This is a quick update on progress on the Henckell/Jenkins genealogy. Just because I haven't been updating this site doesn't mean I haven't been working on the book. It grew so large (about 40 MB in size) that it crashed in both WordPerfect and in MS Word formats. I have now broken it down by chapters, one for each of Nicholas' descendants, but William's is still about 600 pages long (about 18 MB in size) and it still crashes. I've tripled the RAM on my computer to better handle the big files, but am still having difficulty. I've been at it for long hours daily, beginning after breakfast and working until 10:00 or 11:00 at night.
I have been trying everything I can find to cut down on the cost of books. At the moment, it looks like 8-1/2x11 page size, Ariel 10pt font, with footnotes and name index at 9pt. and still totals about 1350 pages without maps, photos, etc. At this rate, it will be about 4 volumes, and might sell for $95 plus postage for the set. If you are interested in purchasing a set, with no committment at this time until finalized details are known, please send an email to me at demacdonald@pei.sympatico.ca so I can add your name to a list of those interested.
Meanwhile, I've got to get back to editing the book.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
George A. Wood to be Inducted into PEI Sports Hall of Fame
The first Prince Edward Island born player to have a career in Major League Baseball is to be inducted into the PEI Sports Hall of Fame later this summer.
As noted in an earlier entry to this site, George Albert (Dandy) Wood was the son of Joseph A. Wood and Mary Ann Jenkins. He was born in PEI on November 9, 1858 and moved to Boston with his parents in 1867. He went on to play 1,280 games in the majors, and was the 1882 National League Home Run Champion.
In order to let as many of his family as possible know of this honor to be bestowed on him, your help is requested in trying to locate descendants of his brothers and sisters. Although George and his wife Cora did not have children, he had two brothers and two sisters as follows:
AMOS WOOD, born in PEI September 1860, died September 1918, probably in MA.
ROSCILLA WOOD, born in PEI March 1863, married about 1886 in MA EDWARD H. WINSOR, born March 1853. They lived in Dorchester, MA and had a son EDWARD BAKER WINSOR, born April 1887 in Boston, MA.
LERONA J. WOOD, born about 1869 in East Boston, MA, married SAMUEL SHEIDOW.
JOSEPH LEMUEL WOOD, born March 1877 in East Boston, MA.
It would be greatly appreciated if someone with Massachusetts research connections could help locate one or more living descendants of Joseph and Mary Ann (Jenkins) Wood, and pass this information along to me at: demacdonald@pei.sympatico.ca .
As noted in an earlier entry to this site, George Albert (Dandy) Wood was the son of Joseph A. Wood and Mary Ann Jenkins. He was born in PEI on November 9, 1858 and moved to Boston with his parents in 1867. He went on to play 1,280 games in the majors, and was the 1882 National League Home Run Champion.
In order to let as many of his family as possible know of this honor to be bestowed on him, your help is requested in trying to locate descendants of his brothers and sisters. Although George and his wife Cora did not have children, he had two brothers and two sisters as follows:
AMOS WOOD, born in PEI September 1860, died September 1918, probably in MA.
ROSCILLA WOOD, born in PEI March 1863, married about 1886 in MA EDWARD H. WINSOR, born March 1853. They lived in Dorchester, MA and had a son EDWARD BAKER WINSOR, born April 1887 in Boston, MA.
LERONA J. WOOD, born about 1869 in East Boston, MA, married SAMUEL SHEIDOW.
JOSEPH LEMUEL WOOD, born March 1877 in East Boston, MA.
It would be greatly appreciated if someone with Massachusetts research connections could help locate one or more living descendants of Joseph and Mary Ann (Jenkins) Wood, and pass this information along to me at: demacdonald@pei.sympatico.ca .
Thursday, April 23, 2009
LAST CALL - JENKINS GENEALOGY INPUT
We are nearing the end of the road in gathering information for inclusion in the book of Nicholas (Henckel) Jenkins and his almost 19,000 descendants. It looks now like it will require two volumes to cover everyone that we know of to date. Once the information is generated in the proper format for publishing, it will be too difficult to go back and add or modify names and information.
