Emma Lajeunesse aka Dame Albani: A Pauly Family Rock Star
24 December 2009 - 10:39:00am

In a 1909 Minneapolis Tribune article, Amelia Young Pauly referred to "Madame Albani" as a cousin. I tracked down Mme. Albani, born Emma Lajeunesse, who it turns out was the original 19th century Canadian rock star. Back then, they called rock stars opera divas. I noticed that Emma's father Joseph Lajeunesse was born one year before Amelia Young's father Charles Lajeunesse (later changed to Young) in St. Martin, Laval, Quebec. I have a reference to a professional genealogy of Mme. Albani which I'll look up next time I visit the Allen County Public Library. But in the meantime I'll assume that Charles and Joseph Lajeunesse were brothers and so Charles Lajeunesse/Young was Emma the rock star's uncle and Amelia Young/Pauly was her cousin.

Biographies of Mme. (actually Dame, she was buds with Queen Vickie) Emma Lajeunesse/Albani claim she is descended from 17th century French immigrant Etienne Charles dit Lajeunesse. There is a genealogy focussing on her Labelle ancestors on the website www.leslabelle.com. I've used this as a source for the Canadian ancestors of the Minneapolis Young family.

This relation to a famous cousin explains a lot about this family, beyond providing the clue needed to connect with the Quebecois Lajeunesse genealogy. Francis Pauly Sr. and his siblings, Amelia Young/Pauly's kids, were trained as musicians, actors, an elocutionist. Francis and one of his sisters were trained in Europe (this was the subject of the 1909 article I mentioned). Despite these efforts no other rock stars resulted. Amelia Young's husband, Gustave John Pauly, a successful banker, died in middle age. He left his family cared for with a trust. But the trust was embezzled just prior to the depression, leaving the family of artists with little income. Curiously, Mme Emma Albani also lost her savings at about the same time to "bad investments". I'd like to investigate these financial problems to see if they were related.

Hmm, I wonder what Neil Young's genealogy is?

Thanks Ancestor Tree!
8 December 2009 - 9:20:29am

We're hosted by Ancestor Tree, http://ancestortree.net.

Please consider them if you'd like to have a PHPGedview site like this one.

Thanks!

Old and New Amsterdammers
8 December 2009 - 9:19:40am

From The Sutphen Family (1926) genealogy we find several ancient ancestors: van Sutphen, van Zutphens, van Cleefs, Pietersen, van Nuys. The earliest is Dutchman Dirck van Zutphen, "the hero of Breda", born about 1562.

In America, there was Aucke Jansen van Nuys, a builder of private and public buildings in New Amsterdam in the 17th century.

Mary "Horsington" is a Hoisington
9 September 2009 - 9:04:54am

Mary "Horsington" (as spelled in the Cleveland/Cleaveland genealogy), wife of Edward Cleveland (b abt 1749) is of the Hoisington family, Through several generations of Hoisingtons and a couple of Shailors, we arrive at the immigrant Thomas Shailor/Shaylor (b. abt 1645, Stratford on Avon, England). Thomas married Marah Spencer in Connecticut, daughter of immigrant Gerrard Spencer (b. 1614, Bedfordshire, England).

The Spencer family (http://www.althorp.com/estate_family.php) has a well-developed genealogy, although some confusion exists. Others have traced many prominent Americans (as well as British) to Spencer ancestors, including George Washington and F.D. Roosevelt, as well as many other politicians, artists, and capitalists. These pedigrees can be found from http://kinnexions.com/smlawson/spencer.htm and http://kinnexions.com/kinnexions/cousins.htm.

As it turns out, the Hoisington immigrant, John (b. abt 1640, England or Wales) spelled his name "Horsington".

Lux Paulys, Castors and Belgian Pycks and others
9 September 2009 - 8:13:37am

With information from a Luxembourgish website, http://www.spetzbouf.com/heredis/accueil.htm, the maiden name of John PAULY's (b. 1822 Rédange-sur-Attert, Luxembourg) wife Anna Maria is now known: CASTOR. Her brother, Gustave "Frenchie" CASTER and descendents are now listed as well. Welcome to Castors, Casters, and Custers.

Another website, this one from Belgium, http://www.vrijwilligersrab.be/blog/index.php, lists the grandparents of Pierre Jean PYCK (b. 1824 Zonnebeke, Belgium). Welcome to Pycks, Lesages, De Leus, and Catteeuws.

Robert Rockwell family of Nansemond, Virginia
12 December 2008 - 9:09:56am

Recently the early land records of Virginia have been put online. Searching these for Rock* cognates yields five entries about or mentioning Robert Rockwell and his family. These records are shown and transcribed under the media tab for Robert Rockwell.

