Grandpa John G Williams 130th birthday!

130 years ago today, February 17, 1888, my paternal Grandpa, John Griffith Williams was born to Joseph and Elizabeth Williams, in Blaenau Ffestiniog, Wales. 

He seems to have been quite a character. He immigrated to Canada in 1910 at the age of 23. He was the only one in his family to do so. He never went back to Wales. 

He married Ellen Egerton in approximately 1918 or 1919. She was also from North Wales, so I have a hunch they met over there. They had 2 sons together, but sadly one of them died in 1925, and then Ellen died in 1926. 

Thankfully for me, Grandpa re-married Alma May Palmer in 1928 when he was 40, and their first son, my Dad, John Herbert, was born in 1929. Grandpa had 6 more children, 9 in total.

This photo shows my grandparents in my parent's home celebrating their birthdays together. Grandma was born January 20, 1908. She was 20 years younger than her husband.

Grandpa on the left, Robert in the middle, William on the right. Blaenau Ffestiniog, Wales, approximately 1910.

A young Grandpa on the prairies, probably Alberta.

He lived there for a while, then moved to Spalding SK.

He loved horses all his life, winding up taking care of the horses for Crystal Dairies in Vancouver BC in the 1940's.

This is my favourite picture of Grandpa. You can tell he was a real character. He moved to Vancouver in 1941, and began a new life working at Burrard Dry Docks during WWII, and having 3 more children here. By the time I knew him, he was a very quiet man, and quite frail. At least that's how he appeared to me. He died in June 1974. 

Happy birthday, Grandpa! Thank you for your adventures which led you to Canada.

By Loretta Williams Houben

Joseph and Elizabeth Williams...my paternal great grandparents.

2015 will mark a fantastic year for me in genealogy research!

I'll begin with the most recent thing. 

I've sent away for Joseph and Elizabeth Williams marriage certificate.

They were married in 1883.

I asked my genealogy group yesterday how to order a certificate, as I knew the volume and page number for it. They told me it was easy to do online; I no longer had to send pounds sterling through the bank and the mail system.

I was totally relieved to hear that!

I searched online and found this site. 

It's the general register office for births, deaths and marriages in the UK.

I registered and filled out the form, paid with my credit card, and it should be here in 7 days!

Because I'm suddenly becoming so successful at family history, I've started a new

Williams/Palmer GENEALOGY BLOG.

Please click on it to find everything in one place.

I've just begun but will be adding more to it as time allows.

By Loretta Williams Houben

The Brutke homestead in Amity, OR.

I'm having fun using Picmonkey.com...try it for yourself!

It's all free. There is an upgrade for more content, but what I've used here is free.

I am learning how to make collages, and I'm learning how to layer.

One thing for sure, I can't believe it's been 40 years since this happy summer when I was only 15.

This is the only photo I have of the inside of the old cabin my maternal grandparents, Adolph and Helen Brutke, bought in the 1910's. (I can't remember the exact year they moved here from Taylor, Texas.) It was called a "cabin", and the big bedroom in which I and two of my sisters are standing in was added on after my grandparents bought it. When I knew it was going to be torn down so that my Uncle Ed could build a new tool shed, I was heartbroken. I think my mom was too.

I took a piece of wallpaper from the wall of that bedroom. I need to scan it in. It has a white dotted stripe, with tiny blue flowers in between, on what looks like a pale grey background.

Each summer we had such fun on this farm. It was simply marvelous to unwind from the big city of Vancouver BC, and roam free and wild over Uncle Ed's acreage. Down by the creek it was so relaxing. We would pick cherries in the morning, and play here in the afternoon. To the left of this photo, there was a steep hill with a small grove of tall fir trees. I loved to sit underneath them in the shade, during a hot and humid day, and listen to the breeze in the branches above.

Such happy times, 40 years ago.

By Loretta Houben

Remembering my great uncle, Stanley James Palmer.

100 years ago, little Stanley pictured above, died in Tonypandy, Wales.

This is the only photo I have of him. He was 2 years old and 5 months.

