Surnames

Embarking on a Hardy-Johns Family Search
William Jackson Johns, 2nd Great Grandfather

William Jackson Johns, 2nd Great Grandfather

I’ve been focused on my father’s side of the family.  There was a lot of great information about my father’s side in Brooklyn.  However, they make their earliest appearance in the mid-1840s to mid-1850s.  They immigrated to the United States during that period of time, and since they don’t exist in the records much prior to 1855, I figured it was time to turn to my mom’s side of the family.

My mother is from the South – her family has roots in Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia…  and way back when in Pennsylvania (who would have thought!).

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Name that Ancestor

I posted the below six pictures on Facebook, with this message to my family.

It’s time to play “Name that Ancestor”. I need your help – do you know who these people are? They were in with the photos I got from Pop. They may be siblings, cousins or close friends of Grandpa and Grandma Reilly (Lawrence Ambrose Reilly and Ethel Loretta Powers Reilly).

These were probably taken in the last 1910s or early 1920s.  Potential surnames include: Reilly and Powers.

Unknown 1 – possible Powers
Unknown 2 – possible Powers
Unknown 3 – possible Powers
Unknown 4 – possible Powers
Unknown 5 – possible Powers
Unknown 6 – possible Powers

Mae and Anna Thomas – Photographed together

Mae and Anna Thomas, circa 1920, probably in Brooklyn

Mae and Anna Thomas, circa 1920, probably in Brooklyn


This is a picture of my 2nd great grandmother Anna Henrietta Noteboom Thomas and her daughter Mae Thomas. The first one is from about 1920. Mae would have been about 17 years old and Anna would have been about 39 years old. The second one is from sometime in the 1930s. My guess from the age difference sometime around 1935, which would put Mae in her early 30s and Anna in her mid-50s. Mae married a John Stamm sometime in the early 1930s and moved out to Hempstead in Nassau County, Long Island.
Mae and Anna Thomas, circa 1935, probably in Hempstead NY

Mae and Anna Thomas, circa 1935, probably in Hempstead NY

The Missing Thomas

My 2nd great grandfather, Francis Theodore Thomas, went missing around 1902 or 1903.  He went swimming at Rockaway Beach in Brooklyn and never came home.  His clothing was found at the beach, but no sign of him ever turned up.  For years. I didn’t know anything about him really, other than his name.  Last year, when I went to Syracuse for my grandmother’s funeral, I found an entry for him in the family bible.  In that entry, I found the name of a brother and two sisters.

In the box my dad just brought home from his visit with my grandfather, I found a picture of my gg-grandfather – the only one I’ve ever seen.  In the photo, he is seated on Rockaway Beach in the year or so before his disappearance. Seated next to him is my gg-grandmother Anna Noteboom.  Pictured below is the photo as is and a cleaned up version.

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Francis Thomas and Anna Noteboom at Rockaway Beach, circa 1900

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Francis Thomas and Anna Noteboom at Rockaway Beach, circa 1900

My 3rd Great Grandfather Walter Noteboom
Walter Noteboom, c. 1905, probably in Brooklyn, NY

Walter Noteboom, c. 1905, probably in Brooklyn, NY

I don’t know much about my ggg-grandfather Walter Noteboom.  He was born in Holland in 1845.  At some point he immigrated to the United States and married my ggg-grandmother Kate Dulk.  I know much more about her – in later years, she and her twin brother survived the Morro Castle disaster.

However, my father came home from a visit with my grandfather with a big box of family photos and documents.  Hidden away in the box was this photo of Walter Noteboom.  It was taken in 1905 – I presume in Brooklyn based on where the family was living at the time.