My 2nd great-grandmother, Margaret Fahy, crossed the Atlantic, at the age of 12, with 37 other unaccompanied Irish children. On 10 OCT 1850, when the S.S. Ellen Marie docked in New York City, they were all left to fend for themselves.
One of my Forman ancestors loaned money to Henry VIII – bad idea. One arrested the governor of NJ for holding court while Scottish. There was a patriot tarred as a traitor for ages, and a religious refugee who persecuted Quakers on Long Island. Knights, vicars, patriots & scoundrels – 12 generations of Formans.
Lewis Forman. 1730 was my 6th great-grandfather. He was born in Freehold and worked as a merchant in Middletown, Manhattan, and New Brunswick. He signed 4 petitions during the Revolutionary War. In this petition, signed 24 MAR 1779, he asks the Legislature to address corruption by the Monmouth County Auction Commissioners entrusted with the sale…
Theodore Clarence Brintzinghoffer was my great-grandfather. Every branch of his family tree came to America before the Revolution. This is the story of his paternal grandmother’s Dutch family.
My grandfather, James Henry Brintzinghoffer, was very proud of his German roots and his family’s long history in America. He once told me they came over on the Mayflower – which wasn’t quite true – but it was closer to true than any of us realized until long after he was gone.
Patrick Hassett, my 2nd great-grandfather, was born around 1840 in County Clare, Ireland. The population of Clare peaked in the year after his birth – 286,394 souls. By the time he left, 42% of that population was lost to famine or emigration. Just a year after coming to America, he was among the first to…
My great-grandmother, Honora Brown, was baptized ‘Honora’ in Newark, NJ in 1872. She was called ‘Lenora’, then ‘Eleanora’, and finally ‘Eleanor’. Her granddaughter and 2nd great-granddaughter are both named Eleanor.