Michigan – iSeeAncestors

Eureka!

Jun 122023

The childhood of my great-grandfather, Joseph Voisin (1855-1916), remained a stubborn mystery after many years of genealogy research. In other essays I described the known facts and many hypotheses. I explored genetic genealogy and used DNA testing to identify numerous distant cousins. However the lack of traditional genealogical evidence like birth, marriage, and census records did not shed light on Joseph’s birth or who his parents were.

Until now. While analyzing my DNA test results, I noticed several distant matches who did not fit my known family tree. I had to determine their lineages based on scant information. Next I found matches we shared in common and I determined their lineages too. I began to identify more and more distant cousins who descend from one man, Theobald Koebel.¹

Continue reading »Footnotes

Archives Départementles du Bas-Rhin (https://archives.bas-rhin.fr/) Oberseebach – Etat civil – Registre de naissances 1830 – 4 E 351/3, Catherine Koebel, # 1663, Image 18 of 23, (https://archives.bas-rhin.fr/detail-document/ETAT-CIVIL-C595-P1-R208956#visio/page:ETAT-CIVIL-C595-P1-R208956-2284439 : downloaded 25 May 2023). Signature of Theobald Koebel from his daughter Catherine’s birth record.

Dating a Postcard

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Dec 122022

Here are two postcards from the early twentieth century showing Sacred Heart Academy in Mount Pleasant, Michigan.¹ The first can be dated accurately. I evaluate several clues to estimate the date of the second postcard.

Continue reading »Footnotes

Personal collection of Mike Voisin, mvoisin@gmail.com.

Exploring the Odds

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Mar 172022

The parents of my great-grandfather Joseph Voisin (1858-1916) remain a mystery. Evidence indicates he was born in Ontario, Canada. He was related to Peter Joseph Voisin (1807-1892) of Saint Clements, Ontario. That was proven by a Y-chromosome DNA test with a known descendant. And by traditional genealogy, Joseph is related to Peter Joseph’s brother Henry Joseph Voisin (1801-1884) of Niagara Falls, Ontario. Both of the Ontario brothers went by their middle names, Joseph.

No birth, census or land records have yet uncovered Joseph Voisin’s birth or his parents, except for entries in his personal journal that show he was near both Saint Clements and Niagara Falls when he was young.

Maria Voisin with Her Son August Voisin

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Dec 052017

Madame Voisin

To find the ancestors of my great-grandfather Joseph Voisin (1858-1916) in connection with the Ontario patriarch, Peter Joseph Voisin (1807-1892), it helps to research other families in the area that may be related. They can help me “triangulate” in on my direct-line ancestors. With a little detective work, one such family proved to be a surprising discovery.

An early settler in Waterloo County, Ontario was Maria Voisin, and her son August Voisin, who was a tailor. A reference to her and her son is found in a history of the Catholic Church in Waterloo County.¹ The reference indicates she was present in or before 1850 and it includes a picture of Madame Voisin herself. I suspected she was related by marriage to Peter Joseph Voisin (1807-1892), and was perhaps his sister-in-law.

Continue reading »Footnotes

Theobald Spetz, The Catholic Church in Waterloo County. Book I : with a summary history of the Diocese of Hamilton. Book II : and a list of the clergy who labored in its district from the beginning to the present. Book III. Catholic Register and Extension, [Toronto?], 1916, page 176.

A Case for Genetic Genealogy

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Aug 012017

Joseph Voisin (1858-1916)

My paternal great-grandfather, Joseph Voisin was probably born January 10, 1858. For twenty-five years I’ve tried unsuccessfully to discover where he was born and who his parents were. I turn now to genetic genealogy, to both autosomal DNA and Y-DNA testing. Hopefully it will provide the additional clues needed to solve this mystery once and for all.

I have written about my “brick wall” (Brick by Brick Part 1, Brick by Brick Part 2). Here is a quick summary.

The names of Joseph Voisin’s parents are unknown, but his father’s name could also be Joseph Voisin.¹ He perhaps lived for a time near St. Clements, which is near Kitchener, Ontario. There are several Voisin families in this area today. They are descendants of the patriarch Joseph Voisin (1805/7-1892). However there is no evidence yet that links our Joseph to these families.