The small committee working on this Jenkins genealogy has been Paulette (Johnston) McNally and Doug MacDonald of Charlottetown, and Hazel (Jenkins) Sanford of Vancouver. Although we have collaborated for a few years now, we could not have done this without the gracious input of others. We are indebted to the many of you who have already submitted information on your branch of the family. Without your input this project would not have been nearly as comprehensive as it already is.
If you are wondering if your name is included, or if your branch of the family is included, or if what you have on the family is to be included, or if you have an old photo you would like to see included, etc., please send it via email to demacdonald@pei.sympatico.ca by May 15, 2009 at the latest. Nothing received after that date will be included, but will be saved for a future update some years down the road. If in doubt, please ask.
Please pass this information on to anyone you think might be interested so they won't be left out. As of May 15th we will have reached the point of no return for additions and/or corrections.
The small committee working on this Jenkins genealogy has been Paulette (Johnston) McNally and Doug MacDonald of Charlottetown, and Hazel (Jenkins) Sanford of Vancouver. Although we have collaborated for a few years now, we could not have done this without the gracious input of others. We are indebted to the many of you who have already submitted information on your branch of the family. Without your input this project would not have been nearly as comprehensive as it already is.
If you are wondering if your name is included, or if your branch of the family is included, or if what you have on the family is to be included, or if you have an old photo you would like to see included, etc., please send it via email to demacdonald@pei.sympatico.ca by May 15, 2009 at the latest. Nothing received after that date will be included, but will be saved for a future update some years down the road. If in doubt, please ask.
Please pass this information on to anyone you think might be interested so they won't be left out. As of May 15th we will have reached the point of no return for additions and/or corrections.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Jenkins Picture Puzzle
Robert & Margaret Jenkins's Family - 1898
Robert & Margaret Jenkins's Family - 1901
Robert & Margaret Jenkins's Family - 1911
Shown above are three photos of the family of Robert Jenkins of Mount Albion, Lot 48, PEI. Who knows the names of those in the 1898 and 1901 photos in the order in which they appear? I am almost certain, but not positive, as to which is which. But I would like your help in finding out for certain. Who can help me solve the puzzle? Please email your answers to me at demacdonald@pei.sympatico.ca .
Now, in order to help you, I will give you the dates of birth of the family. Robert was born January 1849, and his 2nd wife Margaret November 1859. From his 1st marriage to Jessie Currie were born Robert Harold (June 1873), Ludlow (November 1875), James Daniel (December 1877), Jessie Winnifred (December 1879), Henry Marshall (August 1881), Parkman (August 1883), Frederick (May 1885), Susan Margaret Jane (August 1887), and Earle Goodspeed (October 1889). From the 2nd marriage were born John Spurgeon (January 1891), Arthur Emerson (August 1892), Hannah Belle (November 1894), Mary Victoria (December 1895), Minnie Laura (February 1898), Chrystie Doctor (May 1899), Gilbert Minto (April 1901), Edna May (May 1904), and William Robert (March 1907).
If you find these photos interesting, let me know, and I can post others of this family in casual scenes for you to identify also.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Relatives in Pro Sports
George A. Wood Baseball Card, from the United States Library of Congress Collection.
Some of you may know of Jenkins relatives who are active in professional sports. Lorie Kane, born in Charlottetown, PEI, has been an LPGA touring professional since 1995. Did you know that her great-great grandmother was Isabella Jenkins of Johnston’s River and Covehead, PEI? Dion Phaneuf is an All Star defenceman with the NHL Calgary Flames. Many of you are aware that his grandmother is Roma (Jenkins) Phaneuf of Summerside, PEI.
But I’ll bet many of you have not heard of baseball’s National League Home Run Champion from the family? He was almost certainly the first Prince Edward Island born player in the Majors. His name was George A. (Dandy) Wood.
