Thoughts by Trul?

What's in a name?

If you are a leaf on a branch of my Trill family tree...not much.  In my 20 years of family research, I have never been able to get beyond my great-great-grandparents (and they were just names) with the Trill name.

Here is what I have known for years, just about the Trill name...

Ernest Trill, Grandfather

Born 1902, Ashkum, Iroquois County IL

Died 1977, Kankakee, Kankakee County IL

Ernest Trill, age 18

Evergreen Cemetery, Chebanse IL

Henry Ubelus Trill, Great-Grandfather

Born 1855, Holland
Died 1938, Iroquois County IL

Henry and Ernest Trill, 1932

Danforth Cemetery, Danforth IL

Henry's naturalization record from 1892

Henry's death certificate

15 years or so ago, I obtained a copy of the marriage record for Henry and his wife, Kate Wabbena.  On it, Henry's parents were listed as the following...

George Frericks Triell, Great-Great-Grandfather

Antje Ubelus Tekstra, Great-Great-Grandmother

This is the ONLY information I have had for 15 years on these folks.

Then one day last week, I received an email from Cornelius Boekema.  Truthfully, I'm surprised it did not wind up in my spam email box, since most things do, from addresses not in my address book.  But thankfully, the powers that be, made sure I received that email that day.

To my complete and pleasant surprise, Cornelius has uncovered part of the mystery of where the Trill's really came from.  He had stumbled upon my family history online at some point, and was interested in one of the names (Antje Ubelus Tekstra).  He hadn't really found anything initially, but turns out that he began digging around again last week.  That digging paid off for me, for sure.

Here is an excerpt from the email:
"...I found somewhere that you mentioned that Henry Trill was born in Haulerwijk, Holland on August 22, 1855.  Haulerwijk is a village in a part of Feisland, Netherlands, called Ooststellingwerf.  I checked then the archives for Friesland on the website Tresoar, and got then quite a surprise when I found the marriage of Geert Freerks Trul with Aukje Oebeles Dijkstra in Haulerwijk on November 3, 1839..."

Hold up.

George Frericks Triell  .....  Geert Freerks Trul

Antje Ubelus Tekstra  .....  Aukje Oebeles Dijkstra

Hmm...  Interesting, right??  But Trul??  That's different!  I figured it was supposed to be "Triell", since they were listed as such on Henry's marriage record, even though he was listed as "Trill".

He goes on to list 9 children born to Geert and Aukje (4 boys and 5 girls).  Two of the sons were named Oebele.  One died within a month of his birth.  The other was born August 22, 1850.

Wait a minute.

Henry Ubelus Trill ....  Oebele Trul ... and both born on August 22? (the difference in years is fairly common...some people just didn't know what year they were born, especially if there were a lot of other siblings)

Even more interesting!  Wow!

Then he gave me Geert and Aukje's parent's names...  My great-great-great grandparents.

Freerk Willems Trul and Geertjen Geerts Moes

Oebele Cornelis Dijkstra and Tijsje Hendriks Veenstra

Holy cow.  This was all pretty overwhelming, and I don't think there is any way I would have ever found this out on my own.

And as if that wasn't enough... he goes and gives me one set of my great-great-great-great grandparents!

Jornelis Jurjens and Akke Teddes (parents of Oebele Cornelis Dijkstra)

Hendrik Jans and Ferdu Jans (parents of Tijsje Hendriks Veenstra)

Wow.  To go from nothing to this in a week, is amazing.  And very exciting, too!  :)

Okay...so back to "Trul"...  I learned in a second email, that in 1811 the Napoleon Code directed every person in the Netherlands to adopt a family name.  Cornelius checked the records for Trul, and found Freerk Willems Trul listed.  He said that was the only person listed with the Trul name.  He also sent me a copy of the registration.  In it, you can clearly see where the name "Trul" (with possible accent mark above the U) is printed by the clerk.  At the bottom, you see where Freerk signed "F.W. Tril" on December 27, 1811.