Continue reading »Footnotes

A. Wayne Edwards, II, Death Certificate of Joseph Voisin.

Father of Immigration

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May 302017

Families of emigrants camped at the port of Le Havre, 1843¹

Johann Fuchs (1777-1847) and his wife Anna Maria (Schüller) Fuchs (1788-1860) immigrated to America from Langenfeld, Germany in the fall of 1840. They probably made their way via the Erie Canal to Buffalo, New York, where they spent the winter of 1840/1841. Johann wrote several letters home to his grown children, and his relatives and neighbors. In these glowing letters he espoused the abundance and virtues of America in hopes of persuading them to make the same journey.

In the 1930s, researcher Joseph Scheben solicited letters received by families in Germany from their relatives in America. He studied several hundred such letters to trace the origin and final destination of German emigrants in America. One community he studied was Westphalia, in Clinton County, Michigan just west of St. Johns. It so happens Johann and Anna Maria Fuchs settled in Westphalia in the spring of 1841. Scheben studied at least one letter by Johann Fuchs and found it so endearing that he transcribed it in his book about the community. He calls Johann Fuchs the Father of Immigration.

Continue reading »Footnotes

New York Public Library Digital Gallery, Digital Image ID #833602 (http://digitalgallery.nypl.org).

When Sacred Heart was St. Charles

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May 022017

Bird’s eye view of St. Charles

Sacred Heart Catholic parish has been a fixture of the Mount Pleasant, Michigan community for generations. You may not know that it began as St. Charles parish. In the late 1860s and early 1870s, a priest would come from a neighboring town like Saginaw, and several families celebrated mass held at various homes. About 1872 they decided to build a church. After obtaining the land and raising the money, construction started on January 25, 1875. The church was a wooden structure that measured 38 by 60 feet and was 24 feet high.¹

My great-grandparents, Joseph and Mary Ann (Yuncker) Voisin were married in this church on February 16, 1885. This was a few years after the church was completed about 1877. They were married by the first resident priest of the parish, Reverend James J. McCarthy. Joe and Mary lived near Beal City. Although the first St. Philomena church was completed there in 1882, Fr. McCarthy traveled from Mount Pleasant to say Mass there only once every three months.

Continue reading »Footnotes

Isaac A. Fancher, “Past and Present of Isabella County Michigan” (Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen and Company, 1911), pages 237-239.

And My Love To You Shall Never Fail

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May 062015

It’s been one hundred thirty-one years now. Proof enough that death does do us part, but that love lives on and never fails.

This story begins in 1881 when Mr. Jacob Yuncker purchased farm land near Beal City, Michigan. It happened to be across the road from a then 23-year old pioneer farmer named Joseph Voisin. Mr. Yuncker had a daughter, Mary Ann. She lived with her extended family on her grandparent’s farm down in Westphalia, Michigan near St. Johns.

Mary probably visited her father in Beal City and at some point she met Joe Voisin. They probably met a few times more. Joe played music at Indian dances and at square-dances. Mary attended some of these social gatherings, but since Joe was playing, they couldn’t spend much time together. This probably went on for some months.

Tokens of the Past

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Apr 162015

Trade Token Another of my great-granduncles, Louis William Yuncker (1877-1963), was my paternal great-grandmother’s younger brother. He is mentioned in his mother’s 1921 obituary as living in Saginaw, Michigan. A quick search online revealed unique items with a connection to the past.

Two trade tokens bear the name L. W. Yuncker’s.¹ It turns out Louis William Yuncker owned a meat market in Saginaw. He undoubtedly used these very same tokens in the family business.

Continue reading »Footnotes

Richard Greever, Token Catalog (http://tokencatalog.com/index.php : downloaded 19 March 2015), L. W. Yuncker’s trade tokens, TokenCatalog #10252 and #312386.

WPA Property Inventories

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Apr 242013

In the late 1930’s the Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted property inventories of rural Michigan. This project was in conjunction with the Michigan Department of Treasury. I was able to locate the homestead of my great-grandparents, Joseph and Mary Voisin, near Beal City, Michigan. It is interesting to learn about their home and farm.

Overlays Make Old Maps New Again

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Mar 262013

google-earth-00 In a past posting I described how I located the homestead of my great-grandparents Albert and Mary Pohl near Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania. I’ve since found that Google Earth is another tool to further visualize the location. It is helpful in modernizing old maps to better understand where my ancestors lived.

What I did is add an overlay of an old map to the modern world shown in Google Earth. This allows you to see precisely where a road, building or property once stood in relation to what’s there now.