Mary Ann Jenkins was born 12 March 1836 in Pownal, Lot 49, PEI, oldest daughter of James MacBriar (Scilly) Jenkins and Sarah Wood. She was married on 25 October 1855 at "Springfield", a pleasant farm in China point, Lot 50, to Joseph A. Wood, born in 1824 in Alexandra, Lot 49. Joseph was a first cousin of his mother-in-law Sarah. Mary and Joseph’s first child, George A. Wood, was born on 9 November 1858 in PEI, as were his siblings Amos (born about 1861) and Roscilla (born about 1863). Some time between 1863 and 1869, the family emigrated to the United States, settling in Boston, MA. There, about 1869, was born their fourth and last child Loronia. George was a great-great grandson of Nicholas (Henckel) Jenkins, our immigrant ancestor.
George began his professional baseball career on 1 May 1880 at age 21 with the Worcester Ruby Legs of the National League. This League had been founded in 1876 with eight teams, but there was a great turnover during those early turbulent years. Worcester, MA, joined the League in 1880, but was gone by the end of the 1882 season. With so many teams coming and going, players changed teams frequently, and George was no exception. After beginning his career with Worcester in 1880, he played with the Detroit Wolverines (1881-1885), Philadelphia Quakers (1886-1889), Philadelphia Athletics (1890-1891), Baltimore Orioles (1889, 1892), and Cincinnati Reds (1892). In 1891 he was both player and manager of the Athletics in the American Association. In 1881 he was among the National League leaders with a .421 slugging percentage. In 1882, his .269 batting average was well above the team average; the year in which he led the League in home runs and was runner up in triples.
Wood also participated in an early integrated baseball game. The Chicago Tribune reported on the game as follows: "A very singular contest took place at New Orleans, La., on April 4, 1880, when five Northern professionals succeeded in defeating the colored professional nine of that city by a score of 17 to 3." According to the account reported 14 months later in the Chicago Tribune of July 1881, Tim Keefe pitched, Charlie Bennett caught, John Sullivan played first base, while Wood and George Creamer "were entrusted with the onerous task of filling the other six positions."
George died on 4 April 1924 at age 65 in Harrisburg, PA. He was buried in Union Street Cemetery, Franklin, MA.
Article references included "The Baseball Page.com"; "baseball-reference.com"; "baseball-almanac.com"; and "wikipedia.org"
As usual, if you have any comments, please email me at demacdonald@pei.sympatico.ca
Some of you may know of Jenkins relatives who are active in professional sports. Lorie Kane, born in Charlottetown, PEI, has been an LPGA touring professional since 1995. Did you know that her great-great grandmother was Isabella Jenkins of Johnston’s River and Covehead, PEI? Dion Phaneuf is an All Star defenceman with the NHL Calgary Flames. Many of you are aware that his grandmother is Roma (Jenkins) Phaneuf of Summerside, PEI.
But I’ll bet many of you have not heard of baseball’s National League Home Run Champion from the family? He was almost certainly the first Prince Edward Island born player in the Majors. His name was George A. (Dandy) Wood.
Mary Ann Jenkins was born 12 March 1836 in Pownal, Lot 49, PEI, oldest daughter of James MacBriar (Scilly) Jenkins and Sarah Wood. She was married on 25 October 1855 at "Springfield", a pleasant farm in China point, Lot 50, to Joseph A. Wood, born in 1824 in Alexandra, Lot 49. Joseph was a first cousin of his mother-in-law Sarah. Mary and Joseph’s first child, George A. Wood, was born on 9 November 1858 in PEI, as were his siblings Amos (born about 1861) and Roscilla (born about 1863). Some time between 1863 and 1869, the family emigrated to the United States, settling in Boston, MA. There, about 1869, was born their fourth and last child Loronia. George was a great-great grandson of Nicholas (Henckel) Jenkins, our immigrant ancestor.
