The Way Back Machine

Got to thinking last nite about the way we all come to America...and how my ancestors made it here....at least as far as we know.

On Dad's side of the family....have no idea how his maternal side got here or when.....last name of Keller, so could be a gazillion different times or ways.

The paternal-paternal (did that make sense?) Spencers... an Aunt found the earliest record of our particular branch that she has been able to trace came from approximately 1830. A woman (widowed) who was moving from North Carolina to Kentucky with (and I might have the exact figures wrong) 2 children, 2 slaves, and 4 mules....also had $400.00 in cash. For the time quite a wealthy woman. Now being a widow, we can assume that she married into the Spencer name, but as to the who when where why we can only speculate.

Before anyone gets excited about the "slave" bit, the same aunt found a branch in the family that goes back about 4 generations that are black......

So There. A side note on that subject......Lost relatives on both sides of the family and both sides of the issues in the War Between the States! And, before any smart Alec remarks....I didn't know any of them personally...I was still a toddler and can't remember names anyhow.

Mum's side of the family has more information on the subject...... For one thing, the Balzers were relative late comers to the states, getting into Ellis Island in the mid 1890's....Living in Brooklyn for many years and then moving to central Massachusetts...my Grandfathers father ran a pool hall/barber shop, and made chairs by hand (still have 2 of them) for a hobby. Now the Balzer name is kind of unusual and there are quite a few spelling variations upon it. Using incredible amounts of brilliant deductive reasoning (or maybe just some wild guess work), we can assume that the family started out Jewish in Russia several centuries ago, fleeing the pogroms they made it first to what is now Poland and then the Rhine River Valley in Germany. When they converted to Christianity or what their station in life was we can only guess.

The maternal maternal side is the Sinclairs (my middle name). Have a lot of information on that side prior to coming to America. From the Scotland highlands a Sinclair or maybe St Clair was either drafted into or joined a British infantry regiment during the American Revolution. Upon arriving in New England (will have to look up the year but was in the late 1770's) he promptly deserted to the Northern New England/Canadian border.... Many Sinclairs in that area and I know the family is also inter-related with the Struthers family from that area.

Being old and somewhat decrepit myownself I know I have forgotten some parts of the history, but will include them as remembered at very inappropriate times.