As some of you may already know I have been on a quest for sometime to find my mother's and aunt's Paternal Grandfather John Wallace's true identity. A man of intrigue. Where did he go? And better yet, why did he use an alias name? The hunt begins. I will be taking you with me on a journey to tie genealogical evidence with genetic evidence to find my Jewish ancestors, hopefully. Beth, my cousin, had been researching the family history for sometime. In her research she was able to located the baptismal record of our Grandfather. But unfamiliar to me was the name of John Ed. Wallace and J. Wallace. Who were these people? Come to find out our Grandfather Jack Rose, as I was raised to know him, had changed his named from John Edward Wallace. I knew this was his baptismal record because I recognized my Great Grandmother Clara Brusoe's sister's name, Jennie Brousseau. But then the question of why. Why did my Grandfather change his name? Beth then went on to find the marriage record between this mysterious man, J. Wallace, and our Great Grandmother Clara Brusoe (Brousseau). Since our Great Grandparents were married in the same church as they had baptized their child, the church provided Beth with the marriage record. The marriage record stated the full name of the groom, "John Wallace" and the bride as Clara Brusoe (Brousseau). It also stated that John Wallace's parents were John and Anna. Yet, no last names provided. But if you look to the right, there is a dispensation. What is a dispensation, you ask? And why would a couple need one? A dispensation is a exemption to a rule or a requirement. In this case, my Great Grandparents were required to obtain a dispensation from Bishop Nicholas Chrysostom Matz. When getting married, a person has to have been baptized within a Christian religion in order to be married in the Catholic Church. Otherwise if a person is of pagan, Mohammedan, (or) Jewish religion a dispensation was required. The dispensation on John Wallace and Clara Brusoe's marriage record stated that there was a "great difference" of religion. Thus requiring special permission. So which religion did John Wallace practice? So where did they meet? John Wallace was found in the 1899 Albuquerque, New Mexico City Directory as a Day Engineer for the Sante Fe Pacific Shops. However, he was not found in the 1898 City Directory so he must of got to Albuquerque in the late 1898 or early 1899 to be put into the City Directory. The Brusoe's family had just moved down to the Albuquerque area from Colorado Springs, Colorado area in 1899. They were found to be on the Albuquerque, New Mexico U.S. Census in 1900 The next stop was to Trinidad, Colorado to find the legal marriage records in the court house. Several calls to no avail in finding the marriage records had been made. With the help of a good friends, from Facebook, a few documents but not the Marriage License was located. Then another good friend came to help and she surprised all that she was the one that organized the marriage records in the Las Animas County. So with her help the Marriage License was located. However, the marriage application could not be found. Comparing the questions on the application from another couple's marriage record to the list of questions written on the Marriage License, for John and Clara, they were the same. Yet no questions asked about where the bride and groom were born or baptized, nor parents names on the application from that time period. So with all of these documents one can assume that Clara must have been pregnant prior to applying for a marriage license on 6th Dec 1899. They married on 28th Dec 1899 at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Trinidad, Colorado. They filed the records on 17th Jan 1900. The 1900 -1901 Trinidad City Directory, which included surrounding areas, listed John Wallace as working for the C & S Railway. That was the last known company he worked for. C & S Railway was independently operated from 1898 - 1908. It was later absorbed through purchase by the Burlington Northern Railroad in 1981. The only records Burlington Northern Railroad has on file are old paystubs. Unfortunately, there was more than one John Wallace that worked for the railroads and there is no way of deciphering which paystub belongs to which John Wallace. In June of 1900 the U.S. Census was taken in Garcia, Colorado, right outside of Trinidad. John Wallace was believed to have been born in Feb 1871 in Germany. His parents as well were from Germany. According to the census John immigrated to the U.S. in 1885 and naturalized prior t o 1900. At that time he had been unemployed 3 months as a Locomotive Engineer. Yet renting a house. So times must have been hard. He could read, write and speak English. With times being hard and tempers flaring, alcoholism was rampant in the railroad industry. In Sept 1903 according to the divorce records, Clara Wallace vs John Wallace, Clara packed up and took their only child to safety. Soon after marriage John began abusing Clara and seriously wounded her. Within the divorce records it states that John Wallace did use an alias name and Clara was unable to recall the true name. John never went looking for Clara and his child after they left. So on 3rd Oct 1906 Clara filed for divorce, and on 24th Nov 1906 the divorce was granted. Clara didn't know John's whereabouts in Oct and Nov of 1906 but when she last heard about him, John was in Jerome, Arizona. A place known for it's corruption, Jerome was a mining community ripping at it's seams. This would be the perfect camouflage from society and being known. This was the hint of where John could have been. Unfortunately no records have been found in this area for John Wallace born around 1871 in Germany. The trail of John Wallace ran cold.