George began his professional baseball career on 1 May 1880 at age 21 with the Worcester Ruby Legs of the National League. This League had been founded in 1876 with eight teams, but there was a great turnover during those early turbulent years. Worcester, MA, joined the League in 1880, but was gone by the end of the 1882 season. With so many teams coming and going, players changed teams frequently, and George was no exception. After beginning his career with Worcester in 1880, he played with the Detroit Wolverines (1881-1885), Philadelphia Quakers (1886-1889), Philadelphia Athletics (1890-1891), Baltimore Orioles (1889, 1892), and Cincinnati Reds (1892). In 1891 he was both player and manager of the Athletics in the American Association. In 1881 he was among the National League leaders with a .421 slugging percentage. In 1882, his .269 batting average was well above the team average; the year in which he led the League in home runs and was runner up in triples.
Wood also participated in an early integrated baseball game. The Chicago Tribune reported on the game as follows: "A very singular contest took place at New Orleans, La., on April 4, 1880, when five Northern professionals succeeded in defeating the colored professional nine of that city by a score of 17 to 3." According to the account reported 14 months later in the Chicago Tribune of July 1881, Tim Keefe pitched, Charlie Bennett caught, John Sullivan played first base, while Wood and George Creamer "were entrusted with the onerous task of filling the other six positions."
George died on 4 April 1924 at age 65 in Harrisburg, PA. He was buried in Union Street Cemetery, Franklin, MA.
Article references included "The Baseball Page.com"; "baseball-reference.com"; "baseball-almanac.com"; and "wikipedia.org"
As usual, if you have any comments, please email me at demacdonald@pei.sympatico.ca
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Family Facts, Fiction & Future
FACTS:
How does the family of Nicholas (Henckel) Jenkins now appear? As a result of findings in Treysa, what changes are required to what has been previously presented here?
We know that Nicholas Jenkins was born Nikolaus Henckel on 28 March 1755 in Treysa, Germany to Johann Hermann Henckel and Anna Elisabeth Ott. He was baptized 31 March 1755, and confirmed in the Lutheran Church, Treysa in 1769 at the age of 14.
His military records show that he joined his regiment in April 1775 in Ziegenhain, Germany, having just turned 20 years old. He was listed as a Tambour (drummer) in the 3rd Company (von Minnigerode Company) of the Hessen-Kassel Regiment von Knyphausen. Regiment von Knyphausen departed the fortress at Ziegenhain for America on 3 March 1776. His time in America has been highlighted in a previous entry to this site of 11 Aug 2007.
We also know that while in America, 28 year old Nicholas Henckel was married 27 July 1783 to Betsey [Elizabeth] Robinson in the Presbyterian Church, Jamaica, Long Island, NY by Rev. Matthias Burnet. A few weeks later, on 15 August 1783, the soldiers of the Regiment von Knyphausen sailed from New York for Germany, and after two months arrived back in Ziegenhain on 16 October 1783. It was only about 5 km from there to his hometown of Treysa.
Nicholas and Elizabeth had the following children born while living in Treysa: Johann George Henckel was born 13 May 1784 in Treysa, nine months after they had departed New York. This is the oldest son, John Jenkins, who died in Prince Edward Island 20 Jun 1866. Susannah Henckel was born 19 months later on 15 Dec 1785 in Treysa. This is the Susannah Jenkins who died in Prince Edward Island 14 May 1884.
Nicolaus Henckel was listed in 1785 as a Master Shoemaker living with a Mrs. Entwichene in Treysa. His father, Johann Hermann Henkel, also a Master Shoemaker, died and was buried 28 May 1787. Church records say their "illegitimate child" Anna Maria, born in New York, died at 11pm on 27 Nov 1787 in Treysa, aged 9 years. She would have been born about 1778, or 5 years before they were married. The same death record says that the parents were "absconded" or "deserted", indicating that they had left Treysa before that date. Based on the records, it is probably safe to say that Nicholas, Elizabeth, John and Susannah left Treysa for Prince Edward Island in North America sometime between the deaths of his father and daughter, or between May and November 1787. This corresponds with the timing of fellow regimental drummers Wilhelm Fischer (later William Fisher) and Georg Weckesser or Weickerssen (later George Vickerson) also leaving the Treysa/Ziegenhain area with their families to settle in PEI. As to 12 year old Peter Baum who arrived on the Island with the Henckel family, we will discuss this below.