This photo was taken shortly before his death.

My paternal grandma, Alma May Williams, often told us about him, and why he died.

It's a sad but common story. My Grandma felt badly as she thought it was through her negligence he died. She had taken him to the outhouse in the back yard, (she was age 7) on a bitterly cold day, and alas, she forgot about him. Someone heard him crying at the back door. He caught pneumonia and died.

In 2007, Phil Evans, whom I found online somehow somewhere, helped me out and sent me the above scan. I have no idea where he got it. It shows the notice of interment for little Stanley in the Trealaw Cemetery in Tonypandy, Wales. It lists his age and date of death, the address of where the Palmer family was living, and the signature of my great grandfather, Herbert Palmer.

Here is an old picture of Trealaw Cemetery found online.

A recent photo for Trealaw Cemetery found online.

This is the closest I've come to the cemetery, in July 2007.

It's to the top right of the photo above. That's Matthew and Robert.

We had visited Penygraig where the Palmer's relocated before immigrating to Canada in 1927.

I wonder what little Stanley would of thought of relatives coming to visit his part of the world.

Life is very interesting. I wished to remember Stanley and this is the only way I know how.

By Loretta Houben

George Palmer; my great great grandfather and his wife, Emma (Cork)

On Monday, October 6, 2014 I was racking my brains for a subject for an article I need to write for the RRC newspaper, which is due by the 10th of each month. For fun I decided to type "George Palmer, 1842" into the Google search engine. Every once in a while, I re-do these things.

Amazingly, new information came up on my screen!

I snipped the above information and the items below, because although I knew George's parents names, I didn't know his wife's parents names. 

I found the information on this site.

This is the PAGE which popped up.

Catherine Day has put together over 22,000 names in her database!

She did this for her thesis, and this has led to her writing a book:
Wiltshire Marriage Patterns 1754-1914

The above shows the names of Emma's parents: Thomas and Ann Cork.

This is thrilling!

George Palmer is my great great grandfather on my Dad's side of the family.

Ann's information above.

Emma's brother's information above.

And this is a photo of Emma (Cork) Palmer, my great great grandmother.

On the left is her daughter, Alma. 

I find it fascinating to find clues on the internet, just by being persistent and methodical.

The moral of the story is, never give up!

By Loretta Houben

Memories of the farm.

Every June I get nostalgic for The Farm.
Every year of my childhood, except for 1970 when my Mom was pregnant with Marie, we traveled 400 miles South to Amity, Oregon. We stayed with Uncle Ed, my Mom's older brother who owned the old homestead and farm where my Mom grew up. I loved the old cabin pictured above and below, which was located a few steps down the lane from the white colonial style farmhouse where we spent a few weeks. Uncle Ed stored his tools in the cabin, and hay for his horses in the back room, which had been added on as a bedroom. My maternal grandparents lived here from ____ to 1930 when the white house was built.

The back of the cabin. Leona, myself holding Marie, and Marlene.
The building on the left is the barn where Uncle Ed kept his pack horses for hunting.
Leona, as you can see, loved horses! We all had such fun here.

I drew a sketch of the white farmhouse when I was 13, in my little sketchbook, and painted it later when I got home. I'm so glad I did this. It brings back such memories for me. My mom was born in a back bedroom in this house in the 1930's.

By Loretta Houben

Renfrew Collingwood newspaper articles

It's a little tricky snipping the page from the digitized online RCC newspaper, but I'm doing it because I wish to keep all my copies online. Sometimes the RCC newspapers disappear and so far they haven't come back! This was my very first genealogy article I wrote. My sister in law, Margaret Houben, inspired me to write articles for the local newspaper. When she was working at the Barriere Star newspaper she wrote genealogy articles too.

By Loretta Houben

April writing endeavours

I used the snip button to copy and save the above page.

Here is the link

I've been writing a genealogy article for the Renfrew Collingwood community newspaper since September 2012. That's 8 articles and I just finished #9.

I adore writing short articles, especially on an adored subject!

I never seem to tire of genealogy research, although I wish I could learn more quickly.

