Be able to name all 16 of my great great grandparents

Until last week, my knowledge of my Dad’s Mother’s Father’s parents was obscure at best. Fortunately, my letter to Dad’s cousin turned up a wealth of information on this side of the family! These GG Grandparents were pioneers/farmers in the state of Wisconsin, having lived previously in Quebec. Their names are Denis (Dionyse) Veilleux and Marie Marguerite Alix.

Regarding Denis and Marguerite (Margaret), in my great Grandfather’s 1938 obituary: “a highly esteemed pioneer couple, whose old home was a few miles away [from my Great Grandfather William Veilleux’s house], west along Apple River on the farm now owned by John O’Martell.”

Okay – the identities of Magdalena (aka Helen) Prenessel Neiderbach Scheidnast Mischuk’s parents have finally been revealed!

[This woman apparently enjoyed aliases and name switches as much as me]

According to my Great Grandmother Magdalena’s death certificate (she died of coronary thrombosis; great :p), her Mother was Catharina, surname unknown, and her Father was Hadesbeck, first name unknown.

According to Zichydorf Queen of the Rosary Church records, Magdalena’s Mother was Catharina Prenessel, and this was also confirmed in records detailing Magdalena’s boat passage to the U.S. in 1907.

Finding the identity of Magdalena’s Dad, however, was more challenging. According to QOTR records, Catharina was married twice – first to an unknown husband, followed by her marriage to Hadesbeck. Magdalena, although she listed her maiden name as Hadesbeck, was not a Hadesbeck – that was just her step-father. Magdalena was actually a child of Catharina’s first marriage to Michael Neiderbach, which was documented in other Zichydorf town records.

And so I will close the case: my fourth set of GG Grandparents are Michael Neiderbach and Catharina Prenessel.

record:
SCHEIDNASZ Magdalena [S352] Age: 23 -From: Zichydorf
-DtAr: Monday, 23 Sep 1907 – To: St Paul, MN -Via: Ant/NY -Ship: Vaderland
-Note: Accompanied by daughter, Anna 3 and sister-in-law, Magdalena Scheidnesz 17, all born in Zichydorf. Father, Michael Neiderbach, lives in Zichydorf. Going to join husband, Stefan Scheidnacz [*25 Sep 1883, dau of Catharina Preneszel oo 26 Apr 1904 to Stefan Scheidnasz, son of Stefan Scheidnasz and M A Froh].

Who were your parents, mystery woman Magdalena?

My Great Grandmother Magdalena (maiden name Hadesbeck? Niederbach? Prenessel?) was a first-generation immigrant from the town of Zichydorf – a small enclave of Danube Swabians (southern Germans) that settled in the late 1700s in what is present-day Serbia (although it was part of Hungary when my Great Grandmother moved to Minnesota). Although I have been able to trace her first husband (my Great Grandfather) Stephen’s genealogy back to the late 1700s founding of Zichydorf, via records kept by the Queen of the Rosary Church, Magdalena’s past is much more obscure.

I sent for her death certificate last week, in hopes that it might reveal the identities of her parents, my GG Grandparents.

“When you’re bleak, you’re bleak!” [Joseph and Brigitte – the older couple in the middle of the photo with two of their sons]

My GG Grandfather Joseph Veilleux was born in Quebec in the early/mid-1800s, and moved to Bangor, Maine as an adult. I believe that Brigitte was also a first-generation relocated Quebecoise, probably having met Joseph in Maine. I know that my Great Grandfather, Joseph Jr. was born in Maine…and that the whole family moved to Minneapolis around the turn-of-the-19th-century.

This set of Veilleux GG Grandparents had a bit of an entrepreneurial streak – which is why, I believe, they relocated from their Quebec village (Beauceville) to Minneapolis. I am still learning more about Joseph and Brigitte, via their Granddaughter, my Great Aunt, Sister Marie Noelle (b. 1915).

After my GG LeVoir Grandparents relocated, family in tow, from a cabin in the UP of Michigan, my GG Grandfather LeVoir headed a bridge-building company in the Twin Cities. Although he made a great deal of money in cities needing LOTS of bridges, he squandered a great deal of it on booze – leading his wife, Selinda, to kick him out of their house! My Great Grandma (Joseph & Selinda’s eldest daughter) Viola took him in, however, and she was left his entire estate when he passed away.

As for Selinda, I guess that she at least occasionally got along with Joseph – enough to have conceived, and given birth to, EIGHTEEN children(!?). Four of their children died quite young, presumably of various ailments or diseases, although one is known to have been attacked by a wild boar in Michigan.

One of my other goals is to “memorialize my Great Grandfather, William J. Ramsden,” who was a son of William Sr. and Maggie.

Although I have no photograph of Maggie, I know that she was born in New York of parents that emigrated from Bavaria, Germany. She was born around 1850, and died in 1890, of suspected complications from Diabetes – having had fainting spells and fallen down stairs, etc.

GG Grandpa William Ramsden (shown in this photo) was a descendant of another William Ramsden, who sailed to New York from Yorkshire, England, in the mid-1800s. GG Grandpa William had some land with his Father in present-day Lino Lakes, MN, and, after Maggie died, went on to marry several other women. A ladies man til the end, he had wives from MN to CA and even Cuba, and probably sired at least a dozen (oy) children in his lifetime. :p

One of his sons, my Great Grandfather William, disowned his father, and was subsequently cut out of the will. Of course, as they say, “the good die young,” and my GG Grandfather (d. 1928) outlived my G Grandfather (d. 1925) by three years.

As a starting point, here is a list of Great Great Grandparents I know:

Joseph Veilleux (have photo)
Brigitte Poulin (Veilleux) (have photo)

Dionyse Veilleux
Marie Marguerite Alix (Veilleux)

Onesime Bourbeau
Sara Parent (Bourbeau)

William Joseph Ramsden Sr. (have photo)
Margaret Heil (Ramsden)

Joseph LeVoir (have photo)
Selinda LaRamie (LeVoir) (have photo)

Louis LaRouche
(possibly Elizabeth??) Martin (LaRouche) (have photo)

Mathias Scheidnast
Maria Anna Froh (Scheidnast)

Catharina Prenessel
(unknown husband, surname possibly Hadesbeck)

...if you’ve noticed the two Veilleux GG Grandparents, I should mention that a couple of my GGG/GGGG Grandparents were brothers…