Tag: Genealogy

A Valentine’s Day Surprise Leads to Karn Genealogical Discoveries

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My wife posted the above photo from Ancestry.com on my Facebook time line yesterday and described my status as being genealogical heaven. She was correct and her Valentine’s Day gift to me was the reason.

Probably a year or more ago through Ancestry, we found the marriage of my great-grandfather Henry Karn. He married Pauline Hechler in Brooklyn New York in May  of 1886. We never got around to ordering the certificate from the city though. The hope was that his parents names would be listed on the certificate. The only thing I knew was his father’s name on his death certificate was listed as Andrew.

As far as I knew Henry came to the US  from Hesse Germany in 1882 by himself. In the 1890s he was in the Philadelphia area and by 1895 he was living in Bridgeboro NJ. I have never found any Andrew Karn in any Federal Census  in either the Philadelphia or New York areas.

A Valentines Day’s Gift leads to Karn Genealogy Discoveries

Anyway, for Valentine’s Day, my wife contacted a researcher in New York and he went to the City Archives and got the certificate. To our surprise,his parents were listed. His father’s was not Andrew, it was Kaspar! His mother’s name was Katherine Sohl.

Edward Researches on Ancetry.com

On Thursday I was busy because we were picking up Oliver and then taking him and Zoe to play bingo at our elementary school. Sometime later that evening, I discovered a birth certificate on Ancestry among the Hesse Lutheran Church records. It was for a Peter Karn born in 1872. His parents were listed as Kasper and Katerina Elisabeth Sohls Karn. He was Henry’s brother!

A few more minutes of searching revealed a second brother named Andreas. Andreas was born in 1875 . Both of the brothers were born in Oberaula, in Hesse.  Next I found the children of Peter and Andreas. Peter had three girls Katherina Elizabeth, Anna Barbara and Martha Pauline.

Andreas had only one child listed in the database. A daughter Anna was born in 1906. Sadly, she died in 1907. Andreas died a year later in 1908.

The database, which had all this information, only covers births until 1901. I haven’t been able to find any of the children of Barbara who married Heinrich Moller or Katherina who married Johannes Braun in 1919 and then William Seiple in 1924.

The Research Leads to Ancestors in Oberaula Hesse in the Early 1800s

The final find was the death certificate of mother Katherina Elisabeth, Kasper’s wife. Katherina was born in 1838 and her parents were Johannes Sohl and Anna Maria Roth. While I have not found any death certificates for Johannes or Anna, based on Katherina’s birth year, they would have been born in the early 1800s.

So thanks to my wife and Ancestry.com in two days I went from knowing only my great grandfather came from Hesse Germany to knowing who his parents and at least two of his siblings were and where they lived in Hesse!  Now that I know that my roots go into the early 1800s in Oberaula, I can do some more online searching using German websites. Wish me luck!

Here is a link to Oberaula with some interesting pictures of my ancestors homeland.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DNA and Ancestry.com Help Uncover Ashton Ancestors

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The longer I go without writing a new post the harder it becomes to write one. One reason is that so much has been happening I really don’t know where to start.so at e I’ll just start where I left off.

 My last post was about my family genealogy. At the end of the last post I wrote that I would tell you how DNA helped me discover some new cousins. So here goes…

DNA and the Daughters of John Sherrington Ashton and Mary Warwick

My great-grandfather John Sherrington Ashton III married Mary E Warwick in April of 1881. For many years, I thought that they had five children. Recently, though I discovered they actually had six!

Mary Catherine Ashton was their first child. She was born in 1882. Son Edward was born in 1883, he was followed by William in 1884. Blanche was born in 1886 and Horace in 1889.

Those were the five children that I had discovered  through my genealogy research. My mother only knew William or “Uncle Bill” as she knew him. She often would tell my that he lived out in Pennsylvania near the Devon horse show.

Alice Matilda Ashton

John and Mary’s last child was Alice Matilda who was born in 1890. While I knew about Mary and had her listed in my tree, I did not know about Alice until I was notified of an extremely high 3rd to 4th cousin match with a James Smith from New York.

When my wife and I looked at his tree we saw his grandmothers maiden name was Alice Ashton and she was born in 1891. The first place we looked for Alice was the 1900 census. We found a nine-year old Alice Ashton living with a Danse family in Monroe Township in Middlesex County New Jersey. She was listed as a servant!

Alice  Matilda Smith

We then went back and searched birth records for an Alice Ashton born in New Jersey in 1891. What we found was an unnamed female born on March 7, 1891 to John and Mary Ashton. So we returned to the 1900 census. Luckily the 1900 census lists not only birth years but months. Alice was listed as being born in March of 1891. Bingo!

Alice married twice. Her second husband was Sydney Andrew Smith. Sydney and Alice had six children. Their third child Daniel Howard Smith was born in 1914 and was James Smith’s (my match) grandfather.!

Alice died in 1932 at the age of 41. Her father John Sherrington did not pass away until six years later in 1938.