It is my understanding that the online records are early transcriptions of local records, so the transcriptions given are doubly transcribed.

The first record dated 19 August 1637 grants 250 acres of land along the Nansemond to Robert Rockwell for transportation of his family, who are listed by name. The names include daughter Mary, who had not been listed in this genealogy. Wife 'Hanah' could have been a transcription error from Sarah, the commonly given name for Robert's wife. Child 'Thomasin' could be a transcription error from Thomas. Also included is a servant, Mary Hayes.

The second survey of the 250 acres, dated 26 October 1638, is signed by a Thomas Rockwell. This is possibly the brother of Robert mentioned in the third, 1645 survey and assessment of the 250 acres.

These three surveys of Robert's Nansemond tract are perfectly consistent in the spelling of his last name as 'Rockwell'. Either Robert himself or a family member may have been present when these were recorded. In contrast, the 1647 and 1650 records are mentions of the Rockwell tract in the description of other tracts. In these last two records Robert's last name is spelled 'Rockhole' or 'Rockhold'. So it may be that Robert spelled his name 'Rockwell' (presuming literacy), but pronounced it more like 'Rockole'.

A less likely alternative is that Robert had been disguising his identity in the early years in the Colonies, but felt less need to do so by 1647.

The puritans residing in Nansemond resettled in Anne Arundel county, MD (Early New England By David A. Weir, p. 13) in 1649 because of religious pressure from the Virginia government and because Maryland promised better treatment.

Rock* DNA origins - Haplogroup I1 (formerly I1a)
30 November 2008 - 3:59:39pm

Entering data from male descendents of Robert Rockhold (b. abt 1605) from the Rockwell DNA project, as recorded here, into the Haplogroup Predictor, yields a 100% probability, fitness factor 61, for haplogroup I1a. This haplogroup has been redesignated I1 (2008).

Haplogroup I1/I1a is discussed here, which contains this reference with a very useful Fig. 1, showing our Rock* origins in far northern Europe.  Ken Nordtvedt states that the Rock* value of 12 repeats for DYS 462 indicates a more southerly origin in the I1a range.

Unfortunately this does little to help discern Robert Rockhold's (b ~1605) origins. He may have been from the Netherlands - the Netherlands is a hotspot for haplotyes similar to the Rockhold haplotype. However Rockhold (and Rockwell for that matter) is an English name, not a Dutch name.

note: the New England Rockwells (not the main group covered in this genealogy) are Haplogroup R1b, the most frequent Haplogroup in Western Europe. In parts of England the frequency of R1b reaches 90%.

Heimer Hypothesis
26 May 2008 - 2:58:13pm

UPDATE: The Heimers have been found in 1870. They were listed under "Heinen" in the Minnesota census, with John included. Gustave John PAULY is not descended from the Heimers. Gustave John's origins are still a mystery.

Unfortunately, Gustave John's adoption is not in the surviving official records of Minnesota.

Jesse Rockhold/Rockwell - The Rock* lineage is filled in
27 April 2008 - 9:09:59pm

Putting together evidence from censusses [what is the plural?] and testimony in Virginia about Thomas Tolbert Rockhold/Rockholt's Revolutionary War service, it appears that Jesse Rock* (b. 1781), son of Thomas Tolbert Rock* (b. 1756), was the father of John Rockwell. While the case is not yet proved, this genealogy file has been changed to reflect it. A detailed discussion is in the notes to the family of Jesse Rock*.

New Clevelands
21 January 2008 - 12:30:30pm

The Cleveland and Cleaveland Genealogy (Cleveland, 1899) has extended the line from Ruby Cleveland back to Ann Winn (b. 1628) and Moses Cleveland (b 1620) and their ancestors.

Moses was the founder of most Cle(a)velands in America. He and Ann Winn immigrated from England around 1635. Our line descends from their son Edward and Deliverance Palmer. President Grover Cleveland descended from Moses' son Aaron and Dorcas Wilson.

The entire 3-volume Cleveland and Cleaveland set is available on this site. Please email webinfo (at) simplemax (dot) net for the URL.

New Paulys
29 December 2007 - 10:42:33am

A European website, http://www.spetzbouf.com/heredis/accueil.htm, has parish records that extend the genealogy of John Pauly (b. 1822) back to before 1632 in Luxembourg.

John/Jean Pierre Pauly (b. 1822) adopted John Gustave/Gustave John in the 1860's. Gustave John's birth family may have been the Heimers of Milford Township, Brown County, Minnesota, of whom little is known.