Ancestry Magazine

Think you can learn just how your ancestor celebrated a holiday—175 years ago? You may be on to something.

There I was, by the dawn’s early light, poking about the Internet looking for another patriot ancestor, or, rather, seeking information to prove I had the right Jacob. I had collected a plethora of German Jacobs and Georges to untangle in North Carolina, and it appeared I might be cousin to a well-known personality. Since the genealogies of many of the rich and famous are online, I was hoping to find a link.

I’ve been a member of Daughters of the American Revolution for a number of years. The organization boasts more than 168,000 members who’ve proven their lineal descent from a man or woman who helped America gain independence. To join, you have to have at least one patriot ancestor—but you can always add more.

Retirement is providing me with the opportunity to do just that. But naturally I didn’t want to embarrass myself by submitting an ancestor to DAR who fought on the other side—and with my family anything is possible.

Many of my ancestors were either German or Swiss, arrived in Philadelphia, and made the trek down the Great Wagon Road to North Carolina. A great deal of genealogical digging is tedious and not nearly as glamorous as some make it out to be. This search was no exception. I collected and compiled information on these ancestors from tax lists, deeds, wills, probates, and church records.

I chuckled as I watched variations of their names appear in records—the Scots-Irish and English obviously had difficulty understanding my German-speaking ancestors. Name spellings were at the mercy of the recorder—there were no rules about spelling and despite the novice’s tendency to call it a name change, it really isn’t. As a researcher, you simply have to learn to hear names (my Ehrenhardt family, for example, might be listed as Aaronhart, Earnheart, Earonhart, or something similar).

These German ancestors didn’t make it any easier with their double first names—the first honoring a saint and the second the one by which they were known. All of the boys in a family might have the first name Johan and the girls Maria. Sorting out whether my ancestor was the Johan Adam, Johan Jacob, or Johan George and determining if his wife was Maria Catherine or Maria Barbara was a challenge.

Hours of digging in unglamorous records, books, and online eventually paid off—I found my patriot, Jacob Frick. I also found confirmation of his marriage and a note about what he was doing on Christmas Day 1823. What a gift.

From the obituary of his youngest child who died in 1897:

Jacob Frick was born in Pennsylvania and married in Rowan County, North Carolina to Elizabeth Earnhart. They had 12 children, of whom Paul Frick was the youngest. Jacob was a soldier in the Revolutionary War and came to Union County [Illinois] Christmas Day, 1823.

Myra Vanderpool Gormley spends her days untangling her illustrious roots and pruning her family’s notorious branches—the latter being a seemingly full-time job. Reach her at myravg@wamail.net.