Genealogy Blog
This is a tribute to my father’s craftsmanship fifty years after we undertook a father-son project to build an astronomical telescope in 1975.
Fifty Years 1975 – 2025
This is a Richest Field Telescope (RFT). Its large achromatic objective lens (5”) and short focal length (24-3/4”) makes it ideal as a “comet hunter.” It has a wide-field of view (4°), low-power magnification (16.5x) and excellent light-gathering ability (f/5). It was constructed as a father-son project by my father John E. “Jack” Voisin (1925-1994) and me, John M. “Mike” Voisin.
Continue reading “Our Richest Field Telescope”At long last I discovered the parents of my great-grandfather Joseph Voisin (1855-1916) of Beal City, Michigan. Here I describe my initial findings about his birth, childhood and teenage years in Welland County, Ontario.
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
My great-grandfather Joseph Voisin wrote in his journal from Netherby, Ontario in 1875. I investigate the former village for clues about his parents and childhood.
When my great-grandfather Joseph Voisin (1858-1916) was 17 he wrote a whimsical poem in his journal. He signed his name and indicated he was at Netherby, Ontario on November 19, 1875. I’ve yet to discover who his parents were so here I explore the former village of Netherby for clues.
Continue reading “Netherby, Ontario”This is a status report on my progress to discover the parents of my great-grandfather, Joseph Voisin (1858-1916). I explore DNA probabilities using the What Are the Odds tool for clues about where Joseph might fit in a hypothetical family tree.
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.
Continue reading “Exploring the Odds”
Henry Joseph Voisin and Anne Marie (Ditner) Voisin are not listed in the 1871 census of Willoughby Township, Welland County, Ontario. They do appear in the census for 1842, 1851, and 1861. Joseph also appears with his second wife, Elizabeth (Ellesworth) Voisin, in the 1881 census. The fact they are listed at the same place both before and after 1871 implies they were skipped by the census taker in 1871.
They owned 55 acres of land in Concession 2, Lot 14. It so happens the 1871 census has additional schedules that detail agricultural data. The entry for Concession 2, Lot 14 indicates the Voisins should appear on census page 18, line 1. However the family listed there is Thomas and June Hill, both 25, with their son William G., age 3.
A tattered ship’s passenger list from 1832 shows a mysterious Voisin family. The vague reference was not enough to identify my ancestors—until now.
I am related to Peter Joseph Voisin (1807-1892), the patriarch of the Voisin families of Waterloo County, Ontario, near Kitchener. This was proven by a Y-chromosome DNA match between me and a known descendant of the Kitchener Voisins, Clifton Voisin. I also determined Peter Joseph’s sister Maria Anne Voisin (1798-1879) immigrated to Waterloo county. The next piece of the puzzle was a family connection to Buffalo, New York. That’s where I found a third sibling, Henry Joseph Voisin (1801-?) and his family, in Welland County, Ontario, just across the Niagara River from Buffalo.
Thanks to my cousin Magdalena Voisin, I found more Voisin ancestors. I may be closer to identifying the parents of my great-grandfather, Joseph Voisin, of Beal City, Michigan.
I would like to take this opportunity to recognize Magdalena Voisin. She helped me find Joseph and Anne Voisin, who were my ancestors, and quite possibly my great great-grandparents. She provided such a big clue for a little girl only eleven years old. You see, she was born about 1841.
The Buffalo Connection
Magdalena was listed in the 1851 Canadian census 2 for Waterloo County in the household of Peter Joseph Voisin (1807-1892), the patriarch of all the Voisin families near Kitchener, Ontario. (The family is listed as “Wisong” in that census.) She was probably not his daughter however. Instead her usual residence was “Buffalo.” She was probably visiting the family and was from Buffalo, New York. This fits with another clue from the obituary of one of Peter Joseph’s sons, Anthony. It indicates his parents walked to Buffalo annually to visit relatives. 3
The lady in the book turns out to be my ancestor, but with a surprising twist. Her story is one of hard work, hardships and perseverance.
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. 4 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.
This is my grandfather Ernie Voisin standing with his daughter, my aunt Nora May as a little girl. This was taken at Houghton Lake, Michigan on July 4, 1927. 5 They went for a ride in this airplane, which appears to be a 1927 Waco 10.
As a descendant I am of course detached from the ancestors I never met. I’ve undoubtedly inherited their physical characteristics and probably even their mannerisms. My history is somehow connected to them. I am their future. We also share a common future, one none of us has lived, or will live, to see.
Thus I think it’s fun to see what once was, and what it has become. I inherited this sense from my mother, Ruth (Stewart) Voisin, who always took time to connect the present to the past. Here she is as a twenty-year old standing with a friend in Pensacola, Florida and later, at the exact same spot, in her late fifties. It is not the plaque she is revisiting, it is a particular moment from her past, a memory of who she was, and who she had become. It is a connection in time at an ordinary place she went out of her way to revisit.
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.
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.
This is another post in a series about finding the ancestors of my paternal great-grandfather Joseph Voisin 8 (1858-1916). This is a brick wall I haven’t been able to get beyond for several years. Here I chip away a few more bricks from the wall in hopes of discovering a clue.
Perhaps you can help. If you found this post while searching the Internet, chances are there’s something here that piqued your interest. That means you might know something I don’t know. If so, please post a comment. No matter how small, most any information can provide a clue.
In this installment I’ll remove four bricks from the wall. See also Bricks 1 through 10.
Continue reading “Joseph Voisin: Brick by Brick, 11 through 14”
I’ve reached an impasse trying to find the ancestors of my paternal great-grandfather Joseph Voisin 1 (1858-1916). It’s a brick wall I haven’t been able to get beyond for several years. If I remove one brick from the wall at a time, I may discover a clue.
Perhaps you can help. If you found this post while searching the Internet, chances are there’s something here that piqued your interest. That means you might know something I don’t know. If so, please post a comment. No matter how small, most any information can provide a clue.
In this installment I’ll remove ten bricks from the wall. See also Bricks 11 through 14.
Continue reading “Joseph Voisin: Brick by Brick, 1 through 10”
If great-grandfather Joseph Voisin had an iPod, one of those tiny music players, what would he be listening to? His iPod has survived, and on it I found this song:
My granduncle George Voisin was my grandfather’s younger brother. He apparently owned a Ford Model-T Coupe, which is pictured in a few old family photographs from the mid- to late-1920s.