Moving to http://cd.cdmorris.com/

I'm moving to another site. http://cd.cdmorris.com/ This site will cover Henry Sievers, Lydia May Walker (Lidy Walker), Loretta Elizabeth Shaver, Elijah John William Morris and Minnie Eliza Thayer

My purpose

My main purpose in having this blog is to try to solve some mysteries of my ancestry. I am essentially at a dead-end. I've climbed up the Sievers ladder just as far as I can climb.. I'm hoping that out there, somewhere, is someone who can help me find out more about my ancestors. Henry Sievers supposedly had a brother that also came from Hamburg and rumor has it that this brother was or became a doctor and resided in Iowa.. Supposedly, Henry rode a ship, during his young teenage years, to America.. Again, supposedly New York City.. It is also said that he returned to Germany and came back to America with this brother... Note: I desire to have my posts in the order that I wrote them... meaning that this is my first post and I want it to appear first and then go on in descending order.. That means I'll have to manipulate the posting dates...

I'm Not Giving Up

Well, here I am and it's February, 2010... I've somewhat ignored this blog, but I'm going to keep it more up-to-date from now on. I really haven't came up with any new information, but I'm going to keep looking.. There are a lot of new census's being made available to the public.. Maybe something will show... Have a good New Year....

Incidental Information

Henry Sievers, it has been indicated to me, was a secretive person... Both his name AND his birth date are open to question.. According to some of our family records, Henry was born in 1844... not 1854, like all the census's we've seen shows..That would coincide closer with the information that we have stating he came to the U.S. in 1859 as a 15 year old. So.. did he consistently lie about his age, or, is most of our family information incorrect?? Lydia Walker, while being his "official wife" was not necessarily his only wife. It is rumored that he had an Indian wife, living either in the household or in another abode nearby.. It is also rumored that some of my family has some of this Indian blood in their veins.. We have absolutely no proof of this, nor any proof that this Indian woman even existed.. No pictures (except one that has disappeared), no name... only my grandmother talking about her, and my grandmother showing a picture of a woman that appeared to be Indian... This Indian woman is now referred to by some of us as "Grandma X".

More Incidental Information

Henry's wife's full name was Lydia May Walker, born 25 May 1857, somewhere in Illinois, according to census information, but, some of our family information says she was born in Red Oak, Iowa. Her name shows up on some of the census's as "Lidy" or "Lidy M.".. An example of this is found in the 1880 census taken in Norton County, Kansas I continue to draw a blank on finding any of her ancestors or siblings.. I really consider it a shame.. my Morris side of the family, we can trace all the way back to the 1500's.. Both Henry and Lydia just seemed to show up out of the clear, blue sky.. Some in my family have speculated that perhaps Henry was a stow-away on a ship, and that that was the reason no records of his coming here show up anywhere.. It is also speculated that "Henry Sievers" was NOT his name until he landed in America. We understand that military service was a requirement of young men in Germany... Is it possible that all the secrecy was due to his being essentially a "draft evader"??? Like I said, all we have is speculation

More Discussion of Lydia May Walker

It would probably please me just as much to get a trace on Lydia May Walker as it would be to get a trace on Henry Sievers.. Theoretically, she is just as much an ancestor of mine as Henry, and she seems just as "lost"... Either in Illinois or Iowa, I'll bet there is a family, somewhere, that has lost track of Lydia May Walker.. Maybe she married, or ran off with, a Henry Sievers.. Who knows?? Finding Lydia might be the only possible answer to finding Henry.. Perhaps a marriage license, a newspaper article, or something??

Possibly a Name Change???

If Henry did change his name upon arrival in America, I suppose that would mean that I'm banging my head against the wall. But, I'm not ready to give up, yet.. I keep having this hope that someone will have records of an ancestor, possibly with the Sievers name, that showed up in New York, and that someway, somehow, a connection could be made with my Henry.