He says that he's found Trul being used in other records for birth, marriage and death after 1811.  He continues to say that the name Trul is not Dutch, as we had always been led to believe.  So while we came from the Netherlands as a Trul/Tril/Triell/Trill, it's possible that it's actually a German name.

Now...here are some little tidbits of info:

Ooststellingwerf -- Ooststellingwerf [ˈoː.stɛ.lɪŋ.ˌʋɛrf] is a municipality in the province of Friesland in the northern Netherlands. It is one of the municipalities of Friesland, where the spoken language is not West Frisian; instead, Stellingwerfs, a dialect of Dutch Low Saxon, is spoken here.  (from Wikipedia)

Ost-Friesland --  In 1806 East Frisia (now called Oostfreesland) was annexed by the Napoleonic Kingdom of Holland and later became part of the French Empire. Most of East Frisia was renamed the Département Ems-Oriental, while a small strip of land, the Rheiderland, became part of the Dutch Département Ems-Occidental. The French Emperor Napoléon Iundertook the greatest reform of Frisian society in history: He introduced mayors, where the local administration was still in the hands of autonomous groups of elders (like the Diekgreven, Kerkenolderlings etc.), introduced the Code Civil and reformed the ancient Frisian naming system by newly introducing family names in 1811. In the following years the East Frisians registered their family names, often depending on their father's name, area or (if unfree) master.

After the Napoleonic Wars East Frisia was occupied first by Prussian and Russian soldiers since 1813, and re-annexed by Prussia. However, in 1815, Prussia had to cede East Frisia to theKingdom of Hanover, which itself was annexed by Prussia in 1866.  (from Wikipedia)

photo taken from Wikipedia, Ostfriesland

Haulerwijk --  Haulerwijk (West Frisian: Haulerwyk ) is a village consisting of about 3300 inhabitants in the municipality of Ooststellingwerf in the east ofFriesland in the Netherlands.  (from Wikipedia)

Haulerwijk

Foto: © Beeldbank Steunpunt Landschap ZO-Friesland  

Haulerwijk
photo from Tresoar

I have searched online to maybe figure out what "Trul" means, since it was a common practice to give yourself the family name of something along the lines of your occupation.  But I haven't found anything yet.  I did find a new book series for teens called "Legacy of Tril" by Heather Brewer, though.  I read the description, and in the series, Tril is the place...not a person.  But I might read it anyway.  :)

Anyway... I hope you find this new info enlightening and are at least a little bit excited about it!  I am pretty sure I won't ever find any pictures of these people...but a girl can dream, right?  

So a HUGE thank you to Cornelius for all of this info.  I hope I am able to continue finding answers to this mystery...even if it takes 15 years at a time...

Arthur Edward Carlisle, Sr.

I was looking at some files the other day, and noticed the date of September 8th.  It was my Grandpa's birthday.  Therefore...today I will blog about him.

Arthur Edward Carlisle, Sr. was born on September 8, 1904, in Rosiclare, IL.  That is in Hardin County, in extreme Southern Illinois, on the banks of the Ohio River.  His parents were Charles Edward Carlisle and Mary Louise Miles.

In the 1910 census, the Carlisle's were still living in Rosiclare.  There is a mention of them in the Hardin County  Newspaper from 1907.  It reads, "Charles Carlisle's little three year old child swallowed a silver quarter last week, and incident caused considerable confusion and alarm among relatives.  We hope no serious result will follow."  Imagine...he swallowed a QUARTER!

In 1920, they have moved up to Herrin, in Williamson County.  By the 1930 census, they were living in Franklin County.  Arthur was still living with his parents at the time the census was taken that year, and listed as being a Manager of a grocery store.  However, things would change shortly after that information was taken by the census taker.

In the book that Grandma filled out it asked..  "When did you first meet Grandfather?"  She wrote... "At a Rebekah Lodge meeting in Christopher, in June 1930.  I had seen him earlier at church.  He thought he was going to the Christian Church, which was a block down the street from the Baptist Church."  That's fate for ya...  :)

The book then asks, "What first attracted you to him?"  Grandma writes... "He was a new guy in town.  He was older than I and was manager at a new grocery store in town."

