From the President General’s Mailbox: Family Surprises!

Warning: Avid genealogists may experience feelings of great envy and deep longing when reading this blog; continue at your own risk!

It’s every DAR member’s dream come true: a letter out of the blue that not only contains information about your ancestor... but even family photos! For those of us who love the thrill of the hunt when it comes to our genealogy, it is a joy better than winning the lottery.

Such was the envelope that arrived at my office in Washington, D.C., last summer. It was written by Laura Engelhardt Ewen, the heroine of this story. Laura, who lives in Junction, Texas, joined DAR in 2015 as a member of the Chanes Chapter, of which she is currently serving as chapter regent. We are so distantly related that it is nearly impossible to guestimate our connection. But lucky for me, she recognized my maiden name held the thread of a possibility, and so she wrote:

Pomroy Schindler/Chandler and his wife Anna Kramer immigrated from Germany sometime before 1845. Though Margaret was born in Albany, New York, on December 22, 1845, the family had settled in nearby Massachusetts by the time her sister Sidonia was born in 1848. They would ultimately have six children.

According to census records, my Doring ancestors arrived in 1854 in what was West Troy, now Watervliet, Albany County, New York. My great grandfather Anton was born in Hanover, Germany, in 1833 and immigrated with his parents Frank and Catherine Stroider/Stoider Doring. He “disavowed his allegiance to the King on Hanover” when he became a naturalized citizen on September 17, 1860, according to his official application for citizenship.

According to tombstones, his first wife Eleanor died in 1864, and he married Margaret shortly thereafter, as their first daughter, Anna, was born in 1867. (So lucky for me, Anton remarried -- and not only would her youngest child be my grandfather … but her relatives were clearly the kind of record keepers that every genealogist yearns for!)

It’s bittersweet that the full family photo was taken in 1887, two years before my grandfather was born as the youngest of those 13 children on October 9, 1889. He died on August 16, 1974. There are no images of my grandfather in the family photos from Laura, but it is a joy to know not only what my great grandparents looked like but also the corrected/changed surname of my great grandmother. (If you had any wonder what I hope to being in my retirement come July, you can now probably guess! Back to the hunt, armed with this new knowledge.)

I could not resist sharing all of this with you because I know that many of you enjoy few things more than connecting a new generation to your family tree. I hope to meet Laura at some point to see if we have any Schindler/Chandler resemblances. Regardless, my family is so grateful to now safeguard these treasures, for which I thank her profusely. (Don’t we meet the most amazing women through our involvement in DAR?)