On Oct 22, 2018, at 8:42 AM, Dan Tropp <dan_tropp@ajg.com> wrote:
So I found myself chasing down a rabbit hole last night, and finally signed up for a membership to ancestry.com. I have not done the DNA thing (yet?) but was able to begin building out a fascinating family tree. There are so many paths to follow that it could literally take months or years to explore the whole thing, but I thought I’d share a couple of highlights. I figure as I explore more, if any of you are interested, I’ll shoot out a bit of what I learn.
The track I spent the most time following last night, for one reason or another, was up the chain of Emma Weibel. Emma was Nana Pat’s mother. She was born in Deerfield, IL in March, 1899. In the 1900 US Census, their address was listed as 9 Central Ave., Deerfield, IL. 9 Central Ave no longer exists as an address, but the best I can figure is that this would have been the corner of present-day Waukegan Rd and Central Ave. There’s a restaurant there now, which seems fitting.
Emma had 2 brothers and 2 sisters; Theodore (1902-1941), Ruth (born 1904), Roy (1905-1982) and Francis (born 1908). I had trouble finding any detail on Theodore, other than that he died in Washington State in 1941, or Ruth. Roy was married to a woman named Dorothy. By the 1940 census they were living in Denver, but listed no children. He died in 1982, she lived until 1997; no record of children. There’s also virtually no information about Francis.
Emma’s parents were Edward, born April 9, 1866 in Rapperswil, Switzerland and Minnie Schmidt, born July, 1877 in Chicago. Edward emigrated with his parents at age 4 in 1870 to Monticello, Iowa. He was one of 9 children; Mary, Christian, Eliza, Rosa, Ernest, Johanna, Emma and William were his siblings. In 1880 they ranged in age from 22 to 3. The children over the age of 16 were all listed as “Servant” for their occupation, the younger ones showing as “At Home” or “At School.” By the time of the 1880 census, they were living on Fullerton Ave in Chicago. His father, Christian, listed his occupation as a Milkman.
Minnie Schmidt’s father was William Schmidt, born in 1843 in Prussia. Very little detail about him, her mother or family. Edward’s death date is unknown, Minnie died in Chicago in 1943.
Following the Weibel line up from Edward, Christian, his father, was born in Aarberg, Switzerland on December 12, 1831. He was about 39 when they emigrated to Iowa. At some point after that 1880 census where he was on Fullerton, he relocated to Wanatah, Indiana. He died on November 18, 1898 and is buried in Hanna, Indiana. A picture of his and Elizabeth’s grave stone is attached. <Weibel gravestone.jpg>
Elizabeth was also born in Switzerland, maiden name was wither Nydegger or Niedegger. The trail runs cold at her great, great, great grandfather, Benedick Nydegger, born in 1675.
Christian (so, if you’re following along, Nana Pat’s great grandfather) has a much deeper line of names we can follow. His father was Johannes, 1800-1869. Johannes’s father was also Johannes, 1771-1854. His mother was Anne Michelsen, born in Denmark in 1743. Her father was Michael, born 1702. His mother Johanne lived from 1666 – 1762. Stick with me here. Her father Michel, 1647-1700.
At this point the last names begin to change because in Denmark there weren’t surnames, you simply became “father’s first name’s son.” So Johanne’s “last name” growing up was Michelsen (or possible Michelsdotter), since her father’s name was Michel Rasmussen, since his father’s name was Rasmus Mikkelsen, since his father’s name was Mikkel Sorensen, since his father’s name was Soren Mikkelsen, since his father’s name was Mikkel Oveson, since his father’s name was Ove Mikkelsen since his father’s name was Mikkel Oveson since his father’s name was Ove Mikkelsen. And that’s where the trail runs cold. Ove Mikkelsen, born – get this, in 1440 in Mesing, Denmark.
1440.
Something tells me I’ll be wasting unknown hours on this in the coming weeks. If you want to stay on this list with updates as I learn them, please let me know.
Cool stuff-
Go Denmark!
DMT
Tropp Family History 