What memory stands out about your courtship?  How long did it last?...  "The thing I remember most was that it was a whirlwind courtship.  We met in June, were engaged in three weeks and married the next October."

What kinds of things did you do together while dating?...  "He worked six days a week, but he had a new car, so we did a lot of driving around in the evenings and took several longer trips on Sundays."

How did you become engaged? ...  "We were sitting in the porch swing on our front porch, when he asked me if I would marry him.  After he left, I went in the house and woke up my Mother and told her what had happened.  She told me later that she cried the rest of the night.  She also told me that the first time he came to pick me up for our first date, after we left, she went out to the outhouse and cried and cried, because she intuitionally knew he was the one who would take me away."

Where and when did you get married?  How old were you? ... "We were married at my parents' home on October 5, 1930.  I was 19 years old."  (So Grandpa was 26)  "The only people present were my parents, Grandfather's parents, Nolan and Eva Rosan.  I had a navy blue dress and Grandfather wore a brown tweed suit, neither of them were new."

this was taken shortly after their wedding

Tell me your favorite story about Grandfather...  "I was very proud of him when he was ordained a Deacon about 1942 or 1943.  A little funny story... At one time there was a lady attending our church who had a mental problem.  One Sunday, right in the middle of the sermon, she got up, went to the basement, came back with a glass of water.  She handed the water to Grandfather and said, 'Take this to the preacher.'  Without realizing what was happening, he got up from his seat, took the water and handed it to the preacher.  Everyone started laughing, and his friends didn't let him forget it for a long time."

In the 1940 census, they were living in town, in Herrin.  And in 1949, they moved to Ferges.

Then on July 22, 1951... Grandpa passed away.  

The above obituary reads...

Arthur Edward Carlisle, 46, manager of the Bracy Food store, 210 North Park Avenue, Herrin, died at his farm home at Ferges, Marion Route 3, Sunday about 6:30AM of coronary thrombosis.

His attending physician said he first began treating Mr. Carlisle for the heart condition about two years ago.  After seeming to improve, his condition became worse about two months ago and since then he had been checked by his doctor once a week.

The physician said Mr. Carlisle was already dead when he arrived.  The store manager drove to Herrin yesterday morning to see if everything was all right at the store.

On returning home, he went out to feed his hogs on his farm.  The attack evidently occurred while he was feeding the hogs and Mr. Carlisle fell on the fence that surrounds the hog pen.

Mr. Carlisle, well-known and well-liked in Herrin, had been manager of the Bracy store since it opened four years ago in Herrin.  Before he became manager of the Bracy store, he worked for the Kroger Co. for about 20 years, 11 of which were spent in Herrin.

He and his family had lived in Herrin until two years ago when they moved to the farm home at Ferges.

Mr. Carlisle was born in Rosiclare, Sept. 8, 1904, the son of Charles and Mary Miles Carlisle.  He married the former Flossine Rosan.

Besides his wife he leaves four children, Arthur Edward Jr, John Charles, Nolan Norton and Clara Louise, all at home.  He also leaves his parents who live in Johnston City.

Mr. Carlisle was a member of the Herrin First Baptist Church, where funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday with the pastor, Rev. W.A. Shoopman officiating. Burial will be in Herrin City Cemetery.

My mom doesn't remember anything about him, since she was so young when he died (she was almost 6 years old at the time).  She says that the only thing she can really remember growing up, was that a lot of "older" people would always come up to her and say, "Oh, you must be Arthur's daughter."  :)

There really aren't many photos of my grandfather.  So here are just a few more that I do have available to me...

Holding my mom

By the river at Cairo, IL...with mom and Nolan.  This picture was on a roll of film that wasn't developed until after Grandpa passed away.

with Grandma and Uncle Arthur

with some cousins, looks like the 1920's

with some cousins, looks like the 1920's