Week 40 of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Prompt - Ten

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 40

Prompt – Ten

I have decided to give you ten random events that I did not know about my family prior to researching family genealogy.

1. Aaron Peters born 1746 in Pietzckendorf, Prussia. I believe this is in Poland of today somewhere between Lodz and Warsaw. He died January 1, 1802 in Schoenhorst, Chortitza Colony, South Russia. This is the oldest Peters I have found in my search. He is my 3^rd Great Grandfather. He was among the first families that moved from Prussia to Russia in search of a better life living in the Chortitza Colony of Mennonites. I know this because of the meticulous record keeping that Mennonites have. Strangely he died the same day as his 4^th child, Gertrude Peters who was 11 years old.
2. Franz Peters (paternal grandfather) born July 29, 1876 in Plum Coulee, Manitoba. Plum Coulee held town status until January 1, 2015. After that it amalgamated with the Rural Town of Rhineland and the town of Gretna to become Municipality of Rhineland. Plum Coulee is about 100 milometers south of Winnipeg and a half hour from the Canada / U.S. Border. As a matter of interest it is about 25 Kilometers from Morden, Manitoba where his wife to be was born.
3. My maternal great grandparents – Andreas Krikau (born January 20,1879) and Maria Katherine Kraft (born August 27, 1879) had ten children. I always thought there were 7 children until I read his obituary where it says; “ This union was blessed with ten children,three of whom predeceased their father to eternity.” From other trees found on Ancestry and My Heritage sites I have found out that their first child Maria Krikau died at 3 years of age. Their second child, John Krikau died at 3 months of age of pneumonia. Their actual birth dates are unknown. I have not been able, as of yet, to find proof for these discoveries. In fact in the beginning I rejected these trees because they did not match my tree with only 7 children. It was after I received Grandma's documents from my Aunt Phyllis that I discovered a envelope with “ my brother's grave no. in Winnipeg, Manitoba.”  Inside was document from Brookside Cemetery that was issued May 20, 1918 for Williham (sic). One of the unsubstantiated trees states he died of pneumonia at 4 months of age. This is quite possible since the Flu Pandemic occurred at this time.
4. I ordered my mother's ( Lydia Vivian Sullivan) birth registration from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Upon receiving it, I learned many details that I would not have had otherwise. She was born on April 19, 1922 in Winnipeg Grace Hospital and full registered name was “Lydia Sullivan” There was no Vivian in this certificate. She was a female singleton (not a twin) born at 11.48 AM by Dr. Coulter. Her mother Mary Sullivan, was an 18 year old immigrant from Russia. She was married at the time of the birth stating the marriage date as April 11,1921 in Winnipeg. Her 31 year old American - Irish husband was Patrick Sullivan who was living in Stony Mountain Penitentiary at the time of the birth. His occupation is listed as “prisoner”. Strangely they listed his place of birth as Los Angeles, California. This was now the third place listed as Pat Sullivan's place of birth in my searches. Mary put her address as 659 Herbert Avenue in Winnipeg which was her parent's home address. Mary and her child lived at her parent's home.
5. Elisabeth Dueck / Dyck died January 16, 1972 in Vancouver. My parents went to the funeral which was January 21, 1972. I ordered her death registration from British Columbia where I found out among other things that she was a welfare case and the funeral was handled by First Memorial Services Ltd. And was buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Vancouver. With the help and encouragement of my daughter living in Vancouver, we went to the cemetery and found her burial site. It is an unmarked grave. The office staff flagged it for us and I was able to see where she was buried and placed flowers upon her grave site.
6. My grandmothers second husband – Benjamin Franklin McLaughlin was a foundling. This I discovered in the documents from my Aunt Phyllis.  Benjamin was a 3 day old infant left on a doorstep. There is a letter from his half sister explaining the circumstances around being found. Benjamin was found in May 1871 on the doorstep of the Franklin home in Westfield, Huron County, Ontario and her parents ( McLaughlins) were the next door neighbors.  Mr and Mrs Franklin did not want the child so The McLaughlin's decided to take the baby boy in. They named him Benjamin Franklin (after the neighbors where the child was found) and last name McLaughlin. They never registered his birth as it was not necessary to do so at the time. Benjamin's adoptive mother did write in her bible the name and the date of birth as May 23, 1871. The family doctor examined the baby shortly after being found and fixed that day – May 23. Thus on June 8 1939 there was a document taken out to register Benjamin's birth. I figure that Benjamin was about 68 at this time and probably applying for Old Age Security and probably needed proof of age.
7. I ordered my father's attestation papers and his war diaries – actually photocopies. I really had no idea what I ordered and ended up with enough paper to fill two 3 inch binders. It is an interesting read. Attestation papers are an excellent snapshot of the recruit on that day that they enlist. I gleaned a lot of information on my father, Jacob Peters on that day of January 27, 1942 or his enlistment day. Further through discussion with my sister I was able to photocopy my mother's personal diary from the same time and found out that dad was imprisoned for lack of proper registration for the truck he was driving and dad lacked funds to pay the fine. He was presented with a choice of further time in prison or join the army. He chose the army.
8. I have an old album of my great grandparents, Maria and Andreas Krikau that my grandmother, Mary McLaughlin had. Most of the pictures are without names and dates. I believe this is the case of most old photo album pictures from back in the day. I have identified as many of the people as possible but there are many nice photos that are named Unknown and Unknown date. I think this is where all genealogists say they wish they would have paid more attention when they were alive.
9. My great grandparents, David Peters and Katherina Mueller immigrated to Canada in July of 1875. They brought 6 children ages 6 months to 10 years of age and David's mother, Susanna Klassen as her husband had already died in South Russia about 9 years before the immigration. Susanna Peters nee Klassen died and was buried in R.M. Of Rhineland, Manitoba. As of yet I have not found her grave site.
10. My sister had a scrapbook binder of important papers and pictures of mom and dad – Vivian & Jake. I now have it and it has been a great source of information for my family. In it I found the discharge note that my mom was given post delivery of me. I was 9 pounds 5 ounces and 21 inches long when born. The discharge date was March 29, four days after delivery where I weighed 8 pounds 12 ounces. I'm not clear if I was breastfed or bottle fed because their was a formula prescribed for me and it was 7 ounces of cooled boiled water with 1 1/2 tablespoons of corn syrup. Then as I read this it was added to 14 ounces of  “cow's milk”. I also note that between the age of 3 to 4 weeks I was allowed to have orange juice in a 1 teaspoon of juice to 1 teaspoon of sterile water. No wonder I have a sweet tooth!

These are but a few discoveries. I have so many more left to discover and research. It will never be done.

Wendy