52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Week 26 Prompt - Legend

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 26

Prompt – Legend

I have had lots of trouble with this prompt. When I am stuck I go to defining what it is I am trying to blog about.

I think in any genealogical history there are many stories that come down from ancestors which is nothing short of folk lore. My family is no exception. 

The Legendary Robert Windsworth Sullivan

In my family the best legend is that of my mother's father; Grandma M (Mary McLaughlin nee Krikau) first husband – Robert Windsworth Sullivan. I have blogged of him many times. And yes he is more of my “brick wall” than a legend. However I feel his story has become an epic tale.

His names include Pat Sullivan, Patrick Sullivan, Patty, Robert Patrick Sullivan, Bob Windsworth Sullivan, Robert Wentworth Sullivan, and if I asked my mother about him, she had many more unkind names. The thread that is constant in his narrative is that his last name is Sullivan. However the fact that he has so many aliases should be a flag that he may not be quite as he was sold.

The narrative our family was told was pretty constant like a practiced story! Grandma was young and living in Winnipeg with her family. She fell in love with Sullivan, the cook. They married, had my mom and moved to Saskatoon. He worked as a chef on the CP rail that ran between Winnipeg and Saskatoon. Somewhere along the way he married a second woman in Winnipeg while married to grandma in Saskatoon. They found out about each other somehow and charged him with bigamy and sent him to jail at Stony Mountain Penitentiary in Winnipeg. Apparently they divorced him however grandma forgave Sullivan and “took him back” and had two more children. However he never changed his ways and grandma claimed that she divorced him. Robert Sullivan more or less fell from the earth never to be seen or talked about again. Although we did hear a rumor that he remarried a women in British Columbia and had lots more children.

Well it seems plausible but is very hard to prove with evidence. I have grandma's marriage certificate to Bob Windsworth Sullivan on April 11, 1921. The marriage certificate was torn up the middle almost in half. That pretty much says it all. 

The certificate says he was born in Pittsburgh, PA and his parents were born in Dublin, Ireland. In my search thus far I have not found any matching or even partial matching documents to confirm this.

I looked for their divorce. I know before 1968, divorce in Canada had to be a Statue of Law by The Federal Government and thus recorded. It had to be publicized in their local newspaper for 6 months prior to the divorce. On line, The Library Archives have listed all divorces in Canada pre 1968. There are 12,000 plus names recorded alphabetically.  I searched for every variation in her name and did not find her or him on the list. I have to think that she never got a divorce before she married a second husband, but in the 1920's it would be easy enough to ignore the first marriage if the man just disappeared.

Last year I ordered and received my mother's “live birth registration”. 

I was surprised when I read that her father is listed as Patrick Sullivan and address was listed as Stony Mountain Penitentiary and occupation as prisoner. So he was already in jail when mom was born April 1922 – one year after the marriage. Even more interesting is the birthplace of Sullivan is listed as Los Angeles, California. Quite different from his birthplace on the wedding certificate. What the heck?

A while back I came across a registration of death from British Columbia for a person called Robert Wentworth Sullivan. This person died November 24, 1952. while standing in an unemployment line in Chilliwack, BC. He had a history of Atherosclerotic Heart Disease. He was a Canadian Irish cook in a local cafe and was married to a Jean Alice Walker. However his birthplace is listed as Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada. Oi!! The death registration list his birth date as May 29, 1887. That birth date makes him older than my other two documents. But keep in mind that on the death certificate it is his brother in law who is giving the information. Lots of room for error. For all intense and purpose I am pretty sure that this is my maternal grandfather but I can't connect the dots from Saskatoon to Chilliwack.

I think this is as close to a legendary person as my family has. I hope that the more times I write about him, the more likely I will find some tidbit of missed information that will lead me to who he really is. 

And that is the Legend of Robert Windsworth Sullivan.

Wendy

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Week 25 Prompt - Earliest

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks
Week 25
Prompt - Earliest

Aron Peters was born about 1745 in Pietzkendorf, Gross Werder, West Prussia and is my direct ancestor of 5 generations. He was Mennonite and as I have said before they are among the most meticulous keepers of family information. He is the earliest Peters in my Peters Genealogy line that I have found.

