Genealogist- Newsletter- February 8, 2025

08 Feb Genealogist- Newsletter- February 8, 2025

GENEALOGIST- THE ANABAPTIST PRESIDENTS

In our last edition, we discussed Anabaptist beliefs and our visit to the Behalt Anabaptists

Now, we will visit which presidents were raised as Anabaptists and how their early spiritual lives may have influenced them. There were three presidents all Republican from Hoover through Nixon, and their terms were only interrupted by Democrats FDR, Truman, and Kennedy.

The picture to the right shows Eisenhower, Nixon (foreground), and Hoover behind them. The 1953 picture of Eisenhower’s inauguration at the bottom shows Hoover behind the Chief Justice and VP Nixon to the right of Eisenhower. The three of them, including Truman, signed the photograph before Nixon became president.

Herbert Hoover
He took office as the 31st president of the United States in 1929, near the start of the Great Depression. Born in Iowa and orphaned early, Hoover was raised by Quaker relatives in Oregon, where he attended George Fox University, a Quaker institution. He married Lou Henry, a socially aware woman he met at Stanford University. An Episcopalian who sometimes attended Quaker meetings, Lou became a founder of the Girl Scouts, displaying the Quaker values of teaching children to take responsibility and serve others.

President Hoover encouraged people to help each other. From 1917 to 1918, he headed the U.S. Food Administration to counteract wartime starvation. Later, as head of the European Relief Council, he ensured that food aid to post-World War I Europe reached its intended recipients, displaying the Quaker principles of accountability and integrity. Hoover was U.S. Secretary of Commerce from 1921 to 1928 under Republican presidents Harding and Coolidge. Following the stock market crash, Hoover passed the Revenue Act of 1932, which increased taxes on the wealthy to 63%, doubled estate taxes, and raised corporate taxes to 15%.

Dwight D. Eisenhower
He was not a pacifist. A West Point graduate and five-star general who served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe during World War II. His parents were Mennonites who later joined the Brethren in Christ denomination. They were also influenced by evangelist Dwight Moody, from whence their son’s first name was derived. Eisenhower often spoke of his Mennonite faith, which dates from his ancestors’ arrival in Lancaster in 1741. Eisenhower wasn’t yet baptized, so his family respected his military choice. Eisenhower never served in combat in his early military roles but played administrative roles. At the beginning of World War II, he was in charge of negotiations.

Eisenhower’s war-related quotes frequently reflect his pacifistic roots. “I hate war as only a soldier who lived it can, only one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity,” he said. Eisenhower later stated, “Nobody is more opposed to intervention (in Vietnam) than I am.” Eisenhower was responsible for the controversial desegregation of Little Rock, Arkansas schools in 1957, calling in National Guard troops like a military commander. He convened a Civil Rights Commission in 1957 and passed the Eisenhower Civil Rights Act that same year, well ahead of Lyndon Johnson’s more far-reaching Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Richard Nixon
His Quaker upbringing was evident in his progressive actions on health, community well-being, and environmental issues during his 1969-1974 presidential years. Raised in an impoverished Quaker family, Richard Nixon joined the Navy to escape his abusive father — never forgiving him for denying Richard’s brother health care, which led to his death from tuberculosis. Nixon was a progressive president who championed health and well-being causes. In 1971, he signed the National Cancer Act. In 1974, Nixon proposed government-subsidized national health care, championed the aged, blind, and disabled by supporting the Supplemental Social Security Income program, and approved Cost-of-Living Adjustments for Social Security recipients.

Nixon signed the Alternative Minimum Tax into effect in 1969 and the Occupational Safety and Health Act in 1970. He also fostered international relations by visiting China and signing the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty in 1974. Nixon, an environmentalist, stated, “In living a Christian life, faith is the first step. The most important step is using the energy and creativity that faith gives you to make the world a better place. He created the Environmental Protection Agency and signed the Clean Air Act in 1970.

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GENEALOGIST- MORE ON THE TROLL FAMILY

The families Heraldic Coats of Arms appear above.

In our last issue The Trolle heirs we shared the happenings of the current occupiers of the Trolle Ljungby Castle, here’s their heritage.

The ancestor was the knight Birger Knutsson, called Birghe Trulle (died 1367 at the earliest).

Gunnar Trolle received a letter of freehold in 1407 from King Erik of Pomerania. The letter of the freedman, which is one of the oldest in Sweden, is kept at the National Archives in Stockholm.

