Dear Family,

Who is my granddaddy or whom am I part of???

The fun part of genealogy search is finding the different ancestors we are  part of.

For a starter let’s look at our Grandmother Madelena HONDERICK Guernsey’s lineage.  Madelena was born 4 Jan. 1865, Lee County Iowa, died 4 Dec. 1909 in Strong City, Oklahoma.  She married Grandfather Elmer Nov. 9, 1891 in McCracken Kansas.

The picture below is of the four daughters of Madelena and Elmer Guernsey.

L to R, Luella Guernsey Caffey, Alida Lena Guernsey Anderson, Minnie Guernsey Innes and Pauline Guernsey (never married).

Madelena’s grandfather Christian Honderick was born around 1805.  He was of PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH parentage.  His grandparents came to America from HOLLAND. Christian and his wife Mageliene Gingerich from FRANCE, had nine children.

Their son, John Honderick would be our G–Grandfather.  John and his wife Elizabeth King, and his father Christian were part of American History.  In their home there was a secret room where they could hide runaway slaves.  Christian was a conductor on the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad was a term used popularly in the United States to name a system by which escaped slaves were secretly helped to exit the Northern States by sympathetic Northerners before the Civil War.  Could your compassion for others have come from Christian and Mageliene Gingerich, Madelena’s grandparents?

Cousin Dorothy Lee and Curt Jr. discovered in their research that we are part AMISH.  In the book The Mennonites in Iowa by Melvin Gingerich, it mentions Christian Haundrich who came from Ohio in 1847.

Also AMISH was John King, he came from GERMANY and he was the father of Elizabeth King Honderick, our G.Grandmother, (Madelena’s mother).  Enjoy your new AMISH geneaology.

Cousin Dorothy also said that our G– Grandmother Lena Saulsman sounded JEWISH.  She had no proof of that, but she thought that might be where her nose came from.  I will leave that research up to one of you.

Below is another picture of the children of Madelena and Elmer Guernsey.  The picture is from their farm, the only ones I am sure of are Curt Guernsey (with the hat) and Pauline (the baby).  Mike was not born yet.

Children of Madelena and Elmer Guernsey

Hope this helps you figure out who you are part of.  Any feedback or corrections would be appreciated.

Jim Lee