Chat
|
Daily Search
|
My GenForum
|
Community Standards
|
Terms of Service
|
|
|
This is my response to a reply from Ron Stocker who responded to my first posting looking for more information regarding a possible connection of John Stocker (the immigrant Michael's son John)and my family tree. If anyone else has any information supporting or not supporting my conclusions I would greatly appreciate it!
Dale Stucker
Dear Ron,
Thank you for your response to my posting. In short I suspect the same as you.
The following information leads me to suspect that my Jacob and your Jacob
are one and the same person and that the immigration information is incorrect.
In 1994 there was a family reunion of the Ethol Henderson Stucker descendants.
In preparation of that reunion it was decided that copies of the Michael Stucker book and
the supplement be reprinted and distributed as only one or two of the original books were
known to exist at the time. My brother Dean and I remember seeing the books long ago and it
took some serious looking to get a copy located to reproduce. By the time we did get it located
we felt even more strongly that we needed to preserve Essies work by reproduction and to distribute
it at the reunion. By the date of the copyright we didn't feel guilty about doing so, and we only charged
what it cost for materials so as to give as many people as possible the opportunity to afford it. I think
we sold about 35 or so copies. Having accomplished that we felt satisfied that Essies work now
would not have been written in vain. It was in preparation of reproduction of the books that I finally
figured out the "code" and sadly discovered that there was not a verifiable connection with the rest
of the Stuckers listed in the books for "our" family.
Here is where it gets interesting. Sandwiched in between one of the pages of one of the old books
was a sheet of paper, with what I believe is certainly Stucker handwriting, was a list of names and dates
of my great great grandfather Benjamin Stucker's parents and siblings. Ron, my great great great grandfathers
name is Jacob Stucker and my great great great grandmothers name is Cathrin Stucker (as spelled on the list).
A close examination of the now known data from this handwritten document and the information in Essies
work clearly shows to me that Essies source was a separate source than this hand written note we found
loose in the pages of her book.
Following is what we found on the list:
It seems to have been written at two different sittings,
or possibly part of it as an after thought at the time of writing.
The list starts with the names and birth dates of Jacob and Cathrin's children .
John Stucker Borne Nov. 20, 1793
Elizabeth Stucker Borne Sept. 13, 1795
Jacob " " Dec. 01, 1796
Abraham " " Dec. 23, 1798
Charlota " " June 19, 1801
Cathrin " " Nov 09, 1802
Isac " " Oct 05, 1804
Maria " " Dec. 09, 1806
Daniel " " Nov. 06, 1808
Benjamin " " Dec. 12, 1809
Elias " " June 05, 1812
Just under that is 6 large dashes across the page acting as a kind of separator
and directly below that is listed the deaths of three of the children followed by
another set of large separator dashes.
Abram Stucker died- (no date listed)
Elias " " Feb. 28, 1891
Benjamin " " (no date listed)
Just below the second set of dashes is the line:
"Family of Jacob & Cathrin Stucker"
All the above written in a firmer, more bold, script.
The rest of the handwriting on the paper is smaller and seems to have been written as more of an afterthought,
though written by the same hand as evidenced by the very, very unique way the "&" sign is made.
Pointing to the word family in the line "Family of Jacob & Cathrin Stucker" is a small arrow and the word "above"
(in smaller script) which directs the reader to the lists of children above.)
Just below the "Family of" line is 9 smaller dashes across the page followed below by:
"Jacob and his brother John had no means to pay their way to America - Worked to pay their fare after reaching U.S.
They came from Holland. Jacob S. was the father of Eleven children"
Following that is another separator line of 7 smaller dashes followed by:
"Benjamin came from Northamton Co. Pa."
Ron, I think the case can be made that my great grandfather Ethol is quite possibly the author of this note as determined by the way he said
Jacob S. was the father of eleven children, in addition to the fact that this handwriting looks remarkably like my
grandfather Willard Austin Stucker's handwriting.
I believe that the immigration story is a spin off a miss telling of Michael's and his son John's immigration. Reasons supporting that conclusion are as follows:
A. Michael came from Switz. but sailed from Rotterdam, Holland in Essie's book
1. My source states my ancestor came from Holland.
2. Mrs. Dow's source in Essies supplement states my ancestor came from Switz.
(If Michael is my ancestor then both statements would be true with a mix-up in names only.)
B. Michael immigrated in Sept. 1731 to the "U.S." which means that his son John, born before 1731, DID indeed sail from Holland. John coincidentally also does indeed happen to have a brother named Jacob. So while some of the minor details may have been misconstrued to the wrong persons, the names mentioned seem to ALL have at least a logical reason for which to have been mentioned.
It would be very easy to give the wrong Jacob the credit for immigrating when actually it was my Jacobs FATHER John that immigrated and Not his brother as mistakenly stated by my and Mrs Dow's source.
C. Independent confirmation of both Jacobs wife's name as Cathrin/Catherine. (A biggie for me)
D. Birth of firstborn coincides with marriage at eight plus months from recorded date of marriage. A decent fellow.
E. Firstborn's name just happens to be John. Same as Grandpa's ? Wow, what a novel idea!
F. Benjamin came from the very same geographical area as did others from Micahel the immigrants relatives at that time, Northampton Co., PA.
Ron, I welcome your input and your thoughts. More independent confirmation would be wonderful, but in my heart of hearts I think I've found the key with the wife's name being the same in addition to all the other
circumstantial evidence that does not contraindicate my conclusion that we are indeed cousins from this side of the
Atlantic.
Sincerely yours,
Dale Stucker
dalestucker@juno.com
PS If we are, man have we got a PASSLE of "cousins" that can go in the new book!
Followups:No followups yet |
| http://genforum.genealogy.com/stucker/messages/152.html | ||
 |
Agreement of Use Link to GenForum Add Forum |
|