ENGLISH - IRISH - SCOTCH & DUTCH

Over the years that I have been adding post after post to this blog, I think I have mentioned at-least once that it has been ingrained in me from early childhood that I am a mix of English - Irish - Scotch & Dutch.

1983 Holland, me on tour with my High School French Class.

I have been very fortunate in my life to get to travel the world.  Out of all the places which I have been, I always said that I wanted to return to Holland some day. The last time I was there, was in the early 80's, and still to this day I have hopes that I will in fact get back there one day.  I now know so much more about my ancestors who came from the Netherlands than I did in my youth.

Many of us, to include myself, can trace our ancestral roots to the passengers of the Mayflower. Those ancestors fled from England to Leyden, Holland to escape religious persecution, and then made their final journey to the new land, "New England."  This however, is not that story. 

I just recently completed taking my second DNA test, and sent it off to the lab to be analyzed.  I made the decision to take another autosomal  DNA test, this time with Ancestry.com.  Recently I worked briefly for Family Tree DNA, the current leader in DNA genealogical testing, where I learned a little something about DNA. The results from an autosomal DNA test mainly provide one with fourth and fifth genetic cousin matches.  Great! Do you know your fourth or fifth cousins? Me either.  I discovered many folks who were getting their DNA tested had no knowledge in their family roots, and hoped that a DNA test would get them started. They were not exactly stuck at a brick wall, they had absolutely no knowledge of their family past.  I on the other hand, have over 20,000 names in my family tree, and discovered that I did not have any fourth or fifth cousins. When a genealogist builds a family tree, they build back as far as they can go. Rarely do we think about then building forward. So, how could I match up to my DNA genetic cousins?   I began to work from my most distant known ancestors forward in time, to as current to today as privacy settings will allow.  I have been adding what I call downward branches as fast as I can in expectation of my new DNA results.  Most of my lines were already very complete, except for my Dutch family line.  I was really excited and pleased with myself as I worked on this line.  

Let me begin with baby Ruth!

Just a bit of levity, I am not one of those boring genealogists that just recite names and dates of birth and death.  Ruth Augusta England was my paternal Grand Mother.  This photo to the left was published in our family cookbook which a copy can be found at the LDS library in Salt Lake City Utah. 

We published the 75 page cookbook in the late 1980's.  Sorry that the above link does not take you directly to view the book.  I will search for a better link, and add it when I get the chance.

Ruth Augusta England was born on August 1, 1895, in Dunham, Quebec, Canada. Her father, Clarence Philo England, was 25 and her mother, Nettie Martha Smith, was 24. Both of Quebec, Canada.  She married William Rider Howie, also a native of Quebec, Canada on August 19, 1916, in Orleans, Vermont. They had seven children in 15 years. She died on April 9, 1935, in Newport, Vermont, at the age of 39, and was buried in the Woodside Cemetery, in Beebe Junction, in the Estrie Region of Quebec, Canada.  She died in the hospital during a Laparoscopic surgery for acute pelvic peritonitis.   A routine operation today, not sure if it was in 1935.  I am sure her death was a shock and surprise to my grand father, and her seven children as she was so young. 

Ruth the eldest of the three children.

 
Another family photo from the Howie Family Cookbook. Sorry, copies are all I have, the original photos are not in my possession.  This photo is circa 1901, as her younger brother, the famous author, Gordon Philip England was just a baby. 

Okay, so you are now wondering how does the surname England relate to Dutch ancestry? Since I am speaking about DNA, we cannot follow the mothers line, that of the mitochondrial DNA.  That would be the various family names of: Smith, Ewins, Strong, Flagg, and Kendall. Going back five generations to early 1700's Massachusetts.  We turn to her grand mother, Marguerite Eunice Ruiter,  the mother of Clarence Philo England is my Dutch connection.  

In Quebec at this time many books were recording family histories with many, if not all of my family surname lines in Canada, of the time.

Ruiter is a Dutch surname that may be traced directly back to the Netherlands. Let me quickly jump back to my 8th Great Grandfather, Roeloff Gerritse VanDerWerken (1647 - 1728).  He came from Meppel Drenthe, Netherlands.

According to a history library in Albany New York his father was the immigrant which began what is now known as New Netherlands in New York. 

I will not go into much detail about New Netherlands, and the people of Albany, New York.  You may read more about this history on your own if you have more interest.  The United States Dutch Reformed Church records were the major resource for documents which prove this family line. 

The following is a copy of the English translation from the Wikipedia biography of Jacob Ruiter as found on the Wikipedia website which I posted to Ancesty back on 12/18/2007.


"Jacob Ruiter was born in 1772 near Pittstown in the State of New York. During the American Revolution, his family fled to Canada because of his sympathies loyalists.  Installed first Manor Caldwell (Clarenceville), they settled in the town of Philipsburg, near the Missisquoi Bay.
Towards 1794, Jacob's father became a land agent and he gave his son land in the township of Dunham on the site of the future city of Cowansville.
In the summer of 1798, he went there only to locate his land and built his family a temporary shelter, but in the winter he returned with his family.
In the spring of 1799, he returned with his wife, daughter and a newborn. He built a log cabin on the south shore of the Yamaska River and began clearing his land.
The following year, he built a flour and mill near his cabin.  Known as "Ruiter's Mill, the mill was used for several years by the people in the vicinity.  In 1805, he named the area Nelsonville in honor of Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson killed at the battle of Trafalgar.
Captain Jacob Ruiter had married Eunice Freeman and they had 12 children.

