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TO MAKE HISTORY COME LIVE
What is the purpose of genealogy? To know where you come from and what ingredients you are made of including all the historical facts, which this involves. My primary aim is not just to make surname lists and family trees, but to view the lives of my ancestors in the light of the time and place, where they lived. Who were they? What did they do, and how were their living conditions?
When history and society are added to genealogy, your ancestors come alive regardless of who they are. Since there are gaps in the knowledge of my ancestors, I hope to receive answers to some of my questions below.
MYSTERIES TO BE SOLVED
My oldest Theis ancestor, Andreas Christian Theis, was born in 1778 and died May 1840. He lived on Noerre Faelled and was a marksman in the military. He was honored as a Dannebrog man for a military achievement accomplished 25th August 1807. But where did his ancestors come from? Was he from Ribe county? On the Internet it appears that Theis is a common name in Germany; in Austria there is a wine town, called Theiss – probably named after the river Theiss in German, Tisza in Hungarian. I have been told that my great grandfather Carl Vilhelm Theis (born 1849) had a background from Schleswig, but did he? He and his brother, Andreas Christian Theis (born 1844), had at different times been to Hamburg, Germany, but why were they there? They asked for a leave of absence from their jobs as train drivers – it wasn’t just holiday, but what was so important that they couldn’t use their vacation for it? Their brother Martin Julius Theis (born in 1847) immigrated to the US, but why, when and where to? Does he have descendants in the US? According to the US Census 1900 there is a Martin Julius Theis in Pennsylvania 1900, but is that him?
Of the Nielsen families I am interested in descendants to Carl Adolf Wilhelm Nielsen (brother of my great grandmother Vilhelmine Ellen Kirstine Nielsen) born 1854 on Thuroe and immigrated to the US – probably New York. He was a purser for the large America boats, married an American and had a daughter, whose name maybe was Jenny. What happened to Carl Adolf Wilhelm’s descendants? My great grandmother, Cathrine/Catharina Magdalene Andrea Ragansky was born in 1814 in Kiel, Holstein, DENMARK and confirmed there in 1829; although her parents also came from Kiel (Braunschweig), Holstein, there is a family legend, that she was Polish, but is this true?
Then there was Valdemar Henry Nielsen (grandfather’s brother) born 1871, who immigrated to the US, probably Alaska, to dig for gold. He found gold, but was in a train accident in a tunnel, was hospitalized and left the hospital with amnesia. How long did he survive, and could he have started a family?
If my ancestors in the families Baranyai and György have descendants, I would like to hear from these families.
SURNAMES (DENMARK):
ANDERSEN, HENRIKSEN (HENRICHSEN), DINESEN, JENSDATTER, JØRGENSDATTER, JØRGENSEN, LARSEN (LAURSEN), LARSEN RØNNE, MUNCH (MUNK) (from AARHUS), NIELSEN, NIELSDATTER, PEDERSDATTER, DENMARK and SVENDBORG/THUROE-THURØ), RASMUSSEN, SØRENSDATTER, SØRENSEN, THEIS (from COPENHAGEN and AARHUS), THEIS-NIELSEN (from COPENHAGEN).
RAGANSKY/RAGANZKY, JAEGERN/JÆGERN, HORSTEN, EIFERN (from KIEL, HOLSTEIN).
Those without place names are either from the area around ODENSE or THUROE (THURØ) on FUNEN (FYN) or AARHUS and HVILSAGER in JUTLAND (JYLLAND).
SURNAMES (HUNGARY, TRANSYLVANIA BEFORE 1919):
BARANYAI, FERENCZ, GYÖRGY, KOVATS, SIMON (near MAROS VASARHELY / TIRGU MURES)
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