” King Erik issues letters of strangers to his servant Gunnar Trolle. „
– DF 1250
Birger Knutsson’s son, the squire Birger Birgersson (Trolle) the elder (died 1440 at the earliest) at Bo (now Trollebo) in Lemnhult parish in Njudung, married in 1400 to Ingeborg Arvidsdotter, daughter of the squire and district governor Arvid Bengtsson (lion’s face). She was previously married to Karl Magnusson (star) of the Bergkvara dynasty and inherited the Bergkvara estate from him on his death.

They became the parents of Birger Trolle the Younger (died 1471) at Bergkvara Castle in Bergunda parish in Småland, who was the father of Arvid Birgersson. His son Erik Arvidsson became the father of Gustav Trolle.

Erik’s half-brother, the knight Joachim Trolle (died 1546), settled in Denmark and acquired estates in Scania, and became the ancestor of a Danish branch of the Trolle family through his son, who was the grandfather of the Danish Privy Council and Governor of Norway Niels Trolle (1599–1667) pictured above. The family is therefore also considered Danish nobility.

The Swedish branch actually died out in 1568 with Erik Trolle’s brother’s privy councilor Ture Arvidsson Trolle’s son the under-admiral Arvid Turesson Trolle (died 1568) at Bergkvara.

However, Niels Trolle’s son, the cavalry master Arvid Nielsson Trolle (1653–98) at Näs (now Trollenäs) in Skåne, was introduced in 1689 to the Swedish House of Nobility, from which all living members of the Trolle family are descended. The Danish branch of the family died out in Denmark in 1787 with his grandson’s grandson.

In 1816, the chamberlain Nils Trolle (1777–1827) received the rank of baron for himself and his descendants.

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GENEALOGIST- OUR LOCAL CASTLE

Not to be outdone by our Swedish cousins, we also have a castle down the street from us. We covered the Trolle Ljungby castle that my ancestors lived near in August 2022- Trolle Ljungby Castle

The second largest estate in Texas, the Champ d’Or, is located in the city of Hickory Creek in Denton County. The estate was built in 2002 by Alan and Shirley Goldfield at an estimated cost of $52 million. The couple lived on the property for only two years.

“[My wife] wanted to build what she called the greenhouse,” Goldfield said. “I sold a million dollars worth of stock, put aside the money for capital gains, and then gave the rest to her. Out of that came mostly Champ d’Or.”

Shirley must have been good with money if she could turn $1 million into $52 million!

The estate’s construction was inspired by Vaux-le-Vicomte (pictured below), a baroque style French chateau located southeast of Paris, France.

“The reason for the mansion – [my wife] loves French, which so do I,” Goldfield said. “Truth is, I had nothing to do with it. She met with the architects [and] the builders.”

In terms of size, Champ d’Or is the second largest in the state, topped by the Crespi-Hicks estate in Dallas. Though Champ d’Or spans 48,000 square feet and Crespi-Hicks 50,000, the difference is negligible. Crespi-Hicks was the home of Tom Hicks the former owner of the Texas Rangers, the Dallas Stars, and the Mesquite Championship Rodeo, along with 50% owner of Liverpool F.C.

“Many of the features here are copies of quite authentic things,” said Joan Eleazer, vice president of Sotheby’s International Realty, in a promotional video for the estate. “Beautiful chandeliers that were crafted in Europe, lots of wonderful detail in the mill work, and the paintings throughout the house.”

The materials used in the construction were “the best money could buy,” Goldfield said. The furniture alone cost $5 million and was all imported from France – with the exception of a chandelier, which was from London, England, Goldfield said.

The reason for the short-lived stay at the estate by the Goldfields was its size. “It was too big! It was just way too big,” Goldfield said.

The estate features a 20-car garage, a bowling alley, racquetball and tennis courts, as well as three fully equipped apartments for guests and staff. It also features an incredibly large ballroom.

“The third floor was the ballroom because she liked to give parties, especially for charity,” Goldfield said. “The ballroom was beautiful, had a catering kitchen, and it was big enough to sit 100 people. Ten tables of 10, leaving room for a 6–8-piece band and the caterers.”

Another possible contributing factor to the estate’s sporadic ownership is its location. Hickory Creek is a pleasant town, but a far cry from the exclusivity typical of neighborhoods housing mansions.

Preston Hollow, the neighborhood in north Dallas where Crespi-Hicks’ estate is located, has its own newspaper where nearly all of its residents send their children to private schools. Notable residents include former U.S. President George W. Bush, businessman Mark Cuban, Troy Aikman, Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks and a litany of other business executives, politicians and celebrities.