I still feel like such a newbie.

Leona said she enjoys my articles as they sound "fresh and interesting". She really liked the above article and so did Robert.

By Loretta Houben

1916 Brutke Family Portrait

I am so excited! I had to scan this in late tonight. My Mom found it in a drawer.

I've never seen this photo before.

This is my maternal grandparents.

Adolph and Helen (married in Oct 1912) with three of their children:

Baby Bertha, Walt, and Lydia.

Isn't Lydia adorable? And look at her button boots!

I'm sure Helen made all their clothes. 

This is the earliest photo I have seen of Helen aside from her wedding photo.

It was taken in Taylor Texas.

This is just so neat!

By Loretta Houben

January discoveries.

William Joseph Williams

Isn't this a lovely photo? Graham at the Royal Welsh Fusiliers Facebook page enlarged it and added it to the page, and it looks so nice I saved and added it here.

During January I have attended one genealogy meeting in the central library branch, and done a bit of searching online. In connecting with Graham, who is a historian for the RWF museum in Wales, I've had a few more questions about my great uncle William answered which has made me very happy.

Graham kindly sent me 10 pages from the book I mentioned in a previous post, and the content describes the battle my great uncle fought in. 

Graham also sent me a copy of William's medal index card! 

(see above)

It shows the date of his enlistment in the army; Sept. 5, 1915.

It's amazing what lies out there in cyber land. I am always astounded when I poke about and find new things like this. It makes me anxious to find out more.

I've written my 6th article for the RCC Newspaper on the subject of family tree information.

The topic for February is the 1921 Canadian census. The editor said it was quite wordy at 800 words, but she said it was so interesting she couldn't chop it down smaller. 

That made me feel great! My passion for genealogy research is growing by leaps and bounds.

A few of my relatives are excited like me, and I wish there were more of us. 

By Loretta Williams Houben

WWI centenary and Great Uncle William Williams.

I'm on the hunt to track down more information about my great uncle, William Joseph Williams. He fought in WWI with the RWF, the Royal Welch Fusiliers, enlisting in Wrexham Wales around August or September 1915 when he was 22 years old. He wound up in Salonika Greece (Macedonia) fighting with the 11th battalion, and giving his life on February 22, 1917.

I found the above book online, and would love to purchase it.

Here is the link. 

I also discovered a wonderful Facebook page; the Royal Welch Fusiliers, 1900-1919.

I'm hopeful they will be able to help me out with more details as to William's enlistment and death.

I've emailed them, and posted on their page.

I'm truly discovering the joys of technical media! The whole world lies connected at my fingertips.

What a shame the housework is neglected.

PS: Here is the wonderful page Ken Davies has put up online: 

The Great War 1914-1918

Way at the bottom he has included the information about my great uncle, William Williams.

I wish he would provide a link to each name, but that would be a lot of work.

I've never seen such a website like his; it's just phenomenal. Go and take a peek!

By Loretta Williams Houben

Edward and Ellen Jones, good neighbours of my grandparents in Spalding SK.

I found a great website online: Naicum Cemetery.

Hopefully the link will take you to it, as someone as done a great deal of work.

I believe that the Jones family pictured here as burial stones are the good friends of my grandparents, and if Edward is the very same Jones in the old photo from before 1910 in Wales, in a previous post, then this is his resting place in Naicum Cemetery in Naicum SK.

All the headstones were together, so I assume the above Gordon Thomas Jones is their son, the one who wrote the memoir of his parents on page 313 in the "Spalding Roots and Branches" book.

I love gravestones and I love cemeteries. 

By Loretta Houben

1921 Canadian Census and the Williams and Jones Families

This is the Canadian 1921 census.

I've blogged about it before, but I wish to add something I've discovered.

My Uncle Harry (my Dad's brother) had inquired recently about the name of the little school he and my Dad had attended in Spalding. It was the Lake Edward school, but in researching that item, I re-discovered the copy I was given of "Spalding Roots and Branches", printed in 1981 and containing the Spalding memoirs of the old pioneers. It belonged to my Grandma, Alma May Williams. She has gone through and added many little notes and pen markings which is wonderful for me!

