[Photo Blog] Another jaunt up north/More family

ThomasjServo

15244 Posts

October 27 2014 01:23 GMT

This weekend my father and I took another trip up to the family cabin/my uncle's house in the scenic Walker, Minnesota Metroplex. This would be the first time that my father and his younger brother had seen each other in this particular venue in a few years. This uncle however, did pay a visit to the cities for my brother's wedding.

A short skip and a hop up state

The gods of Minnesota weather saw fit to shine on us in ways they hadn't previously, allowing us a cool little day trip on Saturday, and some lovely discussions on the increasingly chilly nights in the northern bit of my home state.

My father left, his younger brother (by two years) right. Homer enjoying a cigar, his brother caught in between Camels

What I hadn't mentioned in my previous blog about my Aunt in the first cabin blog, is that my Aunt in the DNA blog, is that she is one helluva sleuth for familial records, and has established quite the family tree for my father's side of things, and helped me to start on my much less explored maternal side of things.

A similar image, though taken from the driveway of my Uncle's house

This aunt, lamentably unpictured as I didn't have the chance to quite take a shot, pulled up her ancestry.com account and walked us through what she knew of my Smith side, all the way back to the Seymours of Henry VIII's repute.

A family tree, still incomplete, in the works from my grandfather back to England

This trip, which my uncle had likely suffered through far more times than he cared to count, included a walk through Canada to a family called the Dandurands. One Raoul Dandurand, an great uncle of mine however many times, was even the first president of the league of nations. My DNA results, actually let me get in touch with a decedent of the first Dandurand to marry into my own Smith clan. Beyond that we touched on other historical events in Chicago, including an uncle of mine who donated a significant amount of land to the University of Chicago, and the rather surprising inference that based on geographical records, it seems unlikely members of this side of the family were slave owners. This despite having come stateside in the 1600s.

Before we hashed all this out, we took a day trip to the beautiful Itasca State Park, the source of the mighty Mississippi River.

Lake Itasca, the most visited State Park in Minnesota

My father, affectionately called Homer, again.

Lake Itasca, again.

The brothers again, and AUNT! I didn't think I had a picture, but she was being responsible wearing blaze orange to let the hunters in the park know, she was not in fact wildlife

It all starts here.

We'll take a brief break from the photos to continue our familial end of things. My mother's side was far less traveled than the genealogy on my father's side. That is not however to say it isn't storied. The impasse has always, and continues to be, my great, great grandfather. An apparent orphan before five years of age, we had some amount of trouble tracking down his parents, though this is being worked on. His wife however, was a Seloover (Sloover or there are x number of spellings for everything in this time (Circa 1870))

This Dutch name was traceable via Ancestry.com, findagrave.com, and other free and paid channels, back to the east coast as having come over to New Amsterdam (later New York) about the same time as my Smith side. The most interesting story line, taken because of my Aunt's understandable fascination with a relative of mine named Missouri Frank See, which is an amazing name on a related note.

The See line, which married into the Seloover, was involved with what was called the Muddy Creek Massacre or a Shawnee raid on the then family farm. A distant relation, Mary and her children (namely one John) were made to witness their family being killed and abducted to Ohio where they were released when the band of Shawnee didn't have sufficient rations to Winter them. Various relations were intertwined with the Shawnee, and though we didn't have time to track all of them, it was noted in record of the time that the aforementioned John rejoined the Shawnee after his release, only to be dragged back to Virginia by force by his family.

The Aunt Mari again, with Homer in background, crossing the source of the Mississippi

Brothers, sat an appropriate distance apart for their branch of the family

I would call this sacrilege of a man made monument, but on easily replaceable railings, I love this kind of thing.

The Maternal line of mine, we traced back in broad strokes to Germany, and Switzerland respectively. The latter most ancestor of my own we were able to find was in the 1450s, this not including my Great Great Grandfather's side, including the name Duffy which is considered the more important, or at least the name that garners more interest from my immediate family. My aunt is really a wunderkind, at this sort of thing, though I use that term with a certain appreciation for it.

We are tripped up on that same grandfather, though, I suspect, we'll be able to bring things back to Northern Ireland shortly. This particular branch seems to have strayed from Cork/Limerick, the Smith/Murnane Stomping grounds, a bit further north.

Crossing again, this time with a bit of mock fencing

From the same bridge pictured above, we arrived after most of the leaves had been shed and far fewer leafers were about.

We ended our day trip, with a lap around a road less traveled, looking specifically for a bit of old growth, something that with logging and fires is a bit of a rarity in the north woods these days, but it was an enjoyable drive, and an even more enjoyable bit of a trip down ancestry lane with a woman who knows that street particularly well. I hope to be in more closer contact with both my aunt and uncle about things, and my father seemed to enjoy himself as well.

I am really looking forward to sharing more with a second cousin I have met through this DNA process, the full extent of our shared history, and though I don't know much about connecting this way, it is a brilliant thing to feel inspired by the line of people, lives, and incredible events that have led me to being sat here at a computer explaining my weekend to some of the best nerds I know.

I hope you had a good weekend TL, and I'll leave you with a picture of a 300+ year old White Pine, and a shout out to one of my favorite people on TL.

As always, thanks for the read.

MysteryMeat1

United States3292 Posts

October 27 2014 02:00 GMT

Can you explain the part where you/someone married into the smith clan. I didnt really get it, but everything else was really cool.

ThomasjServo

15244 Posts

October 27 2014 02:03 GMT

On October 27 2014 11:00 MysteryMeat1 wrote:
Can you explain the part where you/someone married into the smith clan. I didnt really get it, but everything else was really cool.

Well at certain points other people come into your family, but previously marrying into a family would have been a much bigger deal. So there are a few points where the Dandurands specifically would have married into the male line; more has to do with the male dominated bit of genealogy

MountainDewJunkie

United States10341 Posts

October 27 2014 03:03 GMT

Family always comes first (unless they're really shitty. Then it's like... seventh).

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[Photo Blog] Another jaunt up north/More family

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