Ancestors of the Week: John Thurston (1607-1685) [my 11x great-grandfather] and John Fels (1856-1921) [my 3x great-grandfather]
Prompt of the Week: Old Country
St. Nicholas Church in Wrentham, England. (source: Wikipedia)
All of my known immigrant ancestors came from western Europe (and my DNA is also 100% western European – Great Britain/Ireland/Germanic Europe), so I kinda feel like the ‘Old Country’ is a little boring. But I do enjoy when I get back far enough on a line to the original immigrants. The furthest back I have discovered an immigrant is John Thurston (1607-1685) (who I wrote about in Week 25 last year). He and his wife Margaret (Buck) Thurston came to colonial Massachusetts in 1637 from Wrentham, County Suffolk, England. Interesting fact – Wrentham’s St. Nicholas church dates back to the 13th century and still stands today, so it was definitely there at the time my ancestor lived there. Someday I’ll visit!
My most recent immigrant ancestors were John Fels (1856-1921) and his future wife Mary Kammerer (1860-1939). They came from what is now Baden-Württemberg, Germany in 1882 or 1883. John was baptized at 6 days old in the town of Altenheim, in Baden, so I believe that to be the ancestral village. By 1884, they had settled in Belleville, Illinois, where they were married and their first child, a daughter named Mary (my 2x great-grandmother), was born. They went on to have three sons in Belleville, but by 1910, they had relocated to St. Louis, Missouri, where they spent the remainder of their lives. An online tree I came across a while back stated that they were possibly related to the family who founded the company that produces Fels-Naptha soap. If they are related, however, it would have to be far back in Germany or somewhere because the company founder, Lazarus Fels, was already in Baltimore starting his company in 1866. I’m not sure if he was even an immigrant, or who he descends from.
So that’s a little peek into some of my immigrant ancestors and the ‘Old Countries’ they came from. Someday I’ll visit Germany as well!
My Family Finds 