FICTION:
Which are the stories from family tradition that now should be considered fiction? Of course we realize that once something has been put in writing, whether true or false, it tends to take on a life of its own. And sometimes such stories or items become quoted as if they were prime sources themselves. Even prime source records may sometimes vary when compared with each other. For example, birth dates on tombstones or from census documents are usually less reliable than birth or baptism records from church documents because the date of recording is more distant from the event of record.
Henckel to Jenkins - The story persists that Nicholas anglicized his surname to Jenkins at the suggestion of Rev. Dr. Louis Charles Jenkins, Minister at St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Charlottetown, PEI. However, Rev. Jenkins wasn’t born until Aug 1797 in England, and the "Weekly Examiner" of 21 Nov 1884 says he didn’t emigrate to the Island until about 1820. Nicholas would have been 65 years old by that time, and have been an Island resident for 33 years. It should be noted that there have been numerous different spellings of all German immigrants names at the time. However, although named as Nicholas Jenkins in his will, it was signed "Nikolaus Henckell".
Another Marriage for Nicholas - There has never been anything to back up the tradition that Nicholas was previously married to anyone other than Elizabeth (Betsy) Robinson. The Edwards connection comes from Nicholas Henckel’s son Nicholas Jr.’s first marriage to Mary Edwards, not from Nicholas Senior. Her parents were reportedly James Edwards and Dobson McBriar, whose family came from the Isles of Scilly off the southwest tip of Cornwall, England.
Elizabeth Pfluger Married Lt. Col. Baum - Nothing has been found to date to back up the idea that Nicholas’ wife Elizabeth had been previously married to a German soldier surnamed Baum. She most certainly was never married to Lt. Col. Frederick Baum who was killed in the Battle of Bennington in Aug 1777. This is backed up by court records in Germany where Lt. Col. Baum’s widow, mistress and daughters fought over his estate, with no mention of a wife or child in America. And it is therefore also certain that Nicholas was never married to anyone with either the maiden or married surname of Pfluger, as this name came from a brother-in-law of the Lt. Col.
John & Susannah Born in Hannover - Family tradition has said that Nicholas’ oldest son John was born in Hanover, Germany about 1777, and that daughter Susannah was also born there about 1778 or 1779. We now know that no one in the family was born in Hannover.
Great Old Ages - The great old ages of some of Nicholas and Elizabeth’s children born in PEI contain errors. Some of these came from newspaper articles written either late in life or after some had died. Even the questionnaire answered by William Jenkins in old age contains an error in the year of his own birth. He could not possibly have been born in PEI in 1783, because his parents did not arrive on the Island until 1787. To this day, no church source has ever been found which records either birth or baptism for any of their children born in PEI.
FUTURE:
Where do we go from here? What are some of the major questions still outstanding, and where might we look for answers?
Anna Maria Henckel Birth Records - If Anna Maria Henckel was born to Nicholas and Elizabeth (or Betsy) in New York about 1778, is there a birth record to be found? Might her birth be found under her mother’s name as she and Nicholas were not yet married? She died in 1787, the year the rest of the family emigrated to the Island. William Jenkins, writing some 89 years later in 1876, said that a child named Mary had died on the passage. Since this would have been before William was born, is it possible that he was referring to the story he had heard of Maria dying in 1787, about the time of the passage? And why was she left behind in Treysa, and with whom? At this point we can only speculate that she was already very ill when they were to leave, and that she was left behind in the care of relatives.
Children born in PEI - Where are the records of birth and baptism of any of Nicholas and Elizabeth’s children who were born in PEI?
