Revival and Resolution Day

Hey, it's January 1st and I'm tired of composing blog posts in my head that never make it to the screen, so here is my first New Year Resolution:  more family history stories.  Since I spent some time today plugging in birthdays into my new personal planner, I started to wonder about the ancestors with January birthdays, and did a quick scan.  Quite a few January birthdays, but only one for January 1.  Simon Van Sysen is not one of our direct ancestors, but more like some sort of cousin, I guess.  The original Simon DeHart "The Immigrant" had a daughter named Catherine (1673-1742) who married a guy named Cornelius Van Sysen.  Their son Simon Van Sysen was born on January 1, 1693, probably in Manhattan, New York.  Happy 327th Birthday, Cousin Simon!  --cds

MAP MONDAY

Post #10 - Our Immigrant

Even though we do know some things about our European ancestors, which I'm saving for a chapter to be entitled "DeHarts -- Huguenot or Not?," I'm going to start with that first "American" DeHart, our guy Simon, Simon Aertzen to be exact, our very own Immigrant.  In the meantime, here are a couple of maps of New Netherland, later to be renamed New York.  Like it or not, we are originally New Yorkers, Long Islanders actually, and from Gowanus, more specifically.  I have maps!

This is an early one based on Hudson's voyages.  The map dates from about 1650; you can Google these for a better view -- this one is known as Novi Belgii by Visscher.

Below is a city map of lower Manhattan referred to as the Castello Plan online and dates from around 1660.  It was created by surveyor Jacques Cortelyou, a good friend of our Simon Aertzen.



This is an interesting overlay that I found online.  It apparently portrays modern-day New York City overlaid on the 1660 Castello Plan map -- a good visual of what 300 years of landfill does to the landscape.

I can't seem to get a very clear copy of this map of Brooklyn dated 1766.  A good magnifying glass though reveals the spot where our Simon Aertzen put down roots in Gowanus, on Long Island (#3 - find Gowanus Bay at the bottom and follow the stream upward).  In 1766, his property was known as "The Bergen House" because by that time, most of the DeHart clan had migrated to Somerset County, New Jersey, or South Carolina or other parts or had married into the Bergen family.

I just finished reading a very interesting and really readable history, The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan by Russell Shorto.  So good.  I just need to quote the following from his Prologue because one, it's beautifully written, and two, it helps to set the stage for what occurred along the eastern shores of this continent after 1609.  Here is Shorto:

     "More than anything, then, this book invites you to do the impossible: to strip from your mental image of Manhattan Island all associations of power, concrete, and glass; to put time into full reverse, unfill the massive landfills, and undo the extensive leveling programs that flattened hills and filled gullies; to return streams from the underground sewers they were forced into, back to their original rushing or meandering course.  To witness the return of waterfalls, to watch freshwater ponds form in place of asphalt intersections; to let buildings vanish and watch stands of pin oak, sweetgum, basswood, and hawthorne take their place.  To imagine the return of salt marches, mudflats, grasslands, of leopard frogs, grebes, cormorants, and bitterns; to discover newly pure estuaries encrusting themselves with scallops, lamp mussels, oysters, quahogs, and clams.  To see maple-ringed meadows become numbered with deer and the higher elevations ruled by wolves.

     "And then to stop the time machine, let it hover a moment on the southmost tip of an island poised between the Atlantic Ocean and the civilization of Europe on one side and a virgin continent on the other; to let that moment swell, hearing the screech of gulls and the slap of waves and imagining these same sounds, waves and birds, waves and birds, with regular interruptions by wracking storms, unchanged for dozens of centuries.

     "And then let time start forward once again as something comes into view on the horizon.  Sails." -- cds

SUNDAY -- HISTORY IS FUN DAY!

