had your mitochondrial DNA tested, and if so, which Haplogroup you are in.
  3. Post your responses on your own blog post.

I’ve already done this since, yes, I have had my mDNA tested. I had it done for the National Geographic’s Genographic Project.

  1. Me, Brian ZALEWSKI
  2. Sharon THIELKE (Living) married John ZALEWSKI
  3. Marjorie DeBROUX (Living)  married LeRoy THIELKE
  4. Mildred Vida VAN PRICE (1903 Mattoon, WI – 1994 Port Washington, WI) married Leon DeBROUX
  5. Minnie M MUHM (1879 Norwood Twsp, WI – 1959 Port Washington, WI) married Pieter Franciscus VAN PARIJS
  6. Ida SCHAVANDIE (1852 Wisconsin or Germany – 1934 Antigo, WI) married Peter MUHM
  7. Anna RASCH (? Germany – ?) married Lawrence SCHAVANDIE

So, Anna RASCH is as far back as I’ve traced so far. When I took the test, I only had up to Ida and not much info about her, so I am making progress. Pieter VAN PARIJS changed his name to Peter VAN PRICE, which is why the name changes during that generation. That caused me some headache until I figured it out.

According to my DNA test, my Mitochondrial line hapolgroup is H. According to the Haplogroup H Wikipedia entry,  it is the most common mtDNA haplogroup in Europe.  About one half of Europeans are of mtDNA haplogroup H. That does back up the German heritage of my line.

CategoriesDutchFeatured

Returning Home

My grandmother told me a story about her great-grandfather. I posted about it almost three years ago, but I just stumbled upon some more evidence for it. Here is the story from my grandmother about Charles Ludovicus VAN PARIJS (who changed his name to Charles Van Price in America.)

Charles Van Price was born in the early 1800s and came to U.S. in 1874. He traveled to Dousman, Wisconsin in Waukesha County. He worked for Mr. Dousman, later moved to Little Chute, Wisconsin, then to Phlox, Wisconsin in 1887. While staying with his daughter, Effie, in Waukesha, Wisconsin in 1922, he went grocery shopping for her and was never seen again. After investigating, it was assumed that he returned to Holland from Milwaukee. He sold his land earlier, and was now one of the wealthiest men in that part of the state. His daughter found he had withdrawn all his savings (a very sizeable amount) and probably left for Europe. They traced him to Antwerp, Belgium — then all trace was gone. He was never heard from again.

I tried to find any sort of trace of him in Belgium. Maybe he’s listed on a death record or a cemetery listing, but I never found anything. I was re-adding all of Charles’ census record information into my family tree, since I never actually put in the exact source info in the past, when I ran across a listing for a “Charles O. Price” in the Applications for US Passports database that closely matched him on Ancestry.

There were actually two applications listed which looked to be a year apart, but they match pretty closely. The first one says that he was born on June 6th, 1844 in Isendick, Holland. The information I have is July 6th, 1846 in IJzendijke, Netherlands (Holland) which is almost a match. It also says he lived most of his life in Phlox, Langlade Co., Wisconsin which is the area where Charles and his family did live. He mentions in the application that he is planning to go to the Netherlands to “visit my brothers” and that he will return in 3 months traveling on the boat, Finland, from New York on August 5th, 1922.

What is odd is that there is a second application right after the first one for a Charles O. Price born on June 6th, 1844 in Izendag, Holland. This one lists Charles’ father as Jacob Price. That matches with me as I have his father as (his original name) Jacobus Bernardus VAN PARIJS. This one also notes that he lived in the Little Schute[sic] & Antigo, Wisconsin area which is also near Phlox. It also notes that he owns a previous passport which was obtained on July 24th, 1922 (the previously mentioned application.) Now, this application says that he intends to “visit my brother” in the Netherlands and stay for one year leaving from the port of New York. This one does not list a ship or a date. It almost seems like he didn’t actually go in 1922, or maybe that he went for 3 months and then went back in 1923 when this second application was made. Obviously, according to stories, never came back after that one.

