Germany – Colleen & Jeff's Roots

#52Ancestors: John Philip Harless, 1738 German Palatine Immigrant to America

My 26th entry in Amy Johnson Crow’s “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” family history blogging challenge.

The challenge: have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor.

Headstone erected posthumously for John Philip Harless and wife Margaret Price.

My 26th ancestor is my husband’s 7th great grandfather John Philip Harless (1716-1772). John Philip is our first Harless ancestor to immigrate to America, specifically, to the American colonies. John Philip Harless is of course the American spelling and pronunciation of his name. Some documents spell his first name “Johan” and his last name “Harlas”, “Harlash”, “Harlos”, “Harlosh”, “Horlas”, and “Horlash”. Sometimes he is referred to as “Philip”, instead of John Philip or Johan Philip.

Harless is the husband of Anna Margaretha “Margaret” PREISS [Price], the grandfather of Ferdinand HARLESS (1755-1853), the 2nd great grandfather of Miles (Myles) Washington HARLESS (1826-1891), the 3rd great grandfather of Leonard Jackson HARLESS (1858-1946), and the 5th great grandfather of Jean Alice HARLESS (1912-2011).

John Philip was born in 1716 in Germersheim, a town in the present day southern German state of Rhindeland-Palatinate. He married Anna Margaretha “Margaret” Preiss (1718-1784) — whom I profiled earlier in my first #52Ancestors post — on 17 February 1738 in Offenbach, Germany.

The new couple celebrated their honeymoon on board the ship the Winter Galley, in the last wave of the Palatine migration. It appears that they boarded the Winter Galley in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, with a stop in Deal, England, which is near Dover.

View John Philip Harless : Old World in a larger map

Harless, his wife, and a handful of other family members (no children yet), arrived at the Port of Philadelphia on 5 September 1738, and Harless took the required oath of allegiance (to the British king!) that same day.

Ralph Beaver Strassburger and William John Hinke compiled, transcribed, and published (in 1934) the available Palatine immigration ships’ lists for Philadelphia arrivals from 1727-1808. Our John Philip Harless is included, in three different types of lists produced from the Winter Galley. Volume 1 of the Strassburger and Hinke publication includes type transcribed lists. But Volume 2 includes copies of the actual signatures!

Transcribed list in the Strassburger and Beaver publication, V 1, page 199.
“[List 52 A] A List of all the mens names and ages from sixteen years and upwards Passengers on b y Winter Gally, Edward Paynter, Commander. [Qualified September 5, 1738.]”
252 passengers total. 139 Palatines who took the oath. 113 women and children.
(Misspellings and punctuations copied from text.)

Transcribed list in the Strassburger and Beaver publication, V 1, page 201.
“[List 52 B] Palatines imported in the Ship the Winter Galley, Edward Paynter, Com, from Rotterdam, but last from Deal. Qualified 5th Sept, 1738.”
(Misspellings and punctuations copied from text.)

Transcribed list in the Strassburger and Beaver publication, V 1, page 203.
“[List 52 C] At the Court House of Philadelphia, September 5th, 1738.
Present
Anthony Palmer, Clement Plumsted, Ralph Asheton, Wiliam Allen, Esq.
The Palatinates whose Names are underwritten, imported in the Ship the Winter Galley, Edward Paynter, M, a Rotterdam, did this day take and subscribe the Oaths to the Government.”
(Misspellings and punctuations copied from text.)

On the photocopied signatures included in the Strassburger and Beaver publications, I had a very difficult time trying to identify the signature of Johan “John” Philip Harless. I knew it had to be included, because I find a ton of family historians claiming this publication displays the Harless signature (of course, they could all be wrong!). It doesn’t help that so many of these Palatine immigrants have names starting with “Johann”. It’s like looking for a Jose on my side of the family! So, after an hour of my vision going cross-eyed from staring at these signatures, I enlisted the help of an <ahem> expert — my husband Jeff, who studied German way back in high school.