Post #9 - Put On Your Time Traveling Shoes

It's time we get down to business here at Ancestry Central and start putting words to print -- so much family history to relay. Because I sometimes feel completely overwhelmed by the amount of information, photos, maps, documents, etc. relating to our ancestors, I thought I would try to organize it all in a fun way and see just how long I can stick to my newly self-imposed schedule.  Here's the Plan for today's and future posts:

SUNDAY:  History is Fun Day!  This will give me an opportunity to plug in some background information; sort of like Current Events class for 1664 (which was a very busy year for our 8x-Great-Granddaddy). 

MONDAY:  Map Monday.  I love maps so much and have quite a photo collection I can't wait to share. 

TUESDAY:  Family Tree Tuesday.  I think I'll concentrate on a particular relative here and where he or she fits into our tree. 

WEDNESDAY:  Wedding Wednesday.  Weddings in any family are probably the most documented events, what with certificates, photos, newspaper notices and all.  We have quite a collection.

THURSDAY:  Throw Back Ancestor Day.  Perhaps I should come up with better phrasing, but playing off Facebook's Throw Back Thursday hashtag, I'll post a bunch of vintage photos of some of our more recent relatives, living or deceased.  So if you are living and don't want to be included, let me know.  Otherwise, we're all fair game.  And honestly, weren't we all the cutest bunch of kids ever??

FRIDAY:  Artifact Friday.  Heirlooms are precious things; along with our memories, they are the closest connection we might have to our loved ones long gone.  I think of myself as "caretaker" of the family heirlooms I possess, and I've been photographing them to share here.  I hope you all will consider sending me photos of your cherished family objects.

SATURDAY:  Cemetery Saturday.  I truly hope no one will be offended or hurt by this one.  I think cemeteries are not only beautiful and peaceful, but provide important historic information.  We can chitchat more about this later.

Since today is HISTORY IS FUN DAY!, let us just ease into our new Plan and start out with a heartfelt acknowledgement and thanks to the late Clara (Stewart) DeHart, first wife of Robert DeHart (Grandpop Charles DeHart's nephew) [perhaps better known to you young'uns as Jobe's Mom and Dad???].  At any rate, Clara must have spent much time and great effort and expense back in the 1960's to trace DeHart family history as far as she could go -- not an easy task pre-Internet.  Many of us have a photocopy of her results, "The DeHart Family."  Though the information she discovered, much of it taken directly from The History of Hunterdon and Somerset Counties, New Jersey compiled by James P. Snell, 1881, is basically correct, of course,  the "Cornelius DeHart along the Old Indian Path" referred to in the article is unfortunately not our guy, I don't believe; a cousin, but not our direct line. The article is at page 805 of Snell's monumental History, clickable from my sidebar under "Documents, Links & Stuff."

Don't worry.  We will sort this all out.  History really is fun and y'all will thank me some day for my geeky, nerdy history ramblings.  --cds

 

Post #8 - Moving On

Oh dear.  Some time has passed since our last little chat, hasn't it.  Back to work!  Your family curator has not been idle, rest assured.  First, let's clean up a few questions from the last post.  This photo

was taken June 2, 1911, the day following the wedding of Aunt Laura and Uncle Bill Haines, Aunt Laura being Charles T. DeHart's (Grandpop) older sister.  Charles would have been 8 years old at this time, but he is not in this photo.  Identification according to Christie Carson Whitehouse who shared the picture is as follows:

Top Row (L to R):  Mr. Davis (husband of Julia below), Harry A. (H.A.) DeHart, John Walter DeHart, Julia DeHart.

Middle Row (L to R):  Julia (Stryker) Davis, Clara Stryker, Clara Davis, Nora (Beacle?) [I wonder about this Nora person.  Could this be Kezia Wilkins, Aunt Rady's step-daughter and best friend of Aunt Laura? Kezia was her maid of honor, and she was Kezia Wilkins Bilms by that time, married to Charles Bilms of Asbury Park, NJ]

Bottom Row (L to R):  Rachel DeHart Wilkins, Henry/Harry A. DeHart, Jennie Stryker, Ruth DeHart Guerin, Rachel Guerin (daughter of Ruth Guerin), Ruth Wilkins (daughter of Rachel Wilkins), Mary Thompson DeHart, Aunt Anna Thompson.

