Saturday, August 19, 2017

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - A Family Heirloom

Hey genea-folks, 
it's Saturday Night again, 


 time for more Genealogy Fun!


Your mission this week, should you decide to accept it, is to:


1)  The Family History Hound listed 20 Questions about your Ancestor, and I'm going to use some of them in the next few months.  

2)  Please answer the question "
What heirloom do you have that has been handed down through the generations?" 

3)  Write your own blog post, make a comment on this post, or post  your answer on Facebook or Google+.  Please leave a link to your answer in comments on this post.


My response:


While my mother had been giving me family photographs over the years from 1988 (when I started my genealogy research) until she died in early 2002, she pretty much kept the "family treasures" hidden. It was only when we were doing the inventory of the house and personal property, and distributing treasures to the sons and granddaughters, that we found many "goodies." My brothers kindly allowed me to have the "family history" treasures.

One "family history" treasure that I found in the back of a closet was a spoon holder. It had eight spoons in it, each with a monogram on it, but two different sets of initials - six with "C.K." and two with "M.A.V.":



On the back of the spoon holder was a sheet of paper taped to the back:

The page says:

"These silver spoons are made out of the silver buckles worn on the velvet knickerbockers during the revolutionary period by descendants of Sir Isaac Newton - Date of spoons not known but over 100 years old.


"The spoons were given by Catherine Newton Knapp to Mary Auble - and later to her daughter - Bessie Auble Pentecost - grandniece of Catherine Newton Knapp - Now being passed on to another grandniece - Emily Auble Carringer.


"August 19th, 1945.


"The two spoons marked M.A.V. belonged to Lyle's great-grandmother, Mary Ann (Underhill) Vaux. They were made by Cogswell in Boston, Mass. in 1760 - They are coin silver. M.A.V. is Grandma Smith's mother."


The six spoons that have the initials "C.K." are the Catherine Knapp (about 1810- after 1894) spoons. Catherine Knapp was the daughter of William Knapp (1775-1856) and Sarah Cutter (1785-1878), and never married. I have part of an obituary for Catherine Knapp, but don't know her death date or place. I can't find any information about her life in my database either...not even census records. Ah, a research challenge!

Another research challenge is the "family story" that the spoons were made out of silver buckles worn by descendants of Sir Isaac Newton. Did Sir Isaac have children and descendants? I don't know, but will try to find out. There was a man named Sir Isaac Newton (not the one of discovering Gravity fame) residing in the early 1800s in Vermont, if I recall correctly!

This is the first clue I have about the Newton middle name for Catherine Knapp. They lived in Newton, Sussex County, New Jersey. There is no Newton family in her mother's ancestry, but there could be in her father's Knapp ancestry (which I have not been able to determine to date).

The two spoons with the initials "M.A.V." were given by Mary Ann (Underhill) Vaux (ca 1815-after 1880), daughter of Amos Underhill (1772-1865) and Mary Metcalf (1780 - ????), and wife of Samuel Vaux (1816-after 1880). 

I do not know when or where the wooden spoon holder was obtained by Emily (Auble) Carringer. She probably bought it at a store after she was given the spoons by her cousin, Bessie (Auble) Pentecost on her birthday in 1945.



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Copyright (c) 2017, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

Surname Saturday - DEIKEN (Germany to Colonial New York)

It's Surname Saturday, and I'm "counting down" my Ancestral Name List each week.  

I am in the 8th great-grandmothers and I'm  up to Ancestor #1939, who is Maria Elisabetha DEIKEN (1680-1755) 
[Note: the earlier great-grandmothers and 8th great-grandfathers have been covered in earlier posts].

My ancestral line back through one generation of this DEIKEN family line is:


1. Randall J. Seaver (1943-????)

2. Frederick Walton Seaver (1911-1983)
3. Betty Virginia Carringer (1919-2002)


6.  Lyle Lawrence Carringer (1891-1976)
7.  Emily Kemp Auble (1899-1977)

14.  Charles Auble (1849-1916)
15.  Georgianna Kemp (1862-1952)

30.  James Abraham Kemp (1831-1902)
31.  Mary Jane Sovereen (1840-1874)

60.  Abraham Kemp (1795-1881)
61.  Sarah Fletcher (1802-1861)

120.  John Kemp (1768-1861)
121.  Mary Dafoe (1776-1832)

242.  Abraham Dafoe (1755-1815)
243.  Katreen --?-- (1755-1792)

484.  Johann Ernst Dafoe (1726-1784)
485.  Maritjen Keller (1729-1789)

968.  Abraham Dafoe (1703-1753)
969.  Maria Catherina Reiffenberger (1705-1748)


1938.  Johann Georg Reiffenberger, born about 1674 in Flammersbach, Hessen, Germany; died 1750 in Livingston Manor, Columbia, New York, United States.  He was the son of 3876. Johannes Christianus Reiffenberger and 3877. Catharina Cuntz.  He married about 1700 in Hessen, Germany.
1939.  Maria Elisabetha Deiken, born about 1680 in Flammersbach, Hessen, Germany; died 1755 in Livingston Manor, Columbia, New York, United States.

Children of Johann Reiffenberger and Maria Deiken are:

i. Maria Catharina Reiffenberger, born about 1705 in Haiger,  Hessen, Germany; died 20 January 1748 in Rhinebeck, Dutchess, New York, United States; married Abraham Defoe (1703-1753) about 1723 in Probably Dutchess, New York, United States.
ii. Anna Margaretha Reiffenberger, born Abt. 1708 in Hessen, Germany; married Abraham Laucks 23 December 1732 in Catskill, Greene, New York, United States; born about 1710 in Germany; died 1754 in Kinderhook, Columbia, New York, United States.
iii. Georg Reiffenberger, born Abt. 1710 in West Camp, Ulster, New York, United States; died 1754 in New York, United States; married Anna Maria Leick about 1735 in New York, United States; born 18 June 1714 in New York, United States.
iv. Daniel Reiffenberger, born Abt. 1713 in Livingston Manor, Columbia, New York, United States; died 1789 in Livingston Manor, Columbia, New York, United States; married Anna Elisabetha Stuber 23 December 1732 in Catskill, Greene, New York, United States; born about 1715 in Dutchess, New York, United States;
v. Adam Reiffenberger, born Abt. 1716 in Columbia, New York, United States; died 25 November 1756 in Germantown, Columbia, New York, United States; married Agnes Falckenberg; born 26 November 1714 in New York, United States;

vi. Johannes Reiffenberger, born October 1720 in Germantown, Columbia, New York, United States; died before 29 December 1784 in Rhinebeck, Dutchess, New York, United States; married Anna Maria Hauch about 1740 in New York, United States; born 07 March 1717 in Rhinebeck, Dutchess, New York, United States; died about 1773 in Columbia, New York, United States.

I don't know where I obtained this information, such as it is, about Maria Elisabetha Deiken.  It may have been in one of the Henry Z. Jones books on Palatine families (and the photocopies may be buried in my paper piles), or it may have been in online family trees.  There are several trees on Rootsweb Worldconnect with essentially the information I have above. 

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Copyright (c) 2017, Randall J. Seaver


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