There are a few notable and even oddly humorous things on these applications. The first thing is that when describing Charles’ physical appearance, under “Nose” it says “Quite Large.” Also, how on both documents the birth places are completely different (at least in spelling), the immigration dates don’t match, and the living locations aren’t exactly the same. On both documents he uses a witness that has known Charles for awhile. H.A. Friedman swears that Charles is a good dude and that he should get a passport. In the first document in 1922, H.A. says that he, a “native” American, has known Charles for 15 years. In the second application in 1923, H.A. says that he, now a “naturalized” American, says that he has known Charles for 20 years. Great Scott! Has Charles invented the flux capacitor?

Though, one wonderful thing about this document is that the applicant is required to attach a photo of themselves. The first document’s photo is not very good, but the second one is much clearer and it is the first time that I’ve seen Charles. I’m not sure if my grandmother has ever seen a photo of her great-grandfather, so I’d love to show this to her.

I still don’t know what happened to Charles after he arrived in Belgium or the Netherlands, but at least this does prove that he planned to go back. Maybe it makes more work. Oh well, isn’t that how Genealogy works? The two documents are shown below. Click for larger copies. The first half of the first page and last half of the end page are from other individuals, so please ignore them.

CategoriesWeekly History

Weekly History: January 17th – 23rd

Hey, I’m back again. Been a bit busy and had to put genealogy on the back-burner.

January 17th

1902 – Born – Agnes Irene ZALEWSKI – Agnes is my great-great-aunt on my father’s side. She was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Frank & Anna ZALEWSKI. She married Chester WALCZAK in 1924. She passed away on 29 Jan 1989 at Cedarburg, Ozaukee Co., Wisconsin and is buried near the rest of her family at Holy Cross Cemetery in Milwaukee.

1908 – Died – Fredericke C HENKE – Fredericke is my 3rd-great-grandmother on my mother’s side. She was born 4 Jul 1836 in Germany and married Herman RATHKE before immigrating to Wisconsin. She passed away in Grafton, Ozaukee Co., Wisconsin and is buried at Union Cemetery in Port Washington, Ozaukee Co.

January 18th

1825 – Born – Jean-Baptiste LAURENT – Jean-Baptiste is my 3rd-great-grandfather on my mother’s side. He was born at Biez, Chaumont-Gistoux, Wallon Brabant, Belgium to Constant & Marie LAURENT. He married Olivine Marie ST. LOUIS in 1857 and they had 9 children. He passed away on 31 Jul 1886 at Phlox, Langlade Co., Wisconsin and is buried nearby at St. Joseph’s Catholic Cemetery in Norwood.

1980 – Born – ME! Happy Birthday to me! Also, Happy Birthday to my wife, Darcy in 1981.

January 19th

1860 -Died – Thomas MCCANN – Thomas is my 4th-great-grandfather on my father’s side. He was born about 1797 at Longford, Ireland. He and his wife, Mary CRONIN, immigrated to Canada with their family. He passed away at Uptergrove, Ontario, Canada.

January 21st

1874 – Born – Pieter Franciscus VAN PARIJS – Also known as Peter Van Price, he is my great-great-grandfather on my mother’s side. He was born at IJzendijke, Zeeland, Netherlands to Charles & Johanna VAN PARIJS. His family immigrated to Wisconsin right after he was born. In 1895, he married Minnie M MUHM and together they had 6 children. He passed away on 22 Sep 1962 in Port Washington, Ozaukee Co., Wisconsin and is buried there at Union Cemetery.

CategoriesWeekly History

Weekly History: Nov 15th – 21st

Joseph Troka and his wife, Clara.
Joseph Troka and his wife, Clara.

November 17th

1853 – Died – Marie Josephe BERO – Marie is my 4th-great-grandmother on my mother’s side. She was presumably born in Belgium, but her info is unknown. She married Constant Joseph LAURENT in 1809 and had 4 children, including my ancestor Jean-Baptiste LAURENT. She passed away at Biez, Chaumont-Gistoux, Wallon Brabant, Belgium.