Their son, Philip Lampman Ruiter, was born on March 29, 1804, he would be the first white child to be born in Cowansville, and one of my 3rd Great Grand Fathers. You may click on his name, to link you to a post I did earlier.  Jacob Ruiter died in 1840."  Captain Jacob Ruiter was my fourth Great Grand Father."

The Ruiter and VanDerWerken families were in Albany New York for many generations.   Somewhere between New York, and Quebec is where I feel the DNA of the Native American entered my family genome. I am sure one day soon, we will easily be able to figure this out, but with today's technology we still must guess. 
Not to skip all the important stories of my ancestors, I will leave their stories for future posts.  I want to leave you with the Dutch pedigree which leads to my Grand Mother Ruth England.

Ruth Augusta England (1895-1935)

This is a good ending to my introduction on the DUTCH family blood line.

Jane Rosebella Howie - Hastings

Rev. Calvin John Hastings, Cora May Hastings, Jane Rosebella Howie - Hastings.
Photo from the Lawrence Frizzle Collection, Brome, Quebec.

Cora May Hastings was born December 15th, 1880 in Brome, Quebec, Canada. Standing in the center between her parents in the photo above.  Her mother Was Jane Rosebella Howie, and her father was Rev. Calvin John Hasings. When Jane Rosebella Howie was born on July 28, 1849, in Brome, Quebec, Canada her father, James Howie Jr., my second Great Grandfather was 28.  Her mother, Ann Howie, nee Stewart, was 25. Ann (Stewart) Howie photo appears at the end of this post.   Rosebella married Calvin John Hastings.  They were married New Years Eve, December 31, 1880 in the Methodist Church of Shefford, Quebec, Canada. They had one son and one daughter together between 1876 and 1880, Armand Hill Hastings, and Cora May Hastings.  Armand Hill was born April 10th, 1876.  Unfortunately, he died that same year, on September 15, 1876.  Rev. C. J. Hastings died March 21, 1901.

Memorial of Armand Hill Hastings

 
Rosebella then  at age 58, married Peter McKenny Hitchcock on December 24, 1907, in Philipsburg, Quebec.  Christmas Eve. 
Peter Hitchcock, and his first wife Elisabeth, and their daughter Della May we find living next to the James Howie Jr. family on the 1861 Census of Canada. In the township of Stanbridge, Canada. The proximity to the Howie family probably added to how they ended up knowing each other, and getting married.
Della May, Rosebella's Step-Daughter, married a Richard Smith (1859 - 1905) who was born in the United States, in Lisbon, Grafton, New Hampshire.  They had four children. Their Second Son, Eugene Francis Peter Smith (1890 - 1919) brings a special connection to Canadian's who served during World War I. Eugene was a Great-Step-Son to Rosebella. 

The Military Badge of the British & Commonwealth
The 13th Scottish Light Dragoons

Eugene F.P. Smith served for three years in The 13th Scottish Light Dragoons prior to Canada joining the allied forces of WWI, and attested his allegiance to His Majesty King George V. 

King George V

 The 13th Scottish Light Dragoons was a Calvary Regiment of the Canadian Army.  If his service to his country of three years was not enough, in 1914 he joined the first contingent of the Canadian Overseas Expedition Force, "CEF" which formed in Valcartier Quebec in 1914.  This enlistment was voluntary, as conscription was not enforced. Here I have clipped his signature and oath from the attestation form.

He would have adorned to his military uniform many badges and metals, to include these:

The distinguishing patch of the 2nd Battalion, Canadian Mounted Rifles, CEF.

He served as a Private in the 2nd Canadian Mounted Riffles Battalion.  They embarked for Great Britain June 12th 1915.  They later arrived in France September 22, 1915.  This unit fought to the end of the war.  

Eugene returned home, and married his bride Eva Rebecca Price (1892-1977) on June 12, 1918. He unfortunately died of tuberculosis in Riceburg Quebec, on the 20th of October 1919 at the age of 29 years old, before ever setting eyes on his one and only daughter, Thelma Imogene Smith who was born on the 9th of December 1919.  

Here is his final resting place, and memorial.

Photo courtesy of Graceti on Find A Grave Memorial # 121204425

Jane Rosebella (Howie) died on April 12, 1947, in Colchester, Vermont, at the age of 97, and was buried in Brome-Centre, Quebec Canada.

Jane Rosebella's sister Ann Craig Howie, who was named after her mother, was born on August 4, 1850, in Quebec when Jane Rosebella was 1 year old.

The resemblance between the two sisters is remarkable.

Annie Craig Howie-MacFarlane

Jane Rosebella Howie-Hastings

I have one more photo I wish to share, and that is of my second Great Grand Mother
 Ann Craig Stewart-Howie, with her Grand Daughter Cora May Hastings.

Ann Craig Stewart - Howie, and Grand daughter Cora May Hastings-Goodrich.

When Cora May Hastings was born on December 15, 1880, in Brome, Quebec, her father, Rev. Calvin Hastings, was 33 and her mother, Jane, was 31. She married Max William Goodrich on October 3, 1906, in Montgomery, Vermont. They had three children during their marriage. She died on January 4, 1938, in Oxford, Ontario, Canada, at the age of 57, and was buried in Brome Centre Cemetery.

Without Ancestry.com I would never have had access to the above photos, or have made the connections with cousins in far away places.  The photo of Rev. Calvin John Hastings, and family are from the collection of Lawrence Frizzle.  He is the great grand nephew of my Great Grand Aunts Jane & Annie.  A BIG Thank you to Lawrence Frizzle.