My maternal great-grandparents, while all born in the United States, are all of Ostfriesian extraction. For the most part their parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents were immigrants-all to Hancock or Adams Counties in Illinois (with the exception of one set who went to Brown County) between 1855 and 1883. It’s not just that their parents/grandparents were immigrants. All these immigrants were from a cluster of several villages near Aurich (with the exception of one set from near Etzel). As a result there is a good chance that my great-grandparents are biologically related to each other.
And some of them were. I decided to use my RootsMagic software to determine the relationships. There were not as many relationships as I originally thought, but my data entry is incomplete. In the interest of space, I’m not going to repeat all the birth and death information here (it’s on my ahnenlist). I’m still in the process of entering information from the Wiesens area into my database-and since three of my great-grandparents have ancestors from that area, there’s a good chance I have more relationships.
I’ve listed every combination of my great-grandparents below. My Habben great-grandparents were related to each other several ways. My great-grandfather had a set of ancestors who were first cousins once removed and another set of ancestors who were second cousins.
Fred Ufkes and Trientje (Janssen) Ufkes–husband and wife
fourth cousins once removed–Johann Hinrichs Borjes (born 1687) and Aaltjen Roolfs (born 1701)
Fred Ufkes and Mimka John Habben
None yet based upon information currently entered into my database.
Fred Ufkes and Tjode (Goldenstein) Habben
None yet based upon information currently entered into my database.
Trientje (Janssen) Ufkes and Mimka John Habben
fourth cousins–Roolf Alberts (born 1710) and Gretke Janssen
Trientje (Janssen) Ufkes and Tjode (Goldenstein) Habben
None yet based upon information currently entered into my database. However, they both have Sartorius lines from the same small village and there’s a 99% chance they connect on these lines.
Mimka John Habben and Tjode (Goldenstein) Habben–husband and wife
There are several duplicate ancestors that my Habben great grandparents share. Their common ancestors are all from Holtrop. They are:
1. Fifth cousin (common ancestors: Hinrich Ulfers ([born 1667] & Ancke Jansen)
2. Sixth cousin once removed (common ancestors: Lubbe Habben [baptized 1636] & Moder Emen [born 1643])
3. Seventh cousin (common ancestors: Eme Lampen & Tutter)
4. Seventh cousin (common ancestors: Luppe Lutets & Tjabbend Willms)
5. Seventh cousin (common ancestors: Willem Aden & Veyke )
6. Seventh cousin once removed (common ancestors: Eme Lampen & Tutter Jurgens)
7. Seventh cousin (common ancestors: Eme Lampen & Tutter)
8. Seventh cousin (common ancestors: Tjarck Ihnen & Eite Djuden)
9. Seventh cousin (common ancestors: Willem Aden & Veyke )
10. Seventh cousin once removed (common ancestors: Garlt Roden & Eyte )
Note: This will be updated when I’ve completed my data entry. I have a suspiscion there are more relationships I just don’t have entered in yet.
2 Responses
Ah yes….the beauty and danger of genealogy. I have found my parents’ families woven into each other at various places over several centuries. All one can do is laugh about being an inbred !
Over the years in researching my genealogy and my husband’s genealogy we share some of the same ancestors from 200+ years back. So somewhere along the line we are probably some sort of cousins. 😉 I love genealogy research!