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Welcome! This website was created on 09 Jul 2004 and last updated on 10 Dec 2023. The family trees on this site contain 2399 relatives and 726 photos. If you have any questions or comments you may send a message to the Administrator of this site.
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ANNOUNCEMENT!!! A few years ago, I started a family tree on Ancestry.com., mainly because Ancestry.com provides access to data and records that I cannot find anyplace else. My plan was to use the Ancestry tree to gather information, and then to transfer that information to this Tribal Pages tree. Well, now that I have more than 10,000 people in the Ancestry.com tree, I can see that is never going to happen. So I invite you to visit the Ancestry.com tree. Access is available only by invitation, so please message me through this Tribal Pages tree or by email if you would like me to invite you to the Ancestry tree. Update 2023: I am currently updating this tree, mostly because on Tribal Pages you there are printable charts that are not available on Ancestry. I do not plan to ever add all of the 10,000 people on the Ancestry tree but focus on the core tree, so to speak. If you wish to print out a chart but your branch of the tree is not up to date, you can always tell me and I will do my best to update your branch as far as I can. WHY? "Not to know what happened before we were born is to remain perpetually a child. For what is the worth of a human life unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the records of history." (Cicero, 106-43 BC) "It's not what we inherit from our forefathers but what we leave for our children."* This family tree is one thing I want to leave for my daughter Emma and her (potential) children, and for all the children in our family. So they have some idea where they came from, and what people went through so they could be here. It's pretty amazing and awe inspiring to think that at some point in history our ancestors survived events and experiences that many others did not: plagues, wars, fires, floods, and, for those of us born in the US, long sea journeys from "the old country." After arriving in the United States, they worked hard to survive and thrive. If they hadn't, none of US would be here today. Bill Bryson says it much better in A Short History of Nearly Everything: "Consider the fact that for 3.8 billion years, a period of time older than the Earth's mountains and rivers and oceans, every one of your forebears on both sides has been attractive enough to find a mate, healthy enough to reproduce, and sufficiently blessed by fate and circumstances to live long enough to do so. Not one of your pertinent ancestors was squashed, devoured, drowned, starved, stuck fast, untimely wounded or otherwise deflected from its life's quest of delivering a tiny charge of genetic material to the right partner at the right moment to perpetuate the only possible sequence of hereditary combinations that could result--eventually, astoundingly, and all too briefly--in you." Gosh. "Other things may change us, but we start and end with family." [Like it or not.] (Anthony Brandt) *I seem to have lost the name of the person who said this; when last I Google it the only reference is to this website.... I know I didn't make it up, but I don't know who did. Now I see a similar quote: We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. Either way, something to think about. NOTE: I am always updating the tree, adding new information and photos, so it may be worthwhile to check back once in a while. In some cases, I may have uploaded photos but not yet got them captioned or attached to the people in them. I'm working on this, so... photos not captioned today, may be tomorrow. I've started albums for different family branches or names. In the case of women, once they are married, their photos after marriage will be found in the album with their husband's name. If you have any photos or information you want me to add, or corrections of what I already have, I'd appreciate your input. NEWEST TWIGS ON THE TREE: George Isaac Melilli, born August 18, 2018, in Sacramento, California. Elijah Paul Melilli, born Dec. 10, 2012 in China. Adopted by Julie and David in May, 2015 and traveled from China home to Wheaton with big brothers, David Neal and Aaron John (who accompanied their parents to China to pickup Elijah). Josie Grace Melilli, born on December 10, 2005, was adopted by David and Julie Whitecotton Melilli in December 2011. Julie is Neal and Judi Hamer Whitecotton's daughter. If you're curious about their whole experience adopting, including their trip to China to pick her up, you can read about it and see photos at kayakacrossthepacificagain. December 5th is the day Josie finally became theirs. William Mathew Conley, born on July 22, 2011, born to Jeremiah and Denice Joshlin Conley. Denice is a granddaughter of Virgil and Virginia Corll, great-granddaughter of Oscar and Elizabeth Smith. Megan Grace Melilli, born on April 3, 2009, was adopted by David and Julie Whitecotton Melilli in 2010. Julie is Neal and Judi Hamer Whitecotton's daughter. Jordan Matthew Smith, was born on June 21, 1010, to David and Jennie Smith, in Olathe, Kansas. David is the son of Pete Smith, who is the grandson of Oscar Otto Smith and Elizabeth Marschall Smith. Alexander David Conley was born on July 25, 2009, to Jeremiah and Denice Corll Conley. Denice is the daughter of Janis Corll, daughter of Virgil and Virginia Smith Corll, the daughter of Oscar Otto and Elizabeth Marschall Smith. Grace Corllynn Becker was born Feb. 23, 2009 at 8:10a.m. to Adam and Abby. (6 lbs. 8 oz., 19 ½”). Adam and Abby Green Becker are the parents. They have one other child, a son, Christopher Jay Becker, born on August 10, 2006. Adam is the son of Dick and Marsha Corll Becker. Marsha is the daughter of Virgil and Virginia Smith Corll, and granddaughter of Oscar Otto and Elizabeth Marshall Smith. Jordan Archer Funke was born on Jan. 21, 2009, to Scott And Amy Rouse Funke. Scott is Bob and Carolyn Corll Funke's son. Sally Grace Bonnell was born in Nairobi, Kenya, on May 10, 2008, to John and Karen Whitecotton Bonnell. She is their third child. Sally Jr. was named after her great-grandmother, Sally (Maxine) Smith Hamer and was born on the same date as her grandmother, Judi Hamer Whitecotton. David and Jennie