Jeff felt confident in identifying his ancestor’s signature pretty quickly. That last name didn’t look anything like Harless to me. But as Jeff pointed out, the first letter of the surname looks just like the “h” that appears in Johan and Philip. He also explained to me how the German double S consonant is written and pronounced, like a capital B (note the end of the surname, which would jive with Harless). The middle name, to me, looks like it ends with a “b” instead of a “p”, making it more like Philib instead of Philip. But as the Palatine Project points out, “Fileb” was a common old world German spelling for the name Philip. So, are we 100% positive we have identified the correct signature for Jeff’s ancestor John Philip Harless? No. But, it is a confident guess. Hopefully I will be able to verify it against other documents he signed while living in the Colonies. If some other Harless historian can verify or refute this signature, please contact me.

Signature fascimile list in the Strassburger and Beaver publication, V 2, page 207.
[List 52 B] Palatines imported in the Ship the Winter Galley, Edward Paynter, Com, from Rotterdam, but last from Deal. Qualified 5th Sept, 1738.
(Misspellings and punctuations copied from text.)

I will blog more about the family and their descendants. But, if you are impatient, the U.S. era of their family history has been extensively covered in the Pritchard publication noted below, which is available to read for free on HathiTrust.

Sources Used

Pritchard, J. L. R. (1962). Harless genealogy, John Philip and Anna Margaretha (Preiss) Harless;pioneers in western Virginia and some of their descendents, ([2d ed.].). Cupertino? Calif.]. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/2027/wu.89066181694

Strassburger, R. B., & Hinke, W. J. (1934). Pennsylvania German pioneers;a publication of the original lists of arrivals in the port of Philadelphia from 1727 to 1808, (Vols. 1-3, Vol. 1). Norristown,. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.49015000086612

Strassburger, R. B., & Hinke, W. J. (1934). Pennsylvania German pioneers;a publication of the original lists of arrivals in the port of Philadelphia from 1727 to 1808, (Vols. 1-3, Vol. 2). Norristown,. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.49015002215748

#52Ancestors: My 3rd Great Grandmother, Maria Eutimia Sanches Nieto

My 9th week in Amy Johnson Crow’s “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” family history blogging challenge.

The challenge: have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor.

This week’s ancestor is my 3rd great grandmother, Maria Eutimia Sanches Nieto. Our family knew her by the name of Eutimia, although none of us actually new her. And none of us even know much about her. I have almost zero genealogical information on her.

Eutimia was the mother of Maria Aurelia Compean (1858-1963) — Aurelia to her family — who I believe was the oldest member of my father’s family to immigrate from Mexico in the mid-to-late 1910s. I do not think Eutimia immigrated with the family. Since her daughter Aurelia was already in her late 50s or early 60s when she immigrated, Eutimia would have been awfully old at that time. Although, her daughter Aurelia lived to be 105 years old, so it’s possible her mother Eutimia had those same hearty long-living genes and could have made the trip. I just don’t think she did. None of the 1920s documents I have found of her family in California list Eutimia living with her children or grandchildren.

Neither my father nor I had ever heard Eutimia’s name until 2003, when my dad called the mortuary that handled her daughter Aurelia’s burial here in Southern California to find out if they had any information about Aurelia’s birth or parents. The kind mortuary employee told my father that Aurelia’s records list parents Eutimia Sanches and Santiago Compean. We already knew Aurelia and her own daughter were from San Luis Potosi, Mexico.

I immediately sought help from my local Family History Center. They steered me to towards the Mexico church records on microfilm. Which were all in Spanish (I took 3 years of Spanish ages ago, no help now). These records are now digitized through FamilySearch, but not yet indexed. I spent several Saturdays bent over a microfilm reader desperately looking for my family names. And I managed to find the marriage record entry for Eutimia Sanches and Santiago Compean. Eutimia and Santiago were married either 14 September or 24 September (the date is hard to read) in 1859 in Armadillo de los Infante, San Luis Potosi, Mexico. The same Mexico municipality from where all of my Nieto family seems to have lived. No church or parents names.