Notes:  Jennie Stryker is the mother of Julia Davis and Clara Stryker.  Julia Davis is the mother of Clara Davis.  [Got all that???  You understand why I have threatened to resort to making puppets in order to sort all these people out???]

Anyway, the ladies with the hats are all North Jersey friends and family and are probably all dressed to return on the train later that day.  Aunt Ruth DeHart Guerin appears to be formally dressed in black mourning garb.  Her husband, Claude V. Guerin, had passed away seven months previous, November of 1910.  I have more about all these folks that I'll post later - maybe separate family pages for each.   I may assign us all a number like many other genealogists do to keep things straight (then I won't have to make the damn puppets).  So do we agree on the identifications?  Take a good squint when you get a minute and let me know.

So when I say I haven't been idle ancestrally speaking, I'm not lying.  I fell deeply into the history of Dutch immigration in the 1600's (and DeHarts were really three generation-Hollanders, at least, and actually not so much the persecuted French Huguenots as previously believed).  Such cool stuff.  I intend to share all this (in detail!), but will also intersperse photos of more modern times as well for those who are not so history-nerdy as me. --cds

Post #7 - Kids

I'm still in the little mystery photo album, though I'm fairly sure now it belonged to Uncle Bill and Aunt Laura Haines (was he known more as Uncle Bill or Uncle Elmer?  I've seen both, and noticed that his grave marker reads "W. Elmer Haines."  Also, anybody know what Aunt Laura's middle name was?  The initial is N.)

Anyway, there are a number of kid photos in this album, so I was wondering, if this is Russell and Charles,

 and Charles and Russell,



 

Could these two boys in the front be Charles and Russell?  No idea who the kid in the middle might be at the moment.  I must say I prefer seeing my Grandfather running around in dirty overalls - he certainly looks happier than in the studio portrait.  Also more ornery and looking like they're up to something (if I were there I'd be smelling their hair checking for woodsmoke -- I raised two ornery boys).



 

So if we agree the blond is Charles, how about this picture below?  I say yes -- it looks enough like pictures I've seen of my Dad at that age for me to think so.

 

 And Russell? 

 Now we're veering into totally unknown territory.  This looks like a group of schoolgirls and maybe one boy there second from the right. Laura didn't teach school at all, did she?  How about Aunt Julia?  She was back in Thorofare by 1890 anyway.

 

Not at all certain about these three below.  I'm not even sure if that animal is a dog (I'm not so good with the animal identification).

 

I do know that this is a picture of Cuddles!  And young Charles, I'm pretty sure, with cat that we will name "Smokey". 

You may remember Cuddles from this photo of Aunt Julia and that we had to name the pup because ancestral pets are important too.

No clue about this group of kids, either.  I'm hoping some of you can zoom in closer -- maybe save the photos to your favorite photo editor or something.  I'm thinking these must be taken in Thorofare because of the houses set next door to each other.  I always think any blond kid is Charles, but I don't know about this one.  The tall girl could be Ruth Wilkins, daughter of Aunt Rachel (or Aunt Rady as she is known to us -- and I don't really know how that nickname is spelled -- I'm just giving a guess here) -- Rachel lived in Thorofare during this time.