Relation to Peter Baum - Who are the parents of Peter Baum? And what is his relation to Nicholas and Elizabeth? According to newspaper accounts and court records of August 1792, Peter was a young boy of about 17 at that time. This would have him born about 1775, but where, and to whom? We know there were at one time Baum families living in Treysa, but no connection has yet been made with Peter. Why would 12 year old Peter have been included with Nicholas and Elizabeth’s family when they left Germany in 1787 to settle in PEI? Was he a child of Elizabeth before she met Nicholas?
As is usual in genealogy, for every puzzle you solve there are many unanswered questions remaining. Who among us will be the first with source records to establish answers to any of the questions posed above? If anyone has evidence to dispute the claims above, I would love to see the proof. If you have any ideas for possible means of arriving at these answers, please help the effort by emailing me at demacdonald@pei.sympatico.ca .
How does the family of Nicholas (Henckel) Jenkins now appear? As a result of findings in Treysa, what changes are required to what has been previously presented here?
We know that Nicholas Jenkins was born Nikolaus Henckel on 28 March 1755 in Treysa, Germany to Johann Hermann Henckel and Anna Elisabeth Ott. He was baptized 31 March 1755, and confirmed in the Lutheran Church, Treysa in 1769 at the age of 14.
His military records show that he joined his regiment in April 1775 in Ziegenhain, Germany, having just turned 20 years old. He was listed as a Tambour (drummer) in the 3rd Company (von Minnigerode Company) of the Hessen-Kassel Regiment von Knyphausen. Regiment von Knyphausen departed the fortress at Ziegenhain for America on 3 March 1776. His time in America has been highlighted in a previous entry to this site of 11 Aug 2007.
We also know that while in America, 28 year old Nicholas Henckel was married 27 July 1783 to Betsey [Elizabeth] Robinson in the Presbyterian Church, Jamaica, Long Island, NY by Rev. Matthias Burnet. A few weeks later, on 15 August 1783, the soldiers of the Regiment von Knyphausen sailed from New York for Germany, and after two months arrived back in Ziegenhain on 16 October 1783. It was only about 5 km from there to his hometown of Treysa.
Nicholas and Elizabeth had the following children born while living in Treysa: Johann George Henckel was born 13 May 1784 in Treysa, nine months after they had departed New York. This is the oldest son, John Jenkins, who died in Prince Edward Island 20 Jun 1866. Susannah Henckel was born 19 months later on 15 Dec 1785 in Treysa. This is the Susannah Jenkins who died in Prince Edward Island 14 May 1884.
Nicolaus Henckel was listed in 1785 as a Master Shoemaker living with a Mrs. Entwichene in Treysa. His father, Johann Hermann Henkel, also a Master Shoemaker, died and was buried 28 May 1787. Church records say their "illegitimate child" Anna Maria, born in New York, died at 11pm on 27 Nov 1787 in Treysa, aged 9 years. She would have been born about 1778, or 5 years before they were married. The same death record says that the parents were "absconded" or "deserted", indicating that they had left Treysa before that date. Based on the records, it is probably safe to say that Nicholas, Elizabeth, John and Susannah left Treysa for Prince Edward Island in North America sometime between the deaths of his father and daughter, or between May and November 1787. This corresponds with the timing of fellow regimental drummers Wilhelm Fischer (later William Fisher) and Georg Weckesser or Weickerssen (later George Vickerson) also leaving the Treysa/Ziegenhain area with their families to settle in PEI. As to 12 year old Peter Baum who arrived on the Island with the Henckel family, we will discuss this below.
FICTION:
Which are the stories from family tradition that now should be considered fiction? Of course we realize that once something has been put in writing, whether true or false, it tends to take on a life of its own. And sometimes such stories or items become quoted as if they were prime sources themselves. Even prime source records may sometimes vary when compared with each other. For example, birth dates on tombstones or from census documents are usually less reliable than birth or baptism records from church documents because the date of recording is more distant from the event of record.
