Embracing My Inner Jew: A Brief History of the Friedlanders

Mary (Frazier) Freeland and Albert Luke Freeland

I got back my DNA results from ancestry.com a few months ago. Ancestry performs a type of test called autosomal DNA. I'll be writing about DNA testing in another post. DNA testing for genealogy is really very new and exciting.

One of the things autosomal testing does pretty well is figure out your ancestral roots. My results were not too surprising. I'm more than 50% "Western European," and another 28% British/Irish. No Native American, but a dash of Greek/Italian and Middle Eastern, leavened with Caucasian (the region, not the race) and Scandinavian.

One fraction that came in right where I expected it: I am 1/8th Ashkenazi Jew. (Ashkenazi is the name of the Jews of Europe.) Both of my law partners have tested, and both were surprised to find that they too have some Ashkenazi Jewish blood. We now refer to one another as "our people" in the firm, unlike the goyim in the outfit. One of my partners found he also has a smidgen of Gypsy blood. He says, "I may steal your wallet, but I will invest the money wisely." We get to make jokes like that because we are Yiddishe.

But I digress.

The Mystery of the Lewises

Top: Sarah Ann (Bishop) Lewis, William Thomas Lewis

Bottom: Susannah Lewis, Laura Lillian Lewis

Photo courtesy of Lewis Harvey, Susannah's grandson

Update 3 Apr 2016:

Through the diligent sleuthing of cousin Lewis Harvey, we have discovered that William Thomas Lewis had at least one, and perhaps two, brothers. The death certificate for brother John tells us John was born in 1850 in Toronto, Canada. His obituary in the Saginaw Daily News (July 1922) tells us he reached Saginaw by 1865.

Importantly, John's death certificate also reports Nicholas Lewis (of New York) as John's father, and Margaret French (of Ireland) as his mother. So there is at least one additional substantiating source for Nicholas and Margaret.

John's second wife was Phebe Duele. Phebe had at least one sister. Phebe died in the mid-1930s. John had two children, Willie and Gertie. Both died too young to leave issue, in circumstances that must have been nearly unendurable for dear Uncle John and Aunt Phebe. It's too sad to write about here; you can check out my ancestry.com tree for details.

The 1880 US Census for Tittabawasee Township, Saginaw County, Michigan shows John, Phebe, Willie and Gertie, as well as Stephen Lewis, who is listed as John's brother. John is shown as 26, and Stephen as 22.

Research in 1850s Canadian records has revealed nothing yet.

John and William (together with some other Lewises) are buried in the Freeland, Michigan cemetery. Freeland adjoins Saginaw.

So, Nicholas and Margaret are still the Lewis brick wall. But at least we have some additional documentary support for them, as well as for our ancestral name of Lewis.

End of update. Original post follows.

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One of the challenges facing genealogical researchers is what is known as the "brick wall." This refers to the situation where there are no available records that allow the researcher to determine lineage beyond a certain ancestor.

The photo above shows the Lewis brick wall: William Thomas Lewis, who is my 2nd Great-Grandfather.

I have been trying to trace my family lines back to the original immigrants to America. I have been successful with a lot of them (mostly because I can borrow from the hard work of other genealogists, including Aunt Dianne,) but a few remain a mystery.

One of the mysteries: Where did our Lewises come from?

The Winthrop Woman

Here's another historical novel about an ancestor: The Winthrop Woman, by Anya Seton. Rita read this book many years ago, and I just finished it a couple months ago. Seton was a prolific and entertaining author.

The subject of this historical novel is Elizabeth Fones Winthrop Feake Hallett, b. 1610 in England, immigrated to Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1631 and died 1665 in Connecticut Colony.

Elizabeth's first husband was Henry Winthrop, the son of John Winthrop, who was the Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Henry came to the colony in 1630 without Elizabeth; she was pregnant and the sea voyage would be too arduous in her condition.

Henry promptly managed to drown after getting to the colony. Elizabeth came shortly thereafter with her baby daughter. John Winthrop, who was a fire-eating Puritan, arranged for her to marry a fellow by the name of Robert Feake after she arrived.

Robert Feake was my 10th g-grandfather. He went insane, but not until after he fathered Hannah Feake, who will get her own post because she has a similarly fascinating history. (For point of reference: Hannah's daughter Martha married Joseph Thorne, who was the source of "Thorn" as a first or middle name in Uncle Thorn, Great-grandfather Thorn, and Uncle Rossie's son William Thorn.)