The serious family researcher is curious, pays attention to detail, follows obscure hints, and does not give up easily. How much time and money one has to pursue hints and links can severely limit results, but not always. Here is one example.
My unknown cousins allegedly wrote a book about the ancestors early family that came to the colonies about 1700 from Scotland with a wife and children. His namesake matured and married a woman "of Dutch parentage" from Holland or Belgium. Most of this statement was not born out by facts. What it did was confuse me. I knew nothing about Western Europe in 1600. I only did not know any European History. I did not understand an imperial system of kings, empires, ect., or how to find records. But the statement "of a Principality in Belgium in early 1600" kept running through me head.
I found the church where they married and the kids were were baptized. Why was it important? Because it was named to honor Saint Martin the Poor. Why was he important. I looked to the Catholic Encyclopaedia for answers. And there was the answer. His missionary route was between Cologne and Antwerp. The more I read the encyclopaedia the more it unfolded the rise and fall of the Low Countries and the HRE.
The more I read the more I discovered the most important Golden Bull, and I was led to read several different Treaties that took place in Europe that eventually caused the Holy Roman Empire of German Nations (HRE) to be dissolved by abdication of the Emperor. Ultimately Germany was divided. It was one of those pieces of paper that caused Belgium to be formed, and later recognized as an independent country circa 1850.
The cousin's statement was not exactly untrue. The settler came with one son, not two; the namesake was born in in East Jersey and married the Dutch girl who was born in NY to Dutch parents. It was her mother's grandfather who was born about 1616 in a Principality according to church records. He, another family member, and friends arrived in the colonies circa 1664. This ancestor died about 30 years before she was born, which was about 175 years before the Kingdom of Belgium was recognized. By math alone I was able to conclude her g.g.grandfather was
not born in Belgium in 1616, and neither was his wife or oldest son, as Belgium simply did not exist by that name or form.
And 10 years after I started the journey and learned how to read old Dutch records. I was finally able to write a coherent statement about my Dutch ancestor, and the many related Dutch families, that came to the Midwest and stayed. And a whole lot more.
It is all in the details. And it was not nearly as easy to find the information as it is to write about it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by historyfan
What a treasure trove of database search engines.
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