This is when DNA tests were taken at all three major companies; Ancestry, FamilyTreeDNA and 23andme. We didn't want any leaf unturned. Both my mother, J.R.R., and my aunt, D.E., took the tests. They were the only two children of Jack Rose, the granddaughters of Alias "John Wallace". What came back surprised both women. They had always been raised Catholic and no idea of any other heritage being part of their ancestral history. To their amazement they were showing 23.3% - 25% European Jewish / Ashkenazi Jew for J.R.R and 21.4% - 23% European Jewish / Ashkenazi Jew for D.E. Now that explains the exact reason why the dispensation was required when John and Clara were married in the Catholic Church. Yet there are so many other questions unanswered. After watching several webinars and videos from several different sources, putting together a list of the women's closest matches has been in the works. The ideal situation would be for a solid 2nd cousin to match. Unfortunately that has not been the case. The reason a person would need a solid 2nd cousin is because when dealing with an endogamy culture, one is dealing with the possibilities of IBD vs IBS. What is IBD? IBD stands for Identical By Decent. This concept is an expression used in genetic genealogy to indicate corresponding segment(s) of DNA shared by two or more people that has been genetically passed down from a recent common ancestor without any altering recombination. So the question then is: what is IBS? IBS stands for Identical By State. In this case the shared DNA was not passed down from a recent common ancestor. Rather it is due to the genetic genealogy that is shared among people within a geographical area. This type of results can lead to incorrect conclusions. With this knowledge, selective analyzation is of the utmost importance. And since I'm not an expert, by any stretch of the imagination, I am going to be picking the brain of an expert this coming week. They have been pouring and studying all that I have done: the genealogical information as well as genetic information I have put together. They will be sharing with me what I have right and or what I have done wrong. They will also teach me things that will hopefully provide another analyzation method(s) in order to finally identify Alias "John Wallace". Due to unfortunate circumstances the DNA expert was unable to meet with me. But I was blessed to find a book titled "The Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy" , written by Blaine T. Bettinger, at my local library. So while I wait till next week, beginning of May, to meet with the DNA specialist, I will be devouring every word in hopes it will enlighten me as well as help understand what the DNA specialist says when we meet. I'll be keeping everyone updated in hopes this information can help you as well.
0 Comments
In the summer of 2014 I made a Genealogy Trip that included a few different states: Texas, New Mexico, Colorado and Arizona. During one of the visits in Texas I made a stop to my father’s 86-year-old first cousin, Tia Martha. I call her Tia (Aunt) out of respect for her being my elder. As we spoke about family history, she informed me of how her family would go to Mass on the Thursday before Easter morning. But then they would visit seven churches after the main morning Mass. Visita Iglesia is an occasion to pray before the Blessed Sacrament within each of the different churches. During Holy Week, the last three days are denoted to as the Easter or Sacred Triduum (Triduum Sacrum), the three-part performance of Christ's redemption: Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. Holy Thursday is also known as Maundy Thursday. Maundy is derived from the Latin word mandatum (commandment) which is in the word of the Gospel praise: Mandátum novum do vobis dicit Dóminus, ut diligátis ínvicem, sicut diléxi vos: "I give you a new commandment: Love one another as I have loved you." (John 13:34) Visita Iglesia is believed to have begun by the pilgrims of Rome as they visited the basilicas for penance. It is now one of the most common traditions throughout Latin America. During these visits the prayers within each of the churches represents the escort of the faithful to Jesus in each of his journeys from the night he was apprehended until his crucifixion. Baptisms are considered a rebirth into a new life, a spiritual resurrection. It becomes fitting for a child to be baptized during the season or on Easter. Genealogist consider Baptismal records a gold mine. Within these records, they contain the child’s name, birth and baptismal dates, parent’s names (which can include the mother’s maiden name) and the name of the Godparents / sponsors. Many times, these Godparents / sponsors are relatives, which should not be ignored. And on rare occasions the place of birth and the number of children within the family is mentioned. In some countries, a baptismal record will also provide you with the names of the grandparents. When looking for baptismal records the best thing to do is first determine the area in which you believe the family lived at the time of birth. Call the local church in that area and check to see if they have copies of the baptismal records. If they don’t then ask who you would need to contact. You can check on FamilySearch for baptismal records for children baptized in different countries. Just remember if your relative was born in a different country be familiar with the town / village and or county / parish that they were from. A lot of times that information can be found on their marriage records if married in the U.S. In order to married in the Catholic Church they had to prove that they were baptized in the Catholic Churches and the church would denote that on the marriage records. |
Penny Alvarez-KellerGraduated from Arkansas Tech University with a degree in Management / Marketing and a degree in Economics / Finance Archives
February 2023
Categories
All
|