View Larger Map

That was the extent of information I had on Eutimia until November of last year, when I started searching on FamilySearch again for her unique name of Eutimia. I scored on finding a baptism record for her. Eutimia was baptized 30 December 1835 at Santa Isabel Church in Armadillo de los Infante, San Luis Potosi, Mexico. This is the same church where Eutimia’s granddaughter Maria Nieto married Jose Robledo in 1908. And it lists her parents’ names! An even bigger score. Eutimia’s parents were Diego Sanches and Maria De Los Delores Nieto. Again with the Nietos. It seems my entire Mexico family kept marrying into Nietos.

Present day photo of Santa Isabel Church. Not sure if this is the same structure that existed when Eutimia and Santiago married there in 1835. Photo courtesy of Armadillo de los Infante.

This baptism record lists Eutimia’s full name as Maria Eutimia Sanches Nieto. It appears that like her daughter Aurelia, Eutimia was given the first name of Maria, but went by her second unique given name. And I had forgotten about the Mexican tradition of using the father and mother’s surname. Sanches is her father’s name, Nieto is her mother’s name.

Searching further for other records referencing her parents’ names, I find a baptism record for what appears to be a sister, Maria Apolinaria Sanches Nieto, baptized at the same church six months earlier on 30 July 1834. Since Apolinaria was baptized first, I assume she is an older sister. And since the two girls were baptized just six months apart, I feel confident Eutimia was born sometime after 30 July 1834 since the two daughters were not christened on the same date. This would place Eutimia’s birth between 30 July 1834 and 29 December 1835 (she would not have been baptized the same date she was born).

Continued research on my Mexico line is going to be difficult. I need to get more familiar with what types of online records exist, and where, apart from what FamilySearch offers (Ancestry offers little more). And I will need my fluent Spanish-speaking/reading/writing dad to help me locate physical records in Mexico, and correspond with those agencies. Dad retired last year, though, so he’s got the time to help me now 🙂

#52Ancestors: Anna Margaretha “Margaret” Preiss (1718-1784)

Headstone erected posthumously for Margaret Price.

This week, I begin my journey participating in Amy Johnson Crow’s “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” family history blogging challenge.

The challenge: have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor.

My first contribution to the challenge is from my husband’s family tree — the first female ancestor on his Preiss line (sometimes Americanized to “Price”) to immigrate to America — his 7th great grandmother Anna Margaretha “Margaret” Preiss [Price]. I have done almost no research on this particular ancestor, because a) I tend to spend more time on my family lines, and b) the descendants of Margaret Preiss and her husband Johan “John” Philip Harless [Harlas] have been heavily documented (and published) by other family historians.

Margaret was reportedly born in 1718 in Offenbach, Germany. She reportedly married John Philip Harless in 1738, also in Offenbach, and immigrated with him to Pennsylvania that same year. They had seven children together. Margaret reportedly died in 1784 in Christiansburg, Montgomery, Virginia. She is interred in what is now called Harless Cemetery, in Blacksburg, Montgomery County, Virginia with her husband, their second oldest son, and that son’s wife.

Sources Cited

Find A Grave. (2006, May 9). John Phillip Harless, Sr. Retrieved from http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=14235076

Pritchard, J. L. R. (1962). Harless genealogy, John Philip and Anna Margaretha (Preiss) Harless: pioneers in western Virginia and some of their descendents (ebook.).

Genealogical Inspirations: That Very First Kind Look-Up Volunteer

This is part of my “Genealogical Inspirations” series highlighting some of my key milestones, to commemorate the release on Monday of the 1940 US Census.

In 2002, I was able to beat down a big brick wall that I’d faced the first year I started researching my own family history — trying to find any clues about my Grandpa Flanagan, who was orphaned as a toddler. And it was thanks to the index of the newly released 1930 US Census, which allowed me to locate my grandfather and his four brothers living in the German Roman Catholic Orphan Home in Buffalo, New York. But, I was frustrated to learn that the orphanage no longer existed.