On page 313 of the book, I noticed she had marked "My dear neighbours on Farm in Spalding 1928" underneath a photo of Mr. and Mrs. Ed Jones on their 47th wedding anniversary. 

(see insert below)

I re-checked the 1921 census which is free at Ancestry.ca if you sign up for a free account, and I tried the new indexing arrangement which wasn't finished until later in 2013. It worked, but alas, they have my Grandpa listed as JH Williams and not JG.

But I found the neighbours!

Here they are below:

This is the clipping from the book, "Spalding Roots and Branches" on page 313.

It was written by Gordon Jones, their son.

Here is Part 2 on the following page.

You will notice the Williams family being part of the close neighbours on the farm.

My Grandma underlined "Williams" to verify it was them.

Isn't this fascinating? 

While mulling this over last night, I remembered that there is an old photo of my Grandpa, John G Williams, back in Wales before 1910, with a friend named "Jones" in my Grandma's handwriting.

I believe this is Edward Jones mentioned above.

What do you think?

Here is the old photo:

Jones is the one in the first row, second from the right with the tick on his hand.

Do you think he is similar to the older man in the above photo?

If so, then the mystery as to why my Grandpa, John G Williams, was once living in Three Hills Alberta, and wound up in Spalding. In the article written by Gordon Jones, he states that he father's first stop was in Alberta where he worked for several farmers. In 1918 he moved to Saskatchewan, "bringing a car load of settler's effects" and then drove to his land. I bet that my Grandpa hitched up and went with him! 

In the 1918 Canadian census for Alberta, John Williams is living with his boss, Mr. Parry, and then in the 1921 census he is married with a wife and one son and a farm!

I believe I've solved the mystery!

By Loretta Houben

Looking in old telephone directories...

On January 2, 2014, Robert and I visited the main library in downtown Vancouver.

I discovered the telephone directories on the 7th floor.

The above line showing Robert Houben's name, address and phone number, with the heart next to it, is from the 1982 Vancouver telephone directory. This was the first apartment we rented for $357, from Jan 1982 - May 1985. In 1985 we moved across the hall to a larger 2 bedroom apartment so Robert could have a computer room! I always thought it was neat that our telephone # ended in 82.

The above address with AM Houben's name, with the yellow paper clip next to it, is Robert's older brother. For a time Robert lived here with Antoon, before I met him in 1980. I believe Antoon co-owned this house with a friend.

This is the cover of the 1982 telephone directory.

This is the front cover of the 1982 telephone directory.

Do YOU think it's more fun to find things online, or in person like this?

I adore paper ephemera!

I also discovered BC Directories! Some of these are online up to 1955.

This one is from 1963 and shows my parent's old address when they were living in their 2nd house on Euclid Street.

I knew my parent's phone number, so I looked it up in the 1963 directory, and here is my Dad's name and where he lived 50 years ago! He is the 4th name from the top. I think this is just SO COOL!

By Loretta Houben

Family genealogy plans for 2014.

In 2014 my plans for researching more in the Williams/Palmer family tree branch are to find the birth and marriage documents for my great and great-great grandparents on the Williams and Palmer side. I'm not quite sure how much this will cost, so I will tread carefully!

I plan to contact my cousin Della and try to keep more in touch this year. She was the one who helped me way back in 2007 when we had the opportunity to visit Wales and England on our European trip in July. She has done research and given me the names on the Palmer side, up to Samuel Palmer, born in 1767 or 1768. He was married to Mariah Chaffey, and is my great great great great grandfather.

While poking around online the other day, I found a list of Stoke sub Hamdon baptisms from the 1700s. I snipped these two items:

I think this John Palmer MAY be my great great great grandfather, as the parents listed are Samuel and Mariah. I'm not sure how to verify it. The information that Della gave me is that John Palmer was born in 1814 and baptized on August 17, 1814. But I don't know where she got her dates. So this is just one thread to figure out and verify.

I snipped the information from this website.

By Loretta Houben