Aron Peters and family emigrated to Russia and was among the earliest immigrants to settle in the Chortitza Colony of Russia and specifically Schoenhorst Colony.
Danzig, Prussia to Chortitza, Russia
Jacob Hoeppner was one of two delegates selected by the Danzig Mennonite community to lead the first group to New Russia. They left Bohnsach, a little village near Danzig, at nine a.m. on Easter Sunday, March 22, 1788. The emigrants traveled alternately by sleigh and wagon to Riga and then south along the Dongava River to Dubrovno where 228 families were forced to spend a terrible winter.
(The above note was found at The Mennonite Heritage Center who is grateful to William Schroeder of Winnipeg for donating this manuscript collection of maps to the Center. The maps may be downloaded and printed for personal study and research.)
In the meanwhile renewed hostilities between Russia and Turkey forced Prince Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin-Tauricheski (a Russian nobleman, military leader and favored by Catherine the Great) to locate the first Mennonite settlement not near Berislav but on his own private estate adjacent to the Chortitza Island. In June, 1789, the first settlers arrived at the point where the Chortitza River joins the Dnieper River. This alternate land was apparently less fertile and sparse of trees to build their homes and protect them from the elements.

Journey of Mennonites From Danzig to Chortitza

 
The first settlers like Aron Peters and his family were the earliest peoples to settle the New Russia.  Their journey was difficult. The lumber and monies promised never came to the colony for several years. They built sod huts the first few years to live in.  Their lives were difficult.  Colony life probably made it bearable in those early years.


Wendy

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Week 24 Prompt Dear Diary

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 24

Prompt- Dear Diary

I have always enjoyed writing a diary / journal. My first diary was written in my pre-teen years. I am sure that I had read Anne Frank, A Diary of a Young Girl and found the idea of writing a diary intriguing and at some point it even became therapeutic to tell the world those things you dare not tell anyone. I think that my blogs are just an extension of my journal writing days.

In a one of my blogs of 2018, I spoke of my mother's diary of 1940 - 1941. It was written when Betty was an infant. Like so many other people of the time just coming out of the depression and heading straight into the war, they were broke and dad was having trouble finding work to support their growing family. Mom wrote of the circumstances of my father's enlistment into the army. 

For Christmas 1975, my siblings and I went together to purchase a vacation for mom and dad to Hawaii in January of 1976.

They were truly surprised. 

Vivian and Jake Peters (aka mom and dad).

Mom and Dad - Christmas 1975.

  

Mom loved to write diaries too. Mom decided to keep a Trip Diary of their experiences in Honolulu. The details she wrote astounded me. I mean I never paid attention to the altitude and cruising speed of the airplane trips I've been on. Maybe it was just such an exciting trip that she wanted to record every little detail to remember it by.

On their second day according to mom's diary, they were already tanning at the beach in their bathing suits. Now there is a picture we rarely saw at home except when we went camping in the Okanogan. 

Mom tells us of their Sunset Sail and Dinner. Mom writes how the hula dancer chose dad in the crowd and took him up on stage to dance. Wow I can just imagine how dad felt. He was such a quiet reserved man, this would have killed him so to speak. I love that mom speaks of dad's curiosity in the style of garages on the island.  And I can see my mom talking with the bus tour operators; she was like that in that small talk with strangers was not a problem.

On January 30^th they were suppose to be on a tour of the Polynesian Center however it was overbooked so they had to re-book for the next day. So instead they went to Pearl Harbor to tour it. Mom wrote how sad it was because in their tour was a couple whose son had gone down on a ship. Later on that night while back at their hotel they heard the fireworks of the Chinese New Year Celebrations.

 I can see how dad might of thought he was under attack after visiting Pearl Harbor and then hearing the noisy firecrackers that evening.

On their fourth day the headed off to the beach for a sun tan. Not that unusual seeing how it was Hawaii, but what was surprising was that mom rented a surf board and “fooled around with it for an hour. Hard to manage but finally made it.” She got up on a surf board! Who knew! I can see dad sitting on the beach smoking (it was allowed back then) and shaking his head at his wife.

Mom's diary gives us such vivid detail of their time in Honolulu. However it also gives us insight into their thoughts and feelings and their plans for the future to return to the island. 

Their time on the island was during a bad weather event. Mom's writings reminds me that as a family we are generally quite pessimistic. She just knew that when she got to paradise the weather would turn rotten!  In further reading of the paragraph below it brought back two sayings that I forgot about.  "The heavens opened".  She always said that during any good rain downpour and in Saskatoon that was often.  Also the term "boob tube" is a long forgotten derogative term for the television. 

