The beginning of a new year and such a fitting prompt. BEGINNINGS
I often think about how and why this genealogy journey started more than 10 years ago. My mother, who is not descended from the Gunzendorfers, made the statement that there were no more Gunzendorfers in the United States. And when I began my blog just shy of 10 years ago, my first post talked more specifically about my beginnings. You can read it HERE.
The short story is that my mother may just have been right as I still haven't found any living Gunzendorfers in the United States. My grandmother married and changed her name, thus having no Gunzendorfer descendants, and her brother married but never had children. So check them off the list.
There were four Gunzendorfer brothers, one of which was my grandmother's father, Abraham Gunzendorfer. And of his three brothers (Gustave, Adolph and Jacob), only one, Jacob, had children. Unfortunately, Jacob's only son never had children and the girls married, thus changing their last name. So check them off the list.
I have found a group of Gunzendorfers in New York and I am almost certain that they are related to my clan. The patriarch of that group was Adolph, father of Bernard (b. 1829) who had a son, Adolph, in 1867. My Abraham's father was Ferdinand, (b. 1838) who also had a son named Adolph in 1866. I suspect that NY Adolph and my Ferdinand were brothers and this year I hope to confirm that.
NY Adolph had a daughter named Lenore who was born in 1896. My grandmother, Loraine, was also born in 1896. And as she wrote letters to my grandfather in 1918 during their engagement, a paragraph stood out to me:
Quite a coincident [sic], sweetheart. Dad has a cousin in N.Y. who has a daughter my age and whose name is similar to mine, Lenore. They were at Del Monte nine years ago when I met her. We later corresponded for some time but the last few years lost track of each other. Yesterday we received a letter telling of her engagement. Funny, isn’t it? Now I’ll have to write to her to inform her of mine.
If Lenore's father, Adolph, and Loraine's father, Abraham, were cousins then their fathers were brothers, right? Which makes NY Bernard (father of Adolph and Ludwig) and my Ferdinand (father of Gustave, Adolph, Abraham, and Jacob), brothers. Not definitive proof but as close as I've come so far.
Coincidentally, there was a Ferdinand Gunzendorfer hanging out in California who was born in 1864 and died in Stockton in 1946. However, his tombstone shows he was born in 1874 and died in 1956. But either way, about the right time frame that he could have been, and probably was, a NY Gunzendorfer descendant. Did NY Adolph name a son Ferdinand while his brother, my Ferdinand, named a son Adolph?
This goes to show that I still have a lot of work to do on my beginnings. I will focus some time again on this branch of my tree and see if I can find things I've missed and confirm (or not) some of these facts.
In other beginnings news, I learned of a fun tidbit recently. Jacob Gunzendorfer's great granddaughter and I connected several years ago - you can read about it HERE - and recently have spent some time sharing information. My cousin, J, has been reading a journal that her mother wrote and shared this with me.
In one section her mother wrote about how her parents Irene (Lolly) and Albert (Bump) met. Irene was the daughter of Jacob Gunzendorfer and was my grandmother's first cousin. I remember Grandma talking about her cousin, Irene, but I'm not sure if I ever met her. Anyway, J's mother wrote:
Lolly and Bump met in 1915 at the fair at the Palace of Fine Arts. Lolly and her cousin, Loraine, and girlfriends, sisters Dorothy and Hortence, were browsing a display of portable housing shown by a handsome young redhead. "Red" eyed Lolly and it was "love at first sight".
So now we know how Irene met her husband - and my grandmother was there to witness it!
I've not been very motivated to research lately so maybe this is my new beginning and I can get started up again.
I don't think I ever read this story. Your Gunzendorfers and my Jolletts have a similar fate. In my case it's lots of daughters or sons who didn't marry or had more daughters! There were/are Jolletts in New York - probably out of Canada - but I've not done enough research to determine if they connect to my Virginia Jolletts. I'm guessing maybe WAAAAAY back in time but not in any recent time where records can be found.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing the popularity of the name Jollett is very similar to Gunzendorfer. I remember as a child thinking it had to have been a made up name.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you're on the right track. Have you done any DNA testing? I am a skeptic in the case of Jewish genealogy, but is this your mother's side? In any event, you might be able to find something helpful. If this is your Jewish side, then the names may reveal a pattern. Lenore and Lorraine may have been named for the same ancestor---perhaps the grandmother of Abraham and Adolf, who also may have been named for the same ancestor---perhaps their grandfather. This looks like a fun challenge! I hope it does inspire you.
ReplyDeleteI have done DNA testing but haven’t done much with it. This is my dad’s side (Jewish). I’ll explore the Loraine/Lenore idea - good suggestion!
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