My Napa Origins and Surnames - Part 1

In my recent research of my ancestors, time and time again, I land on my family surnames from Napa, California.  In as much as I would like to pursue my Hickey ancestors in Ireland, at every push of the button on my computer, sign-on to Ancestry.com, or review of email, I find requests and information associated with my ancestors who ended up in Napa, California.  I guess I need to take that as a sign.

My mother's side of the family is from Napa and has been for generations.  While I have relatives remaining in Napa and they are aging, I have a special affinity for the place and a family history that I only started to truly realize a few years ago.  The connection to Napa spread to relatives of present and past outside of Napa.  The explosion of family tree information resulting from simple inquiries that I am of the Napa Flanagan's, McLaughlin's, Borchers', and Vienop's, is quite amazing.  I barely mention to various family researchers of my interest in these lines and receive a plethora of information from blood relatives, even if somewhat distant, that many family tree researchers would envy.

So, what does my mother's side of the family have in common with each other from my Irish relatives to my German family?  They liked to keep track of our family tree including holding onto photos.  I have always said that there is this strong desire on my Flanagan side of the family to write things down.  This also applies to my McLaughlin's.  As I've known for a long time, my Vienop and Borchers side of the family like to keep track of things too.  I only wish that I had taken notes when I was younger and had more time to spend with my relatives some of whom have passed away.

My Napa Direct Line Relative Surnames:
-Flanagan*
-McLaughlin*
-Vienop
-Borchers
*Indicates that there were other surnames.  Kate Flanagan was born Catherine Mary O'Brien and Ellen McLaughlin was born Ellen Maxwell.

My Irish family in Napa predates my German family by about 30 years.  This applies particularly to my Flanagan's.


Napa Arrival Timeframe and Family Members:
-Flanagan - Patrick and Kate 1870, Michael - 1871
-McLaughlin - Thomas, Ellen, Mary, Ellen, Catherine, Joseph, Anna, Thomas - 1886
-Vienop - John Henry, Anna, Ernest, Mary, John Henry, Minnie, Ernest, Ernest, Ricky, George - 1901
-Borchers - Herbert Herman Leonhardt Borchers - 1920

My Napa Cousin's:
-Duffy - Philip and Katie (Maxwell)
-Malloy
-Gruenhagen
-Bruns
-Reidenbach
-Ruffino
-Mueller
-Skilling

In the cousin department, I have to admit that there could be more but I am just not all that familiar with the all of the family connections associated with St. John's Lutheran Church in Napa, a church that my Vienop Family helped start. 

I was initially thinking that this would be it for my post about my Napa surnames but I do have more to say about this very topic.....To be continued......