Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Wordless Wednesday - Sisters, Sisters....




Theresa Stosz Hack & Anna Stosz Bauman




Born in Segenthau, Romania


Daughters of Anton Stosz & Maria Rauner


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Sunday, June 21, 2009

Saturday, June 20, 2009

What is a Sloop?

1707- Nov. 9. Where as her Majesty on the 4th of May 1702 declared war against the Kings of France and Spaine and whereas Capt. George Roach, John van Lawer and the Hurst Merchants hath equipped the sloop Resolution for a private man of war, Capt. Edmund Du Castell is commissioned Commander.

The Man-O-War is a naval ship that was designed for combat and not for merchant service. Early sloops (c.1700-1711) were single-masted, however, by 1716, all surviving sloops had been re-rigged as two-masted, and all new sloops continued to be two-masted until the 1750s, when three-masted - ship-rigged - sloops were introduced. The sloop-of-war had a single gun deck that carried anything up to eighteen cannon.








Thursday, June 18, 2009

On Ships They Arrived - S S Vaderland


S S Vaderland
560.8ft x 60.2ft

1900 July 12, launched for Red Star Line

1900 Dec. 8, maiden voyage Antwerp - Southampton - New York

1901 Dec. 11, first voyage as charter for American Line
1910 Oct. 24, Our Kollain relatives arrive at Ellis Island from Antwerp

1914 Chartered by White Star Line for White Star - Dominion service
1915 Renamed Southland for International Navigation Co.

1915 Became troopship
1915 Sept. 2, torpedoed in the Aegean Sea, repaired

1917 June 4, torpedoed twice by U70 while en route from Liverpool to Philadelphia and sank off the Irish coast. There were four fatalities, all members of the crew.
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Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Captain Du Chastel - Queen Anne's War

During Queen Anne's War our ancestor, Captain Edmund du Chastel, was given command of the sloop "Resolution" under the letters of marque as the following abstract indicates:
1707- Nov. 9. Where as her Majesty on the 4th of May 1702 declared war against the Kings of France and Spaine and whereas Capt. George Roach, John van Lawer and the Hurst Merchants hath equipped the sloop Resolution for a private man of war, Capt. Edmund Du Castell is commissioned Commander.

Another person who served during Queen Anne’s War was Edward Teach, who served as the Queen as a privateer. Later, sailing under the name Blackbeard, he named his flagship "Queen Anne’s Revenge".


Queen Anne's War began in 1702 and was the second in a series of four French & Indian Wars fought between France and England in North America for control of the continent, the first war being King William’s War.
It ended in 1713 with the Treaty of Utrecht and peace lasted until the next colonial war, King George’s War, in 1740.
The naming of the conflicts reflects the American Colonial practice of naming wars by the name of the reigning monarch.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Haunted?

Genealogy Blogging Prompt
Week #23: Talk about anything that’s haunted.

I came across this story while gathering information for my Carnival of Postcards post on Calico Ghost Town and thought it would be fun to add - plus it falls right into the weekly blogging prompt topic:

From: The Ghosts of Calico - Two British tourists reported having a long visit with a staff person in period costume, who explained to them that she was the “last teacher’ in Calico. As they were ready to leave, they had pictures taken with the self-proclaimed teacher. The last schoolmistress in Calico was Margaret Olivier, who passed away in 1932 and is buried in the Calico Cemetery. When the couple returned home and got their pictures developed, they were amazed to see that the “staff member” didn’t appear in the photographs. Later, they found that there had been no staff member working at the schoolhouse during their visit.

On a personal level the following unexplained incidents have occurred in one of our homes:
Clock stopping at midnight - this happened a couple times;
.... the rest only occured once:
A candle relit on Christmas eve
My young nephew having a chat with ….?
My brother seeing a woman dressed circa late 1800’s
& Unexplained footsteps that had the dog growling

The home is very nondescript and has no history lending itself to be considered haunted – still, these were curious events and we like to tell our tales ;-)

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Calico Ghost Town


Calico was developed in 1881 during the largest silver strike in California. Located in Southern California, 3 miles from Barstow in the Mojave Desert, the town was named for the variety of colors in the mountain that were "as purty as a gal's calico skirt." Calico boomed during 1881-1896. At its height, Calico boasted a population of 1,200 people, and over 500 silver mines but the end came to the silver rush in 1896 and by 1904 Calico had become a ghost town. The last original inhabitant of Calico before it was abandoned, Mrs. Lucy Bell Lane, died in the 1960s. Her house remains as the main museum in town.

In 1951, Walter Knott (founder of Knott’s Berry Farm), purchased the town and began restoring it to its original condition referencing old photographs. Though five of the original town buildings exist today, many others were recreated as replicas of their originals on preexisting foundations and in 1966, he donated the town to San Bernardino County.

Today the historic silver mining town lives on as one of the few original Old West mining camps. Calico is a registered California historic monument.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Blacksheep Sunday - Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Pyrate's Life

One of our colorful ancestors:
Captain Edmund Du Chastel of Philadelphia, PA

At the close of the seventeeth century the port of Philadelphia was a veritable haven for the pirates that preyed upon the Spanish and French shipping in time of war under letters of marque; and in time of peace on any ship they dared board. It was the practice of wealthy Philadephians to outfit ships with arms, rum and supplies and send them to the pirates of Madagascar who could offer inexchange the cargos taken from India merchantmen.

So great was the complaint of Colonial shippers that the Admirality sent Captain Thomas Robinson from England with a commission to put an end to piracy in Philadelphia. The report of the commissioner to has superior, the Earl of Romney, describes his visit to Philadelphia on June 6, 1697, and complains of his lack of success in "That there were warrants out for apprehending Charles Goss, Edmond Duke Castell, George Thompson, Adam Birth, and James Miller and Pyrates notwithstanding which they were publickly and dayly seen up and down the streets of Philadelphia without any notice taken of them." ("Archives of Maryland," vol. 23,page 161; Vol. 25, page 569.)

"The Pyrats were much alarm'd at that time," wrote MatthewVanderheydens on July 15, 1697, "being I was tould Occasion'd by Captain Thomas Robinson his Comming up there with some Commission to call them to Accot..." (Ibid, Vol. 23, page 163.)