This is something that I did not know. Well I knew they wanted to go back but I did not realize that they dreamed of  having family with them. Wouldn't that have been nice for them.  I know the want to share those beautiful times with one's own family.

Mom's final entry in her Hawaii Trip Diary is a touching note of thanks to us, her family.  I know they both thanked us many times but seeing it in writing just seems more poignant.

A diary is not just about the facts of the event.  It is an insight into feelings, hopes and dreams.  It is sharing there excitement of seeing paradise for the first time. The diary gives us the visual of mom and dad walking along the beach at night. The diary gives us their colloquialisms of the time.  The diary shows mom's tenacity to write a two week diary while on vacation. I have tried to, but found it hardest to write while away on a vacation. Visually I see mom's long forgotten beautiful handwriting. It is a treasure to have a diary of an ancestor.

Wendy

 

 

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Week 23 Prompt - Namesake

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 23

Prompt – Namesake

Did you know that in Canada, lakes have been named after those men and women who served in WWII, Korea and Afghanistan wars and lost their lives? This was started in 1947. Canada has so many lakes of which most are not named. Close to 4000 lakes have been named after deceased veterans and that is in Saskatchewan alone.

Bill has a cousin once removed who died overseas in WWII.

Walter Robert Albert Jahnke was born in Hatton, Saskatchewan (about 45 Kilometers northwest of Maple Creek) on August 21, 1921 to Julius John Jahnke and Dorothy (nee Bachmann).

The family moved to Regina at some point before Walter enlisted. On his Attestation file we find out that he was enrolled in a Regina Public School from 1931 to 1937 and achieved Grade 8. In 1938 he went to Balfour Trade School and took a Junior Matric and Machinist course. He left in 1938. He

then worked 18 months as an apprentice in Bruner's Garage, Ford Service Station located at 10^th Ave and Halifax Street in Regina. This information was given by his employer of Brunner Garage to the enlistment officers as a character / employment reference. It was included in his military file. Another reference letter included in his file is from the Regina Police Department verifying that he had lived with his parents for the previous 4 years and he was not known to the police department.

Walter was single when he enlisted January 10, 1941 – 7 months short of his 21^st birthday. He enlisted at RCAF Recruiting Office in Regina, Saskatchewan. He became a “Airframe Mechanic, Metal, Standard” due to his past employment and trade school experience. Walter Jahnke passed his physical with no abnormalities, no defects, chest x-ray normal, hearing and sight were good, dental health was good with noted fillings, his appearance was very good. He is listed as 6 foot, 0 inches; weight was 182 pounds, fair of complexion, green eyes, brown hair and chest girth of 38 inches. This is more information than I generally know of any ancestor!

Walter Robert Albert Jahnke

Walter Robert Albert Jahnke

No. Can / R85212

Unit 419 Squadron R.C.A.F.

Enlisted as; AC2, Promoted to; AC1 January 1, 1942, Promoted again February 1, 1942 to L.A.C. Walter spent his first year in the RCAF in Eastern Canada training. He embarked from Halifax to England January, 1942.  He died in a plane accident in England on September 15, 1942. His total service was 614 days from January 10, 1941 to September 15, 1942. His Overseas service was 252 days from January 7, 1942 to September 15, 1942.

This was placed in his military file.

The Canadian Virtual War Memorial gives more information on the very tragic plane crash.

Walter Jahnke was buried in England.

Found in His Military File
  

Walter Robert Albert Jahnke's Namesake is Lake Jahnke.  Just north of Lake Athabasca in Northern Saskatchewan

What a beautiful way of memorializing those men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. 

Wendy

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Week 22 Prompt - At The Cemetery

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 22

Prompt – At The Cemetery

In Week 6 of my blog this year, I talked about Daniel Fesser – Bill's maternal 2^nd Great-grandfather. In that blog I discussed how Daniel Fesser has no real burial site and in fact may have never been buried. Daniel Fesser was estranged from his first family but that did not stop his sons from looking for his grave site. I was told that every place his sons visited throughout United States and Canada, they always made time to visit the cemetery, always hoping to find their father's grave. They never did.

As strange as not being able to ascertain where Daniel Fesser is buried is that his first wife, Karolina Fesser's cemetery is in the unlikeliest of places. 

Karolina Fesser (nee: Muller) Circa 1900

Daniel Fesser's first wife was Karolina Muller. She was born in Theodorshof, Austria on January 7, 1851. The family immigrated to Winnipeg, Canada in 1891. After a long and difficult life she died on February 19, 1932 in British Columbia, Canada and was buried at Maple Cemetery, East Arrow Park, Central Kootenay Regional District, British Columbia, Canada.

