30 Mothers in 30 Days: Antje

Antje Wells Preslar was my 8th Great Grandmother, at least down one line. Just recently, I discovered that I may have a second line to her. The one I know is:

Andreas (Andrew) and Antje (Anna) Preslar to

son Thomas Preslar who married Sarah Culpepper

daughter Mary Elizabeth Presley (the name was changing) who married Tillman Helms

daughter Rebecca Helms who married Samuel Ramsey

daughter Obedience Ramsey who maried William Mathew Hill

daughter Lottie Hill who married Harvey LaFayette Lemmonds (Lemmons)

daughter Bertha Lemmonds who married Burley Melvin Lambert

My Dad

Me

After doing more research, I discovered my second line, was  not to Antje and her husband Andreas Preslar, but to his brother, Hans Jurie Preslar, and his wife, Mary Agnes "Minna" Tucker Preslar.

So, Antje remains my 6th GGrandma down this one line.







There's always more information about the husband and Antje was married to Palantinian immigrant Andreas Preslar.

Andreas would arrive in New York in 1710 on the ship "Fame", that was full of German immigrants from the Palatine, which is described as the area of  Southwestern Germany. Thousands of Rhinelanders would seek resettlement in the Americas at this time.

The ships log listed father Johannes Valentine Preslar, 41, mother Anna, 36, and children: Anna Elizabeth, 14, Anna Gertrude 12, Andreas 6, Antoni 4, and an infant son age 1 1/2. The infant may have been Hans Jurie, my other forefather.

With the name, Antje, one might think she, too, was a Rhinelander, but looks can be decieving. Antje, or Anna, was an American. Born in Southhold, Suffolk, New York, her family had been in New York for a generation or two and Massachusetts before that. Her roots led back to England, primarily Suffolk and Norfolk, and arriving in the American colonies in the 1630's.


So, the marriage of  Andrew and Anna was one of the earliest in my tree that crossed religions and countries of origin. I've found that for generations, most of my ancestors stayed faithfully in the same tight little ball of connections that they were familiar with or had immigrated with. Tribal.

Andreas and Antje would have several famous descendants, the most famous being:




Elvis Presely                         and     President Jimmy Carter

But Antje also had famous cousins in her own family tree, and not just in her descendants. Presidents Harrison to name a few.

Antje married Andreas Preslar (surname orignally spelled Bressler, meaning 'from Breslau, Poland'), at the Dutch Reformed Church on Statten Island on April 21, 1723. Tommorrow will be their 297th wedding anniversary.



The Dutch Reformed Church cemetery on Staten Island


The couple would then migrate to St. Stephens Parrish, Cecil County, Maryland, where their children were all born. They were the parents of;

1725 Christian
1726 John Valentine
1728 Sarah
1730 Thomas
1732 Andre Jr.

It's possible that some unknown children died young.




After birthing their children in a settled, more civilized environment, Andrew and Anna Preslar made the fateful decision to remove with their family to the wilds of the American South. Their migration was not a quick one.

Location of Amelia County, Virginia

Andrew Preslar is counted as a tithable in the 1744 Tax List of Amelia County, Virginia. Ten years later, he recieves a Grant, No 848, Issued February 25, 1754, Book 10 Page 413 in Anson County, North Carolina.

"On so side of the Yadkin River on both sides of Buffalow Creek joining Jno Brandon's land, begins at a White Oak Jno Brandons corner."

Andrew would not live long after arriving in North Carolina, passing away about 1759, But his children would sow their seeds, both agricultural and human. Descendants of Andrew and Anna are all over the Southeast and beyond.

Anna Wells Preslar was the daughter of Joshua Wells, born in Suffolk, New York and who died on Long Island, the son of WilliamWells of Norwich, Norfolk England and Maria Youngs, who would migrate to New York. Her mother was Hannah Tuthill, daughter of John Tuthill and Deliverance King of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Burying Ground of the Wells Family

Her Grandmother Maria Youngs was the daughter of John Youngs and Mary Warren. Her family would settle in Barbardos before settling in New York.

Antje (Anna) Wells Preslar would leave this earth while in Anson County, North Carolina in 1765.

Location of Buffalow Creek in Anson

Happy Mother's Day Grandma Antje!

The Dry Well

This week, I ran into a particularly dry spell in genealogical research. Documents ordered were not arriving or not being located. Missing census records. People I know lived in a particular spot not being found there. Enough to make me throw up my hands and give up. But that is when I have to learn to be patient, because treasures await.

Sometimes, you just have to dig a little harder. Like that dry well, dig a little deeper. And sometimes, you just have to accept the inevitable. Maybe your ancestors were just missed in that particular census.

The ones I keep looking for are Julina Aldridge in the 1870 and 1880 census's. (She had children by the Whitley's, she should have been relatively close to them, shouldn't she?); the family of Thomas Ashley Davis in the 1930 census (they lived in Albemarle in 1920 and 1940, would it not make sense they were there in between?); Travis Crump in 1940 (he was in Albemarle in 1930 and I know at some point he moved to New London, so he should be in one of those two towns), Christine and Maxine Davis in the 1940 census in Winston-Salem, (I know they moved their to work in the Cigarette factories, they were not in the orphanage with their younger brothers in that census, both were over 20 by then and Christine's husband was found boarding there in 1940 and that is also the year they got married, so it only makes sense that the two sisters were somewhere near him as they knew him, and they had obviously not got married by the time of the census, yet), and two of Inez McSwain Hooks daughters in the 1900 and 1910 censuses.

Sometimes, it just takes a little patience, and a lot more digging.