When I started posting inquiries on various Ancestry and RootsWeb listservs, everyone replied back telling me not to hold out hope searching for the families of orphans from the pre-World War II period. They said older orphan records were rarely preserved.

But I did hope. So, I contacted the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo, who promptly informed me they no longer held the records for that orphanage, that the records had been transferred to Catholic Charities of Buffalo. My next call was to Catholic Charities. I didn’t keep a record of the date of that first call, but I was transferred to a very nice lady who confirmed they did have the orphanage records. She took down the dates and names I had discovered in the census, and told me that they would look through their records, when someone there had the time. She too told me not to get my hopes up, that not all records from the orphanage were intact. She said that they’d mail me copies if they found anything. And when I asked if I could send payment for a look-up fee and photocopies, she told me that wasn’t necessary.

So, I waited. And I tried not to get my hopes up.

But, I kept checking my mailbox.

Then, finally, months later, during a routine look in the mailbox, there it was. A big manila envelope, stuffed about a 1/4 inch thick, from Catholic Charities of Buffalo. I ran into my house, ripped it open, and spent the entire evening pouring over the documents. Lisa Barkley (I knew her name now!), had sent me a big stack of records on all five boys, for the short time they resided at the orphanage.

My letter from Catholic Charities. Click the image to view a bigger copy.

From this stack of orphan records, I was able to finally learn the names of my Grandpa Flanagan’s parents, as well as their dates and causes of death. It opened up a whole new world of hope for me.

I really have no idea if Lisa Barkley was, or still is, an employee, or “just” a volunteer. But, I am forever grateful for her kind heart and willingness to help. And I specifically refer to “look-up volunteers” in my blog post title because this incident introduced me to the world (literally, all around the world) of genealogy volunteers who simply want to help. They are willing to spend time (and often money) helping other family historians — searching proprietary databases, visiting physical archives or localities, pursuing leads, taking photos, making and mailing/emailing photocopies — all for never more than maybe the cost of postage or copies. Why? Because they’ve been there. Because they know that they too will someday, yet once again, need the help of another genealogist.

Nearly ten years later, I never cease to tout to others just how reciprocal and helpful the genealogy community is, and I try to serve as a free “look-up volunteer” any opportunity I can.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day: Lt. Col. William Wallace Greene, MD

Lt. Col. William Wallace Greene, MD, 1945.

I didn’t realize, until Friday, that January 27th (the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau) is designated by the United Nations as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. So, this is my belated genealogical contribution to that day of remembrance.

While I don’t believe that any of our own families were victims of the Holocaust, my husband’s family has a very real, and very touching connection to that tragic event. His grandfather, Lt. Col. William Wallace “Wally” Greene, MD (1908-2003 ), was an Army surgeon during World War II (part of the 59th Evac, attached to the VII Army Corps), and he was part of the medical corps left behind at the camps, after they were liberated, to treat the camp victims. Lt. Col. William Wallace Greene treated surviving prisoners at the Dachau concentration camp, in German, in 1945.

I never met my husband’s grandfather (Grandfather Greene), he died before we started dating. But, my husband has shared with me how the memories of the horrors seen in Dachau stayed with Grandfather Greene the rest of his life. Jeff tells me stories about how upset his grandfather would become at people who question whether the Holocaust actually happened, or if it was as bad as people make it out to be. Because Lt. Col. William Wallace Greene was an eyewitness to the aftermath of the brutality of the Holocaust. I think if Grandfather Greene was alive today, and I asked, he would tell me that the Holocaust was even worse than what historians, survivors and the media make it out to be.

These two pictures were taken by a U.S. Army photographer, who was attached to the 59th Evac, and knew my husband’s grandfather. The photographer provided my husband’s aunt with a bunch of photos chronicling the 59th Evac’s movements between 1942 and 1945, which my husband’s aunt made into a book for my husband. I selected a couple of the more tame photos; many of those from Dachau are too graphic for me to feel comfortable posting.

Dachau concentration camp, 1945. U.S. Army photo, family album.

Liberation feast, Dachau concentration camp, 1945. U.S. Army photo, family album.

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