1871 – Born – Joseph TROKA – Joseph is my 3rd-great-grandfather on my father’s side. He was born in Poland/Prussia and immigrated to America in 1888 or 1889 settling in Milwaukee. He married Clara SZULTA at St. Hedwig’s Church in Milwaukee on 29 Jan 1894. Joseph was tragically hit and killed by a drunk driver on his way to church on New Year’s morning 1962. You can see a partial transcription of the story on his family page.

November 18th

1872 – Died – Johann Peter FIRMENICH – Peter is my 4th-great-grandfather on my father’s side. He was born about 7 Jul 1794 in Koeln, Rheinland, Prussia. He immigrated to America with his family in 1847 settling just north of Milwaukee. He passed away at Brown Co., Wisconsin.

November 19th

1863 – Died – Friedrich MUHM – Friedrich is my 4th-great-grandfather on my mother’s side. He was born on 20 Feb 1801 in Schwbendorf, Landkreis, Maurburg, Hessen, Germany. He married Sophia Elizabeth STRASSMAN in 1844. They moved to the Germantown, Washington Co., Wisconsin area where Friedrich passed away.

1903 – Died – Janneke DEES – Janneke is my 4th-great-grandmother on my mother’s side. She was born about 1817 at Biervliet, Zeeland, Netherlands. She married Jacobus Bernardus VAN PARIJS in 1835 and had 5 children, including my ancestor Charles Ludovicus VAN PARIJS. She passed away in IJzendijke, Zeeland, Netherlands.

November 20th

1818 – Died – Gertrude OPPERMAN – Gertrude is my 5th-great-grandmother on my mother’s side. She was born about 1782 in Germany. She married Friedrich Ernest MUHM and had 2 children. She passed away in Schwbendorf, Landkreis, Maurburg, Hessen, Germany.

CategoriesWeekly History

Weekly History: Sept 20th – 26th

September 21st

1750 – Married – Antoine LAFOND & Josephte CHEVREFILS-BELISLE – Antoine and Josephte are my 7th-great-grandparents. They were married in St. Antoine de la Baie-du-Febrve, Yamaska, Quebec, Canada.

September 22nd

1962 – Died – Pieter Franciscus VAN PARIJS – Pieter is my great-great-grandfather on my mother’s side. He was born 21 Jan 1874 in IJzendijke, Zeeland, Netherlands. Right after he was born, his family emigrated to the United States, settling in northern Wisconsin. The family also Americanized their names, making him Peter Van Price. He married Minnie M MUHM in 1895 and passed away at Port Washington, Ozaukee Co., Wisconsin. He is buried there at Union Cemetery.

September 23rd

1781 – Died – Paulus VAN CREYBECK – Paulus is my 7th-great-grandfather on my mother’s side. He was born 12 Jul 1720 in Genk, Limburg, Belgium. He married Maria TRUIJEN in 1748. He passed away at Genk, Limburg, Belgium.

September 24th

1697 – Died – Marguerite LANGLOIS – Marguerite is my 10th-great-grandmother on my mother’s side. She was born 3 Sep 1639 in Quebec, Canada. She married Paul VACHON in 1653. They had 12 children including my ancestor, Louise VACHON. She passed away at Beauport, Montmorency, Canada.

September 26th

1851 – Born – Charles Carl F H LAST – Carl is my great-great-grandfather on my mother’s side. He was born at Doeringshagen, Pommerania which is now in modern-day Poland. He married August Johanna LUEDTKE in 1883 and together had an amazing 16 children including my ancestor, Madora Martha Louise LAST. He passed away on 5 Jun 1926 at Port Washington, Ozaukee Co., Wisconsin and is buried there at Union Cemetery.

1931 – Died – Mathias Balthazar FIRMENICH – Mathis is my 3rd-great-grandfather on my father’s side. He was born in 11 February 1840 in Cologne, Germany. He immigrated to Wisconsin with his family in 1847. He married Paulina Henrietta THOMPSON on 11 Feb 1867 and had 13 children including my ancestor, Emma Jane FIRMENICH. He passed away at Ashland, Ashland Co., Wisconsin and is buried there at St. Agnes Cemetery.