This blog chronicles my research into the ancestry of my four grandparents. Starting around the 1930s these four families would cross paths in and around the neighborhood of Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. The rest is history.
Hendrickson
According to an unsourced authored narrative, “The Hendrickson Family of Long Island,” by Andrew J. Provost, published in 1943, the progenitor of the Hendrickson family in New York is Hendrick Harmanszen, who first appeared on the New Amsterdam records in 1638. His children were born in Holland. One son, Harmon Hendrickson, born about 1612, settled in Flatbush, Long Island, and died there, about 1675. Harmon’s two sons, Harmon and John, who settled in Hempstead, Long Island, are from whom the Long Island Hendrickson families derive. A third son, Hendrick, took up land in Hempstead but returned to Flatbush. His descendants have not been traced. A possible fourth son, Jacob of Flatbush, married Geese Bartholds and probably had sons Daniel and William who founded prominent branches of the Hendrickson family in Monmouth County, New Jersey.
At this time, it is unclear from which line we descend. My grandfather, Carlton Norman Hendrickson Sr.’s, earliest known ancestor, Uriah Hendrickson, was born about 1750 in Oyster Bay, Long Island. He married Elizabeth Valentine, also of Oyster Bay, in 1783. They had three known children: Hannah, Elizabeth, and Valentine. In his compilation, Provost confuses the identities of two Uriah Hendricksons and a Urias Hendrickson, identifying only two of the three. Our Uriah Hendrickson died on 4 June 1839 in Manetto Hill, Long Island. His parentage remains a mystery. He appears to have lived among and associated with the Hendrickson families of Oyster Bay; however, there is no proof that Uriah was related to this branch of the family.
More to come…
Associated Surnames: Anderson, Babcock, Bucken, Martin, Murray, Oliver. Pearsall, Powderly, Stilwell, Robinson, Valentine, and Van Sise
McKnight
My grandmother, Dorothy R. McKnight, descends from a family whose roots are in Ireland. Exactly where in Ireland, we can’t be certain. As early as 1855, her earliest known McKnight ancestor, James McKnight, and his wife, Elizabeth, were living in Brooklyn, New York, with their twin sons, John and Francis. According to the census, James owned or worked in a shoe store and had been in the United States for two years. His wife had been in the country for eight years, and they had been married for one. They had two other children, James Joseph Michael and Mary McKnight. We descend from James’s son, Francis “Frank” M. McKnight.
Associated surnames: Beutler, Goettisheim, Kirchberger, Kline, Madden, McDonald, Rockenbaugh, Roller, Schule, Skelly, and Wangner.
Ewart
The Ewart family has its origins in Carlisle, England, a border town in northwest England just south of Scotland. My grandfather, Harold Ewart, was born there. He descends from a long line of butchers, but my great-grandfather, Harold Parker Ewart, broke that tradition. A mariner in the British Merchant Navy, he traveled extensively between England and the United States before immigrating in 1917. His wife, Mary Annie (Telford), and their three children, including my grandfather Harold, followed in 1919. They settled in Brooklyn, New York, with a temporary residence in Fall River, Massachusetts.
Exploring this line of the family has been especially rewarding because my mother never knew her father and knew very little about his family.
Associated surnames: Brayton, Brown, Little, Nichol, Parker, and Telford
Knowles
My grandmother, Hazel Catherine Knowles, was a first-generation American. Her father, Alfred William Knowles, was the son of William Knowles and Ellen Johnson and was born in the Chelsea section of London. He immigrated to the United States sometime between 1883 and 1892. He likely came alone, since the rest of his family remained in Battersea, just south of London. He married Margaret Flood, a native of Ireland, in June 1892 in Brooklyn, New York. They had six children together. Alfred was a paper hanger and painter, as were his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. Our earliest known ancestor, James Knowles, was born in Suffolk, England, and was a well-known clock and watchmaker in London. His watch papers are held at the British Museum in London.
Associated surnames: Dunn, Flood, Goldsworthy, Hambley, Johnson, and Moore