Henckel to Jenkins - The story persists that Nicholas anglicized his surname to Jenkins at the suggestion of Rev. Dr. Louis Charles Jenkins, Minister at St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Charlottetown, PEI. However, Rev. Jenkins wasn’t born until Aug 1797 in England, and the "Weekly Examiner" of 21 Nov 1884 says he didn’t emigrate to the Island until about 1820. Nicholas would have been 65 years old by that time, and have been an Island resident for 33 years. It should be noted that there have been numerous different spellings of all German immigrants names at the time. However, although named as Nicholas Jenkins in his will, it was signed "Nikolaus Henckell".
Another Marriage for Nicholas - There has never been anything to back up the tradition that Nicholas was previously married to anyone other than Elizabeth (Betsy) Robinson. The Edwards connection comes from Nicholas Henckel’s son Nicholas Jr.’s first marriage to Mary Edwards, not from Nicholas Senior. Her parents were reportedly James Edwards and Dobson McBriar, whose family came from the Isles of Scilly off the southwest tip of Cornwall, England.
Elizabeth Pfluger Married Lt. Col. Baum - Nothing has been found to date to back up the idea that Nicholas’ wife Elizabeth had been previously married to a German soldier surnamed Baum. She most certainly was never married to Lt. Col. Frederick Baum who was killed in the Battle of Bennington in Aug 1777. This is backed up by court records in Germany where Lt. Col. Baum’s widow, mistress and daughters fought over his estate, with no mention of a wife or child in America. And it is therefore also certain that Nicholas was never married to anyone with either the maiden or married surname of Pfluger, as this name came from a brother-in-law of the Lt. Col.
John & Susannah Born in Hannover - Family tradition has said that Nicholas’ oldest son John was born in Hanover, Germany about 1777, and that daughter Susannah was also born there about 1778 or 1779. We now know that no one in the family was born in Hannover.
Great Old Ages - The great old ages of some of Nicholas and Elizabeth’s children born in PEI contain errors. Some of these came from newspaper articles written either late in life or after some had died. Even the questionnaire answered by William Jenkins in old age contains an error in the year of his own birth. He could not possibly have been born in PEI in 1783, because his parents did not arrive on the Island until 1787. To this day, no church source has ever been found which records either birth or baptism for any of their children born in PEI.
FUTURE:
Where do we go from here? What are some of the major questions still outstanding, and where might we look for answers?
Anna Maria Henckel Birth Records - If Anna Maria Henckel was born to Nicholas and Elizabeth (or Betsy) in New York about 1778, is there a birth record to be found? Might her birth be found under her mother’s name as she and Nicholas were not yet married? She died in 1787, the year the rest of the family emigrated to the Island. William Jenkins, writing some 89 years later in 1876, said that a child named Mary had died on the passage. Since this would have been before William was born, is it possible that he was referring to the story he had heard of Maria dying in 1787, about the time of the passage? And why was she left behind in Treysa, and with whom? At this point we can only speculate that she was already very ill when they were to leave, and that she was left behind in the care of relatives.
Children born in PEI - Where are the records of birth and baptism of any of Nicholas and Elizabeth’s children who were born in PEI?
Relation to Peter Baum - Who are the parents of Peter Baum? And what is his relation to Nicholas and Elizabeth? According to newspaper accounts and court records of August 1792, Peter was a young boy of about 17 at that time. This would have him born about 1775, but where, and to whom? We know there were at one time Baum families living in Treysa, but no connection has yet been made with Peter. Why would 12 year old Peter have been included with Nicholas and Elizabeth’s family when they left Germany in 1787 to settle in PEI? Was he a child of Elizabeth before she met Nicholas?
As is usual in genealogy, for every puzzle you solve there are many unanswered questions remaining. Who among us will be the first with source records to establish answers to any of the questions posed above? If anyone has evidence to dispute the claims above, I would love to see the proof. If you have any ideas for possible means of arriving at these answers, please help the effort by emailing me at demacdonald@pei.sympatico.ca .
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Final Day in Treysa
Inside the Henkel house, Treysa.
In the cellar of the Henkel house, showing the stone vaulted ceiling.
In the cellar showing old winding stone stairway up to the ground floor. Nearby is the former entrance to a tunnel.