Mary Catherine Ashton 

As I wrote earlier while I know of the existence of Mary Catherine Ashton I didn’t know what ever happened to her.  The  lack of an 1890 census creates one of the great black holes in genealogical research. There was an 1890 census but  it was destroyed by a fire. The problem that’s created can be seen in the case of Mary Catherine.

Typically the first thing you do when you establish someone’s birthday you look for that person in the next census. The child is usually recorded in that census with their parents. As such, since Mary Catherine was born in 1882 the first place you would look for her would be in the 1890 census. But like I wrote that census is gone. The next place would be in the 1900 census.. sometimes children born early in the decade have already left the family which was Mary’s case.

Anyway, there is no Mary Ashton in the 1900 census that I had come across so all that was in my tree was her birthday and mother and father.

A High DNA Match Helps Find Mary Catherine

That was the case until I got a very high 4 to 6th cousin match on Ancestry DNA with a glgottlieb1. Initially, when I saw the name Gottlieb I thought the connection would be through my father’s side of the family both his sides of the family have German  roots. But when I looked at the tree for the person in question the first name I saw was Mary Catherine Ashton.

Lawrence Emil Gottlieb was the father of the person tested. Lawrence was born in Philadelphia in 1908.  In the Gottlieb tree, Lawrence’s mother is Mary Catherine Ashton and his father is Jacob Emil Gottlieb.  Checking the 1910 census. In the 1910 census I found a Mary Gottlieb married to a Jacob Emil. Mary’s birth year was listed as 1882 and her place of birth was New Jersey. Mary and Emil have three children Francis, Clarence, and Lawrence. So far it’s the right family.

The Trail to John Sherrington Gottlieb

In the 1920 census the family had moved to Baltimore. They now had five children Catherine and John S. Catherine was born around 1911 and John S in 1917. Soon my wife found John S’s death date and confirmation that his name was in fact John Sherrington Gottlieb! The name and the high DNA match is enough for me to declare John’s mother Mary Ashton the daughter of my great-grandfather John Sherrington Ashton III!

As I was writing this post, I realized that I did not have a death date for Mary Catherine. A search at Ancestry.com resulted in finding the death of a Mary Gottlieb who was born in 1882 in 1920. This has to be Mary Ashton but I will need to do a little more research to confirm it.

The one thing that struck me was that both of the daughters of John Sherrington III and Mary Warwick died before John. And since they were both in different states, did he even know of their passing?

 

An Introduction to My Family Tree

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The Beginnings – The Karn – Ashton Family Lines

I believe it was probably more than a year ago now, when I wrote that I was going to write more about my family heritage. So I guess it’s about damn well time I got started, don’t you think?

So let’s begin, I was born in the hospital in Riverside, New Jersey. My mother thinks she was there but she was never sure! They zonked her with some strong drugs and the next thing she knew, I was in her arms!

Anyway all the DNA evidence points to the fact that I am the son of Edward Karn and Helen Ashton. Born in Riverside, NJ on October 1, 1951. A date that always made me the oldest person in our class that hadn’t been held back. The reason was that the cut-off date for enrolment was September 30th!

The Ashton Family (My Maternal Line)

John Heen Eva Ashton Family Picture
John, Helen and Mon Elva

My mother was Helen Ray Ashton. The middle name Ray is correct. She was given that name by her grandmother Charlotte Trout Regars. Ray was the name of my grandmother‘s sister Cora‘s first husband! Note I said her first husband!

So much for using an in-law‘s masculine first name for your granddaughter‘s middle name! Well, Cora’s second  husband was William Atz, so I guess Ray is better than William!

At least she used the names of her brothers for her grandsons. One grandson‘s name came from her brother Howard – John Howard Ashton.The other one Elmer was from another brother and her grandfather. – James Elmer Ashton. Jimmy hated the name Elmer so much he would tell people his name was James no name“ Ashton.

Helen Ray was born in Tupelo, Mississippi I’m sure. But my mother was born in Beverly, New Jersey on June 12, 1928. She was the daughter of John Sherrington Ashton IV and Elva Mildred Regars. John was born in Beverly. Elva was born in Florence and raised in Burlington.

Helen was the third of three children Her oldest brother was the aforementioned John Howard born in 1923. James Elmer was born in 1923.

I never knew my Uncle Jimmy. He was killed on July. 1944. in the „hedgerows of hell“ in France. Shortly after D-Day as Us troops moved away from the beaches of Normandy.

Uncle Johnny I knew well and I will write about him in a future post.

John Sherrington Ashton IV

My Grandfather John Sherrington Ashton IV was the son of John Sherrington Ashton and Margaret Agnes McCloskey. He was born in Beverly, NJ
While my grandmother, the daughter of John McCloskey and Mary Stewart, was born in Northern Ireland. She had too many brothers and sister to list them here.