Smith are the proud parents of baby girl Megan Elizabeth. She was born December 26, 2008 at 12:50 pm. She weighs 7 lbs 6 oz and is 20" long. She joins older brother Justin Taylor, sisters Allison Joy, and Katelyn Grace. Megan is the granddaughter of Pete and Judy Smith. On June 17, 2007, Wendy, second daughter of Anne and Rafa Arencon, was born in Spain. Anne is Judy and Pete's daughter. Pete is grandson of Oscar Otto and Elizabeth Marschall Smith. Jonathan Charles Kessler was born August 15, 2006 was born to Peter and Sarah Whitecotton Kessler in Missouri. Sarah is a grandaughter of Walter and Sally Hamer, and daughter of Neal and Judi Hamer Whitecotton. This family tree is definitely a work in progress, so please be patient and check in frequently to see the latest updates. I would be grateful for any additional information and photos you can supply. Please feel free to send me corrections, too. Please let me know if you have family events (births, marriages, deaths) for me to post here. Below is a map showing the origins of my ancestors, some of which are probably yours, too, since at some point most of us share common ancestors. Over to the right (if you are signed in) is a list of birthdays coming up.
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When you click TREE up there in the homepage navigation bar, the first individual family tree displayed is for Gottlieb Bouvain. Who is he? Until recently, he was the earliest ancestor we knew of for those of us descended from the Bouvain, Marschall, Rodies line, and the Smith line of Oscar Otto and Elizabeth Marschall Smith, my grandparents. Gottlieb is the father of Leopoldine Susanne Bouvain (grandmother of Elizabeth Marschall Smith) and Samuel Eduard Bouvain, who fathered the branch of our family that includes Hannelore Nass Wichgers. Hannelore is the one responsible for us now being able to go back 5 generations BEFORE Gottlieb Bouvain, to his great-great-great-grandfather Jean Bouvain, born probably around the end of the 1500's-early 1600's, in France. Since placing this family tree on the Internet I have been contacted by 3 descendants of this man and his wife, Henriette Ziplies, in addition to Hannelore Wichgers (who lives in the Netherlands): Colleen Smith (Iowa), Wolfgang Kistler (Germany), and in February 2009, Barbara Southall Briezer (Illinois). Also, in 2008, Ann Brunkhorst (Iowa) found and contacted me via the Internet. She is connected by marriage to the family of Oscar Otto and Margaret Anna Stadler Smith. I am grateful to all of them for the information they have provided.
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Colleen is the first relative I met on line and is responsible (to blame) for me doing this family tree . . . She's given me a LOT of information, especially about the Rodies (Rhodies). Hannelore provided all the information on Gottlieb Bouvain, and in 2008, by searching through original documents and records in German, found the information about Gottlieb's ancestors, which gets us back another five generations. She is also responsible for most of the information we have about the Bouvain family. Wolfgang provided the proof we lacked that Gottlieb was Leopoldine Susanne Bouvain's father. (Ah yes. Wolfgang also provided evidence that her name was Leopoldine Susanne, and NOT Susanne Leopoldine Bouvain as we had previously thought. Lucky me that we didn't know that when I was born; I could have ended up named Leopoldine . . .) Ann is married to Joseph and Mae Kelleher Brunkhorst's son Philip. They live on the home farm that Albert and Anna farmed. Philip's great-great parents were Franz Thurn and his first wife Barbara Stadler. Barbara Stadler was the sister of Anna Margareta Stadler who married John Eligius Smith, the father of Oscar Otto Smith. I met Barbara online in February 2009. Her grandmother was Grandma Elizabeth Marschall Smith's sister, Clara Marschall. We have very little information about the Southall branch of the family (up to now).
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THANKS Thanks all my relatives who have taken the time and trouble to send me information and photos. That's why I'm calling this site "Us": it is a joint effort by all (well, many) of Us, for all of Us. Special thanks to my sisters, Judi for finding, copying and sending me photos, and Patti for paying the 2007-2008 annual subscription fee for this site. Thanks also to Lin Smith, who took the time to share with me a lot of the photographs and documents he "inherited" from Margaret Smith Coles. I am infinitely grateful to Colleen Smith, a third cousin discovered while searching the Internet. Her long hours of hard work building her Tribal Page (see "Beginnings" link to the right) have made it easier for me to construct this site and her encouragement got me off my big bottom to actually do it. See links (right) for some of your relatives' interesting web sites. And send me a link to yours if you have one.

Getting Around
There are several ways to browse the family tree. The Tree View graphically shows the relationship of selected person to their kin. The Family View shows the person you have selected in the center, with his/her photo on the left and notes on the right. Above are the father and mother and below are the children. The Ancestor Chart shows the person you have selected in the left, with the photograph above and children below. On the right are the parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. The Descendant Chart shows the person you have selected in the left, with the photograph and parents below. On the right are the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Do you know who your second cousins are? Try the Kinship Relationships Tool. Your site can generate various Reports for each name in your family tree. You can select a name from the list on the top-right menu bar.

In addition to the charts and reports you have Photo Albums, the Events list and the Relationships tool. Family photographs are organized in the Photo Index. Each Album's photographs are accompanied by a caption. To enlarge a photograph just click on it. Keep up with the family birthdays and anniversaries in the Events list. Birthdays and Anniversaries of living persons are listed by month. Want to know how you are related to anybody ? Check out the Relationships tool.

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