If Wishes Were Horses, . . .

While our earliest-known ancestor to whom we can trace direct lineage on Opa’s side of the family tree was born in the later 16^th century, his counterpart on Oma’s side of the family was born in the mid-18^th century. Yet we have much more complete information about our ancestors on Oma’s side than Opa’s!

There seem to be at least two reasons for this. The most obvious is that the Toews/Franz families kept more detailed family records and, from my perspective, seemed to have a stronger sense of commitment to extended family relationships (uncles/aunts, cousins, etc.). A second reason is that there appears to have been a tendency not to divulge information in the history of Opa’s lineage.

Whatever the reasons, there are details relating to our genealogy which have yet to be uncovered. It is my hope that some of those details can be discovered through ongoing investigation, and it is my intention to continue doing the research needed. However, to this point certain matters seem to be known only to God.

While there are many more details I would like to discover, I will share here a few which are near the top of my list.  I am omitting the one at the very top of my list, in consideration for some extended family members who are still affected by it. What I can say is that it involves the intentional withholding and hiding of information which is normally viewed as public.

For years I have been wanting to trace further back the lineage of Opa’s maternal grandfather, Henry Block, Sr. Henry was a successful farmer and bank board member. In fact, he was so successful he was able to buy farms to give to each of his eight children. Born in Bunderhammrich, Ostfriesland, Germany, in 1865, Henry migrated to the United States with his parents when he was about 12 years old.

The only record I have of Henry’s parents is from his death certificate, which lists his father’s name as Geo. Block. His mother’s maiden name is also listed, and it seems to read Guna Mieras (or maybe Anna?). Both of them were born in Germany. The only further information we have of them is that after migrating to the United States, they lived in Aplington, Iowa, for a couple of years. Presumably they moved to the Ashton, Iowa, area from there, but so far we have no record of it.

Henry had a brother named Martin and a sister who is listed in a newspaper article covering Henry’s life, death and funeral as Mrs. M. Franken. That is all we know about the family. So it is my goal to find further information about Henry’s parents and siblings, as well as to trace his lineage back further. I would like to find out exactly when and on what ship they emigrated to the United States.

Similarly, I hope to glean more information about Opa’s paternal grandmother, Maria Margaretha (Alfke) Odens. We have a little more information about her parents: her father was Henry Alfke (1828-1903) and her mother was Margarethe M. (Ruemper) Alfke (1834-1905). We know Maria Margaretha (aka Mary Margaret) had five siblings: Heinrich, Dietrich, Margaret, William and John.

What we don’t know is where they lived before emigrating to the United States, when they arrived and on what ship they made the journey. As usual, I would also like to track their lineage back a few generations to learn more about this branch of the family tree.

On Opa’s side of our family tree, another strong desire of mine is to learn more about what happened to Popka Williams Odens, a half-uncle of Opa. Popka was the fourth of eleven children born to Boldewyn Oden Odens (1838-1917) and his first wife, Wendelke Jansen Muller (1842-1884). After emigrating to the United States with this family in 1879 (see A Not-So-Bon Voyage) and experiencing the deaths of four siblings and his mother, Popka is described as a runaway from home at 18 years of age. Nothing more is known about him, other than his date of birth (September 28, 1867). One can think of a myriad of possible outcomes to this young man’s life, and curiosity drives me to do my best to find out what actually happened with him. Sadly, information from that time is not readily available if someone wanted to be under the radar.

The main desire when researching Oma’s side of the family is to find information and trace our lineage back from Franz Toews I, who was born in 1780 in Altenau, West Prussia, but whose death is unrecorded. We do not know the exact birth date of Franz I nor any details about his death. Oral tradition reported by Luella Toevs Wiese suggests that both Franz and his wife died in Heubuden, West Prussia, when their first-born (and probably only) child, Franz II, was quite young.

What drives a search for more genealogical information? I’m sure part of it is simply the challenge involved. Some of it is plain curiosity. However, there is much more to it than that. The more details of our family history I learn, the better picture I gain of how God in His sovereign providence was working through the centuries to give me the heritage that makes me who I am. That leads me to worship Him, praising Him for His wisdom and His mercy.

Which leads me to think that we do well to make sure that future generations have a much more complete picture of their heritage than we have, because of the quantity and the quality of the information and the legacy that we add to it in our lifetimes. So much more could be said about that, leading me to save it for another day.