Honhorst - Borchers

Back to some genealogy.....Again, not the most exciting post for some and not terribly exciting sometimes to read about another's family tree. I've tried to find some anecdotal story or information to share but instead, I share the rather typical story of farmers from Germany who were my ancestors. My mom's heritage is 1/2 Lutheran/Evangelical Germans who left what was Prussia at the time (the mid-1800s) and 1/2 Irish Catholics who left Ireland in the 1800s (and not all at the same time). 

While it was hard to locate Börninghausen on Google maps, I can easily find information about it and my Vienop line. For my Borchers line, I can clearly find Honhorst, Germany but not a lot of information about it. It's clearly farmland. It's about 30 miles due west of Hannover in the Northwestern part of Germany. I can find info about the town just south of there known as Bad Nenndorf. My aunt and uncle did extensive research on this line and got the family tree back to Jurgen Borchers (my 8th great grandfather), 1657-1720. 

Like Böringhausen (about 30 miles to the west of Honhhorst), I didn't find where the world wars drastically impacted these areas or changed the landscape as in other parts of Germany. I could be wrong.

My great grandparents, whom I knew growing up, were Mary Vienop and Herb Borchers. They met in Napa, California. They were both born in the midwest of the USA but their ancestors (our ancestors) lived 30 miles from each other in present-day Germany.

Börninghausen - Vinup / Vienop and more.

Working on my genealogy for this rainy day. I pursued more of my Vienop line which originates in Börninghausen, North Rhine-Westphalia in Minden-Lübbecke district which is part of the city of Preussisch Oldendorf. Let's just say Google translate has been a great help. The last time any of my family members actually visited Family members in this location, from California, was my GG grandfather, Henry Vienop and his daughter, my Great Aunt Minnie, in 1925.

My Aunt Marie's and Uncle Herb's previous research takes me back to about 1700 with sourced proven info. I have since gotten back into the 1600s and one person back into the 1500s with some sourcing on Ancestry. It helps that they all lived in the same place and communities right by Börninghausen and most of the surnames are rather unique German names, except maybe Koch.

The 1925 family occupation there was cigarmaking and farming. Someday I hope to get to visit. Not that I'd find any relations there but who knows. The further back I go, the more people I find are from this specific location, on this branch of my family tree.

McLaughlin's and More 2020

Sometimes I forget I have a blog out here about genealogy until someone contacts me about a family line found on this site.  I recently received a message over Ancestry.com about my McLaughlin line.  I haven't worked on that line in years.  I gave up a long time ago on finding the exact location and connection back to Ireland.  Sure, the family history handed down over the years indicates that they were from County Longford.  Yes, proving this with source documentation has been skimpy at best.  I had spent some time on Ancestry.com updating this family tree at one time.  I also have looked over DNA matches.  Relating to this line, I always find the people I expect to find.  I can usually identify that they come from this line too at least to 4th cousin matches on exceedingly long list of DNA matches.  It is actually dizzying how may DNA matches one does have on Ancestry.com.  Anyway, I think I will clean up my Irish Settlement index a bit and fix links so people can actually find what I posted.  My goal has always been to post it online rather than stash it way in a drawer, a box, or even on some hard drive where it might all get lost in time!