 And just to give you a little mystery to sit and ponder over, I'll leave you with a photo courtesy of Cousin Christie Carson Whitehouse (Kathleen DeHart Carson's youngest daughter).  It's been labeled as to date, event and most of the people, but I'll fill you in next post.  Have fun!  --cds

Post #6 - More Photo Detective Work

Quite a while ago a very small, old photo album was handed down to me - the cover was crumbling, the photos themselves were tiny, some not more than two or three inches square.  There was no indication who the people might be, the backgrounds were unfamiliar, the time period looked to be turn of the century.  I kept it carefully wrapped in my drawer of "stuff," waiting for the day when I'd have the time to tackle my collection of family history things.  Well, I've been retired six years now and this summer I finally booted myself in the butt and have been sorting, reading, taking notes, sorting and sorting some more, talking to Chuck and Libby and Ann, reintroducing myself to Uncle Harry's DeHarts, all culminating in this blog, and maybe even some sort of printable book or something (I am all about the grandiose ideas).

So here is the album:

After I saw that picture that Chuck had of the 1908 Jackson auto,

I realized that I had seen that vehicle before, and it was in this little album:

And then cousin Laura shared a photo of Aunt Laura DeHart Haines in her wedding dress,

And Ann had this picture of Aunt Laura and Uncle Bill as a young couple,

 

and I realized that of course Aunt Laura and Uncle Bill Haines had not always looked as they appear here on the left in 1959, Uncle Harry and Aunt Mildred on the right.

 



The album is filled with sweet little photos like this one below of, I'm pretty sure, Laura DeHart and William Elmer Haines, most likely prior to their wedding in June of 1911.  These look like courting pictures to me:

 

 

 

  
 There are many other photo mysteries to unravel in this little album - I need to get more scanned and cropped.  Back soon.  --cds

Post #5 - One Photo, One Hundred Stories

Old photographs, especially group photos, are fascinating and inspire, in me anyway, nothing but questions.  Even if all of the people and the date can be easily identified, more questions come to mind -- what was the occasion, who took the photo, what sort of camera was used in those days, what kind of relationship did the people have, how nice/shabby was their clothing, what's in the background, how's the weather, what else was going on in the world.  One photo can turn into one giant story for me.  For instance.....

This little guy is our grandfather/father, Charles Thompson DeHart.  Fuzzy, I know, but I had to heavily crop just to zoom in on him.

His little face is peeking out among all the grown-ups in this great photo shared by Chuck DeHart.  Not only can we date the event by the date of the car, but also by the approximate age of Charles -- in the winter of 1908 he would have been 5 or maybe 6 if this was winter of 1909.  Close enough.

Having all the people identified is wonderful, but raises more questions.  Ann and Chuck have told me that the Griggs family were close friends and neighbors of the DeHarts in North Jersey, the Griggs farm being located in Raritan Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey (not sure if Hunterdon is considered North Jersey -- in the 1600/1700's it was considered West Jersey). 

Turns out they are related by marriage as well. These Griggs girls, Grace, Olive and Elizabeth, are all daughters (three of eight children) of Samuel and Georgana (Ent) Griggs.  Samuel Griggs was one of nine children of Aaron and Rachel (Philhower) Griggs.  Now, Rachel Philhower was the sister of our own Elizabeth Philhower, who married John V.N. DeHart (Grandpop's grandparents and parents of the original Henry/Harry A. DeHart - wearing the cap in the passenger seat).  Henry/Harry's son, Harry A. DeHart (H.A. or Uncle Harry to us and Charles' older brother) was at the wheel -- Jacksons and many autos of that era, were right-hand drive vehicles [Want to know why?  So that the driver would be stepping out of the car onto the grassy side of the road, not the muddy side.] There were only one-lane roads in those days - that's what I heard from my car guy and he should know:

(my husband Jim and his restored 1941 Dodge pickup).

Anyway the Griggs' were such good people that they took in young Ruth P. DeHart and J. Walter DeHart, the youngest of John V.N. DeHart's children after the death of their mother Elizabeth in 1872.  In the 1880 Census they are listed as "grandchildren" of Aaron Griggs but technically they were niece and nephew.

See how easy it is for me to become sidetracked by one photo?  As much as I hate to do it, I've had to limit myself on the amount of time I spend on this stuff.  I do have other interests and responsibilities!  Seriously though, I could do this all day.  --cds