Index of Subjects

I've realized that my topics are all spread around and are hard to follow.

Father Frances Xavier Pierz

Father Frances Xavier Pierz is listed in the biography of the Schaffer family.

From his Wikipedia page:

• He was born in 1785 in the Kingdom of Austria, now Slovenia.

• As a priest, he left for the US in 1835. He reported to the Diocese of Detroit, and worked in the missions around Lake Superior.

• In 1852 he was assigned to the northern part of the Minnesota Territories. 

• In 1856 he was joined by a group of Benedictine Priests from Pennsylvania, and in 1857 they were joined by a group of Benedictine Nuns.

• In 1873, having retired two years before, Father Pierz sailed back to Slovenia at the age of 88. He died in January 1880.

He served both the native people and the immigrants in the Lake Superior and Minnesota areas.

Another bit about Father Pierz, from St James Catholic Church, Jacobs Prairie MN

 

...When the first permanent settlements of Minnesota began in earnest in the early 1850’s, German Catholic immigrants were in the forefront. They followed the waterways of the upper midwest out into tile rich, wooded farm lands of the Sank valley. Among their early blessings, the first Holy Masses and spiritual care of the venerable Indian missionary, Father Francis Xavier Pierz, stand forth. He not only cared, as he could, for those who had arrived, but he even invited more to come. Moreover, he took steps to encourage Bishop Joseph Cretin to bring addition priests into the region to supply stable spiritual care. Sons of St. Benedict, from the new and vigorous American branch of the Church’s oldest religious order, answered this call...

...St. James Parish was among their first parish efforts, and has been served by Benedictines from St. John’s continually since that time...

WW2 Pics

My Grandpa Meinz was enlisted into the Army during WW2. His service was with the 728th Railway Operating Battalion. I was recently sent these pictures from another family member. Most of them aren't labeled, but they're still pretty interesting.

Finding Birth Parents with DNA

DNA Test Leads to Lost Family

My husband has an ancestor who was adopted, and never knew who his birth parents were. Through Ancestry DNA, I was able to figure out who the long lost birth parents were.

When I began to really look through my husband's DNA matches to figure out this puzzle, it helped so much that both of his parents had also had done Ancestry DNA tests. I could sort the matches to only see the maternal or paternal side, which allowed me to eliminate half the DNA matches from my search.

Prussian resources

A quarter of my tree is of Prussian decent, and the Prussian state existed until 1947. I am working to understand what region people are from and record the correct places of birth. The following are a collection of resources I think may be helpful.

https://ggsmn.org/cpage.php?pt=39

https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Prussia,_Germany_Genealogy

http://www.many-roads.com/manyroads-services/german-prussian-genealogy-aids/

https://www.genealoger.com/german/ger_2_prussia.htm

https://www.howtogermany.com/pages/genealogy.html

https://szukajwarchiwach.pl/

The Langlois Sisters

The Langlois sisters, Marguerite and Francoise, immigrated to New France together with their husbands in approximately 1620. They were among the first settlers to the area, supposedly with Samuel Champlain.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Langlois-51  Marguerite

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Langlois-95  Francoise

Marguerite was the wife of Abraham Martin dit L'Ecossias, a prominent member of the new community being founded and likely the namesake of the Plains of Abraham in Quebec.

http://seymourtree.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-plains-of-abraham.html

Francoise was the wife of Pierre Desportes. Either on the ship inroute to the new community or shortly after they arrived, their daughter Marie-Helene Desportes was born. Marie-Helene is credited as being the first white person born in New France, had many children, and served as a midwife to other women in the area.

Interestingly, both of my parents are related to the Langlois sisters. The sisters' mother is my Dad's 10th great grandmother, and my Mom's 11th great grandmother. I think that makes my parents 11th cousins once removed. I'm related to myself!

The Drouin collection

This is mostly for my reference, but if you scroll through the link below, there are several posts written about translating the Drouin records. The Drouin collection records are handwritten in French, and they can be a challenge to understand.

Genealogy Blog- Reaching the Heartwood

Ancestry DNA

I took the Ancestry DNA test and sent in just after Christmas 2016. I finally got the results yesterday. Here is where my DNA shows me to be from:

The Children of Jean Edward Goodreau

Jean Edouard Godreau immigrated to America with his wife, Clara, and children, Amelia and Joseph  in about 1880.

More of the Godreau family here : Goodreau Family

2015 Goodreau Reunion

It was good see old friends and meet new ones. It is funny to see how different yet how similar we all are.

