Venice - The Family Tree
I was reading a few genealogy blogs today and came upon this video at You Are Where You Came From. Aside from being first up and a lovely piece of music, it also figures prominently in today's topic, my Efner ancestry.
Several years ago while searching online for information about the lineage of my third great-grandfather, Ezekiel T. Efner, I came upon Richard Efnor's extensive research on the Efner family in America. I'd already collected a few things myself, the most genealogically significant being the christening record of Ezekiel's father. I ran across my copy just yesterday while thumbing through my Pettis & Efner binder.
Christening record of Valentyne Effenaarson of Henderick Effenaar and Maragieta Teator
22 December 1776
Dutch Reformed Church, Schaghticoke, New York
(That's pronounced "SCAT-uh-cook" - I know you were wondering!)
As far as I know, no European records have been found pertaining to the roots of the Efner family. Revolutionary War records list Germany as the birthplace of Henderick (Henry), and I've read that the family may have Palatine or Bavarian roots. And then we have the record shown here, from the Dutch Reformed Church, which says "Dutch" to me.
Three-fourths of my lines are German, so I've scrutinized quite a few reels of German microfilm. I've never noticed the Efner surname or any of its spelling variants in any of the German records I've studied. That, of course, doesn't mean it isn't German in origin. It certainly could have been concentrated in areas other than those I've looked at. I'm just sayin'...
Anyhow, I was listening to this lovely piece of music when it occured to me to view the video directly on YouTube to see what I might find out about it. One of the things I found out was that there are other versions of the song, some of them taped in concert by amateur videographers, and thus with relatively poor sound quality, like this one:
Venice - The family Tree @ de Effenaar, Eindhoven:
Kerstshow Venice in de Effenaar in Eindhoven op dinsdag 11 dec 2007
What?? Wait a minute... what? What is "de Effenaar in Eindhoven," I must know! So, of course, I Googled it. (Really, how did the world ever get by before Google?) Here is what I found:
click to enlargeEffenaar - [ Translate this page ]
Effenaar, Eindhoven, The Netherlands za 05 sep, Indie Disco ... Effenaar, Eindhoven, The Netherlands zo 13 sep, Dommelsch Clash of the Coverbands: 1e...
Jeepers, that certainly says "Dutch" to me!
Not that I'm about to run out and comb through Dutch records looking for Effenaar ancestors, at least not right this minute. I have plenty to do already, genealogically speaking, and I'm still not finished settling in at my new home either. But I'm willing to entertain the possibility that some Revolutionary War clerk somewhere may have heard "Dutch" and thought "Deutsch." And I'm keeping my fingers crossed that all the Dutch records I need will be indexed by the time I'm free to pursue this!
6 comments:
Cool, TK. I wish something like this would happen with my difficult to find, mysterious surname.
Something probably will, now that you've verbalized a wish for it. Keep an eye open, Pam! No telling where it will turn up!
I love that song, too! And I'd be thrilled to think a post on my blog helped you in your search - in however roundabout a way!
You might as well go right ahead and be thrilled, Katie O., because that made my day! Don't ya just wish we could be at de Effenaar on November 3 to see Venice? (And while there I'd have to do some Effenaar research, of course!)
Isn't it interesting that I'd find this Dutch clue on a blog called You Are Where You Came From?
Incredible! Why are the best finds always ones we weren't even looking for!?
Ya know, Charley, somehow the fun factor goes way up with these odd little things that come out of nowhere!
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