Champ d’Or on the other hand is less than a mile from both a mobile home community and a Walmart super-center. While the location has practical benefits, such as the close proximity to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, its location is considered abnormal for a luxurious property.

The estate has an extra measure of safety included in its construction. “Interestingly enough, every window on the front was in bullet proof glass,” Goldfield said. “[It’s] because of the concern that … there’s a few crazies in the world [who] would see such a beautiful thing and would just shoot at it.” Goldfield said such an incident never happened.

“The quality is unsurpassed; that’s one of the things that’s so amazing in this home. It would be difficult to recreate it today.”

The estate is now owned by Walters Hospitality, and they have converted it into a wedding venue known as Olana, and are undergoing a major expansion, so our local castle will get bigger!

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GENEALOGIST- HOW PUBLIC INFORMATION ASSISTED IN IDENTITY THEFT AND THEN DNA CAUGHT THE THIEF

I read this article about how one homeless man stole the identity of another, and the role Ancestry.com and DNA played in the story.

Dancestors’ clients’ trees are all marked private so nothing you share with us is publicly available without you providing permission. However, there are lots of other searchable public records on the internet.

The challenge with identity theft is you can steal a person’s story and forge documents, but you can’t get a DNA transplant. Here’s the link to the story-
Identity Theft

Here are a few excerpts from the story that mentions the above:

Mr. Keirans (pictured courtesy of Johnson County, IA Sheriff’s Dept.) used Ancestry.com to find information about Mr. Woods’ family, which helped him obtain Mr. Woods’ real birth certificate from the state of Kentucky. When Mr. Keirans provided that document to investigators in Los Angeles, it helped convince them that he was the real Mr. Woods.

“One of these two men was a victim of a crime,” Detective Ian Mallory of the university police said after court on Friday. “I did not know which one.”

But unlike the other investigators, Detective Mallory arranged for DNA tests of Mr. Woods’s father in Kentucky — whose identity was certain — and of Mr. Woods, who was then spending time at a shelter in Santa Monica, Calif. A comparison of the results showed that the California man was telling the truth.

Armed with the DNA evidence, Detective Mallory interviewed Mr. Keirans. He tripped up when asked the name of his father, and then confessed, according to court documents.

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GENEALOGIST SO WHAT’S THE REAL STORY- PART 6

Here’s an example of why family trees can’t be used as sources.

my 4th Great Grandfather, Enoch Major Terrill was born on July 19, 1805, in Connecticut (CT). We will call him CT Enoch. He married Wealthy Cook. They are pictured.

The widespread claim for Enoch’s (and his brother Asahel’s) parentage is they were the children of Enoch Terrill, born in 1769 and married to Nancy Denham. We will call the Enoch who married Nancy Denman, NJ Enoch. I have difficulty accepting the claim for the following reasons:

• This NJ Enoch/Nancy Denman family branch lived in New Jersey for generations. NJ was born in New Jersey, married in New Jersey, served in the Revolutionary War out of New Jersey, and died in New Jersey. No historical records of NJ Enoch or Nancy Denman outside New Jersey exist. Whereas CT Enoch has census-proven references to Connecticut (Enoch 1850) and mid-state New York (Enoch 1880 (as father’s birth state of Asahel) but no connections to New Jersey.

• Nancy Denman Terrill would have been 53 years old when Asahel Terrill was born in New York, an unlikely age to become a mother.

• In the 1820 Dearborn census, he was referred to as Enoch Sr., compared to his son Enoch Jr. Simultaneously NJ Enoch was in the 1820 NJ census.

• NJ Enoch Terrill was dead as of 1828. According to the 1820 through 1850 censuses, CT Enoch was alive and well in Indiana.

• In the 1840 Dearborn census, CT Enoch was next door to 30-40-year-old Enoch M. Terrill.

• Judge Cotton (in his keepsakes’ book) refers to “knowing well”- Father Terrill “in Dearborn, IN, the father of Asahel. Since Asahel would have been 15 years of age at the time of NJ’s Enoch 1828 death, and Cotton would have been 29 years old, Judge Cotton would have had maybe five or so years of adulthood to have built a relationship with a 50-plus-year-old Enoch Terrill. In contrast, if you assume that he didn’t know NJ Enoch, he would have had at least 22 more years to become well-known with CT Enoch.

• The census also shows that Asahel was born in NY in 1813, not NJ. CT Enoch Terrill is recorded as having children in the 1820 Chenango Co., NY census.