If you would like a printable copy of the history I wrote, email me and I will get it to you. The information is in this blog if you simply want to read it. I will be editing  it in a few weeks when I get all the new information together I got from Donald. 

If anyone has any information or pictures they would like to share, email me or message me and I'll put them here. Just keep in mind that this is a public page.

July 28, 2015:
The Gautreau Brothers page has been updated.
http://seymourtree.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-gautreau-brothers.html

August 6, 2015:
The Goodreau Family page has been updated.
http://seymourtree.blogspot.com/2014/04/goodreau-family.html

Schaefer Family

I found the following on ancestry.com. I'm not sure who wrote it. The original is a little hard to follow, so I've tried to make it clearer where needed. I have crossed out information that was included in the story that I have found to be incorrect. Notes on the corrections can be found below.

Meinz Graves

I wasn't able to find some of the Meinz graves on find a grave, but I realized I had some pictures saved.

Family Pictures

Some of these pictures may be backwards. I scanned many of them from slides. I was able to colorize a few recently.

Questions

Items for me to research and questions I have:

Peter F Meinz and Josephene becker's wedding date
-October 1 1901. the Catholic Church St Cloud. I think it was either St John Cantius or St Mary's

-Joseph Seymour rum running, did he serve time? Was it even the same Joseph Seymour?

-Why didn't Henry Seymour serve in WW2?
Bad eyesight

-Cause of death for Maurice Seymour and Maurice Taylor
Maurice Seymour d July 8, 1930.
Past ? Illness, Strangulation, Umbilical Hernia

Maurice Taylor d.Nov 28, 1941.
Adrenal Insufficiency. Thymico Lymphatic Death (Addison's disease?)

-Belongings list for Joachim Simard (the will)

-Decipher and translate inscription on Jacob Becker's gravestone
http://seymourtree.blogspot.com/2015/01/meinz-graves.html

-Trudel information
  -Find Trudel family story

-Bouchard information

-Gagnon information

-When did Blanche and Fred Perra marry?
shown married in the 1940 census
April 16, 1939
16 Apr 1939 St Joseph Catholic Church Escanaba, MI

-Find info about William Veath (husband of Velma Kate Rodefer)

-Find Roy, Hubert and Edward Seymour's military unit info
  -Edward Seymour
  Personnel Sec 40th engineers C
  The 40th Engineers C Regiment served with the 45th Thunderbird Division.
  N. Africa, Sicily, Italy, France, Germany and Austria
  -Hubert Seymour
  133 Engineers Co E
  -Roy Seymour
  HQ 17th Port --> I think this was just a mailing address
  -Alfred Meinz
  728th Railroad Operation Battalion

  Need to read Transportation Corps: Operations Overseas  and the Green Books by the Army. Longshore Soldiers may also be useful.

Charles Albert Harris' Albany area property in Dougherty County, GA

What happened to Venna Becker (Sister of Josephine Becker)
Perhaps the census record that lists Venna instead of Josephine is a mistake.

Where were Virginia Rodefer Harris and John Harris buried?

Who was Bob Sullivan's (aka Eli Goodreau) father?

Information on Eli Goodreau's Naval fuel test? 1911 or 1912
From what I have found, the Navy was testing using fuel oil (diesel) in their ships instead of coal. It seems that Eli was on a ship that conducted one of these tests, but I haven't found any specific information.

Joseph Goodreau was in the national guard. Did he serve in the Spanish American War?

Are there any living descendants of Emilie Gautreau?

Is there any church record of Douglas Gautreau? (sibling of Emilie that died at about 2)

More info on Harley Upton Harris and Della Mohler.

Robert Family

Charlotte Roberts married Charles Simard/Seymour in upper Michigan in 1874.  Her ancestors were some of the original settlers in New France.

Knowing Your History

The following is the story of a family member. I will keep them anonymous.

The beginning of this story goes back to the late 1700's when Honore Timothee Louis Simard and his wife Genevieve Gauthier started their family. The first six children were boys and the last four were girls.

The Young Family

This is the Welsh side of my family.

Goodreau Family

Updated: August 6, 2015
The continuation of the Goodreau/Gautreau/Gotreau story.

Sister Celina Meinz

Catherine Meinz, daughter of Peter Meinz and Theresa Pohl, was a Catholic Nun.  The following is a transcript of an interview with her.  I don't know who the interviewer was.

The Meinz Family

The following is copied from "History of Stearns County, Minnesota, Volume 2" by William Bell Mitchell.