The Karn Family

Arther, Kenny and Edward

My father Edward Henry Karn,  Jr. was the son of Charlotte Frieda Meyer and, drumroll please, Edward Henry Karn. He was born in Riverside,NJ on June 23,1923 and was the oldest of the three Karn boys. His brothers were Arthur Herman Karn and Kenneth Irving Karn. Uncle Kenny may belong to the what the kind of name is that, club! I’ve never understood where Irving came from.

Edward Henry Karn

My grandfather was born in New Jersey, his parents were Henry Karn and Pauline Heckler. Edward was the younger of five children. He had two brothers Harry and Charles and two sisters Emma and Anna.

Based on the only immigration records that’s I can find for a Heinrich Karn that match Henry indicate that Henry was born in Hesse, Germany.

Pauline and her family came from Switzerland.

Charlotte and Irmagard

Charlotte Meyer

My paternal grandmother, Charlotte Meyer was born in Dresden Germany. She was the daughter of Herman Adolph Meyer and Helene Wendel. Herman was born in Konigswalde, in the Kingdom of Saxony and Helene in Dresden.

Charlotte had one older sister Irmagard and one brother Albert. Both Charlotte and Irma were born in Dresden while Al was born in NJ.

Summarizing My Ethnicity

Ok so based on the above here is my ethnic background. Karn -German, Heckler – Swiss, Meyer and Wendel -German, McCloskey and Stewart -Irish and Ashton- English and Regars your guess is as good as mine!

So there you have it! My family tree back through my great-grandparents. Two of the families, the Karns and the Hecklers came to the US In the 1880s. The McCloskey‘s arrived in the late 1870s. The Meyers and Wendels came in the early 1910s. Herman was the first to arrive coming in 1911, with Helene and the girls coming the following year.

I hope this initial story wasn’t to boring but it lays the groundwork for further explorations of my various family lines. I will try to tackle their stories, at least as much as I know about them, one post at a time! First up, in the next post, will be the Ashtons!

Featured Image: the Karn Family at my first birthday party at the table: me and cousin Jim Ashton. Family: left to right: Father’s Brother Art, Nana Karn, behind her Art’s wife Polly, John Ashton’s wife Jim’s mom Jean Plant Ashton, My dad Edward Karn, his brother Kenny and my grandfather Edward H Karn Sr.

Pauline was born in Switzerland.

The Hunt for DNA Connections Goes On!

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Through DNA the Hunt for Genealogical Connections Goes On!!

So over the last several weeks I have spent more time at Ancestry.com, trying to unravel the tangled roots of my various family lines, than either reading or listening to music. That doesn’t mean that I haven’t been reading or listening at all, just that my focus has been on searching for dead people. One of the most interesting finds was a great-aunt Alice Matilda Ashton.

My great-grandfather John Sherrington Ashton III was born in 1858. The son of John Sherrington Ashton and Mary Parezo. John married Mary E Warwick in 1881. As far as I knew they had five children: Mary Catherine, Edward, William L., Horace, and Blanche. Of those children, my mother only knew one, William, who was to her Uncle Bill, who lived in Pennsylvania. From my genealogical searching I knew of Horace,Edward and Blanche. Edward and Blanche both died as teenagers. Horace was only one when he died. Recently, I discovered through DNA and Ancestry that Mary Catherine married an Emil Gottlieb and lived in Philadelphia. She even had a child named John Sherrington Gottlieb!!

Discovering the DNA Connection

Anyway, several weeks ago a high DNA match came up with a Jim Smith from New York. He was listed as a 3rd cousin and is one of my highest matches. When we (my wife and I) looked at his tree, we saw an Alice Ashton. After seeing that Alice was born in 1890 our thoughts immediately turned to Alice being a child of John and Mary.My wife quickly went to Family Search there she discovered a birth record for a female Ashton child of John and Mary born in March of 1890. No name was listed, but when we went back to the census we saw that the month and year of birth of the unnamed girl matched Alice’s.  (Alice’s mother Mary died in 1892 and John remarried.Margaret McCloskey, who was a grandfather’s mother.)

In the 1900 census,  Alice was living with a Danse family in Monroe Township in Middlesex County, NJ and her relationship to the head of the house was a servant!. Monroe Township is about 40 miles northeast of Beverly where Alice was born. A servant at nine years old! How sad!  Alice eventually married Sidney A Smith in New York in 1913. He was the grandfather of the Jim Smith who is my DNA match.

After we unraveled the mystery of the DNA connection I emailed Jim and welcomed him as a new cousin. Jim was thrilled to discover his Ashton roots since Alice was one of his brick walls. So through DNA Jim discovered more about a grandmother he didn’t know anything about and I discovered a great-aunt that I didn’t know anything about!!

Since then we have spent many hours trying to find connections to high DNA matches in my McCloskey line and also a connection to the Lehman family. So far we have had no luck in establishing either of those connections.I fear that both connections are back in Ireland!!

What Else has been Happening!

Over these last few weeks, I have also been reading. Today I finished Red Cell by Mark Henshaw. Yeah Me!. I will try to write about it tomorrow! I am also about halfway through 2 or 3 other books, that I can hopefully finish over the next week or so!!