On one of my visits with Bill's mom to go through her family photos we came across the picture of Karolina Fesser's (nee Muller) headstone and grave site. It's quite a blurry photograph. 

It says: In loving Memory of our Dear Mother. Karolina Fesser. 1851 - 1932. Asleep in Jesus.

 I suggested to my mother in law that I could go out to her grave and re take the picture. She kind of chuckled and said that I would have to be a good swimmer and hold my breath for a pretty long time. I did not understand. 

Here is what I know now. The Arrow Lakes in southeastern British Columbia are situated between two mountain ranges – The Monashees and The Selkirks. They are widened areas of the Columbia River which drain down through British Columbia,  Washington and Oregon and out to the Pacific Ocean. Arrow Park was the arable land between the two. Politics and something called a Dam Treaty between the United States and Canada brought forth the building of the Hugh Keenleyside Dam, which flooded the land between the two Arrow Lakes to make one huge reservoir. 

Arrow Lake

Hugh Keenleyside Dam Arrow Lakes

The filling of Arrow Lakes Reservoir in 1969 resulted in the displacement of over 2,000 local people, impacted traditional Indigenous sites and artifacts, agricultural and forestry areas, as well as fish and wildlife habitat. No one was consulted or gave them a choice.  Bill's 2^nd Great Grandmother's grave site at Maple Cemetery, West Arrow Park is now at the bottom of the reservoir.

I went on the website Find a Grave and this is what it said about Maple Cemetery at East Arrow Park.

Plaque at Side of Road for Maple Cemetery, Arrow Lakes.

Karolina Fesser on Plaque. Note Wrong Date 1861 - 1932.

Apparently the reservoir is a great playground for tourism and boating. I guess that means the closest I get to seeing her at the cemetery is the blurry picture or take a boat ride on Arrow Lake Reservoir knowing it is somewhere below the water. Strange but true.

Wendy

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Week 21 Prompt - Military

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 21

Prompt – Military

Bill's maternal great – grandfather is Johann Friedrich Jahnke. He was born November 25, 1863 in Bromberg, Prussia. Today it is called Bydgoszcz and is located in Poland. Prussia existed as part of the German Empire until its dissolution in 1918.

Johann Jahnke was conscripted into three year mandatory military service. I believe all men had compulsory military service in Prussia and many European countries. His military book is one of the treasures that Bill's family still have. I was able to scan it for my genealogy.

Unfortunately I cannot read it. As a matter of fact many German people today could not read it. German Script is a type of handwriting based on medieval cursive writing that existed in Germany.  In 1911 Germany commissioned Sutterlin to come up with an easier version of the old German Script. In 1941, the Nazi Party banned all type of cursive writing considering it too chaotic. They only allowed “Normal Script” or “Latin Script” to be taught in schools. What this means is that only the very elderly know how to read the old German Script that most of our Prussian / German ancestors letters, diaries, certificates and things like Bill's great grandfather's military book are written in.

Johann was conscripted on November 7, 1884 which was just a few days short of his 21^st birthday. He was discharged September 7, 1887. That I could make out of the pages.

I did inquire about getting it translated from a translation service I found on the internet and was based out of Vancouver. Unfortunately it was going to cost close to 450.00 dollars. Thus I have not felt the urge to get on that right now. I know that there are many sites on the internet to teach one how to read German Script, but I haven't taken that on just yet. I am curious to know what it says and what information might be hiding within that book. There are several pages of handwritten notes.

Military Book of Johann Jahnke.  What does it say?

Johann Friedrich Jahnke married Ernestine “Emelie” Hein (Heyn) on April 20, 1890. Their first son was born January 9, 1891 in Bromberg, Germany.

Johann and Emelie Jahnke on Their Wedding Day

 In October of that same year the family immigrated to United States and homesteaded in Winthrop, Minnesota. Their second son was born in Winthrop in April 6, 1894. His name was Arthur John Jahnke. He was Bill's grandfather. Johann and Emelie lived in many places throughout Canada and U.S. They lived out there end of life in Yakima, Washington. Johann died February 3, 1945 and Emelie died April 10, 1946.

As an aside. Johann had an older brother named Leonard Heinrich Jahnke. Leonard married Henriette “Amalia” Hein – Emelie's twin sister. The brothers married twin sisters. Try to keep that family tree! 

Wendy