• The NJ Enoch had brothers Abraham, Isaac, and Daniel and sisters Mary, Elizabeth, Phebe, Keturah, and Sarah.

• NJ Enoch signed his brother Abraham’s will in 1812 in NJ, so he would have had to quickly depart for NY to have his son Asahel there in 1813 and then head back to NJ for the rest of his life. His brother Abraham’s will refers to Enoch having a daughter, Betsey, and a son, Thomas.

• Nancy’s Denham maiden name, and the names Abraham, Isaac, Daniel, Mary, Elizabeth, Phebe, Keturah, Betsey, or Thomas never showed up in the names of Enoch or Asahel’s children or grandchildren.

• NJ Enoch’s son Thomas never showed up in Indiana records but did stay in the NJ records. He was born around 1786, so he would be almost 20 years older than Enoch and 27 years older than Asahel.

• In 1835, Enoch and Sarah Terrill of Dearborn Co., IN, sold land to William Barton. Since NJ Enoch died in 1828, and in 1805, Enoch Jr. was married to Wealthy Cook, not Sarah, who is this Enoch married to Sarah? I would assert that the Enoch married to Sarah is Enoch Sr. Both of the Enochs appear in the 1840 Dearborn Co. census.

• I firmly believe these are two different Enochs who happened to both be born in 1769, and the NJ Enoch is no more than a distant cousin.

In the next edition, I will reveal the proper Terrill ancestors of Enoch Major Terrill and how I tried to get the correct information out to incorrect tree owners.

Here’s an example of the widespread incorrect information on the left and the correct information (mine) on the right).

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GENEALOGIST- THE GULF OF SPANISH AMERICA

I tried to find an early reference to the term “Gulf of America” to see if it had been suggested historically. I found an article published early in the Civil War (at the top) that used the term in an article about British reactions. I also looked for a map with a term, but all were made recently.

I did find the map pictured to the left with the Gulf of Mexico, and the name Sigsbee Deep intrigued me. It was familiar, as it is the name of the road that leads into a section of the Key West Naval Base.

It turns out that the deepest part of the Gulf is named after Charles Dwight Sigsbee—pictured below (1845-1923)—a rear admiral in the United States Navy. In his earlier career, he was a pioneering oceanographer and hydrographer. He is best remembered as the captain of the USS Maine, which exploded in Havana Harbor, Cuba, in 1898 and set off the events that led up to the start of the Spanish-American War.

Spain could argue that it should be the Gulf of Spanish America, which I doubt Mexico would like either!

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GENEALOGIST- WILL AI HELP WITH ANCESTRY RESEARCH?

Most people would think that AI and the ability to translate, digitize, and index documents would make it easier for professional and amateur genealogists, but it may not.

We recently visited the Old Edgefield District Archives (pictured), which has a lot of information on early western South Carolina. They have done a great job of making documents more accessible within the archives, but they can only go at the speed of their budget and volunteer time. I asked if anyone had approached them about digitizing the records. They said it happens all of the time.

However, their view, is that their library is a major tourism draw for the community, so they would not be motivated to lose those dollars by making the digitized records available online. I see the conflict. So better access, but you will have to travel.

Here’s another example where the proposed New York State Health Budget severely limits access to vital records. The legislation proposes to “Digitize Genealogical Records,” but instead of improving access, it essentially shuts it down by:

• Prolonging embargo periods: The bill introduces some of the strictest restrictions in the nation—125 years for births, 75 years for deaths, and 100 years for marriages.

• Eliminating public indices of records: The Department of Health (DOH) would no longer be required to maintain birth and death indices.

• Increasing fees astronomically: The cost to request records would increase from $22 to $95 per record.

So, worse access.

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GENEALOGIST- “I AM 94 YEARS YOUNG IN A DURHAM NURSING HOME. I HAVE BEEN COLLECTING INFORMATION FOR 50 YEARS AND WISH TO COMPLETE MY PROJECTS SOON. IF POSSIBLE, I WISH TO MEET WITH MR. DANCE STORY AT MY NURSING HOME TO DESCRIBE WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE TO COMPLETE THE PROJECT”

Don’t wait until your 94 years young, reach out to Dancestors Genealogy. Our group of genealogists will research, discover, and preserve your family history. No one is getting any younger, and stories disappear from memory every year and eventually from our potential ability to find them.

Preserve your legacy and the heritage of your ancestors.

Paper gets thrown in the trash; books survive!

Ready to embark on your family history journey? Don’t hesitate. Call Mr. Dance Story (aka Dan Nelson) at 214-914-3598, and let’s get your project started!