We met our new friends again after breakfast on Day 3, and were given photocopies of Treysa church records. These included the marriage of Nicholas’s grandparents Johann Heinrich Henckel and Elizabeth Lotz in 1722, Nicholas’s parents Johann Herman Henckel and Anna Elizabeth Otto in 1752, and the baptism/christening (including birth date) of Nicholas himself in 1755. We were also given copies of some house records from the local Treysa archives. Among these were all owners of the Henkel house from 1623 to the present. This showed Henkel families owning the house continuously from 1730 to 1978. However, these Henkels were Bakers, not Shoemakers. Please see again the reference in the Treysa - Day One posting to the two families of Henkels in Treysa. You will recall that Nicholas’s widowed father remarried when Nicholas was 5 or 6 years old to Susanna Henkel, and that she was one of the "Baker Henkels", thus connecting the two families.
The previous day, our Genealogist friend had shown us a book entitled "Das Tagebuch des Sockenstrickers Johann Valentin Asteroth aus Treysa (1776-1831)". It was the diary of a soldier, born in Treysa, which was kept during the time of the American Revolution. His experiences and details of life as a soldier in Ziegenhain and America, and the journey to and from, would have been almost identical to that of Nicholas. Today, our friend insisted that he give us this book to further help with our research.
Before leaving to visit the town again, we showed a copy of family trees of both Evelyn and I to point out other common German ancestors in our past. These included not only Nicholas Henckel, but also John (Eichorn) Acorn and Peter (Baum) Ballem. As soon as we mentioned Peter Baum, we heard the word "Juden", Jewish. There had indeed been Baum families in Treysa, and that they had been Jewish. We mentioned that 32 year old Nicholas Henckel and family had left Germany for Prince Edward Island, Canada in 1787, and that young Peter Baum, a boy of about 12, was with them. They were quite excited and pleased about the story of a German family helping a young Jewish boy. Later that morning we were given a document for another house in Treysa which had been sold by an Abraham Baum in August 1937, presumably shortly before they left Hitler’s Germany. Our friends were going to dig deeper to see what might be found of any Baum in Treysa about 1787, specifically for any mention of Peter, and a possible reason for a connection between the Baum and Henckel families.
After thanking our friends very much for their help, we set out to see if we could get inside the Henkel house. The ground floor is now a bar, Bistro Copas, and we went in to have a coffee as soon as they opened that morning. The lady did not speak English, but went next door to fetch someone who could. Who should appear but the same man whom we had met each of the previous two days, and who owned the Henkel house. He quickly excused himself, returning with a photo of the interior as it had been before extensive restoration in the 1990s. He also had a flashlight, and proceeded to take us on a tour of the cellar below the house. It had a vaulted stone ceiling and winding stone stairs that had previously lead up to the ground floor. There had also at one time been a tunnel which lead from the cellar though the lower levels of many other buildings down toward the river a great distance away. After taking more photos, he joined us for coffee in the Bistro Copas.
After picking up our luggage at the Hotel Stadt, and a final thanks and farewell, we were off to catch the noon train for Frankfurt and our return home. We cannot say enough about how friendly and helpful the people were that we had met. Without their efforts we still would have had a pleasant visit to the area of our ancestors. But because of how friendly they were and all that they did for us during our short stay, we have gained so much more information about Nicholas, his family, the town of Treysa where he lived, and the fortress of Ziegenhain where he was a soldier, than we might have hoped for. The people, scenery, and history were all first class We have made numerous friends, and hope to visit again. If you ever get a chance to visit Germany, we would highly recommend including a visit to Schwalmstadt if at all possible.
While this visit is finished, the work is not. In the coming days and weeks the information provided in German will be reviewed for additional details on Nicholas, his family, and his community. And the new information will be incorporated into what was previously known to give a revised and updated look at this part of our family. Stay tuned for more updates. Meanwhile, what do you think of the findings so far? Do you have any observations, questions, or suggestions for lines of further research? Please add you comments below, or email to me at demacdonald@pei.sympatico.ca .
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